‘Gifts for the gods’: lake-dwellers' macabre remedies against floods in the Central European Bronze Age

YesThe lake-dwellings of the Circum-Alpine region have long been a rich source of detailed information about daily life in Bronze Age Europe, but their location made them vulnerable to changes in climate and lake level. At several Late Bronze Age examples, skulls of children were found at the edge of the lake settlement, close to the encircling palisade. Several of the children had suffered violent deaths, through blows to the head from axes or blunt instruments. They do not appear to have been human sacrifices, but the skulls may nonetheless have been offerings to the gods by communities faced with the threat of environmental change.Swiss National Science Foundatio

Theorizing the Biographies of Wetland Settlement Utilizing Insights from Micromorphological Analysis

The biographical approach has become a well-recognized and adopted method to theorize the establishment and development of settlements in accord with their human occupation. Recent proposals for such a biographical model for the lake-dwellings of the northern Alpine region have been largely based upon theoretical and hypothetical considerations. Lake-dwelling sites in the Alpine region generally have excellent levels of organic preservation, particularly for artefacts and building foundations, but with poor representation of building superstructures. They do however have high potential for archaeology micromorphological soil analysis, with sediment deposits providing indications of both human activity and environmental conditions within the settlement. Using specific examples from Switzerland, this paper intends to highlight some of the contributions that micromorphology can provide to the consideration of settlement biographies. The biographical approach has become a well-recognized and adoptedmethod to theorize the establishment and development of settlements inaccord with their human occupation. Recent proposals for such abiographical model for the lake-dwellings of the northern Alpine regionhave been largely based upon theoretical and hypothetical considerations.Lake-dwelling sites in the Alpine region generally have excellent levels oforganic preservation, particularly for artefacts and building foundations, butwith poor representation of building superstructures. They do however havehigh potential for archaeology micromorphological soil analysis, withsediment deposits providing indications of both human activity andenvironmental conditions within the settlement. Using specific examplesfrom Switzerland, this paper intends to highlight some of the contributionsthat micromorphology can provide to the consideration of settlementbiographies. Mikromorphologie - Seeufersiedlun

Zurich-Alpenquai : a multidisciplinary approach to the chronological development of a Late Bronze Age lakeside settlement in the northern Circum-Alpine Region

The Alpenquai lake-dwelling is located on Lake Zurich, and can be considered as one of the rare Late Bronze Age lake-dwellings with a pronounced organic-rich cultural layer in the northern Circum-Alpine region. Within a larger research project, investigating the final abandonment of the lakeshores in the Circum-Alpine area at the end of the Late Bronze Age, this settlement has been investigated using a multidisciplinary research design. Combining micromorphology, archaeobotany, palynology, archaeozoology and material culture studies, the formation of the site is reconstructed, and the reasons for its final abandonment are sought. A highly dynamic lake system that caused a lake water level rise before 900 BC, a regression in the second half of the 9th century BC, and a later transgression, could be detected. The settlement appears to have been established during the lake regression, and abandoned during the transgression, proving a high degree of environmental adaptation by its inhabitants. Site formation - Multidisziplinärer Ansat

System zur kontinuierlichen Ueberwachung mikrobiologischer Parameter der Wasserqualitaet Abschlussbericht

SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: F00B1008+a / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekBundesministerium fuer Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Bonn (Germany)DEGerman