Beyond lake settlements

The prehistoric lake-village sites of Switzerland, Germany and Austria have been known for more than 150 years. Over one hundred of them were accorded UNESCO World Cultural Heritage status in 2011. Mainly dating to the Neolithic/Copper Age and Bronze Age, the lacustrine settlement represents an early sedentarization phase in the northern foothills of the Alps. Significant research on material culture, settlement dynamics, economy and ecology has hitherto focused almost exclusively on the classic sites of the larger pre-Alpine lakes, e.g. Mondsee and Attersee in Austria. Even there, Austrian research significantly lags that of its partners. Renewed transdisciplinary efforts are urgently needed to improve diachronic understanding both of the Mondsee groups material-cultural pattern and of the affected environments. We propose an interdisciplinary programme of retrieval of high-resolution palaeoecological and archaeological data in intensively-studied microregions around small lakes like Mönichsee or Krottensee, where recent palaeoecological investigation suggests the presence of undisturbed laminated annual sediments with potential for generating ultra-high-resolution diachronic data on vegetation, palaeoclimate and Holocene human impact. The palaeoecological programme focuses on these lakes, and parts of a surviving raised bog at Gerlhammer at the northern end of Attersee, with the aim of constructing a representative picture of climatic and environmental change. Prehistoric wetland, littoral and dryland settlements dating to 38003000 BC and to the Bronze Age exist in the vicinity of these sites, and we expect to identify more. The closely integrated archaeological research will include underwater prospection. Landscape work, supported by archive enhancement and targeted excavation (as part of a broader ongoing programme) is conceived at three scales: microregional, to produce an accurate picture of the complete range of archaeological features through intensive field survey; regional, incorporating LiDAR data-analysis and aerial photography, to facilitate systematic understanding of the archaeological landscape; and macroregional, providing a socio-cultural framework. A GIS-based database of known and newly-discovered sites will be correlated with the new high-resolution palaeoenvironmental data, deepening our understanding of land- use. Microregional, regional, and macroregional studies will be integrated, elucidating large-scale processes of adaptation and anthropogenic impact over time, while enhancing the standing of Austrian research on this cultural phenomenon, both by disseminating new information to the scholarly community and wider public, and by capacity-building, helping a new generation of trained researchers.