1000 Years before the pile dwellings – Complex Neolithisation processes in the northwestern Alpine foreland

The northwestern prealpine foreland is famous for its UNESCO World Heritage Neolithic and Bronze Age pile dwellings. But long before that, the two major Neolithisation Waves of Europe (Danubian and Western Mediterranean) converged in our study area. LBK settlements extended south of the Swabian Alb and north of Lake Constance. In between, stray finds like shoe-last adzes have recently been supplemented by several sites with Early and Middle Neolithic pottery, including wetland areas and a hilltop site, although none of them is classified as a farming settlement. During the Middle Neolithic, there is a spatial expansion of sites and single finds, extending as far south as the Alpine Rhine Valley and the Lake Zurich region, with unambiguous farming settlements and burials now included. New pollen data also confirm intensive human impact in the region from at least 4650 BCE. However, the Danubian Neolithisation tradition did not spread into the western Swiss Plateau, likely because the Western Mediterranean Neolithic was already established here. Not only is La Hoguette pottery found in and beyond LBK settlement areas, but the Middle Neolithic pottery of various styles is also present, as are numerous Chamblandes graves. Both pottery and graves already reach the wetlands, and settlements (some with cereal remains) on the shores of Lake Geneva, Lake Neuchâtel, and Burgäschisee confirm the presence of Early Farmers in the Swiss Midlands. Again, the onset of intensive human activity in pollen profiles can be dated to the early 5th millennium BCE. In this article, we argue that the Neolithisation of the Alpine foothills began a millennium before the spread of the pile dwellings and that complex, multi-stage and overlapping processes were at work.