Neolithic settlement discovered in Zurich - Excavations

Neolithic settlement discovered in Zurich - Excavations - Archaeology Switzerland

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In winter 2021 / early jar 2022 archaeological excavations took place at Mytenquai in Zurich. Remains of a Neolithic settlement were found. We were on site in a film mission and were able to elicit information from the archaeologists about the site, as well as some finds just pulled out of the ground. In the video, archaeologist Adrian Huber talks about the work of the Cantonal Archaeology, the excavations and reveals information about the site. Archaeologist Hildegard Müller presents and explains various finds. We hope you will enjoy it. 😄
Blog Cantonal Archaeology Zurich: ad.zh.ch/
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We are at Mythenquai in Zurich, that is, on the left shore of the lake at the exit of the city. Here under the fillings are old beach slabs on which pile-dwelling settlements existed in the Neolithic period, about 5000 years ago.
The current excavation takes place in a sewer line trench, which is made because of the sewer line renovation for the Enge quarter.
Today, about 5 meters and the current terrain we find these beach slabs. Around the entire lower Lake Zurich, village-like settlements existed in various sections during the Neolithic period. So also at the Mythenquai. And on these beach slabs we find the remains of quite simple hut-like buildings. These formed small villages of perhaps 10, 15, 20 houses existing simultaneously, arranged in rows or columns, depending on the period, in relation to the lakeshore at that time.
Specifically, in the excavations we find the wooden piles driven into the beach slabs for the construction of these buildings. We find the clay linings of the hut floors and, of course, the find precipitation that existed around these house sites or in this settlement zone.
The piles are measured and later projected on plans. As they can be seen here, for example. This is the area immediately adjacent to this excavation, taken in the 1980s on the occasion of a new construction.
Also surveyed, recorded and photographed are the clay lenses mentioned previously. They will be mapped out and will then provide information about the settlement structure. From the distribution of these clay lenses, one can see how the buildings stood in rows. One can see in the clay lenses renewal phases of these buildings. The piles are sampled and then examined dendrochronologically. That is, one tries to determine their age and to deduce from the tangle of piles, which such plans often represent, the house ground plans. The finds are collected, filed according to stratigraphic context, so that they can later be projected as distribution plans to house floor plans.
Interestingly, the favorable settlement sites have been visited repeatedly over long periods of time. Interrupted by lake highs, which have placed lake deposits between these find layers. These lake deposits allow us to put the layers in a stratigraphic order. That is, a chronological sequence is documented. And we record this chronological sequence in the profiles that we record in the walls left standing at the end of the surface excavations.
During the excavations, we discovered, among other things, parts of a decorated pot that is 4700 years old. The shape and decoration are unusual on Lake Zurich. Similar pottery, on the other hand, was found on Lake Biel. Besides this, a variety of other artifacts were found.
Among them also stone axes made of rock, such as green stones. And in addition intermediate linings made of deer antlers. Such stone axes could be shafted into intermediate linings of deer antler and inserted into wooden spars. Thus, wood, for example, could be worked with these axes. The stone axes were used in the Neolithic period and are about 4700 to 5000 years old.
This is a fragment of a bark vessel. What exactly this vessel was used for, we do not know. Possibly, like Ötzi, who had one with him, it was used to transport charcoal to carry the fire. This fragment is from the Corded Ware period and is about 4700 years old.
Surprisingly, the excavations also revealed a layer with Bronze Age finds.
This is a spindle whorl. This spindle whorl comes from the Bronze Age layer, but they already existed in the Neolithic Age. Such spindle whorls were attached to a rod at the bottom of a spindle and stabilized the spindle while spinning. For such spindles were used to make threads from materials such as flax, nettles or, for example, linden bast.
More finds from the Bronze Age, we present you in the next video.