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Around Lake Pfäffikon there were once several multiple pile dwelling settlements. One of them was located at the Pfäffikon Burg site. A vast amount of finds were made during the excavations. In this video, archaeologist Adrian Huber presents several special finds and gives an insight into the life and work of the people at that time.
This video was produced in cooperation with the Cantonal Archaeology Zurich and Magic Motions Filmproductions.
Illustrations in the video: www.bunterhund.ch
Blog Cantonal Archaeology: www.zh.ch/de/s...
Website Magicmotions Filmproduktionen: www.magicmotio...
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5000 years ago, a Neolithic settlement arose in the shore fringe near Pfäffikon. A part of it was excavated by the cantonal archaeology in 1997. From it, as from many pile dwelling settlements, came a vast amount of finds made of organic material. That means: from wood, bones, antlers and others.
The people shaped a still largely natural environment with a rural way of life. At the beginning of pile-dwelling research in the 19th century, people imagined peasants as they were contemporary and considered them as ancestors of the population living at that time.
Today, this image has changed to the peasant economy of the pile dwellers.
The rather lightly built settlements, for example, indicate that the settlement sites were moved periodically.
The likely background is that natural resources such as soils or forests were abandoned when they threatened to run out, new areas were used, and the abandoned site was left to recover naturally, only to return to the same place in a decade, or perhaps a little later.
The settlement included about 10 to 15 houses built on the wet beach slab. As far as we know from the excavations, the place was used for about 100 years and then abandoned.
From the settlement, the fields in the surrounding area were cultivated. These were located on cleared moraines in the hinterland. Cattle was also kept in the settlement, which was probably fattened in the forest pastures. An important source of food was certainly the fish that could be caught in the lake.
The life, activity and work of the people in the village left a great wealth of finds, which archaeologists can recover today. From these findings, an attempt has been made to develop a picture of the village that existed 5000 years ago on Lake Pfäffikon.
Some of these finds, we will now show you.
If you hike from Wetzikon to Pfäffikon today, you probably won't get the idea that in prehistoric times, the red deer was a very frequently hunted animal in this area. The meat was consumed, of course. But perhaps even more important were the antlers, because they could only be obtained from this animal. Antler was a very important raw material in the Neolithic period.
This needle, for example, is made from it. The function of this needle was probably not in fine sewing, but rather in knotting, braiding and weaving. These techniques played a great role in those times.
The ornamentation that has been placed on this side testifies to the esteem in which it was held. The rough reverse side, on which the structure of the antlers can still be seen, helps in determining the material.
The next object is a very rare find. It consists of the section of a deer antler rod that has been hollowed out on the inside. It is a small box. The outside has been polished smooth and has a dot decoration and notches. Certainly, a small treasure was kept in this box. Unfortunately, we do not know what it was.
At the Pfäffikon Burg site, a large number of other finds were made. For example, knives, chisels, small hammers, bowls, Dishes, ladles, utensil handles of axes and the corresponding interlinings with stone axes.
These and other finds are on display at the Pfäffikon Local Museum. On the occasion of the 10-year anniversary "UNESCO Cultural Heritage Pile Dwellings around the Alps".
More information at www.die-pfahlbauer-in.ch
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