7,000-year-old grains hints at origin of Swiss pile dwellings

Date:
March 2, 2022
Source:
University of Basel
Summary:
There is no other place where so many Neolithic pile dwellings
have been uncovered as around the Alps. It is a mystery, however,
how this 'building boom' came to be. Researchers have now uncovered
new clues, and say that settlers at Lake Varese in northern Italy
may have played a leading role.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== There is no other place where so many Neolithic pile dwellings have
been uncovered as around the Alps. It is a mystery, however, how this
"building boom" came to be. Researchers at the University of Basel have
now uncovered new clues, and say that settlers at Lake Varese in northern
Italy may have played a leading role.


==========================================================================
When workers discovered the first pile-dwelling settlement on Lake Zurich
in the mid-19th century, a whole new area of archaeological research
was born.

Since then, 111 pile-dwelling villages in the Alpine region have been
made UNESCO World Heritage Sites, but it has so far been unclear where
this unique construction method came from. Experts assumed until a few
years ago that it was a local phenomenon.

Researchers led by Professor Ferran Antoli'n from the subject area of Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science (IPAS) at the University
of Basel, however, have found new clues as to how pile-dwelling culture
came to the areas north of the Alps. Prehistoric plant remains from a settlement from Lake Varese in northern Italy show the same composition
as the crops from the oldest Swiss pile-dwelling settlements in Zurich
and Egolzwil, Canton Lucerne.

The researchers have reported their findings in the Journal of
Archaeological Science: Reports.

Durum wheat, barley, opium poppy and flax The team took sediment cores
around a prehistoric settlement on Isolino Virginia, and determined the
age of the crops in the deposits using radiocarbon dating. According to
these results, this artificial island appears to have been inhabited as
early as 4950 to 4700 BCE. The oldest known pile-dwelling settlements
in Switzerland date back to around 4300 BCE.

Comparisons with IPNA's reference collection enabled the archaeobotanists
to identify the composition of the approximately 7,000-year-old plant
material from this earliest phase of occupation on Isolino Virginia:
durum wheat, barley, opium poppy and flax. The same plant species as
those cultivated by the inhabitants of the oldest Swiss pile-dwelling settlements.

Links to the western Mediterranean These plant species are atypical
of the northeastern Italian population of the time, however, whose
agriculture was focused on the cultivation of hulled wheats such as
emmer. The crops found at Lake Varese tended to be cultivated in the
western Mediterranean region. The research team concluded on this
basis that the settlement on Isolino di Varese might well have been
established by groups that came from the western Mediterranean or were
closely linked to it through trade. "These groups probably played a key
role in the spread of the pile-dwelling phenomenon north of the Alps,"
says Antoli'n, an archaeobotanist.

The period between 4700 BCE, when the settlement on Isolino di Varese
was temporarily abandoned, and 4300 BCE, when the first pile-dwelling
villages north of the Alps were established, continues to raise various questions. The researchers suspect that other archaeological evidence,
such as further settlements, may still remain undiscovered or could have
been lost.

In addition, current research shows that there is plenty of evidence of prehistoric pile dwellings in other areas of Europe, such as the central Balkans. Here, too, the team from the University of Basel is involved in
the research of Neolithic pile dwellings. These sites have a different agricultural tradition, however, making a direct connection to the pile dwellings of Switzerland unlikely.

The origin of the pile dwellings remains a complex phenomenon
that is almost impossible to clarify based on the remains
of the buildings themselves, says Antoli'n. "Analysis of
crop remains can make an important contribution here, though." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Basel. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Related Multimedia:
* Remains_of_crops_from_the_Neolithic_period ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. F. Antoli'n, H. Marti'nez-Grau, B.L. Steiner, F. Follmann,
R. Soteras, S.

Ha"berle, G. Prats, M. Scha"fer, M. Mainberger, I. Hajdas, D.G.

Banchieri. Neolithic occupations (c. 5200-3400 cal BC) at Isolino
Virginia (Lake Varese, Italy) and the onset of the pile-dwelling
phenomenon around the Alps. Journal of Archaeological Science:
Reports, 2022; 42: 103375 DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103375 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220302110629.htm

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