Introduction to Lake Dwellers
Lake Dwellers, or Pile Dwellers, prehistoric people of the Alpine region of Europe who built houses at the edge of lakes. In a general sense, lake dwellers are any people who build their houses on the edge of lakes or on marshy ground, usually on piles.
The Alpine Lake Dwellers
Wooden posts, or piles, mark the sites of the settlements of the Alpine lake dwellers. For many years, archeologists thought that these piles had supported houses on platforms over the water. However, excavations in Switzerland since 1957 indicate that the houses were probably built on the shore. Many archeologists now believe that the wooden piles were driven into the marshy lake shore to hold the foundation material and the houses in place.
Remains of hundreds of lake villages have been found in the Alpine regions of Switzerland, Germany, France, and Italy. The settlements date from later Neolithic times (about 3000 B.C.) through the Bronze Age (about 2000 B.C. to 700 B.C.).
Lake dwellers had to provide a firm foundation for their houses to keep them from sagging or tilting in the wet soil. They pounded layers of rubble, branches, and soft earth until a firm surface was formed. Then they drove pointed piles through this foundation, anchoring it to the firmer subsoil. Longer piles formed the framework of the rectangular log houses. These piles were also driven through the foundation to the firmer subsoil, and sometimes as deep as the underlying gravel.
Lake dwellings varied in size and number of rooms. They had pointed gable roofs thatched with grass and reed. Walls were constructed of slender poles and reeds or of woven twigs daubed with clay. A fireplace was built on the earth floor of each house. By the Bronze Age in Switzerland, houses were built with wooden floors. In later times, the dwellings may have been raised slightly above the ground to protect the floor boards from rotting.
Large lake villages may have contained up to 75 houses and more than 300 residents. Small settlements might contain only a few houses, a granary, and an animal shelter. Some villages had log paths over the wet ground and a palisade fence (a row of piles) enclosing the settlement on its land sides.
The lake mud preserved wood, textile, and plant remains that usually decompose when exposed to air. These remains, together with stone objects, bones, and pottery, reveal much about the life of people during the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.
The lake dwellers hunted deer, boar, aurochs, fox, beaver, bear, swan, and wild duck. Their weapons were short wooden lances, flint knives, flint-tipped arrows, and wooden bows. They fished for pike, salmon, and carp, using barbed harpoons of staghorn, bone fishhooks, and nets with wooden floats. Sometimes they fished from dugouts (log canoes). Remains of wild fruits show that lake dwellers also gathered plums, cherries, apples, pears, berries, and nuts.
In small plots along the lake shore, they cultivated wheat, barley, and millet with wooden hoes. Flint-toothed wooden sickles were used for reaping. The lake dwellers had cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and dogs.
Some of the lake dwellers' clothing was made from animal skins, using bone awls, needles, and scrapers. Wooden shuttles and remnants of linen cloth have been found, indicating that the lake dwellers also wove from flax. None of the cloth retains any color, but remains of a plant that yields a yellow dye have been found in the settlements.
Other handcrafted articles were baskets, nets, mats, and clay pots. On the site of the open cooking fire lay wooden spoons, platters, ladles, and tubs. Deer-horn drinking cups and wooden combs have also been found.
To make piles, the lake dwellers chopped down trees with stone axheads lashed to wood or antler handles. They sharpened the ends of the piles with axes or by burning, making fire with wooden fire drills. The sharpened piles were pounded into the ground with wooden mallets.
Neolithic lake dwellers may have carried on trade with southwestern Europe. Archeologists have found copper beads north of the Alps where copper ore was rare. During the Bronze Age, the lake dwellers began to use bronze for weapons and jewelry.
Other Lake Dwellers
In England, Scotland, and Ireland during the Iron Age (after 500 B.C.), lake dwellers constructed fortified settlements on mounds built up in shallow lakes or marshes. These forts are called crannogs, from the Old Irish word crann, “tree.” Near Glastonbury in England, a mound was created by laying thousands of trees on the lake bed. The mound was anchored by piles, covered with a wooden platform on which thatched huts were built, and surrounded by a palisade fence.
Some primitive peoples of today build their houses on platforms supported by piles. Such dwellings are built over lakes, rivers, and lagoons in the East Indies, central Africa, and tropical South America.
