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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 May 2014
The theory of pile-dwellings, first put forward by the Swiss, Ferdinand Keller, is now 100 years old. According to this theory, there existed in prehistoric times buildings erected, not on dry land, but on artificial platforms raised on piles above the surface of the water.
This theory was based on well authenticated discoveries of the remains of settlements along the modern lake shores, in the first place on evidence from the south German, Swiss, French and Italian lakes. The very large number of piles found in connection with organic substances (wooden vessels, textiles, food stuffs and seeds) provided a basis for belief in the existence of such settlements. Moreover, the knowledge of modern pile-dwellings, especially in the South Seas, was cited in support of Keller's theory. So well was it grounded, that for over 70 years no one questioned the existence of prehistoric pile-dwellings.
page 102 note 1 Much, R., ‘Waren unsere Pfahlbauten Wassersiedlungen ?’ Mitt. d. Anthrop. Gesellschaft, LVII, (38) sqq. (1927)Google Scholar. In the discussion J. Szombathy already raised a number of points that reappear in the later investigations, above all the necessity of avoiding a general judgment. He also brought forward the fact that sunken monoxylous canoes had been found in the area of Laibach marsh; this only made sense if the settlement to which they belonged was, at least, near water.
page 102 note 2 Paret, O., Das neue Bild der Vorgeschichte, 13 sqq. (1946)Google Scholar.
page 102 note 3 Vogt, E., ‘Pfahlbaustudien’ in Das Pfahlbauproblem (Guyan, W. U., edt.), 117–219Google Scholar. (Schaffhausen, 1954); with critical bibliography.
page 102 note 4 Battaglia, R., ‘La Palafitta del Lago di Ledro nel Trentino’, Memorie del Museo di Storia naturale della Venezia Tridentina, VII (Trento, 1943)Google Scholar.
page 102 note 5 Ghislanzoni, E., ‘Note sulla struttura della Palafitta di Ledro e di altre stazioni lacustri dell' Italia’, Memorie dell' Ist. lombardo di sc. e lett. XXV, 201 sqq. (Milan, 1955)Google Scholar, with critical appreciation of the older Italian literature.
page 103 note 1 O. Paret, n. 2.
page 103 note 2 Paret, O., ‘Pfahlbaupfähle,’ Neue Beiträge zur Archäologie und Kunstgeschichte Schwabeas, Festschrift für Julius Braun, 11 sqq. (Stuttgart, 1952)Google Scholar.
page 103 note 3 E. Vogt, n. 3.
page 103 note 4 Guyan, W. U., Mensch und Urlandschaft der Schweiz, 101 sqq. (Zürich, 1954)Google Scholar.
page 104 note 1 O. Paret, n. 7.
page 104 note 2 e.g. SirWheeler, M., Archaeology from the Earth (Oxford, 1954)Google Scholar; Kenyon, K., Beginning in Archaeology, (New York, 1952)Google Scholar; Leroi-Gourhan, A., Les Fouilles préhistoriques (Paris, 1950)Google Scholar.
page 104 note 3 Cf. Pittioni, E. Preuschen–R., ‘Untersuchungen im Bergbaugebiet Kelchalm bei Kitzbühel, Tirol, 3. Bericht über die Arbeiten 1946–53 zur Urgeschichte des Kupferbergwesens in Tirol’, Archaeologia Austriaca, XV, 10 sqq. (1954)Google Scholar, with reference to differences in the state of preservation of wood depending on the stratum in which it is found. This evidence of preservation also requires particular attention in connection with the pile-dwelling problem.
page 104 note 4 Speck, J., ‘Die spätbronzezeitliche Siedlung Zug- “Sumpf”: Ergebnisse der Sommergrabung, 1952’, Ur-Schweiz, XVII, 51 sqq. (1953)Google Scholar.
page 105 note 1 R. Battaglia, n. 4.
page 105 note 2 Lüdi, W., ‘Problèmes relatifs aux palafittes’, Archives suisses d'Anthropologie générale, XVI, 129 sqq. (1951)Google Scholar.
page 105 note 3 Lamer, W., Wörterbuch der Antike, 311 (3rd edition, 1950)Google Scholar.
page 106 note 1 Truhelka, C., ‘Der vorgeschichtliche Pfahlbau im Savebette bei Donja Dolina, Bezirk Bosnisch-Gradiska’, Wissen. Mitt. aus Bosnien und Herzegovina, IX, 3 sqq. (1904)Google Scholar; Curčič, V., ‘Der prähistorische Pfahlbau der Bronzezeit in Ripaič bei Bihač in Bosnien’, Wissen. Mitt. aus Bosnien und Herzegovina, XII, 3 sqq (1912)Google Scholar.
page 106 note 2 Cf. on this question Table II in Pittioni, R., Urgeschichte des Österreichischen Raumes, 17 (1954)Google Scholar and the pertinent literature there cited (n. 39).
page 106 note 3 Firbas, F., Spät- und nacheiszeitliche Wald- und Klimageschichte Mitteleuropas nördlich der Alpen, I (1949)Google Scholar.
page 107 note 1 The problem of fluctuations in precipitation (whether climatic or seasonal) is further complicated by the evidence of fluctuations in the water table, apparently even during the Neolithic (Paret, O., Das Steinzeitdorf Ehrenstein bet Ulm (Donau) (Stuttgart, 1955)Google Scholar for a settlement of the Michelsberg-Schussenried type and Pittioni, R., Urzeitlicher Siedlungsraum in Österreich, Vienna, 1947, p. 22Google Scholar, for settlements of painted pottery type in Gallbrunn-St. Margarethen am Moos) as well as by evidence of tortoises in full Neolithic contexts (Pittioni, R., Urgeschichte des Österreichischen Raumes, 17, n. 1Google Scholar). In these questions also general deductions are to be avoided.
page 107 note 2 Cf. my notes on Ghislanzoni, E. n. 5 in Archaeologia Austriaca, XVIII, 109 (1955)Google Scholar.