Thanks to the excellent preservation conditions that prevailed in the waterlogged layers of the prehistoric wetland settlements around the Alps, precise information is available on the architecture and implements that would not normally have survived the past millennia. Wooden objects in particular, but also textiles and botanical remains, complement the usual artefact categories of stone, pottery and metal. This lecture presents a selection of features and finds from pile-dwelling settlements that allow today’s craftspeople to create replicas.

Architecture
The example of the lakeside settlement of Arbon-Bleiche 3 (3384–3370 BC) on Lake Constance in Canton Thurgau (Switzerland) shows how detailed modern reconstructions of prehistoric houses can actually be. Pile positions, for instance, provide clues as to the size of the buildings, which measured 8×4 m on average. The load-bearing framework was constructed of silver fir and ash piles with diameters of c. 10–12 cm and the raised floors were supported by ash piles. The floors and walls consisted of poles and split planks coated with clay. The rooves were covered with shingles. Log ladders attest to raised areas which may have been used to store provisions. House 23 from Arbon-Bleiche 3 was reconstructed at a scale of 1:1 at the Lake Dwelling Museum in Unteruhldingen in Germany (Fig. 1) and at the ArchaeoParc Schnals in South Tyrol.

Production of wooden cups
The assemblages of Late Stone Age finds from the pile-dwelling villages comprise tens of thousands of ceramic sherds. Besides these the people at the time also used a variety of wooden vessels. Because of the preservation conditions, remains of Stone Age households such as these are, however, highly under-represented or have even completely decayed. The lecture presents a number of striking examples of wooden cup production from Arbon-Bleiche 3. The site yielded finished cups, half-finished specimens and waste (Fig. 2). Maple and pome wood were the preferred raw materials. A blank, which consisted of a round body with a vertical appendix, was carved out of a young tree trunk. The body was then hollowed out using a flint tool and the appendix shaped into a curved handle. The surface of the cup was then polished using sand.

The archaeological layers of the pile-dwelling villages have yielded many more chaînes opératoires, which provide us with detailed patterns of how to construct buildings or fashion wooden combs, tool handles, vessels, ladles, arrows, etc. All the experimental archaeologists have to do is recreate them.

References
Leuzinger, U. (2000) Die jungsteinzeitliche Seeufersiedlung Arbon-Bleiche 3. Befunde. Archäologie im Thurgau 9, Frauenfeld, Departement für Erziehung und Kultur des Kantons Thurgau.

de Capitani, A., Deschler-Erb, S., Leuzinger, U. et al. (2002) Die jungsteinzeitliche Seeufersiedlung Arbon-Bleiche 3. Funde. Archäologie im Thurgau 11, Frauenfeld, Departement für Erziehung und Kultur des Kantons Thurgau.