The last "60 seconds of the ASL" retraced the emergence of agriculture around Lake Geneva. In particular, we talked about the preferred dwellings of local residents at the time: lakeside villages. Let's take a closer look at these historic living quarters, which represent a page in the history of Lake Geneva... "Lake village" is a term used to describe a village on the shores of Lake Geneva. Lake village" is a term widely used in the vocabulary of archaeology and ethnography. It refers to buildings located on the banks of a body of water, but also on the water, in which case they may be floating or on stilts. In the past, however, the term "lakeside village" was used inaccurately, as it referred only to dwellings deliberately built "with their feet in the water", or even on top of the water. In reality, Neolithic populations wanted to live close to the water but on dry ground. Given the variability of the lake level, the lake dwellers always built their houses by raising them up on stilts. And yes, 𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐮 𝐝𝐮 𝐥𝐚𝐜 𝐨𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝟔 𝐦𝐞̀𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐝𝐞 𝟑 𝐦𝐞̀𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬 compared to today's average altitude! These prehistoric men therefore had to constantly move and rebuild their villages while trying to keep their feet dry!
Numerous palafit sites have come to light all around Lake Geneva since the 1850s, demonstrating the vast 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐋𝐞́𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞 𝟑𝟖𝟓𝟔 𝐚𝐯. 𝐉.𝐂. 𝐞𝐭 𝟖𝟔𝟐 𝐚𝐯. 𝐉.𝐂. This type of dwelling was widespread in Europe during the Bronze Age, particularly in Switzerland and the Jura, where there are a large number of sites. In Geneva, the village of Plonjon, made up of houses on stilts, was occupied between 1070 and 858 BC.C. It represents the 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞̀𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐦𝐞́𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐞 last settlement built and occupied in the Rade. All that remains today are piles driven into the clay of Lake Geneva and a few remains of stone or bronze tools hidden under the sand. However, the village of Plonjon is not the only vestige of long-term human settlement on the shores of Lake Geneva. In fact, other palaeolithic sites have been observed, notably on the shores of the Lausanne and Thonon regions.
Sources :
Wikipedia , " Lake Cities ";
P. Corboud, Archives des Sciences (2012, 65:237-248) " Lake Geneva archaeology a century on F.A. FOREL "Campus n°111 The Swiss before Switzerland "February 2013;
Lémanique n°102, " Piles and manure, the riches of Lake Geneva "
