During the last "60 seconds of the ASL", recounting the first occupants of Lake Geneva, we remained in an era when populations were constantly evolving and adapting to their environment. Then came a great revolution, turning the habits of our valiant inhabitants of Lake Geneva upside down: agriculture!
Agriculture came to Europe relatively late. The Neolithic period, marked by profound technical and social change and based on agriculture and animal husbandry, was brought over from the Near East. The components of this revolution were imported, not invented locally. Archaeological evidence of this can be seen in the deposits; the absence of any traces of animal or plant species at the hybrid stage shows that the evolution from wild to domesticated species did not take place. This means that techniques, as well as foodstuffs such as wheat and barley, and domesticated animals such as sheep, goats, pigs and cattle, and know-how, were brought to our regions. This transition from a predatory to a productive economy lasted several centuries, between 11,000 and 7,000 BC, and the origin of this transition is still a matter of debate. Did this new know-how spread through contact and exchange? Or was it brought by migrants from the East, who then settled in the territories occupied by the hunter-gatherers? A genetic study* shows that the truth lies somewhere between the two hypotheses: agriculture was brought to Europe by men from the Near East, who then had descendants with women from indigenous populations, until little by little agriculture "colonised" the whole of Europe, and therefore Lake Geneva.
One point remains unresolved: what were these lakeside villages like, so idealised in the 19th century? For years, following the discovery of prehistoric villages in 1854, the first models of lakeside cities were represented by dwellings built on the water. But no! The inhabitants of Lake Geneva have always settled on dry ground. More on this in a forthcoming 60 seconds.
Information taken from the UNIGE's scientific magazine, le Campus n°111, " The Swiss before Switzerland, a heritage under threat "February 2013, and Lémanique No. 26, " The prehistoric villages of Lake Geneva, a threatened heritage "Dec. 1997.
Photo credit: ©Campus no. 111, "The Swiss before Switzerland"; "Corsier-Port(GE), circa 3,000-2,800 BC. A group abandons its village after setting it on fire and moves on to another territory. Lake villages only lasted between five and twenty-five years, rarely longer.
*A Predominantly Neolithic Origin for European Paternal Lineages. (2020). PLoS Biology,
