!!!Pfahlbauten

Lake-dwellings, remains of prehistoric settlements with houses and 
storage buildings at the margins of lakes and river banks. The 
dwellings were built on platforms erected on piles which were intended 
to stabilise the wet soil. As the water level rose in later periods, 
the remains of these structures were submerged. The first lake 
dwellings in Austria were discovered in 1864 in Lake Keutschach 
(Carinthia) and in Lakes Attersee and Mondsee (Upper Austria). They 
date from a period that has been called the  Mondsee Culture after the 
extensive finds made there. Most of the Austrian lake dwellings date 
from the late  New Stone Age, but similar settlements also existed in 
the  Bronze Age. Finds include ceramics, copper objects, bone and 
stone tools as well as organic materials such as wooden workpieces, 
shafts and house components, receptacles made from tree bark, strings, 
fishing nets, apple slices and even dung. Lake dwellings are 
jeopardised by modern building activity, shipping and by divers 
craving to take home souvenirs. Research has therefore concentrated on 
locating, recording and surveying finds in order to ensure they can be 
adequately protected.

!Literature
J. Offenberger, Die Pfahlbauten der Salzkammergutseen, 
1981; E. Ruttkay: Typologie und Chronologie der Mondsee-Gruppe, in: 
Das Mondsee-Land, exhibition catalogue, Mondsee 1981.


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