Egolzwil 3
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Wauwilermoos or Egolzwil 3 is one of the 111 serial sites of the
UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
'' Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps'', of which are 56 located in Switzerland.


Geography

The site is located on the former Wauwilersee lakeshore in the municipalities of Egolzwil, Wauwil and
Schötz Schötz is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Willisau (district), Willisau in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Lucerne (canton), Lucerne in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipality of Ohmstal merge ...
in the
Canton of Luzern The canton of Lucerne ( ; ; ; ) is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the country's central, German-speaking part. The population of the canton (as of ) is . , the population included 57,268 foreigners, or about 15.8% of the total populat ...
in Switzerland. The settlement comprises , and the buffer zone including the lake area comprises in all. Around 20000 BC a branch of the
Reuss glacier Reuss may refer to: *Reuss (surname) *Reuss (river) in Switzerland *Imperial County of Reuss or Reuß, several former states or countries in present-day Germany, and the People's State of Reuss *Principality of Reuss-Greiz and Principality of Reuss ...
formed a valley whose deepest point was approximately below the present surface. At
Schötz Schötz is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Willisau (district), Willisau in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Lucerne (canton), Lucerne in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipality of Ohmstal merge ...
the glacier stopped, as shown by the impressive
moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and Rock (geology), rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a gla ...
s. During the retreat of the glacier, meltwater jammed between the moraines. Thus in the Wauwilermoos plain three lakes were formed: ''Wauwilersee'', ''Hagimoos'' and ''Mauensee''; latter still exists. The meltwater outsourced enormous amounts of sand, so that the lakes never were particularly deep. The depth of Wauwilersee amounted only to about . To 17000 BC the area was finally free of ice, and soon first pioneer plants settled, such as dwarf birch and mountain avens on, typically for a post-glacial
tundra In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: #Arctic, Arctic, Alpine tundra, Alpine, and #Antarctic ...
landscape. Circa 14000 BC the three lakes started silting up with sand, lake
marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, Clay minerals, clays, and silt. When Lithification, hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. M ...
and peat. As a result of climatic changes, the lake levels have fluctuated over the course of the Stone Age era. The water level rose several times, and the area covered by water increased. On the one hand, the waves formed the beach ridges between Wauwil and Ettiswil. On the other hand, the radicals old Stone Age and middle Stone Age settlement sites were flooded by the rising water, wiped and finally covered with lake sediments. The Neolithic lake dwellings also were covered with lake
sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...
s. At the former ''Wauwilersee'' lake area,
peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...
was mined between 1820 and about 1920, and the lake was drained around 1859. To date, the area is still drained in order to make it usable for agriculture. The
moorland Moorland or moor is a type of Habitat (ecology), habitat found in upland (geology), upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and the biomes of montane grasslands and shrublands, characterised by low-growing vegetation on So ...
s in Wauwilermoos therefore disappeared except for small residual areas. Since July 2009 there is also a waterbird and migratory bird reserve of national importance, to protect migratory and waterfowl year-round living in Switzerland.


Description

''Egolzwil 3'' is one of the earliest lake-dwelling settlements in Switzerland. Therefore, it contains an important archaeological
Egolzwil culture Wauwilermoos or Egolzwil 3 is one of the 111 serial sites of the UNESCO World Heritage Site ''Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps'', of which are 56 located in Switzerland. Geography The site is located on the former Wauwilersee lakeshore ...
reference assemblage. The houses in this region were built directly on the ground, as the well-preserved house floors with hearths prove. The village was inhabited only for six years, and thus ''shows a short but precisely defined episode within the Neolithic period. Moreover, it provides favourable preservation conditions for wood and other organic materials such as plants and bone''. The remains of the settlements are an important site for palaeo-ecological studies on the Wauwil bog (German: ''Wauwilermoos'').


Excavations and finds

After the draining of the lake in the mid-19th century, first Stone Age settlements have been found in the vast moorland. Due to the excavations that were carried out until 1929, the Wauwil plain became known as an archaeological region. A research based on scientific criteria began in the early 1930s with excavations in Schötz and at the Neolithic site ''Egolzwil E2'' under the direction of Hans Reinerth. Emil Vogt started systematic excavations from 1950 to 1966 on the settlement sites E3, E4 and E5. After the excavations under René Wyss in 1965 and 1985–88, eleven
Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
and 30
Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...
sites were known at the Wauwilermoos, at the beginning of the 21st century even more than 120 Stone Age sites. The first settlements rose after the withdrawal of the Reuss glacier around 13000 BC at six sites. Late
Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...
(approx. 12000-9000 BC) includes 46 sites situated on an old elevated shoreline of the former lake. These artifacts, among them many burins and typical back and wide lace tee scratches, are attributed to the Fürstein culture. The well-documented Egolzwil culture was named after the ''Wauwilermoos'' (''E3'') site, dated shortly after 4300 BC. In addition to the eponymous locality Egolzwil E3, there are four other settlement sites. The short-lived village was built at the ground level in the sedimentation zone of the lake. Its houses were made of timber ash, oak and alder. The interior was illuminated and heat by a centrally disposed fireplace. The hand-shaped ceramic consisted mainly of pots and bowls with two round-bowed handles and an average volume of 1.8 to 2.8 liters, along with some liquid containers (volume of 6-8 liters) and individual so-called ''Wauwilerbecher'' cups. Unique are sickles with a straight wooden handle and diagonally sweeping knives made of
flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...
that was fixed with
birch tar Birch bark tar (sometimes referred to as birch bark pitch) is a substance that is synthesized by dry distillation of birch tree bark. Chemical composition Birch bark tar is mainly composed of triterpenoid compounds of the lupane and oleanane f ...
, axe shafts, clubs, sticks, furrows, and a textile jewelry container with shells from the Mediterranean area.


Protection

As well as being part of the 56 Swiss sites of the UNESCO World Heritage Site '' Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps'', the settlement is also listed in the
Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance #REDIRECT Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance {{R from other capitalisation ...
as a ''Class A'' object of national importance. Hence, the area is provided as a historical site under federal protection, within the meaning of the Swiss Federal Act on the nature and cultural heritage (German: Bundesgesetz über den Natur- und Heimatschutz NHG) of 1 July 1966. Unauthorised researching and purposeful gathering of findings represent a criminal offense according to Art. 24.


See also

*
Wauwilermoos internment camp Wauwilermoos was an internment camp and prisoner-of-war penal camp in Switzerland during World War II. It was situated in the municipalities of Wauwil and Egolzwil in the Canton of Lucerne (Luzern). Established in 1940, Wauwilermoos was a pena ...


Literature

* Peter J. Suter, Helmut Schlichtherle et al.: ''Pfahlbauten – Palafittes – Palafitte''. Palafittes, Biel 2009. . * A. de Capitani, Mathias Seifert, Trivun Sormaz and Werner E. Stöckli: ''Egolzwil 3, die Keramik der neolithischen Seeufersiedlung''. Archaeologische Schriften Luzern 15.1, Kantonsarchäologie Luzern 2013, .


References


External links

*
Archäologischer Lernpfad Wauwilermoos
{{Coord, 47, 10, 56.55, N, 8, 0, 59.36, E, display=title, region:CH-LU_type:landmark Prehistoric pile dwellings in Switzerland Wauwil Egolzwil Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Lucerne