Freienbach–Hurden Seefeld 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

Hurden-Seefeld is located at the ''

Frauenwinkel Frauenwinkel is a Mire landscapes in Switzerland, mire landscape in Switzerland, situated at the ''Seedamm'' area on ''Zürichsee'' lakeshore in the municipality of Freienbach in the Canton of Schwyz. Geography Frauenwinkel is situated on ...

'' area on ''

Zürichsee Lake Zurich (, ; ) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or can be used to describe the lake as a whole, or just that part of the lake downstream of the Hurden peninsula and ...

'' lakeshore in

Hurden Hurden is a village in the municipality of Freienbach in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. First mentioned in 1217, the name "de Hurden" was used for the peninsula and for the fish traps made of woven work, called "Hürden" or "Hurden", which ...

, a locality of the municipality of

Freienbach Freienbach is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Höfe District in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. History Freienbach is first mentioned in 972 as ''Friginbach''. Geography Freienbach has an area, , of . Of this area, 40.7% ...

in the

Canton of Schwyz The canton of Schwyz ( ; ; ; ) is a Cantons of Switzerland, canton in central Switzerland between the Swiss Alps, Alps in the south, Lake Lucerne to the west and Lake Zürich in the north, centred on and named after the town of Schwyz. It is one ...

in Switzerland. Situated at the ''

Seedamm The Rapperswil Seedamm is the artificial causeway at the narrowest area of Lake Zurich between Hurden, Hurden (SZ) and Rapperswil (SG). The structure contains two bridge segments and is approximately long. The Seedamm carries a road () and ...

'', an isthmus between the ''Zürichsee'' and the ''Obersee'' lake area, it was in close vicinity to the prehistoric lake crossings, neighboured by three other Prehistoric pile dwelling settlements: Freienbach–Hurden Rosshorn, Rapperswil-Jona/Hombrechtikon–Feldbach and

Rapperswil-Jona–Technikum Rapperswil-Jona–Technikum 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. It is a small former island in the '' upper Lake Zürich'' in Rap ...

. Because the lake has grown in size over time, the original piles are now around to under the water level of . The settlement comprises , and the buffer zone including the lake area comprises in all.

Description

The early

Corded ware culture The Corded Ware culture comprises a broad archaeological horizon of Europe between – 2350 BC, thus from the Late Neolithic, through the Copper Age, and ending in the early Bronze Age. Corded Ware culture encompassed a vast area, from t ...

in one of several settlement phases provide dates which are of particular scientific interest in terms of the emergence and dissemination in Switzerland. The layers are extraordinarily well preserved and hold valuable reserves of research material. Extending over to metres, the settlement is also of great interest due to its function and internal organization on this important transport route crossing the lake.

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.

Literature

* Peter J. Suter, Helmut Schlichtherle et al.: ''Pfahlbauten – Palafittes – Palafitte''. Palafittes, Biel 2009. . * Beat Eberschweiler: ''Ur- und frühgeschichtliche Verkehrswege über den Zürichsee: Erste Ergebnisse aus den Taucharchäologischen Untersuchungen beim Seedamm''. In: Mitteilungen des Historischen Vereins des Kantons Schwyz, Volume 96, Schwyz 2004.

References

External links