Meilen–Rorenhaab 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 56 are located in Switzerland.

Geography

The site is located on

Lake Zurich 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 ...

{''Zürichsee'') lakeshore in Rohrenhaab, a locality of the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Meilen Meilen is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Meilen (district), Meilen in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zürich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. History Archaeological finds in Meilen date back more than ...

in the

Canton of Zürich The canton of Zurich is an administrative unit (Swiss canton, canton) of Switzerland, situated in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton of Switzerland. Zurich is the ''de facto'' Capi ...

in Switzerland. Because the lake has grown in size over time, the original piles are now around to below the water level of . The settlement comprises , and the buffer zone including the lake area comprises in all. During the winter of 1853–54, in the context of lowered water levels at the lake, archaeologist Ferdinand Keller discovered the remains of the site.

Description

As mentioned, this site was the starting point of pile-dwelling research and therefore interesting from the point of view of research history. It is one of several sites in a small area illustrating the typical settlement dynamics of a micro-region during the Neolithic. All periods are represented here, usually with several settlement phases, but particularly from the Early Bronze Age interesting are numerous dendrochronological dates, which allow to study the development of this period.

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