The ''Schnidejoch'' is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

in the

Bernese Alps The Bernese Alps are a mountain range of the Alps located in western Switzerland. Although the name suggests that they are located in the Berner Oberland region of the canton of Bern, portions of the Bernese Alps are in the adjacent cantons of Va ...

, at above sea level, cutting across the ridge connecting the

Schnidehorn The Schnidehorn is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, located on the border between the Swiss cantons of Bern and Valais. It lies in the massif of the Wildhorn, west of the Rawil Pass The Rawil Pass (el. 2429 m.) ( German: ''Rawilpass'') is a hig ...

and the

Wildhorn The Wildhorn is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the border between the Swiss cantons of Canton of Bern, Bern and Valais. At above sea level, it is the highest summit of the Bernese Alps west of the Gemmi Pass. It forms a large glaciated mass ...

. Archaeological artifacts, their dates spread over six millennia (from the Neolithic to the Late Middle Ages), have been discovered near the pass. They suggest that the pass was in regular use as a short route across the Bernese Alps, connecting the

Bernese Oberland The Bernese Oberland (; ; ), sometimes also known as the Bernese Highlands, is the highest and southernmost part of the canton of Bern. It is one of the canton's five administrative regions (in which context it is referred to as ''Oberland'' witho ...

and the

Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

, throughout this period. The nearest easier passes across the massif are the

Sanetschpass Sanetsch Pass (French: ''Col du Sanetsch'' or ''Col de Sénin'') (el. 2242 m) is a high mountain pass in Switzerland across the western Bernese Alps, connecting Gsteig in the canton of Bern and Sion in the canton of Valais. Although a road lead ...

() and the Rawilpass (), situated a short distance to the west and east, respectively. In September 2003,

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

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 ...

artifacts were discovered at the icefield just below the pass, at ca. . The discovery was made possible by the melting away of the formerly permanent ice field during the exceptionally hot summer of 2003. Further searches in 2004 and 2005 yielded more than 400 objects dating to various epochs, about half of them placed by carbon dating to between 29th and the 27th centuries BC (

Corded ware 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 th ...

period). The objects include hunting weapons and clothing. A yew bow found at the site and taken home by a German tourist in 2003 was returned to the Bernese cantonal archaeologists in 2005. The 3rd millennium dates of the oldest artifacts were revised to the mid

5th millennium BC The 5th millennium BC spanned the years (5000 BC – 4001 BC) (c. 7 ka to c. 6 ka), that is, inclusive of 5000 BC but exclusive of 4000 BC. It is impossible to precisely date events that happened around the time of this millennium ...

( linear pottery period) in a 2008 press release.
NZZ,

Schweizerische Depeschenagentur The Swiss Telegraphic Agency (German: ''Schweizerische Depeschenagentur'', SDA; French: ''Agence télégraphique suisse'', ATS; Italian: ''Agenzia telegrafica svizzera'', ATS; branded as Keystone-SDA/Keystone-ATS since 27 April 2018) is the nati ...

21 August 2008 The revised dates would establish the artifacts as older than

Ötzi the Iceman Ötzi, also called The Iceman, is the natural mummy of a man who lived between 3350 and 3105 BC. Ötzi's remains were discovered on 19 September 1991, in the Ötztal Alps (hence the nickname "Ötzi", ) at the Austria–Italy border. He ...

References

External links

*http://www.be.ch/web/index/kanton/kanton-mediencenter/kanton-mediencenter-mm/kanton-mediencenter-mm-detail.htm?id=6706 * {{Authority control Archaeological sites in Switzerland Bernese Alps Neolithic sites of Europe Bronze Age sites in Europe Corded Ware culture 2003 archaeological discoveries