For forty years, archaeological excavations carried out on several Paleolithic sites around the harbor of Geneva have revealed a great wealth of information on the life of its inhabitants during the Late Bronze Age, between 1100 and 850 BCE.
“The Final Bronze Age is not the oldest period, but it is the one where we have the most complete data on the habitat around Lake Geneva”, specifies Wednesday in the RTS Forum program Pierre Corboud, prehistorian and co-author of a recent monograph on forty years of archaeological excavations.
Indeed, the remains of previous periods have been largely eroded by fluctuations in water levels, more particularly in a large dynamic lake like Lake Geneva.
The excavations revealed the presence of thousands of piles in the harbor of Geneva, vestiges of lake dwellings. “There are around 2,000 or 3,000 fewer left today, because some have already been extracted and studied. These stilts tell us about the structure of the dwellings and allow us to understand how people lived at the edge of the lake,” explains Pierre Corboud. .
These houses were built close to the riverbank, elevated to avoid seasonal flooding and accidental flooding. “These villages were protected by wave-breaking palisades, a precaution against seasonal or exceptional rising water,” he continues.
No construction above water
The excavations also made it possible to deconstruct ancient ideas. Originally, houses were thought to be built on platforms above the water.
However, Pierre Corboud specifies: “These were not houses on floating platforms, but houses erected on the bank, during periods of low water levels.” This construction made it possible to protect the inhabitants from the humidity of the ground and to avoid nuisances caused by rodents, as in the mazots in Valais.
This gives us intimate knowledge of the diet and harvests of the time, but also very precise dating thanks to the study of wooden stakes.
Daily life at this time was similar to that of the first centuries of the Middle Ages, according to the prehistorian. “They were farmers and herders who owned animals such as oxen, sheep and pigs. Their agriculture was based on clearing land, sometimes by burning. Their way of life was comparable to that of the 8th or 9th century CE” , he explains.
These excavations uncovered exceptionally well-preserved organic remains, including wood, bark and leaves. “This gives us intimate knowledge of the diet and harvests of the time, but also very precise dating thanks to the study of wooden stakes,” notes Pierre Corboud.
Lake level variations
Research has also highlighted several periods of major climatic degradation. Between 4000 and 800 BCE, at least three significant climatic degradations affected the region, notably droughts. The water level could have fallen by six meters compared to the current level, mentions Pierre Corboud for example.
These excavations were made possible thanks to land development work, for example, the Eaux-Vives beach project. “When I was told that the excavations were going to be carried out, I was delighted. For years, I had been asking that we could excavate this site, but I was told that it was not the time or that we didn’t have the money”, recalls Pierre Corboud.
“The final Bronze coastal station of Plonjon and the prehistoric sites of Geneva harbor”, by Pierre Corboud and Christiane Pugin Russbach, French-speaking archeology notebooks n° 192, 320 pp.
Comments collected by Mehmet Gultas
Adaptation web: exercise
