The prehistoric pile dwellings are a phenomenon localized in the Alpine countries. They appear as early as in the Neolithic Age and exist throughout the Copper and Bronze Ages.

Today, over 1000 pile dwelling sites are known, spreading across Switzerland, southern Germany, Austria, Slovenia, northern Italy and eastern France.

Suitable locations on lakeshores were often resettled time and again. That is why the remains of settlements from various periods often lie on top of each other. In other places, settlements were relocated.

The gaps of settlement in the wider Central Europe at the beginning and the end of the 4th millennium BC are assumed to be the consequence of climate changes, which brought with them famine. A common reason is also infectious diseases. These difficult factors also brought raids and conflicts between the peoples.

Genetic analyses of the cemeteries of the Bell Beaker and Corded Ware cultures indicate a change in the European population by the migration from the east, specifically from the area of the Pit Grave or Yamaya culture. This change is likely associated with the first arrival of Indo-European languages arriving in central and western Europe.

The last pile dwellers lived on the lakes during the Bronze Age. When lake levels began to decline, people settled on nearby hills.

Sources: docs.google.com/document/d/1mnK9tpEvz9UgeVWuUh8fPF…

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