Archaeological and botanical investigations of the Neolithic settlement dynamics in the Hegau and Western Lake Constance area (South-West Germany)

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This project studies the dynamics of Neolithic settlement pattern (between 5500 and 2000 BC) in the landscapes of the Hegau and Western Lake Constance region, applying archaeological and vegetation-historical methods. Therefore, it is essential to compare the Hegau, where the earliest settlements are dated to the 6th millennium BC, with the neighbouring Western Lake Constance region, where lake dwellings were the first evidence of settlements, which were established after 4000 BC. This leads to the research issue of whether lake dwellings and wetland settlements are a special case because of either their particular conservation conditions or economic and cultural reasons. The research concentrates on the question of whether lake shores were settled synchronised with the Hegau or whether colonisation took place independently in the two regions as a kind of alternate zone. In the synoptic analysis a detailed use of geographic information systems to develop space and time differentiated models of Neolithic land use will be adopted.