UNESCO World Heritage Site

Showcase UNESCO World Heritage Site

Since 2011 the serial site “Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps” has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is comprised of 111 sites in six countries – France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Italy. Researchers today estimate the total number of unique sites to be over 2,000, including sites outside Central Europe. Others, for example in Spain, Greece, Ireland, Russia, China and the USA, will be added due to their special conservation status in lakes and moors, but also on rivers, lagoons and in the sea. The pile dwellings at Unteruhldingen, known since 1864, now look back on more than 160 years of research history.

A lively presentation

Here at the Pile Dwelling Museum, the findings are conveyed in a variety of ways using objects, guided tours, media stations and participary programs. he purpose of the UNESCO World Heritage designation is to protect and preserve cultural assets, but also to provide information about the importance of this archaeological treasure as a testimony to the cultural history and social identity of humanity.

Map: 1000 sites. Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps | Swiss Coordination Group UNESCO Palafittes | Graphic: René Buschor

A bird’s eye view

To the east of the port of Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen, there are over 20,000 piles stuck in the lakebed. They are easy to make out from the air, especially the darker ones made of oak. The clear water shows sea palisades, streets and regular houses. The clearly visible black areas, on the other hand, were created by modern gravel fillings to prevent erosion caused by the constant movement of the water. The pile dwelling settlement of Unteruhldingen comprises cultural remains from all known Stone Age and Bronze Age periods at Lake Constance.

Photo: A. Mende | APM

Through the diving goggles

From a scuba divers’s perspective, the remains of the settlement at Unteruhldingen look like a stubble field made of piles. Hence the German name “Stollenwiesen” (pile meadow). The gradual sinking of the lake floor due to erosion causes the wooden building elements to become more and more prominent. n some places, the underwater archaeologists have the impression of swimming through a millennia old forest. The systematic investigation and documentation of the lakebed of Lake Constance help to decipher the history of the pile dwellings.

Photo: M. Schellinger | APM

History made visible

The information gained through aerial photography and underwater archaeology – supplemented by laboratory studies – allows for the reconstruction of both the pile dwellings settlements, as well as their surrounding environment. Step by step, a house is recreated, followed by a row of houses, then the surrounding ring palisade, and finally the waterside landscape. After thousands of years, the pile villages are being rebuilt here, in the Unteruhldingen open-air museum and is continually being supplemented and expanded.

Photo: M. Schellinger | APM