Timeless elegance and high-quality craftsmanship: whether wagons or wheels, tools or weapons, ritual objects or jewelry, Bronze Age craftsmanship demonstrates remarkable precision. It was an era that saw the emergence of the first specialized professions. Villages housed smithies, boat-building workshops, wheelwrights’ shops, and other specialized facilities. The necessary raw materials were carefully extracted, mined, or acquired through trade networks.
The woodworking skills and expertise of the pile-dwelling people are evident in more than just their homes. A wagon with wooden wheels could be dismantled and reassembled in just 30 minutes. This was practical for storage during the winter months, but also for repairs: if a wheel broke on rough terrain, it could be replaced in minutes. The wheels were made of oak and consisted of several parts joined together around a central hub using dovetail joints. The axle itself was fixed securely to the wagon.
The far more refined bronze wheels—which can be admired in the cult building—were created using the lost-wax casting process. Several individual components, cast in clay molds, were assembled with admirable precision and care. Breastplates, helmets, and greaves featuring intricate ornamentation also bear witness to the professionalism of the Bronze Age smiths.
Archaeological evidence from the workshops confirms the widespread use of small tools such as punches, awls, and gravers, as well as hammers, anvils, decorative pins, sickles, spearheads, and swords. The blacksmith’s trade relied on a functioning long-distance trade network for raw materials. Trader hoards found in the vicinity of the settlement attest to the lively exchange between cultures spanning thousands of kilometers. Towards the end of the Bronze Age, there appears to have been not only a deterioration in the climate but also an interruption to the previously reliable supply of raw materials. The proportion of recycled bronze increased, and stockpiles of scrap metal were created.

In the workshop
Children helped adults with their work from an early age. They were allowed not just to experiment, but to carry out actual craft tasks themselves—such as shaping a dugout canoe. This took quite a long time and required some practice: the wood had to be shaved away chip by chip using a drawknife. The tool was sharp and had to be guided very evenly to ensure the side of the boat turned out nice and smooth. Have you ever built something yourself?