The Pile Villages in the Canton of Lucerne

20 February 2022

The Wauwilermoos (Canton of Lucerne) is one of the most important sites of pile villages (Pfahlbausiedlungen) from the youngest Stone Age (c. 5,500-2,000) in Europe.

From 17,000 B.C. on, the Wauwilermoos area was ice- and glacier-free. At the same time, the three lakes, Lake Wauwiler (Wauwilersee), Lake Mauen (Mausensee) and Lake Hagimoor (Hagimoorsee), began to silt up with sand, chalk and peat. Peat was even dug out of the area until the 20th century.

In the 19th century, Lake Wauwiler was drained, so only Lake Mauen remains of the original three lakes.

Soon after the last Ice Age (around 14,000), the first herds of animals entered the landscape. People followed them in the rhythm of the seasons and mainly hunted reindeer and wild horses.

The oldest traces of human presence in the Wauwilermoos date back to around 14,000 B.C. Climate warming at the end of the Ice Age promoted the spread of forests, plants and animal species.

Man became sedentary in the Neolithic period (5,500-2,000 B.C.). The era of the so-called lake-dwelling builders began. In the Wauwilermoos, people lived in pile dwellings that were either level with the ground or slightly elevated. These dwellings did not necessarily stand in the water but were supported by piles.

In 2011, UNESCO designated these stilt houses in the six countries of the Alps as World Heritage Sites. Among the 111 registered sites in six countries, three are in the canton of Lucerne: Hitzkirch-Seematt, Sursee-Zellmoos and the Egolzwil E3 (in the Wauwilermoos).

The Egolzwil is the oldest known Swiss stilt settlement, dating back to around 4 300 B.C. The characteristic pottery from this site even gives its name to this cultural area in Central Switzerland: the Egolzwil culture.

The Archaeological Trail from Wauwilermoos (approx. 7 km) comprises six stations near the most important sites.

The starting and finishing point is the reconstructed stilt village settlement in Wauwil with three stilt houses, an excavation tent and a hunter’s hut, and an information pavilion.

In the Wauwilermoos, a dozen stilt houses are known, the oldest of which date back to around 4,300 BC.

(Source and further information: www.pfahlbausiedlung.ch).