Egolzwil

A series of Neolithic sites around former Lake Wauwil in Switzerland from the earliest phase of the Neolithic in that area. Most of them belong to the Cortaillod culture and have well-preserved organic material. The site of Egolzwil 4 had ten rectangular wooden houses placed close together. Food remains include cereals, lentils, beans, and flax, and wild strawberries and chestnuts; animal remains include both domesticated and wild animals, and duck, salmon, perch, and carp from the lake. The earliest settlement, Egolzwil 3 dated to the late 5th or early 4th millennium BC.

A series of Neolithic sites around the shores of Lake Wauwil in Switzerland. Most of them belong to the Cortaillod culture and, like so many of the lakeside settlements of this culture, have produced very well-preserved organic material. The site of Egolzwil 4 had ten rectangular wooden houses placed close together. Each house probably contained a nuclear family of about five people, giving an overall population for the settlement of not more than 50 people. Surviving food remains include cereals, lentils, beans and flax, presumably all cultivated, and also wild strawberries and chestnuts; animal remains include both domesticated and wild animals, duck, and salmon, perch and carp from the lake. The site also produced evidence about the nature of farming at this time: a building near the village entrance contained layers of vegetable matter and many pupae of the common housefly. It is suggested that this building served as a stall for cattle during the winter and that flies laid their eggs in the accumulated dung. Stacks of leaves, mistletoe twigs and hay probably represent collected winter fodder for the cattle.