Journal of Wetland Archaeology 12, 2012, 58–85 Zurich-Alpenquai: a multidisciplinary approach to the chronological development of a Late Bronze Age lakeside settlement in the northern Circum-Alpine Region Philipp Wiemann, Marlu Kühn, Annekäthi Heitz-Weniger, Barbara Stopp, Benjamin Jennings, Philippe Rentzel and Francesco Menotti Abstract The Alpenquai lake-dwelling is located on Lake Zurich, and can be considered as one of the rare Late Bronze Age lake-dwellings with a pronounced organic-rich cultural layer in the northern Circum-Alpine region. Within a larger research project, investigating the final abandonment of the lakeshores in the Circum-Alpine area at the end of the Late Bronze Age, this settlement has been investigated using a multidisciplinary research design. Combining micromorphology, archaeobotany, palynology, archaeozoology and material culture studies, the formation of the site is reconstructed, and the reasons for its final abandonment are sought. A highly dynamic lake system that caused a lake water level rise before 900 BC, a regression in the second half of the 9th century BC, and a later transgression, could be detected. The settlement appears to have been established during the lake regression, and abandoned during the transgression, proving a high degree of environmental adaptation by its inhabitants. Keywords: lake-dwellings, Switzerland, Bronze Age, multidisciplinary approach, site formation, abandonment Authors’ addresses: Philipp Wiemann, Marlu Kühn, Annekäthi Heitz-Weniger, Barbara Stopp, Benjamin Jennings, Philippe Rentzel and Francesco Menotti Institute of Prehistory and Archaeological Science (IPAS), University of Basel, Spalenring 145, 4055, Basel, Switzerland. Email:
[email protected] Zurich-Alpenquai 59 Introduction The 3500-year long lake-dwelling tradition of the Circum-Alpine lakes cannot be seen as a continuous event.