Pile dwelling - Definition and Overview

Pile dwellings are houses raised over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Today, they are common in parts of Indonesia and West Africa. In the Neolithic and Bronze Age, pile dwellings were constructed in the circum-Alpine area, with remains being found e.g. at the Mondsee and Attersee lakes in Upper Austria. Early archaeologists like Ferdinand Keller thought they formed artificial islands, much like the Scottish Crannogs, but today it is clear that the majority of settlements was located on the shores of lakes and were only inundated later on.

Reconstructed pile dwellings are shown in open air museums in Unteruhldingen and Zürich (Pfahlbauland).