Delta Stories. Living in the Lorze River Delta from the Late Glacial to the Anthropocene.

Abstract

In archaeology, environmental history all too often focused on the individual settlements and on the economic use of their immediate environment. This view fails to acknowledge the importance of other actors (e.g. animals, plants, waters) interacting with humans. Outside the settlements, the traces of humans and these other actors are entangled and become difficult to discern. This is especially true for processes in deltas, which are inherently dynamic, complex, short-lived and fragmented. The life and activities of humans in such areas can only be properly assessed if the habitat as a whole with all its actors is understood and a long-term perspective is adopted.
Due to intensive construction work in the Lorze Delta since the 1980s, the archaeological department of Canton Zug has carried out a number of excavations. However, only now has the basic information about the sites (e.g. location, sediments and dating) been more broadly compiled and the results of the different studies been collated. This has led to ground-breaking insights into the cultural and natural interactions in the catchment area of the Lorze River.
In the early stages of the Lorze Delta during the Late Glacial and Early Holocene, after the melting of the Reuss Glacier, the only just populated landscape was characterised by unstable geological conditions. When analysing Neolithic and Bronze Age pile dwellings, understanding the Lorze Delta’s formation is a prerequisite for appreciating the sites’ location. In the alluvial fan, long-term changes in human and riverine activity from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages can be detected. Today, human impact instead of geological processes write the delta’s story: the river course has been diverted to give way for a motorway while the delta itself has been altered artificially.

Full text

Delta Stories
Living in the Lorze River Delta from the Late Glacial to the Anthropocene
David Jecker, Jochen Reinhard, Eda Gross, Renata Huber & Gishan Schaeren,
Amt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Zug
EAA Annual Meeting Bern 2019, Session 142: 'So Close, No Matter How Far?'

Alluvial fan around Baar
Limnic zone
Cove of
Steinhausen
The Lorze Delta
Lake Zug Lines: Lorze river courses (dark blue: current Lorze)
Dots: findspots (13,000 calBC to 1500 calAD)
0 2 km
End of the Lorze ravine

Corded Ware, 2864−2580 calBC
Neolithic, 3956−3800 calBC
Early Bronze Age, 1745−1629 calBC
Late Iron Age, 392−210 calBC
Baar-Tangente
Baar-Grundmatt
Alluvial Fan Baar-South

Frühmittelal
ter-Gräber Kiesschüttung
Latènezeit bis römisch
Schnurkeramisches
Grubenhaus
Baar-Früebergstrasse
Corded Ware, 2878−2560 calBC
Early Middle Ages, 600−700 AD
Alluvial Fan Baar-North
Bronze Age, 1740−1421 calBC

Alluvial Fan around Baar
0 1 km
No/hardly any river channels after
the Corded Ware period
No/hardly any river channels after
the Late Bronze Age (?)
Lorze River course today
Active river area after Bronze Age/Corded
Ware period (ends after Early Middle Ages)

The Late Glacial Lorze delta – sparse traces and an analogy
Rapa delta, Sweden (M. Klüber)
Pine trunks: 11,065–8,830 calBC (6 dates)
Elk bones: 12,806–12,229 calBC (2 dates)

Lake Zug
Baar basin
Late Glacial/Early Holocene
Base map: Reinhard/Huber/Drucker/Müller (in press)
Late Glacial river courses
Holocene river courses
moraine dam
(since 17th c. AD)
delta sediments
silex artefact scatters
Alces alces with cut marks
Pinus sp.

Foresets: Profile Sections
ca. 5 cm
6 dates between 2115 and 1623 calBC
5 dates between 12,167 and 10,977 calBC

Foresets: Overview
Steinhausen-Sumpfstrasse
12'000−11'000 calBC
Zug-Chamer Fussweg
6800−6600 calBC
Zug-Riedpark
around 5000 calBC
Zug-Schulhaus
Riedmatt
1400−1200 calBC
Zug-Sumpf 1050−850 calBC
Steinhausen-Chollerpark
1400−800 calBC
Zug-Riedmatt 3200−3050 calBC
Cham-Bachgraben
3200−1600 calBC
Steinhausen-Sennweid
2900−2700 calBC
Zug-Galgen 2750−1600 calBC
Zug-Brüggli 3250−2750 calBC

Zug-Riedmatt
Confined space on site
Isometric pile plan
(conundrum included)
Boar's tusk shaped into fish (?) form

Zug-Riedmatt

Foresets: Overview
Steinhausen-Sumpfstrasse
12'000−11'000 calBC
Zug-Chamer Fussweg
6800−6600 calBC
Zug-Riedpark
around 5000 calBC
Zug-Schulhaus
Riedmatt
1400−1200 calBC
Zug-Sumpf 1050−850 calBC
Steinhausen-Chollerpark
1400−800 calBC
Zug-Riedmatt 3200−3050 calBC
Cham-Bachgraben
3200−1600 calBC
Steinhausen-Sennweid
2900−2700 calBC
Zug-Galgen 2750−1600 calBC
Zug-Brüggli 3250−2750 calBC

© Philippe
Rentzel
Steinhausen-Chollerpark
Wooden trapezoidal constructions
Exemplary stratigraphy

Foresets: Overview
Steinhausen-Sumpfstrasse
12'000−11'000 calBC
Zug-Chamer Fussweg
6800−6600 calBC
Zug-Riedpark
around 5000 calBC
Zug-Schulhaus
Riedmatt
1400−1200 calBC
Zug-Sumpf 1050−850 calBC
Steinhausen-Chollerpark
1400−800 calBC
Zug-Riedmatt 3200−3050 calBC
Cham-Bachgraben
3200−1600 calBC
Steinhausen-Sennweid
2900−2700 calBC
Zug-Galgen 2750−1600 calBC
Zug-Brüggli 3250−2750 calBC

Artifical delta for the "old" Lorze (P. Hegglin 1989, 40)
"If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break
If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break
When the levee breaks, I'll have no place to stay"
Welcome to the Anthropocene!
The Lorze course relocated to a "new" bed, 1974 (J. Vogt)
Flood event in the Lorze delta, 1934 (W. Nigg)

Seven theses to conclude our Delta stories
- Deltas are a lucky bag full of surprises.
- Deltas are complex and intertwined and can only be understood in their entanglement.
- Deltas are fractal and therefore model-like.
- Deltas are discontinuous and are shaped by innumerous distinct events.
- Deltas are living entities and are only understood through a longue-durée perspective.
- Many actors – alongside humans – are involved in shaping the delta.
- Archaeology in the delta is contextual archaeology at its finest.

Thanks to:
John F. Ammann
Niels Bleicher
Alexander von Burg
Chloé Elmer
Irka Hajdas
Peter Huggenberger
Eva Kläui Sanfilippo
Olivia Klee
Jeannette Kraese
Benedikt Lüdin
Simon Maier
Salvatore Pungitore
Philippe Rentzel
Nigel Thew
Kilian Weber
Johannes Weiss
Dino Zimmermann