Zürich–Enge Alpenquai, Archaeological site from prehistoric pile dwellings in Zürich, Switzerland.
Zürich–Enge Alpenquai is a Late Bronze Age lakeside settlement site on the lower basin of Lake Zurich, near the Bürkliplatz in the Lindenhof quarter. The settlement covered 2.93 hectares, with a buffer zone of 17.40 hectares including lake area. Its layers lie about two metres below the present lake surface of 406 m, preserved under lake marl and separated into two cultural layers.
Zürich–Enge Alpenquai was settled almost without interruption from 1050 BC to 800 BC, making it one of the largest Late Bronze Age lakeside settlements in Central Europe. Its final phase falls at the transition to the Iron Age, a period otherwise rarely documented. In 2018 a rescue excavation at the Mythenquai building site uncovered spinning and weaving tools and jewellery; if these belong with earlier finds near the Mythenschloss, they could point to a settlement of about 1,000 people.
Ceramics from Alpenquai show two distinct decorative styles: rich bar ornament appears only in the lower cultural layer, while cannelure groups and graphite-decorated fragments are limited to the upper layer. Pile shoes found at different heights in the layers mark where prehistoric dwellings stood. The site lies in the Lindenhof quarter, just under 50 metres east of today's Bürkliplatz.
The settlement lies about 50 metres east of today's Bürkliplatz on the left shore of the lake basin, in the Lindenhof quarter. Because the lake level (406 m above sea level) is higher than in the Bronze Age, the find layer sits roughly two metres below the water surface, so nothing of the piles is visible from the shore. The site is a Class A object under the Swiss federal law of 1 July 1966; intentional damage to it or its artefacts is a criminal offence.
Among the discoveries are ancient coins suggesting complex trade networks and possible ritual practices during Celtic times. These objects show that residents were connected to places far beyond their immediate surroundings.
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