Regional and Archaeological Setting

WELASSIMO is a tool to simulate the land-use of a hypothetical, idealized set­tlement, but I used data from several sites that have been excavated to a significant extent as a reference.

Figure 9.1 shows the three main sites that were used to this aim. All sites are located in South-Western Germany in the vicinity of Lake Constance. The larger Lake Constance area is shaped by the Wurmian glaciation, as documented by numerous lakes of various sizes, kettle-hole peat-bogs, drumlin fields and wide areas of relatively fertile soils on glacial till. In the vicinity of Lake Constance, the sub-continental climatic conditions of the pre-alpine forelands are locally relatively favorable with moderate winters and mostly mild and humid summers. The site Ho1A (Hornstaad-Hornle 1A, 3918—ca. 3905 BC) is located near the outlet of Lake Constance into the River Rhine. It was excavated to a large extent, and an impressive body of evidence is published on archaeological and ecological questions, e.g. Dieckmann et al. (2006), Matuschik (2011), Maier et al. (2001). Up to 45 houses were inhabited contemporaneously, each of which is interpreted by the authors as representing an individual economic unit. I use their interpretation for the sake of simplicity, despite new studies that demonstrate how the social system is likely to have been more complex than suggested by the equation house = household = nuclear family (Doppler et al. 2013). At the site Si (Sipplingen-Osthafen), up to 15 anthropogenic debris layers bear witness of fre­quent settlement activities from the 39th to the 24th century BC (Billamboz et al. 2010). Dendrotypological studies on the wooden house posts yield evidence of forest management systems, such as the use of primeval forest, the existence of coppiced forests, or intensive forest thinning (Billamboz and Koninger 2008; Billamboz 2014). For this project, I refer to the layers Si1 and Si2 (3919-3904 BC). The third settlement is De1A, which lies at the shores of Lake Degersee and was inhabited at the beginning of the 40th century BC for a few years only. It was partially excavated recently, and only preliminary results are published until now, e.g. (Maier et al. 2010).

9.3

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