Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps and Robenhausen

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps

   Five thousand years ago, people were building houses on stilts at the edge of lakes across the Alps, and then the lakes rose, buried the houses and kept them almost perfectly in the mud. The remains of these pile dwellings, found in the nineteenth century when a drought lowered the water, include posts, tools, textiles, food and even bread, and they gave archaeologists an extraordinary view of Stone Age and Bronze Age life. A hundred and eleven of the sites, in six countries, were listed by UNESCO in 2011, and the Swiss share is the largest.

   Read the complete Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps is where the day begins. Next is Sumpf.

2. 2. Sumpf

   Zug-Sumpf was a Bronze Age village on the northern shore of Lake Zug, near the mouth of the river Lorze between Cham and Steinhausen, and the waterlogged ground preserved wooden floors, posts and objects for over three thousand years. Excavations in the twentieth century recovered pottery, bronze tools and even remains of food, and the site sits on the World Heritage list as part of the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps. Some of the finds are displayed in the museum of prehistory in Zug. Today the site lies under modern buildings and meadows, and only the name, which means swamp, recalls its watery origin.

   Read the complete Sumpf write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Sumpf comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Enge Alpenquai.

3. 3. Enge Alpenquai

   Zurich's lakefront is one of the most pleasant urban shorelines in Europe, and the Alpenquai, in the district of Enge, is a stretch of it where the city opens up to views across the water to the Alps. On a clear day, especially when the föhn blows from the south, the peaks of the Glarus Alps seem close enough to touch. Under the water off this shore, archaeologists have found the remains of prehistoric villages built on piles along the lake edge, and several of Zurich's shore sites were inscribed in 2011 among the prehistoric pile dwellings of the Alpine lakes. You will see nothing of them from the promenade; they lie in the mud of the lake bed, preserved by the water.

   Read the complete Enge Alpenquai write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 63 km into the recorded legs you reach Enge Alpenquai. Next is Robenhausen.

4. 4. Robenhausen

   In 1858 a local man named Jakob Messikommer began digging in the peat bog at Robenhausen, on the southern end of the Pfäffikersee in the Zurich Oberland, and he spent decades uncovering a remarkably rich Neolithic pile-dwelling settlement. His finds, from stone axes to woven textiles and charred bread, travelled to museums around the world and helped make Swiss lake dwellings famous. Today Robenhausen is one of the components of the UNESCO Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps, though what remains lies underground in a protected wetland.

   Read the complete Robenhausen write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Robenhausen, about halfway. Next is back through Enge Alpenquai.

5. 5. back through Enge Alpenquai

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Enge Alpenquai write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Enge Alpenquai sits at 113 km, about halfway. Next is back through Sumpf.

6. 6. back through Sumpf

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Sumpf write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Sumpf comes up about 151 km into the recorded legs. Next is Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps.

7. 7. Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps closes the day.