Monastic Island of Reicheneau - UNESCO: World Heritage

History of Human Occupation of the Island Add. 2
Settlement and History of the Island of Reichenau From the
Beginning Until Pre-Monastery Times
Without doubt the Island of Reichenau was
involved in prehistoric man’s activity
towards the end of the Ice Age in the western
Lake Constance area, although there is not
much archaeological evidence referring to the
island itself dating back to the prehistoric
period. The finds and their sites are registered
in the Site Files and the List of Cultural
Monuments at the Landesdenkmalamt Baden-
Württemberg (State Office for the Protection
of Cultural Monuments). In charge of the
archaeological monuments on land is the
Freiburg branch of the Landesdenkmalamt
Baden-Württemberg, in charge of the
underwater cultural heritage is the
Hemmenhofen office of the
Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg. An
archaeological survey i. e. an archaeological
screening of the island does not exist as this
is not done in Baden-Württemberg. With the
island being used agriculturally since historic
times and the topsoil being considerably
altered, such a venture would not seem to
make much sense. It is therefore no
coincidence that the little archaeological
evidence relating to the island’s prehistory
and early history come primarily from
church excavations, the colluvially covered
shore cliff and the zone of shallow waters,
areas excluded from agricultural use. On the
other hand, the lack of evidence of shoreline
dwellings, the so-called “Pfahlbauten” (pile
structures) seems strange , because the island
is surrounded by large areas of shallow water.
The lack of corresponding wetland
There are five sites in the area of the 400 m
cliff on the island where flint artefacts have
been found, which can be ascribed to Late
archaeological sites can be explained by the
exposure of the island’s southern shore to
the elements, leading to the destruction of
potential sites by erosion. However, this
explanation does not apply to the sheltered
northern shore.
The environs of the island, namely the shore
landscape of western Lake Constance, the
Bodanrück peninsula and the central Hegau
are considered to be archaeologically one of
the best explored landscapes of Baden-
Württemberg. Intense archaeological
examinations were also implemented in the
neighbouring areas of the Swiss Canton
Thurgau. This permits interpretation of the
sparse prehistoric evidence from the island
of Reichenau itself and its integration within
the settlement history of the area.
The island of Reichenau evolved from a
moraine ridge deposited by the Rhine Glacier
in the basin of the Lower Lake. In late
Glacial and early Holocene times when water
levels were still higher than today and parts
of the shoreline around 400 m above sea
level were cliffs so rough they are still
evident in today’s landscape, the island was
a little smaller and its separation from the
mainland more distinct than today. In the
North and the East, areas silted up today were
under water forming deep bays, and
“Niederzell” and “Schopfelen” were
completely separated from the main island.
Palaeolithic and Mesolithic hunters. Most of
the sites are situated on tongues of land
projecting far into the lake in the West and
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