Early Bronze Age of Switzerland: situation and chronology in the West (Lakes of the Swiss Midland and Lake of Thun area, Sarine and Rhone Valley, Bernese Alps).

Our knowledge on the Early Bronze Age of Western Switzerland is mainly based on pile-dwelling settlement sites on lake shores, burial sites in the pre-alpine zones and high-alpine pass finds. Pile-dwelling sites are known from the lakes of Biel and Neuchâtel, but only a few of them are well excavated and documented. Burial sites show main concentrations in three areas on the foothills of the Alps or in inner alpine valleys: around the lower Lake of Thun with famous sites as Thun, Renzenbühl or new sites around Spiez. Early Bronze Age graves in the Sarine valley form a second concertation. A third group of burial sites is located in the upper Rhone valley among them the well-known inhumations within the Neolithic megalithic structures of Sion, Petit-Chasseur. The pass sites on Schnidejoch and Lötschental, both at altitudes of more than 2600 m a.s.l are related to alpine pasture economy but most probably served for regional communication as well. The lecture will present an actualized overview on the Early Bronze Age in the Western part of Switzerland based on different archaeological sources. Dendrochronological data from settlements and radiocarbon data from burial sites will contribute to the general topic of the conference. Inputs from Western Switzerland are to expect for the question of the end of the Early Bronze Age and the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age.