A03_14

Alpine archaeology and radiocarbon analysis: a match made in heaven!

Leuzinger U¹, Hajdas I², Guidobaldi G², Wyss K², Imhof W³

¹Amt für Archäologie Thurgau, Frauenfeld, Switzerland, ²Ion beam Physics ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, ³Staatsarchiv Schwyz, Schwyz, Switzerland

A team of researchers have been examining rock shelters and ruins in the municipality of Muotathal (Canton Schwyz, Switzerland) at the behest of the State Archive of Canton Schwyz since 2006. The study region is located in the pre-Alps and extends to altitudes of between 600 and 2400 m a.s.l. Many of the small archaeological test excavations yield charcoal fragments and faunal remains. Radiocarbon analyses carried out on the organic remains allow us to assess the potential of any newly discovered site. At this stage, the period covered by the finds stretches from cave bears dated to around 36,000 BP to Mesolithic hunters’ camps from around 9000 BP, to Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman-period finds from between 5000 and 2000 BP as well as numerous medieval and post-medieval deserted Alpine huts and pens.

The Berglibalm and Flözerbändli rock shelters discovered in 2015 and 2020 respectively are of international significance. They yielded layers containing animal bones, stone artefacts and botanical remains from the Epipalaeolithic but mostly from the Early Mesolithic. While the microliths made of flint can be typologically dated to the Mesolithic, radiocarbon analysis of the hearths allows us to date the finds even more precisely.

One of the more remarkable objects discovered is a decorated piece of red deer antler from Muotathal-Flözerbändli, which was radiocarbon dated to the Azilian (ETH-109223, 10354±31 BP) at the Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics at ETH Zurich. It is the only decorated antler artefact from that period found in Switzerland so far.