The Swiss voice in the world since 1935

Lucerne is 2,400 years older than previously thought

Lucerne underwater archaeology.
In 2020, archaeologists discovered traces of a pile dwelling (or stilt house) village while laying a pipeline in Lucerne’s natural harbour area. Keystone / Urs Flueeler

The lakeside village discovered in 2020 under the surface of Lake Lucerne is 5,400 years old – that is 2,400 years older than previously thought, city officials said on Wednesday.

In 2020, archaeologists discovered traces of a pile dwelling (or stilt house) village while laying a pipeline in Lucerne’s natural harbour area.

+ Bronze Age village found under Swiss lake

Experts initially estimated that it was a Bronze Age lakeside village dated around 1000 BC. But Lucerne’s Chancellery on Wednesday said new investigations showed that the settlement already existed in 3400 BC.

Around 1.5 metres below the lakebed the researchers found a dark layer with a high organic content and charcoal, which pointed to 3400 BC. The finds also included ceramic fragments, burnt grain and flint implements.

+ How science is helping unearth ancient submerged Alpine settlements

These finds indicate the remains of one or more Neolithic villages, a press release said. They also demonstrated once again that the lake water level was significantly lower than it is today.

“With the current, new findings, we can clearly prove that the history of Lucerne begins with a Neolithic pile-dwelling settlement. This is really a sensation and means that people were already settling in the area of ​​today’s city 5,400 years ago,” said cantonal archaeologist Jürg Manser.

More excavations are now needed to document this important cultural and historical evidence, the experts say. These were planned before the start of construction of an underground train link, which will not be delayed.

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Daily news

Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox.

Daily

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.

A smartphone displays the SWIplus app with news for Swiss citizens abroad. Next to it, a red banner with the text: ‘Stay connected with Switzerland’ and a call to download the app.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Financial crisis hits the WHO

More

WHO opens annual meeting amid financial crisis

This content was published on The World Health Organization (WHO) boss, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says the Geneva-based UN agency has revised down its budget to $4.2 billion (CHF3.5 billion) for 2026-2027.

Read more: WHO opens annual meeting amid financial crisis
Bern police uncover major case of human trafficking

More

Swiss police break up major Chinese trafficking ring

This content was published on Bern cantonal police have smashed a major human trafficking ring. Five people are accused of luring over 100 Chinese women to Switzerland to exploit them as sex workers.

Read more: Swiss police break up major Chinese trafficking ring
Switzerland announces funding of 80 million dollars for the WHO

More

Switzerland pledges $80 million to WHO

This content was published on Switzerland plans to give an additional $80 million (CHF67 million) for the 2025-2028 period to the World Health Organization (WHO), which is facing financial difficulties.

Read more: Switzerland pledges $80 million to WHO

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR