Integrating Land and Water – The Federsee Logboats in the Context of Prehistoric Traffic Across the European Watershed

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn the Federsee basin, a large bog in the pre-alpine foreland of Upper Swabia/Southern Germany, hitherto 58 logboats have been discovered. This outstanding large number of watercraft raises questions on the interrelationship between Federsee bog and the Main European Watershed. At the southern edge of Federsee basin, the riverine systems of Rhine and Danube rivers are separated only by few kilometres of dry land. It is to be suggested that this isthmus between the two large European river systems was used as a portage and part of a traffic system that integrated land and water routes. A multitude of ethnographic and historical evidence indicates that portages played an important role in landscapes with poor conditions for land transport. In contrast, archaeological observations on portages are generally very scarce. Direct archaeological evidence is also lacking at Federsee. A potential Federsee portage remains therefore hypothetical.