The Magdalenian in Switzerland: Re-colonization of a newly accessible landscape

Abstract

During the Last Glacial Maximum, Switzerland was almost entirely covered with ice. However, in the ice-free region situated less than 50 km north of the glaciers, human occupation is confirmed as early as 23,000 cal BP. Numerous sedimentary sequences in lakes and mires have produced a wealth of proxy data indicating that environmental conditions improved rapidly after the melting of the glaciers that liberated the Swiss Plateau at least at c. 17,500 cal BP, offering severe but possible life conditions to plant, animal and human communities. Contrary to what has long been the prevailing opinion, Magdalenian re-colonization of Switzerland did not start with the onset of the warming of Greenland Interstadial 1e, but well before. According to most of the recently obtained AMS dates, the Magdalenian occupation falls within the cold, treeless, environment of the Oldest Dryas period; it is even conceivable that it did not extend into Greenland Interstadial 1e. More than 50 sites, among which famous caves and rockshelters such as Kesslerloch and Schweizersbild, as well as large open-air campsites like Monruz and Moosbühl, have produced different techno-assemblages that find good comparisons in the rest of Europe. In contrast to the exploitation of mainly local and regional flint sources, the use of “exotic” ornamental/symbolic objects – fossil mollusks, amber and jet – shows widespread, multidirectional long-distance connections with the upper Danube basin, the Mainz basin, the Paris Basin, the Atlantic coast, the Mediterranean and even the Baltic regions.