Using Narrative to Contextualise Micromorphological Data from Neolithic Wetland Houses

Abstract

Communicating complex inter-disciplinary data is challenging. This article uses narrative to introduce micromorphological data from Neolithic wetland settlements. The settlements are Riedschachen, Federsee, Germany and Risch-Oberrisch, Lake Zug, Switzerland. Riedschachen was built at the ground level, whilst it is likely that Risch-Oberrisch was a raised settlement. Observations regarding trampling are made regarding the well preserved floor at Riedschachen and an artificially generated sample at Risch-Oberrisch. These serve as a methodological baseline to which archaeological contexts from Risch-Oberrisch are compared. Data description is separate from both the narrative and discussion, thus allowing the reader to create their own discourse regarding the interpretations. These data on Neolithic houses lend themselves to inferences on dwelling in wetland landscapes. People dwell in both their natural and built environment, which are separated neither physically nor theoretically using this narrative approach.