Stilt houses in prehistoric Europe

[The Lawspeaker]

In what part of the Maledives or in Papua New Guinea is this and what Dajak of Indonesia has constructed this ?

None actually. This is the Pfahlbaumuseum Unteruhldingen along the Bodensee in Uhldingen-Mühlhofen, Germany
The houses are reconstructed stilt houses from the Neolithic Stone and Bronze Age that once seem to have dotted the area.

I am not familiar with the subject and I stumbled upon the pictures by accident on wikipedia. So if anyone has more information about stone and bronze age architecture in this particular part of Europe then let's share it.

[Graham]

They look like you could live in them, cool We have our own version here, there called Crannóg's, The name crannóg, is from Old Irish "crannóc", from crann, tree and 'og' young.

[Sabinae]

I will look into the Romanian history for more info on these houses, I know for sure that some use houses like these in modern society, for restaurants and leisure places on the lakes around Bucharest. Like casa Kraus for instance.

[Treffie]

They look like you could live in them, cool We have our own version here, there called Crannóg's, The name crannóg, is from Old Irish "crannóc", from crann, tree and 'og' young.

Interesting, it seems we all have them

This one in Wales was originally built in the late 9th century

[Albion]

If sea levels keep rising this is how the Dutch and Eastern English will live soon
I love the concept of crannogs, how interesting it'd be to live above water like that.

The Welsh one is my favourite since a more humble afair like that is probably how most crannogs looked like.



In the Germanic lands I believe Terpen were more preferred, raised mounds of earth which formed islands at times of flooding.

[Bloodeagle]

Are these structures erected in tidal areas with shallow waters? I can see the advantage to fishermen who might want to use a more stable and deeper hulled vessel in turbulent seas. By going out a bit further from the shore, they could dock their vessels at home.
Then again maybe they where easier to defend against attack?

This was the only information I could find.

Early archaeologists like Ferdinand KellerFerdinand Keller
Ferdinand Keller is the name of:* Ferdinand Keller , Swiss archaeologist and antiquity scholar* Ferdinand Keller...

thought they formed artificial islands, much like the Scottish CrannogCrannog
A crannóg is an artificial island, usually built in lakes, rivers and estuarine waters, and most often used as an island settlement or dwelling place in prehistoric or medieval times. The name may refer to a wooden platform erected on shallow floors, but few remains of this can be found...

s, but today it is clear that the majority of settlements were located on the shores of lakes and were only inundated later on.

[Albion]

Are these structures erected in tidal areas with shallow waters? I can see the advantage to fishermen who might want to use a more stable and deeper hulled vessel in turbulent seas. By going out a bit further from the shore, they could dock their vessels at home.
Then again maybe they where easier to defend against attack?

This was the only information I could find.

I think they were for defence purposes and to be close to a source of food and water.

[mvbeleg]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esgaroth

[Magister Eckhart]

I recall seeing that the Celts did a lot of this sort of thing, but not over water. There are a number of causeways and evidence of stilt houses over the moors and other swamps in Ireland and Britain, if I recall correctly.

Also, when you think about it, Venice is really just a very advanced stilt city, except it's supported by stone instead of wood.

[The Lawspeaker]

I recall seeing that the Celts did a lot of this sort of thing, but not over water. There are a number of causeways and evidence of stilt houses over the moors and other swamps in Ireland and Britain, if I recall correctly.

Also, when you think about it, Venice is really just a very advanced stilt city, except it's supported by stone instead of wood.

And the same goes for for instance for Amsterdam.

As the old song goes:

Amsterdam die mooie stad
is gebouwd op palen.
Als die stad eens ommeviel
wie zou dat betalen.

Amsterdam that beautiful city
has been built on stilts
And if the city would collapse
then who should be paying.

The Royal Palace (form. City Hall), for instance, has been build on no less then 13659 wooden stilts.

Too bad that it's such a small picture but this is how it worked: they drilled poles into the ground and they build the houses on top of them because the ground was so marshy (and still is):





And building on stils or poles (called heipalen in Dutch) is still very much the way things are being done.