Pile Dwellings of Unteruhldingen

Prehistoric settlements built on piles stood around the Alpine lakes from about 5000 to 500 BC, and their timbers survived in waterlogged mud, allowing dendrochronology to date individual houses to the year they were built. UNESCO listed a hundred and eleven such sites across six countries in 2011, including several on Lake Constance. The museum at Unteruhldingen, founded in 1922, has built and rebuilt reconstructions over the water since then, revising them as understanding changed, so the current houses reflect modern research rather than the guesses of a century ago. Finds and a multimedia presentation cover the underwater archaeology.

What to look for

• The stilt houses - reconstructions built out over the lake water.
• The revised builds - houses rebuilt as archaeological understanding changed.
• The dated timbers - dendrochronology giving building years to the season.
• The finds display - objects recovered from the lake mud.

When to go

April to October; the museum closes for winter with limited weekend opening. It is popular with school groups on weekdays in term time.

Things to know

Everything visible is reconstruction; the original sites are underwater and not accessible. It closes for several winter months. Summer is busy with families.

Nearby

Birnau lies west; Meersburg is east.