The Horgen culture is one of several archaeological cultures belonging to the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

period of Switzerland. The Horgen culture may derive from the

Pfyn culture The Pfyn Culture is one of several archaeological cultures of the Neolithic period in Switzerland. It dates from c. 3900 BC to c. 3500 BC. Discovery The oldest traces of a settlement are about west of Pfyn in the former peat bog of ''Breitenloo ...

and early Horgen pottery is similar to the earlier

Cortaillod culture The Cortaillod culture is one of several archaeologically defined cultures belonging to the Neolithic period of Switzerland. The ''Cortaillod'' Culture in the west of the region is contemporary with the Pfyn Culture in the east and dates from b ...

pottery of

Twann Twann (french: Douanne ) was a municipality in the district of Nidau in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 the municipalities of Tüscherz-Alfermée and Twann merged into the municipality of Twann-Tüscherz. History Twann is ...

, Switzerland.Comparative Archeology Web
accessed 28 June 2010 It is named for one of the principal sites, in

Horgen Horgen is a municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. It is one of the larger towns along the south bank of the Lake of Zurich. On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Hirzel merged into the municipal ...

, Switzerland.

Dates

The Horgen culture started around 3500/3400 cal BC and lasted until 2850 cal BC. Tree ring dates range from 3370 – 2864 BC.

Distribution

The Horgen core area is in Northern Switzerland and Southwest Germany near Lake Constance, but it may have reached farther north along the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

River. It may have had ties to the French Seine-Oise-Marne culture. Sites include Horgen, Hauterive-Champréves,

Eschenz Eschenz is a municipality in Frauenfeld District in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. History The prehistoric shore village on ''Werd Island'' and in the ''Seeäckern'' area (northeast of Eschenz) are rich archeological sites that have contr ...

, and

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

. At

Feldmeilen Feldmeilen is a village (''Wacht'') within the municipality of Meilen in the Canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Geography Feldmeilen is located in the district of Meilen in the Pfannenstiel region on the northwestern shore of the Zürichsee (Lake ...

-Vorderfeld and Meilen on the right bank of

Lake Zurich __NOTOC__ Lake Zurich (Swiss German/ Alemannic: ''Zürisee''; German: ''Zürichsee''; rm, Lai da Turitg) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zürich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or ''Zürichsee'' can be used to ...

near Zürich, four layers of

artifacts (4350-3950 BC

calibrated In measurement technology and metrology, calibration is the comparison of measurement values delivered by a device under test with those of a calibration standard of known accuracy. Such a standard could be another measurement device of known ...

) are followed by five Horgen culture (3350-2950 BC) layers were found at Feldmeilen. In nearby Meilen, one Pfyn layer (4250-4000 BC) followed by three Horgen (3300-2500 BC) layers were discovered.

Traits

There were three phases of pottery; early, middle, and late. The early pottery exhibits an affinity with the Pfyn and maybe the Cortaillod at Twann, Switzerland. The spindle whorls on the pottery may indicate connections to the southern

Funnelbeaker culture The Funnel(-neck-)beaker culture, in short TRB or TBK (german: Trichter(-rand-)becherkultur, nl, Trechterbekercultuur; da, Tragtbægerkultur; ) was an archaeological culture in north-central Europe. It developed as a technological merger of lo ...

and early

Baden culture The Baden culture was a Chalcolithic culture from 3520–2690 BC. It was found in Central and Southeast Europe, and is in particular known from Moravia (Czech Republic), Hungary, southern Poland, Slovakia, northern Croatia and eastern Austria. I ...

. The middle phase (found at Naschdorf-Strandbad, Lake Constance and Dullenried,

Federsee Federsee is a lake located just north of Bad Buchau in the region of Upper Swabia in Southern Germany. It is surrounded by moorland, partially overgrown with reeds. With a size of 33 km2 (8,155 acres), the area is one of the largest, grou ...

) may be influenced by more westerly traditions. The final Horgen phase exhibits similarities to the Burgerroth, Wartberg, and Goldberg III cultures. The pottery was less refined and decorated than the earlier Cortaillod culture. However, the flint industry was well developed and produced elegant stone tools. Pigs became increasingly important during the Horgen era. Pig bones were the most common bones found in the village midden heaps, accounting for up to 70% of all bones.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horgen Culture Archaeological cultures of Central Europe Archaeological cultures in Switzerland Horgen Neolithic cultures of Europe Archaeological cultures in Germany

Dates

Distribution

Traits

See also

References