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In the mid 19th century Swiss archaeologist Ferdinand Keller examined vertical wooden piles exposed by a drop in water level at Lake Zürich. Similar pilings were subsequently discovered at lake sites around Switzerland (and eventually throughout continental Europe). Keller proposed that the pilings were the remains of villages built on stilts over the lakes' waters. This notion of prehistoric villages existing out over lakes became popular.
A lesser known 19th century archaeologist - Albert Jahn - agreed that the pilings were used to elevate structures, but not out in the lakes. Jahn believed they were stilt houses erected on shores or in marshy environments that were subject to flooding. Jahn's interpretation is now the more widely accepted one.
For more on these prehistoric settlements see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoric_pile_dwellings_around_the_Alps
https://web.archive.org/web/2012040...wellings_reveal_hidden_past.html?cid=30542748
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24937169?seq=1
A lesser known 19th century archaeologist - Albert Jahn - agreed that the pilings were used to elevate structures, but not out in the lakes. Jahn believed they were stilt houses erected on shores or in marshy environments that were subject to flooding. Jahn's interpretation is now the more widely accepted one.
For more on these prehistoric settlements see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoric_pile_dwellings_around_the_Alps
https://web.archive.org/web/2012040...wellings_reveal_hidden_past.html?cid=30542748
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24937169?seq=1