South Central Europe (7,821 – 6,094 BCE) Early Holocene — Mesolithic Lake Villages and Broad-Spectrum Economies

Geographic and Environmental Context

• Anchors: Swiss Plateau lakes (Geneva, Zürich, Neuchâtel), Valais–Rhône, Inn–Tyrol, Aare–Reuss, Drava–Carinthia.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

• Holocene thermal optimum: warm, wet, stable lakes.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Semi-sedentary lake-edge villages; fishing (pike, perch), red deer/boar, hazelnut and acorn gathering; upland summer hunts.

• Early pile-supported platforms in wetlands.

Technology & Material Culture

• Ground-stone adzes; nets, weirs, fishhooks; dugouts; early pottery appears late at fringes.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Canoe routes laced Aare–Reuss–Rhône–Rheintal; passes carried prestige goods.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• Wetland burials and offerings; antler/bone ornaments; ritualized hearths.