Elements of an Aquatic Cultural Landscape – a regional study from a frog’s eye perspective

Abstract

Cultural landscapes are generally perceived as the result of land-based human activity. In postglacial landscapes like the German south western pre-alpine forelands this conception falls short. Large areas of a highly dynamic hydrological landscape were once submerged in water for long periods of the Holocene. Human communities have used these waters for a multitude of reasons and purposes. Just as on solid land, these respective activities left traces in the physical submerged landscape with specific flora, fauna and a large variety of man-made constructions being left behind. The assumption that a hydrological network of lakes, rivers and streams had a role in prehistoric traffic systems is supported by models calculated in the framework of the “Beyond Lake Villages” (BELAVI) Westallgäu-research project. By adopting an approach developed in the field of Maritime Archaeology, the present paper discusses elements of an aquatic cultural landscape from a frog’s point of view.