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Recent archaeological investigations at the site of Colombier/Les Plantées de Rive (COL-PR) on the northwestern shore of Lake Neuchâtel (Switzerland) revealed an exceptional concentration of anthropic structures from the Late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age interbedded within an alternation of terrestrial and lacustrine deposits. The chronology is based on radiocarbon dates from terrestrial material and on artefacts found in archaeological structures. Using various proxies, the sedimentological analysis of the COL-PR sediment sequence allows the reconstruction of lake-level fluctuations for the period 4900-3300 cal. BP. Three major lake-level highstands occurring at ca. 4900 (Late Neolithic), 3650 (Early Bronze Age) and 3400 cal. BP (Middle Bronze Age) have been related to the possible influences of decreases in the solar activity sometimes accentuated by increases in volcanic activity. The COL-PR site provides robust data to document the climatic deterioration assumed to be responsible for the abandonment of the lake-dwellings north of the Alps during the Middle and the early Late Bronze Age. In addition, the interbedding of successive monuments within terrestrial as well as lacustrine deposits suggests a significant role played over hundred years by the collective memory in the perpetuation of the ceremonial and funeral vocation of the site and its spatial organisation at the interface between lacustrine and terrestrial domains, despite interruptions provoked by major lake-level rises associated with worsening of climatic conditions.

Abstract. Cotencher cave is one of the oldest Palaeolithic sites of Switzerland and is known for its rich faunal and Mousterian artefacts, the latter suggesting one or several passages of Neanderthal hunter–gatherer tribes. This interdisciplinary study summarises novel data concerning site formation processes and anthropic attendance of the site. While the lithic artefacts indicate tool production at the site, the faunal remains do not yield any evidence of a link to human occupation. The sedimentary sequence permits us to unravel several important environmental changes that occurred during the Late Pleistocene. The presence of a local glacier around 70 ka (Marine Isotope Stage, MIS 4) is revealed followed by ice-free conditions characterised by alternating soil formation processes and landscape destabilisation during MIS 3. Solifluction processes suggesting recurrent frozen ground were responsible for the displacements of part of the artefacts and faunal remains. Evidence of local glacier development around 36 ka is related to the particular geomorphological conditions of the studied region and shed new light on the complexity of glacier dynamics. The recognition and dating of recurrent hostile glacier landscapes might contribute to understanding the reasons for the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic attendance hiatuses known in the studied region.

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