On the Concept of ‘in-situ’ in Lake Site Settlements

Abstract

Abstract The presentation and study of lake shore sites such as the Circum-Alpine pile dwellings is still made difficult by the lack of a systematic approach to the concept of ‘in-situ’. Finds and single components of an archaeological layer can have been subject to many processes both during and after the occupation. This paper presents four hierarchical process levels: the human intention, the first deposition, displacement during the settlement’s occupation and displacement after the abandonment. The main idea is that the traditional concept of ‘in-situ’ cannot sufficiently describe the information contained in an object’s position. Rather the archaeological record needs to be explicitly tested for its spatial fidelity in relation to the research question.