The last hunter-gatherers at La Souche – Exploring our historical heritage

The La Souche site, occupied successively between 7,300 and 4,800 BC, bears exceptional witness to the lives of Mesolithichunter-gatherers. In those days, after the last ice age, most of the Sarine valley was covered with forest. This environment offered a wide variety of plants and animals and was inhabited by groups of nomadic hunter-gatherers. La Souche rockshelter was frequently sought out by these ancient campers and gives us a rare glimpse of their daily way of life.

Remains discovered on the site include animal bones, flint tools such as scrapers or arrow heads, jewellery made from shellsand from eye teeth of deer – all evidence of hunting, fishing and leather-working activities. The inhabitants of La Souche hunted deer and wild boar with bow and arrow, and caught fish such as salmon and trout in the Sarine. They also gathered wild berries and plants, as well as roots and mushrooms. Among the most fascinating discoveries at the site is a terracotta stamp, known as a pintadera, similar to stamps used in the Balkans, attesting to contact with other peoples. The discovery of seven milkteeth suggests the presence of family groups on the site.

The La Souche site continues to reveal valuable information about the transition from the last Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to the first Neolithic farmer-herders in Europe. Around 5,300 BC, the first settlements of sedentary farmer-herders emerged on the edges of present-day Switzerland – in Schaffhausen, Valais and Ticino – and evidence of their lifestyle shows similarities with the waves of neolithisation around the Mediterranean and the Danube. The La Souche shelter indicates the choice of some communities, around the same period, to continue their way of life as hunter-gatherers on Switzerland’s Central Plateau.

The site at La Souche is of international importance. Here, the region’s hunter-gatherers’ habits can be tracked over aperiod of 2,500 years and their evolution compared with that of their neighbours elsewhere in Europe. The remains and artefacts are remarkably well preserved in the deep layer of sandstone that blanketed the area after a rockfall and put an end to occupation at the site.

History is now repeating itself. The excavations begun in the early 2000s were halted in 2012 due to the unstable cliff face. The site has since been protected by gabions, sand and vegetation to preserve the remains and, as far as possible, prevent the destruction of this precious part of our heritage.