CH-NE-01

Short Description
This station was exposed during the exceptional drought of the winter of 1853–1854, but it was not reported for the first time until 1860. In 1921, during another annual drought, Neuchâtel archaeologist Paul Vouga undertook small surveys and large trenches to determine the extent of the deposit. This work continued until 1938, and he identified three successive periods of occupation. The oldest layer belongs to the late Cortaillod period, which made it possible to define the Port-Conty facies, dated from 3500 to 3300 BCE. This is followed by a horizon from the early Late Neolithic period, i.e. the Horgen culture, with two distinct occupations, probably two villages. The oldest is now dated by dendrochronology to 3160 to 3159 BCE, while the next one has yielded felling dates of 3064 to 3062 BCE. The most recent phase of occupation is attributed to the Auvernier-Cordé culture. It yielded daggers and knives made of Grand-Pressigny flint, a high-quality flint imported from a deposit in Touraine, in central France.