A First Detailed Study of an Austrian Neolithic Pile Dwelling’s Bryophyte Flora

The circum-alpine pile dwellings, ranging from the Neolithic period to the Bronze Age, offer a vast amount of well-preserved botanical material for archaeobotanical studies. Mosses are a common find in these waterlogged sediments, yet they are rarely analysed in detail. The case study of the recently excavated Mooswinkel pile dwelling at the Austrian lake Mondsee will give an insight into the study of moss remains. 16 different species from various habitats have been identified in the layers of the late Neolithic site. The analysis shows what possible uses the mosses could have served and from where they were gathered by the pile dwellers.