Every-day life in the Bronze Age
The settlement on the hilly plateau Padnal near Savognin was built between 2,000 and 1,600 BC, home to between 50 and 90 people, and in use until the 9th century BC. Archaeological excavations unearthed a lot of information about this Bronze Age settlement. Find out more about every-day life in Savognin-Padnal using the model made by Marius Rappo.Photo: Raetian Museum
+
Some buildings in Savognin-Padnal were supported by wooden posts, with walls possibly similar to wicker fences, while others were log cabins. These were ‚long houses’, measuring 6 by 20 metres, in which several family units lived under one roof with their livestock.Photo: Raetian Museum
+
Humans on the Padnal were farmers tilling their land with animal-drawn wooden ploughs, cultivating barley, emmer wheat, spelt, and peas.Photo: Raetian Museum
+
Findings of ore remnants, cast moulds, and crucibles show that bronze was produced and processed on the Padnal. It might be presumed that the local bronze caster may have enjoyed a certain status in his village because of his specialist skills.Photo: Raetian Museum
+
Open fireplaces were a constant danger. The cistern - made of clay-clad larch wood - served both as a water reservoir in case of fire as well as a means of draining the settlement.Photo: Raetian Museum
+
Travelling traders supplied the village with wares from far away, e.g., salt or tin. Also, finds of amber and remnants of imported ceramics prove that there was Bronze Age trade across the Alpine passes.Photo: Raetian Museum
+
Humans on the Padnal kept cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. Hunting and fishing no longer played a major role as a food source.Photo: Raetian Museum
+
Ceramics products for every-day life were mostly manufactured in the village itself, fashioned by hand and still without a potters’ wheel.Photo: Raetian Museum
+
The Bronze Age settlement of Savognin-Padnal was studied from 1971‒1983 by the Archaeological Office of the Grisons, headed on several occasions by archaeologist Jürg Rageth. Model builder Marius Rappo immortalized him on the edge of our model settlement.Photo: Raetian Museum
+