Editing Lake Constance (section)

=== Key facts ===
[[File:Columban und Gallus auf dem Bodensee.jpg|thumb|Saints [[Columbanus]] and [[Saint Gall|Gallus]] on Lake Constance, from a 15th-century manuscript]]
No [[Paleolithic]] finds have been made in the immediate vicinity of the lake, because the region of Lake Constance was long covered by the [[Rhine Glacier]]. The discovery of stone tools ([[microlith]]s) indicate that [[hunters and gatherers]] of the [[Mesolithic]] period (Middle Stone Age, 8,000–5,500 BC) frequented the area without settling, however. Only hunting camps have been confirmed. The earliest Neolithic farmers, who belonged to the [[Linear Pottery culture]], also left no traces behind, because the Alpine foreland lay away from the routes along which they had spread during the 6th millennium BC.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Helmut Schlichtherle |title=Pfahlbauten: die frühe Besiedelung des Alpenvorlandes |magazine=Spektrum der Wissenschaft |volume=1989 |issue=Siedlungen der Steinzeit |publisher=Spektrum-Verlag |location=Heidelberg, Germany |date=1989 |isbn=3-922508-48-0 |pages=140 ff |language=de}}</ref> This changed only in the middle and late [[Neolithic]] when shore settlements were established, the so-called [[pile dwelling]] and [[wetland settlement]]s, which have now been uncovered mainly on Lake Überlingen, the [[Constance Hopper]] and on the Obersee. At [[Unteruhldingen]], a pile dwelling village has been reconstructed, and now forms an open air museum.
In 2015, a 20&nbsp;km line of about 170 man-made {{ill|Stone mounds in Lake Constance|de|Steinhügel im Bodensee|lt=under-water stone mounds}} dated in the Neolithic period or early Bronze Age was discovered on the south-west shore of the lake between Bottighofen and Romanshorn.<ref name="Leuzinger_2018">{{cite web |title=Rätselhafte Steinstrukturen im Bodensee |language=de-CH |date=2018 |editor-first=Urs |editor-last=Leuzinger |publisher=Amt für Archäologie |location=Thurgau, Switzerland |url=https://archaeologie.tg.ch/public/upload/assets/65113/2018_Medienmitteilung_H%3Fgeli_Uttwil.pdf |access-date=2022-07-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401010814/https://archaeologie.tg.ch/public/upload/assets/65113/2018_Medienmitteilung_H%3Fgeli_Uttwil.pdf |archive-date=2022-04-01}} (3 pages)</ref><ref name="Schaer_2019">{{cite magazine |title=Bohren nach dem Rätsel |language=de-CH |date=2019-06-11 |author-first=Markus |author-last=Schär |magazine=thurgaukultur.ch |department=Wissen |url=https://www.thurgaukultur.ch/magazin/bohren-nach-dem-raetsel-4050 |access-date=2022-07-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190621150024/https://www.thurgaukultur.ch/magazin/bohren-nach-dem-raetsel-4050 |archive-date=2019-06-21}}</ref><ref name="NZZ_2019">{{cite news |title=Die rätselhaften Steinhügel im Bodensee stammen vermutlich aus der Bronzezeit |language=de-CH |newspaper=[[Neue Zürcher Zeitung]] |department=Wissenschaft |date=2019-06-07 |url=https://www.nzz.ch/wissenschaft/raetselhafte-steinhuegel-im-bodensee-bohrproben-entnommen-ld.1487604 |access-date=2022-07-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220727180229/https://www.nzz.ch/wissenschaft/raetselhafte-steinhuegel-im-bodensee-bohrproben-entnommen-ld.1487604?reduced=true |archive-date=2022-07-27}}</ref><ref name="Meile_2018">{{cite web |title=Steinhügel im Bodensee: Was haben sich die Pfahlbauer bloss dabei gedacht? |language=de-CH |date=2018-11-25 |author-first=Silvan |author-last=Meile |work=Tagblatt |url=https://www.tagblatt.ch/ostschweiz/frauenfeld/gruebeln-unter-wasser-was-haben-sich-die-pfahlbauer-dabei-bloss-gedacht-ld.1072604 |access-date=2022-07-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613214928/https://www.tagblatt.ch/ostschweiz/frauenfeld/gruebeln-unter-wasser-was-haben-sich-die-pfahlbauer-dabei-bloss-gedacht-ld.1072604 |archive-date=2021-06-13}}</ref><ref name="SRF_2019">{{cite web |title=Mysteriöse Steinhügel im Bodensee |language=de-CH |date=2019-09-27 |work=SRF News |url=https://www.srf.ch/wissen/natur-tiere/raetsel-geloest-bodensee-stonehenge-stammt-aus-der-jungsteinzeit |access-date=2022-07-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220727180513/https://www.srf.ch/wissen/natur-tiere/raetsel-geloest-bodensee-stonehenge-stammt-aus-der-jungsteinzeit |archive-date=2022-07-27}} [0:49]</ref>

Grave finds from [[Singen am Hohentwiel]] date to the beginning of the Early [[Bronze Age]] and shore settlements were repeatedly built during the [[Neolithic Period]] and the Bronze Age (up to 800 BC). During the following [[Iron Age]] the settlement history is interrupted. The settlement of the shore of Lake Constance during the [[Hallstatt period]] is attested by [[grave mounds]], which today are usually found in forests where they have been protected from the destruction by agriculture. Since the late Hallstatt period, the peoples living on Lake Constance are referred to as the [[Celts]]. During the [[La Tène period]] from 450 BC, the population density decreases, as can be deduced partly due from the fact that no more grave mounds were built. For the first time, written reports on Lake Constance have survived. Thus, we learn that the [[Helvetians]] settled by the lake in the south, the [[Rhaetians]] in the area of the [[Alpine Rhine Valley]] and the [[Vindelici]] in the north-east. The most important places on the lake were [[Bregenz]] (Celtic ''Brigantion'') and today's [[Konstanz|Constance]].

In the course of the Roman [[Augustine Alpine Campaign|Alpine campaign]] of 16/15 BC, the Lake Constance region was integrated into the [[Roman Empire]]. During the campaign, there was also supposed to have been a [[Battle of Lake Constance|battle on Lake Constance]]. The geographer, [[Pomponius Mela]], makes the first mention in 43 AD of Lake Constance as two lakes – the ''Lacus Venetus'' (Upper Lake) and the ''Lacus Acronius'' (Untersee) – with the Rhine flowing through both. [[Pliny the Elder]] referred to Lake Constance as ''Lacus Brigantinus'' for the first time. The most important Roman site was Bregenz, which soon became subject to Roman municipal law and later became the seat of the Prefect of the Lake Constance fleet. The Romans were also in [[Lindau (Lake Constance)|Lindau]], but settled only on the hills around Lindau as the lakeshore was swampy. Other Roman towns were ''Constantia'' (Constance) and ''Arbor Felix'' ([[Arbon]]).

After the borders of the Roman Empire were drawn back to the Rhine boundary in the 3rd century BC, the Alemanni gradually settled on the north shore of Lake Constance and, later, on the south bank as well. After the introduction of [[Christianity]], the cultural significance of the region grew as a result of the founding of [[Reichenau Abbey]] and the [[Bishopric of Constance]]. Under the rule of the [[Hohenstaufen]]s, [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diets]] (''Reichstage'') were held by Lake Constance. In Constance, too, a treaty was drawn up between the Hohenstaufen emperor and the [[Lombard League]]. Lake Constance also played an important role as a trading post for goods being traded between German and Italian states.

During the [[Thirty Years' War]], there were various conflicts over the control of the region during the [[Lake War]] (1632–1648).

After the [[War of the Second Coalition]] (1798–1802), which also affected the region and during which Austrian and French [[flotilla]]s operated on Lake Constance, there was a reorganisation of state relationships.