The beautiful lakeside situated and largest archaeological museum in Switzerland "Laténium" near Neuchâtel displays many artefacts found in the region from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages. Since Lake Neuchâtel holds remains of prehistoric pile-dwelling settlements, a special focus is placed on them. The heyday of the Bronze Age shore settlements is dated to about 1100 BC. Only a few amber objects bear witness to this period.
Another focus of the "Laténium" museum are finds from the younger Iron Age (450 B.C. to 15 B.C.) from the settlement founded by the Celts at La Tène on the eastern shore of Lake Neuchâtel. About 2'500 objects made of iron, bronze, wood, pottery, glass and amber beads were excavated there. The site became the namesake of the well-known La Tène culture throughout Europe in the 19th century.
During the La Tène period, the Celts organized the European amber trade and controlled, among other things, the Western Amber Road, i.e. the trade route from the North Sea to Marseille. Starting from La Tène we have tried to reconstruct the Western Amber Road to Büsum (part of the Amber Coast on the Wadden Sea) (see map below).
At that time necklaces made of glass and amber beads were also very common in Switzerland.
Photo: View of Lake Neuchâtel from the Laténium Archaeological Park.
Photo: North Sea coast near Büsum on the Wadden Sea in Germany.
Literature:
Johannes Richter, Der Brenner & Tuisc Codex, Über die Bernsteinrouten und die teutsche Religion, R. G. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 2006
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laténium
https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/articles/008015/2014-02-19
Pfahlbau und Uferdorf. Leben in der Steinzeit und Bronzezeit. Glanzlichter aus dem Bernischen Historischen Museum 13, 2004, Chronos Verlag.
http:www.altwege.de/roemer-und-kelten/vorgeschichtliche-wege.html