Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps are a series of prehistoric pile dwelling (or stilt house) settlements in and around the Alps built from about 5000 to 500 BC on the edges of lakes, rivers or wetlands. In 2011, 111 sites located variously in Switzerland (56), Italy (19), Germany (18), France (11), Austria (5) and Slovenia (2) were added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list.^[1] In Slovenia, these were the first World Heritage Sites to be listed for their cultural value.^[2]

Excavations conducted at some of the sites have yielded evidence regarding prehistoric life and the way communities interacted with their environment during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages in Alpine Europe. These settlements are a unique group of exceptionally well-preserved and culturally rich archaeological sites, which constitute one of the most important sources for the study of early agrarian societies in the region.^[1]

Contrary to popular belief, the dwellings were not erected over water, but on nearby marshy land. They were set on piles to protect against occasional flooding. Because the lakes have grown in size over time, many of the original piles are now under water, giving modern observers the false impression that they have always been this way.^[3] Climate change is changing the habitats of these sites.^[4]

• Neolithic palafitte at Ledro, Italy
• Patterns of pile dwellings ceramics, Lake Bourget, Savoy, 1915
• Ceramics of palafittes of Lake Bourget, Savoy, 1915
• Remains of underwater palafittes, station of Morges, Switzerland, 2011
• Inventory of the metallic material of the pile dwellings of Lake Bourget, 1908
• Canoe from Lake Chalain, Jura, 1904
• Neolithic house reconstruction
• Illustration of dwellings and artefacts
• Prehistoric pile-dwelling house reconstruction
• Prehistoric pile-dwelling house reconstruction
• Prehistoric pile-dwelling house reconstruction
• Prehistoric pile-dwelling house reconstruction
• Bronze Age house reconstruction (c. 1000 BC), Laténium museum, Switzerland
• Cortaillod-Est, Bronze Age settlement, Switzerland, c. 1000 BC
• Cortaillod-Est, c. 1000 BC
• Cortaillod-Est, settlement remains
• Cortaillod-Est house
• Pfyn-Breitenloo, Neolithic settlement, c. 3700 BC, Pfyn culture, Switzerland
• Clairvaux-les-Lacs, Neolithic settlement, France, c. 4000 BC
• Molina di Ledro, Bronze Age settlement, Italy, Polada culture, c. 2200–1500 BC
• Molina di Ledro, Bronze Age settlement reconstruction
• Palafitte model, Museo di Villa Mirabello
• Fiave 6, Facies of the pile dwellings and of the dammed settlements, Italy
• Historical illustration

• Prehistoric pile dwellings around Lake Zurich
• Cortaillod culture
• Horgen culture
• Pfyn culture
• Clairvaux-les-Lacs