ABSTRACT
For a long period of time, the theory proposed by Keller in 1854 dominated the interpretation of prehistoric lakeside and wetland habitats in France, and for that matter, north-west of the Alps. The idea of villages built on the water was the reward for understanding the exceptionally well-preserved remains in humid or aquatic environments, at a time when it was still believed that there had been no climatic changes during the last several millennia and that it was possible to use the ethnographic examples obtained from the literature of colonial movements. Barely two years after Keller’s publication, the first Bronze Age lakeside villages were discovered on the submerged banks of Lake Bourget (Savoie). New discoveries followed in rapid succession. In 1860, on the southern shore of Lake Geneva (Léman) (Haute-Savoie), following the work of Troyon and Forel; in the same year on Lake Annecy (Haute-Savoie) at the site of Roselet; in 1870, at Clairvaux-les-Lacs (Jura), with the first Neolithic lakeside village; in 1903, at Aiguebelette (Savoie); in 1904 at Fontenu (Jura) on Lake Chalain and finally, at Charavines (Isère) at the site of Les Baigneurs.
