Ahead of the construction project in Heimberg, the archaeological service of the canton of Bern carried out a rescue excavation in autumn 2023. Although the research revealed almost no new findings regarding the expected Roman settlement, it did reveal the remains of a previously unknown settlement. From the Bronze Age.

During three months of research at Schulgassl in Heimberg, various settlement remains were documented over an area of ​​almost 1,000 m²: an occupation area with a very high content of flint and a (relatively) large amount of Bronze Age pottery. . as well as various posts and pits.

Two of these pits were filled to the top with hot stones, that is, stones crushed by intense heat. These pieces, which can be used as heat accumulators for cooking or heating food in pits, are typical finds of the Bronze Age.

Other pits can be used to extract clay. At that time, clay was an important raw material and was used, for example, in plastering the wicker walls of houses or in the production of earthenware. This corresponds to a package of hillside clay layers up to 35 m thick at the excavation site.

This clay deposit was later developed by the famous Heimberg potters of today, as evidenced by some much younger quarries. A brick depot excavated in Heimberg in 1964 provides similar evidence from the Roman period.

The Heimberg site is one of a number of new Bronze Age discoveries made between Thun and Bern in recent years. For example, since 2014, it has been known that the ruins of pile dwellings have been preserved in the lower part of the Lake Thun basin, in front of Schädau Castle. During the excavations in Heimberg, there is a pit on the right edge of the area. full of igneous rocks. Photo © Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern,

Salvage excavations at Tun Shoren, Richigen and Kerzatka/Hliwabere also revealed important remains of Bronze Age settlements. New Bronze Age sites demonstrate the importance of the Aare Valley as a habitat and transport route between the Alps (passes) and the Swiss Plateau.