Schnidejoch

The "Schnidejoch" is a pass in the Bernese Alps, at 2,756 m above sea level, cutting across the ridge connecting the Schnidehorn and the Wildhorn. Archaeological artefacts discovered near the pass, their dates spread over six millennia, from the Neolithic to the Late Middle Ages, suggests that the pass was in regular use as a short route across the Bernese Alps, connecting the Bernese Oberland an the Valais, throughout this period. The nearest easier passes across the massif are the Sanetschpass (2,252 m) and the Rawilpass (2,429 m), situated a few km to the west and east, respectively.

In September 2003, Bronze Age or Neolithic artefacts were discovered at at the icefield just below the pass, at ca. 2,500 m. The discovery was made possible by the melting away of the formerly permanent ice field during the exceptionally hot summer of 2003.

Further searches in 2004 and 2005 yielded more than 400 objects dating to various epochs, about half of them placed by carbon dating to between 29th and the 27th centuries BC (Corded ware period). The objects include hunting weapons and clothing. A yew bow found at the site and taken home by a German tourist in 2003 was returned to the Bernese cantonal archaeologists in 2005. [ [http://www.nzz.ch/2006/01/18/vm/newzzEILL9E47-12.html] NZZ, Associated Press, 18 January 2006.]

The 3rd millennium dates of the oldest artefacts were revised to the mid 5th millennium BC (linear pottery period) in a 2008 press release. [ [http://www.nzz.ch/nachrichten/panorama/schnidejoch_oetzi__1.812387.html] NZZ, Schweizerische Depeschenagentur 21 August 2008] The revised dates would establish the artefacts as older than Ötzi the Iceman.

References

External links

*http://www.landschaftsmuseum.de/seiten/Lexikon/Schnidejoch_CH.htm