The Pile Dwellings around the Alps represent the remains of prehistoric human settlements in the Alpine and subalpine regions. It is a trans-European site covering an extensive area of six countries. These extraordinary ancient remains are located in Italy, Austria, France, Germany, Slovenia and Switzerland. A total of 111 sites attest to settlements along the banks of rivers, lakes, marshes and wetlands in general.

Thanks to cross-sectoral research involving underwater archaeology, archaeobotany and archaeozoology, scholars managed to reconstruct a complete and detailed picture of the first European agricultural and pastoral communities. An essential technique has been dendrochronology, which allows wooden artefacts to be placed in time through the growth rings of tree trunks.