Bauforschung als Wirtschafts-, Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte: Ein Wirtshaus von 1768 am Pilgerweg nach Einsiedeln (Architectural Surveying as a Means of Studying Economic, Social and Cultural History: An Inn Dating from 1768 on the Pilgrim Trail to Einsiedeln)

Buildings are an important category of archaeological sources, and architectural surveying is therefore a central theme in archaeological research. The aim of an architectural survey carried out using archaeological methods is largely to expose the earlier stages of the building and to recover concealed finds. Artefacts recovered from houses can provide information about the uses of the buildings and about their owners. Since 1972 the Archaeology Department of Canton Zug in Central Switzerland has on average carried out seven or eight architectural surveys every year. The dwellings are usually timber-built and date from the period between the 14th century and 1850, with the bulk of the work centred on 15th and 16th century houses. Since 2008, the archaeological investigations of the timber buildings of Canton Zug have been the subject of a Swiss National Science Foundation project under the direction of Georges Desc udres from the University of Zurich. The project is entitled ‘Early Wooden Houses from the 14th to the 17th Centuries in Central Switzerland.’