Neolithic and sedentarization
During the Neolithic period, people settled in the Guebwiller region. For 3000 years, Neolithic men first settled on the most fertile lands and near rivers, such as the Lauch and the Rimbach. They then move on to less occupied land, such as the foothills and the hills under the Vosges. Archaeological traces are concentrated in the lowland municipalities, notably in Merxheim or Soultz.
The oldest traces, dating from the ancient Neolithic, are located in Merxheim, testifying to the early occupation of this village. In Soultz, archaeologists have gradually discovered different early Neolithic habitats. By settling in this geographical area, on the edge of the agricultural plain and the foothills of the Vosges, people certainly had to deal with the saturation of the particularly fertile alluvial plain. While before the Neolithic period, people were nomads, Neolithic men settled down and began farming in the agricultural plain. Among the sixteen plant species identified in Soultz, emmer wheat, einkorn wheat (spelt), barley and peas are grown and eaten as porridge or porridge.
The fields are systematically planted on the most fertile land, offered by the loess deposits created by the wind. Farmers then invest in other types of soil. The villages are established near these lands in order to take care of the crops and monitor them. These are completed by picking wild apples, hazelnuts, blackberries or raspberries.
The excavations identify the presence of the first herds of oxen, pigs, sheep and goats. The animal is used for food, thanks to its meat or milk, but also for making clothes or tools by using the skin and bones.
Subsequently, the sites were not abandoned, since more recent settlements, from the Bronze Age (from -2 in Alsace), from the first Iron Age (000-750 BC) or even from the High Middle Ages have been found, testifying to a human presence over a long period.
An unknown Gallo-Roman occupation
The Gallic and Roman periods have left few traces in the Guebwiller region. Archaeological excavations report the presence of man at this time, giving little information on their installations. Settlements have thus been identified in Soultz or even in Hartmannswiller, where a villa was unearthed in 1860, at a place called Schimmelrain. The site was identified by XNUMXth century scholarse century as an opulent Gallo-Roman villa twenty meters long and fourteen meters wide, abandoned after a barbarian invasion.
The Roman period lasted for almost five centuries in Alsace, especially around large towns located in the plain, but its history remains to be discovered for the region of Guebwiller.
A plain suitable for agriculture
These old installations are followed by a long agricultural history in the plain villages around Soultz, in Issenheim, in Raedersheim or even in Merxheim. These last two villages are mentioned as agricultural estates from the XNUMXthe century.
The traditional pattern has long been that of a village core, with varied peasant activity. The polyculturists then combined dairy cattle and pig farming, and small livestock such as rabbits and poultry, with cereal cultivation and market gardening. The spacious farmhouses of these plain villages were distributed around a central courtyard, on the one hand the dwelling, on the other hand the buildings necessary for the various activities. The villages of Merxheim and Issenheim retain agricultural complexes illustrating these uses that disappeared during the XNUMXth century.e century.
The villages were surrounded by meadows intended for breeding, but also by a belt of orchards. Indeed, fruit growing is ancient in Alsace. Hieronymus Bock quotes, in the XVIe century, sixteen varieties of apples and twenty of pears. The inhabitants of the Rhine basin are consumers of various fruits, thus enriching the means of subsistence from the medieval period. Later, Louis XIV speaks of Alsace as a beautiful garden. Fruit growing has played a nourishing role over the centuries, bringing sweet taste to food. The fruits are eaten in the form of Schnitz, slices of dried pears and apples. Of course, the practice of distillation is an additional outlet and also allows the preservation of fruits in alcohol, from the XVIe century. Apples and pears are largely in the majority, accompanied by plums, Zwatschka, whose trees reproduce by the core.
In the second half of the XXe century, land consolidation gradually caused the small cultivated areas to disappear, giving way to large areas intended for a single mechanized cultivation. The landscapes are completely modified; hedges, ditches, groves and trees bordering the land disappear, often leaving only crosses and crosses to mark out the landscape. In medieval times, villages were smaller and more numerous, punctuating the agricultural plain. Many no longer exist, such as Tellonewilare, between Merxheim and Réguisheim, Ostein, a village that disappeared towards Issenheim, Altschwiller, towards Soultz, or even Bleienheim, between Merxheim and Gundolsheim.
