Pestenacker and the adjacent Neolithic wetland sites Unfriedshausen and Pestenacker-Nord in southern
Germany belonged to the Altheim culture from around 5750e5350 years cal. BP. In contrast to
contemporaneous pile dwellings, the houses of Pestenacker were constructed at ground level in a
wetland environment. Only little is known about the environmental and hydrological conditions in the
direct vicinity of the settlement and how they changed in time. To find detailed answers to these
questions, stratigraphy, sedimentology, microfossils, geochemistry and stable isotopes of a sediment
profile immediately to the west of the settlement were studied. An age model comprises five radiocarbon
dates and dates the base of the profile to about 6600 years cal. BP. Ostracods and aquatic gastropods were
frequent only in the basal part of the profile. Ostracod taxa typical for open-water conditions point to
higher humidity especially at 6120e5860 years cal. BP and 5750e5370 years cal. BP. Sedimentology and
organic carbon isotope data confirm this observation. Thereafter open-water habitats disappeared, while
increasing numbers of non-aquatic gastropods occur and soil formation is indicated by elevated d15N
values. We conclude that during the time of settlement an open water body existed near-by that disappeared
shortly after th