Houses on stilts are found in several parts of the world, such as South-east Asia, Papua New Guinea, western Africa and the Amazon basin and in the Orinoco valley of South America.
They are commonly found on the shores of rivers and lakes, and were widely used in prehistory. In Europe, both Neolithic and Bronze-Age stilt houses have been found in Austria.
For people who make their living from fishing and for whom it is easier to get from place to place by boat, building homes by the lake shore is sensible and building them on stilts makes it possible to reduce the damage caused by flooding.
In Scotland, crannogs were built from about 3200 BC on. These are dwellings built on stilts in the middle of lochs, or on small island in them, and reached by a narrow causeway. These could be defended more easily than houses on the loch shore.