The early history of Switzerland begins with the earliest settlements up to the beginning of Habsburg rule, which in 1291 gave rise to the independence movement in the central cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden and the growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy during the Late Middle Ages.
Prehistory
Paleolithic to Mesolithic
A hand-axe fashioned by Homo erectus has been found in Pratteln, which has been dated to 300,000 years ago. Neanderthal presence is known from the Grotte de Cotencher in Neuchâtel, dating to 70,000 years ago and from the caves of Wildkirchli in the Appenzell Alps, dated to about 40,000 years ago. Anatomically modern humans reached Central Europe 30,000 years ago, but most of what is now Switzerland was covered by glaciers during the Last Glacial Maximum (Würm glaciation). The ice-free parts, northern Switzerland along the High Rhine and part of the Aar basin, were exposed to permafrost. Human habitation in the Swiss Plateau can be shown for the beginning Mesolithic, in Wetzikon-Robenhausen beginning around 10,000 years ago.
Neolithic to Copper Age
The Neolithic reached the Swiss plateau before 7,000 years ago (late 6th millennium BC), dominated by the Linear Pottery culture. The area was relatively densely populated, as is attested to by the many archeological findings from that period. Remains of pile dwellings have been found in the shallow areas of many lakes, attributed to archaeological cultures such as Cortaillod, Pfyn and Horgen. Artifacts dated to the 5th millennium BC were discovered at the Schnidejoch in 2003 to 2005. The pre-Indo-European population of the Alpine region is typified by Ötzi the Iceman, an individual of the late 4th millennium BC found in the Austrian Alps (some 25 km east of the Swiss border). The Bell Beaker culture marks the transition from the Chalcolithic to the early Bronze Age.
Bronze Age
In the 3rd millennium BC, Switzerland lay on the south-western outskirts of the Corded Ware horizon, entering the early Bronze Age (Bell Beaker culture) in step with Central Europe, in the late centuries of the 3rd millennium. The Early Bronze Age Rhône culture in western Switzerland (-1500 BC) developed from the Bell Beaker culture and was closely related to the Unetice culture in central Europe. This was followed by the Tumulus culture (-1300 BC) in the Middle Bronze Age, and the Urnfield culture in the Late Bronze Age (). Settlements included lakeside villages and fortified settlements on elevated sites.
Iron Age
The Swiss plateau lay in the western part of the Early Iron Age Hallstatt culture, and it participated in the early La Tène culture (named for the type site at Lake Neuchâtel) which arose out of the Hallstatt background from the 5th century BC.
By the final centuries BC, the Swiss plateau and Ticino were settled by Continental Celtic speaking peoples (Gauls): the Helvetii and Vindelici inhabited the western and eastern part of the Swiss plateau, respectively, and the Lugano area by the Lepontii. The interior Alpine valleys of eastern Switzerland (Grisons) were inhabited by the non-Celtic Raetians.
The distribution of La Tène culture burials in Switzerland indicates that the Swiss plateau between Lausanne and Winterthur was relatively densely populated. Settlement centres existed in the Aare valley between Thun and Bern, and between Lake Zurich and the Reuss. The Valais and the regions around Bellinzona and Lugano also seem to have been well-populated; however, those lay outside the Helvetian borders.