Cortaillod is first mentioned in 1311 as
Cortaillot.
Neolithic settlements Cortaillod gave its name to the
Cortaillod culture, a
Neolithic culture in Switzerland and surrounding areas. There are four Neolithic sites along the lake shore at Cortaillod; La Fabrique or Le Vivier which is now eroding, Les Cotes which was almost completely washed out in 1880, Petit-Cortaillod and La Tuillières. At La Tuillières several large
flint and stone axes were found. Petit-Cortaillod is the largest and most productive. It is about and is between thick. These sites were originally underwater, but were discovered when the water level of Lake Neuchâtel dropped. Because they were no longer flooded, between 1876 and 1879 the sites were looted. Many items were bought by museums or private collectors with limited study and documentation. The first scientific study was done in 1878 by Albert Vouga and Fritz Borel at the Petit-Cortaillod site. Their first excavations went down to a chalk layer at a depth of . The list of objects excavated on this occasion is impressive: thousands of flints and awls made of bone, 3,000 ax shafts, and about 2,000 smaller axes and hatchets.
Bronze age settlements Ferdinand Keller and Frederic Troyon reported the discovery of lake shore settlements from the Late
Bronze Age (1250-800 BC) in 1858. Friedrich Schwab and Edouard Desor's archeological excavations found many bronze items. One of the most striking items, a wheel spoke made of bronze and oak wood with a diameter of , was discovered in 1862. Other finds included axes, sickles and needles as well as bronze swords and hundreds of vases. There were also a number of crescent-shaped earthenware objects called d'argile croissants. The d'argile croissants are about long and may represent constellations. After the first
Jura water correction dropped the water levels by , the sites began to erode. In 1925 Paul Vouga took soundings to study the
stratigraphy of the site. At his request, the Army made a series of aerial photographs in 1927, which provided a number of fundamental insights into these villages from the Bronze Age. The settlement at Cortaillod-Est was explored by divers in 1981–84. They were able to use
dendrochronology to determine that the settlement was inhabited between 1010 and 955 BC. At its largest, it consisted of eight parallel rows of houses (total 22 houses), which were separated by straight-line paths. The houses were built on dry stone foundations. It was enclosed by a fence that was built in a semicircular arc and covered an area of about . Cortaillod-Plage, the extension of the village to the north-east was inhabited between 968 and 954 BC. The settlement was built on an area of approximately . The village of Cortaillod Les Esserts was surrounded by a long, three layer
palisade. Cortaillod Les Esserts was inhabited between 870 and 850 BC and had an area of between . It had a road running through the center of the village with houses on both sides. La Fabrique or Le Vivier, the other Bronze Age site, is located above the Neolithic site. During the construction of the
A1 motorway in 1993–98, the site was explored. In 1993 in Murgiers, two cremation graves from the Late Bronze Age (
Hallstatt A 1) were discovered. One of the graves contained both offerings and a ceramic jar containing the cremated bones of a person. The other grave had fine pottery including vases with a decorative edge. The excavations at Petit Ruz in 1995-97 discovered many traces of a Bronze Age settlement, including some 300 post holes, numerous pits and hearths, and a gravel road. An excavation at Champ Basset in 1996 discovered a circular pit in diameter. This pit contained of very well preserved pottery from the Hallstatt period. Other sites in Cortaillod include postholes, burials, hearths and pottery at Tolay, in Champ Barrett, Rochettes in Chanélaz and at Tilles as well as a number of tombs from the
La Tène period at Courbes Rayes.
Medieval town Part of Cortaillod was given in 1311 to Peter Stäffis, Lord of Gorgier as a result of an exchange that he made with Count
Rudolph IV of Neuchâtel. During the
Middle Ages the ownership of the village was quite complicated. Members of the
parishes of Pontareuse and Bevaix both lived there. The
municipal community consisted of citizens of
Boudry (who were under the Lord of Gorgier) and also subjects of the priory of Bevaix. Each
feudal lord had a
bailiff or magistrate to represent him in the village. There was only a
civil court in Cortaillod, criminal cases were heard by one of the feudal lords. Starting in 1379 the inhabitants of the municipal community, owned their own pastures. In 1499 Philip of Hochberg, Count of Neuchatel, allowed them the right to farm the sandy shoreline. Between 1541 and 1545, the Lord of Colombier bought Cortaillod from the two preceding feudal lords. However, Cortaillod was sold to the Count of Neuchâtel in 1564, and became part of the County of Neuchâtel. The inhabitants then called themselves citizens of Boudry, but they did not enjoy all the citizenship rights.
Early modern and modern Cortaillod During the 15th to 19th centuries, there were repeated disputes between Cortaillod and the municipal community of Boudry. The disputes were over the division of
the common pastures and forests and a special tax (Eminem de la porte), which had to be paid by the residents of Cortaillod but only benefited Boudry. This tax was abolished in 1813. In 1503, the
Bishop of Lausanne allowed the villagers to establish a chapel. The Chapel of St. Nicholas was consecrated two years later. Until 1524 the pastor of Pontareuse and Bevaix protested against the permanent presence of a priest in Cortaillod. The village finally became an important parish when it accepted the
Protestant Reformation. In 1537 it became an independent parish. The first weaving mill in Cortaillod opened in 1731 and was open for about 30 years. In 1752 the famous Fabrique-Neuve de Cortaillod mill opened near the other mills. It remained in operation until 1854. The building was then acquired in 1879 by Câbles Cortaillod. The company remained one of the most important companies in the municipality, even after it was acquired in 2001 by Nexans Schweiz AG. Between 1855 and 1885 there was a watch factory in Cortaillod. The European manufacturing and technology center of
Silicon Graphics settled in Cortaillod in 1992. However, this plant, which employed about 300 people, closed in 2001.
Viticulture remains a significant part of the local economy, and the wines of Cortaillod enjoy a good reputation. ==Geography==