Die Prähistorische Kommission der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1878-1918

When the first archaeological activities were carried out by the Imperial Academy of Sciences (now the Austrian Academy of Sciences) some 150 years ago, prehistoric archaeology was still on its way to becoming an independent scientific discipline. The great antiquity of the history of mankind had just been confirmed by Darwin and the latest findings of geology raised a number of new questions. The answers would be provided by prehistoric research. For this reason Ferdinand von Hochstetter (1829−1884), geologist and director of the Natural History Court Museum at the Academy, encouraged the establishment of a Prehistoric Commission, whose duty would be to undertake prehistoric research and excavations in the Austrian parts of the monarchy. Hochstetter’s idea fell on fertile ground. This volume represents a detailed and accurate history of the Prehistoric Commission for the first time. From its founding in 1878 until the end of the Habsburg monarchy in 1918 the Prehistoric Commission conducted excavations at over one hundred sites in Bohemia, Moravia, present-day Austria, southern Styria, Carniola, the Austrian littoral (the hinterlands of Trieste and Istria) and Dalmatia, some of which lasted many years. Thus it not only contributed significantly to the development of prehistory as an independent field of research, but also laid the foundations of prehistoric research for the successor states of the monarchy. The book documents this success story on the basis of previously unpublished and unknown archival material. In its first part the establishment, organisation and activities of the Commission are presented. The status and development of Austrian prehistoric research and archaeology in the context of European research are also discussed. The second part is a detailed catalogue of all excavations which took place from 1878 to 1918 and gives a vivid insight into the pioneering days of prehistoric archaeology. Short biographies of researchers and numerous pictures of excavators, excavations and finds documentation complete the image of the Prehistoric Commission, whose forward-thinking members and staff strove to gain insight into the history of mankind and to establish a new scientific discipline.