Archaeologia Austriaca, Band 100/2016

The rich copper ore deposits in the eastern Alps have long been considered as important sources for copper in prehistoric central Europe. However, the role that each deposit played is not clear. To evaluate the amount of prehistoric copper produced from the various mining regions, we attempted to link prehistoric metal artefacts with copper ores based on the geochemical characteristics of the ore deposits that were exploited in ancient times. Alongside the usage of ores as shown by the finished products, the production aspects, the quantity and variation over time must also be considered. Recent archaeological investigation has allowed these datasets to be combined in order to show the importance of one of the largest Bronze Age mining fields in Europe. More than 120 ore samples from the well-known mining regions of Mitterberg, Viehhofen, and Kitzbühel were analysed for lead isotope ratios and trace element concentrations. These results were combined with analytical data generated by previous archaeometallurgical projects in order to compile a substantial database for comparative studies. In the Early Bronze Age, most metal artefacts were made of copper or bronze with fahlore impurity patterns, and most examples from this period match the fahlore deposits in Schwaz and Brixlegg. At the end of the Early Bronze Age, a new variety of copper with low concentrations of impurities appeared. The impurity patterns of these examples match the ores from the Mitterberg region. Later, in the Middle Bronze Age, this variety of copper almost completely replaced the fahlore copper. In the Late Bronze Age, the exploitation of the ores changed again and copper with a fahlore signature reappeared. The reason for the renewed copper production from fahlores might have been a decline of the chalcopyrite mines. But it was more likely due to the fact that the rising demand for copper could no longer be met by the chalcopyrite mines alone. The examples from the Early Iron Age show no fundamental changes in metal composition. The copper metallurgy in the Early Iron Age is based on the traditions of the Late Bronze Age.

Schlagworte: Mitterberg, prehistoric mining, copper production, lead isotope analysis, provenance of copper, eastern Alps

Altogether 29 Early and Middle Bronze Age metal objects from Romania including six from the famous Apa hoard were analysed for their chemical compositions and lead isotope ratios. In order to determine the provenance of the copper, these geochemical signatures were compared with copper ores from geological deposits in central and southeastern Europe, which had been exploited in the Bronze Age. It can be concluded that the copper of the implements from the Apa hoard most likely derives from the east Alpine Mitterberg region while the other Middle and Late Bronze Age objects from Romania largely consist of Slovakian copper.

Schlagworte: Apa hoard, lead isotope analysis, provenance of copper, Romania, eastern Alps, Slovakia

This paper discusses the first results of the archaeometallurgical investigation conducted in cooperation between the institutes OREA (Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology, Austrian Academy of Sciences) and VIAS (Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science, University Vienna) and the regional museums in Doboj and Travnik (Bosnia-Herzegovina). The 76 sampled artefacts are dated between the 13th and 9th centuries BC (Ha A1–Ha B3). The spectrum of finds includes forms of supra-regional, regional and local distribution, originating from different contexts (settlements, graves and hoards). After the first analysis of 91 samples (metals and ores) using a scanning electron microscope (SEM-EDS) at the VIAS, a group of 30 archaeologically and metallurgically significant samples was additionally examined by ED-XRF analysis to determine the trace element concentration of each single artefact. The focus of this research is to determine whether the increase of copper based metal artefacts during the Late Bronze Age was stimulated by the use of local copper ore resources – since they were accessible during this time period – or if a long-range, European distribution network was used to cover the need for raw material. Furthermore, it should be examined whether locally distributed bronzes can be distinguished from supra-regional types, by not only typological differences but also regarding their metallurgical composition.

Schlagworte: Bosnia, bronze artefacts, exchange networks, metal trade, archaeometallurgical analyses, Late Bronze Age, Hallstatt period

Ada Tepe is the oldest known open-pit mine on the Balkan Peninsula for mining gold from host rocks. The mine probably started operation around 1500 BC and continued to function until the end of the 12th to the middle of the 11th century BC. The sedimentary and hydrothermally altered host rocks in the upper zone of Ada Tepe are usually of a grey or yellow colour or, in some places, yellow-brown. The rock pieces in the waste dumps are usually darker, with a red or red-brown coloration, which is obviously not connected to geological processes. It is suggested that the difference in colour between the host rocks and the fragments in the waste dumps are due to the phase transformation of minerals caused by the ancient miners using fire to fracture the host rocks in order to extract the gold ore. The majority of the analysed rock samples have a polyphase composition of goethite, hematite, schwertmannite, Au-Ag alloys, iron ochres, quartz and adularia. The phase diagnostics were performed by ore microscopy and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), morphological peculiarities were determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) while the thermal behaviour was investigated by differential thermal analysis and thermo gravimetric (DTA-TG) method. This paper will present the analytical results, which led to the conclusion that the difference in the coloration is due to the processes of transformation of nano-sized Fe3+ (oxy)hydroxides and (oxy)hydroxysulfate minerals caused by anthropogenic thermal processing.

Schlagworte: Gold, Bronze Age, gold mining, mining archaeology, mineralogy, host rocks, Fe-oxides/hydroxides, Ada Tepe, east Rhodopes, Bulgaria

Chocolate silicites from the Świętokrzyskie (Holy Cross) Mountains in south-central Poland were widely used for stone tool production from Middle Palaeolithic times to the Early Iron Age. Their presence extends beyond Poland into lithic assemblages from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and eastern Austria. Outcrops of this material are situated within a narrow strip of Mesozoic (Upper Jurassic) sediments at the northeastern footslopes of the Holy Cross Mountains. Attempts of a raw material characterisation were repeatedly undertaken, however, a clear differentiation of the visually defined subvarieties was never achieved. For the present study, we applied the Multi-Layered Chert Sourcing Approach (MLA) by combining macroscopic, microscopic and geochemical analyses using Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to samples from five chocolate silicite deposits in order to characterise the materials and to assess the potential of a source differentiation. Secondly, we included chert samples from Sąspów near Kraków for differentiation on a larger scale. Our results illustrate that a source separation of Holy Cross Mountains chocolate silicites is possible to a certain extent – there are limitations due to their geographic proximity and the resulting similar geologic genesis environments. However, our study showed clear possibilities to differentiate chocolate silicites from Jurassic-Kraków silicites based on characteristic microfossil inclusions and trace element contents.

Schlagworte: Chocolate silicites, Holy Cross Mountains, Jurassic-Kraków silicites, Multi-Layered Chert Sourcing Approach (MLA), micropalaeontology, Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS)

When working with closed finds, the knowledge of the research history of the find spot and the re-examination and re-assessment of the find contexts and finds, especially those from the beginnings of prehistoric research, is an absolute necessity. Clean data bases are the prerequisite for a computer-based seriation and statistical and cultural- historical analyses. The review of old find complexes is particularly feasible, where they can be compared with features and finds from the same find spot, which were excavated and documented with modern methods. In this article, the two Urnfield ‘hut inventories’, which had been excavated by Josef Höbarth in the first half of the 20th century, serve as examples. They are reviewed in their coherence and are compared with excavation findings and results of more recent archaeological examinations at the same find spot. In order to reconstruct Höbarth’s state of knowledge, activities and work methods, the first part of the article presents an overview of the early research at the site of Thunau am Kamp as well as biographical data for Josef Höbarth, in regard to his connections to the excavations at Thunau. A digital text-figure-catalogue of the archaeological finds from Thunau am Kamp, which are stored at the museums of the city of Horn, also belongs to this article (Appendix A). It is available through the online edition of this journal.

Schlagworte: Late Bronze Age, Urnfield Culture, Thunau am Kamp, hilltop settlement, old finds

Through writing as a ‘performative act’ persons are able to give specific objects new meaning and purpose. Examples from the Old Italic and especially the Rhaetian area (in the western Alps) from the period between the 6th and the 1st century BC offer concise evidence for such a conversion and shall be described in detail. The methodological framework of this contribution is created by older and more recent examinations on the topics ‘performative act’, ‘Anthropology of Writing’, Literacy Studies’ and ‘ritual’.

Schlagworte: identity, self-awareness, writing, literacy, Iron Age, Rhaetic

In a clearing on the Falkenstein, northeast of the Wolfgangsee, there is a chapel built in front of a cave. This monument, together with a nearby well, is connected to the myth of Wolfgang of Regensburg († 994). Because of this association, the site has always drawn people’s interest. Now, through analysis of historical records as well as the use of archaeological methods, it is possible to shed more light on its history. In the Middle Ages, this place was already a highly frequented pilgrim path that led travellers over the Falkenstein to St. Wolfgang. However, in this investigation, the focus lies on a post-medieval hermitage that gave shelter to a series of hermits over the 17th and 18th centuries. Finally, most of the questions concerning the hermitage and its dwellers can be answered with the use of archaeological prospection techniques as well as excavation.

Schlagworte: Salzburg, Archaeological Prospection, historical archaeology, digital excavation documentation

The open-air site of Kammern-Grubgraben is a rare example of a detailed glimpse of Ice-Age hunter-gatherer lifestyles during the latter part of the last glaciation of the northern hemisphere. Archaeological excavations were initially conducted between 1985 and 1990 (A. Montet-White/F. Brandtner) and from 1993 to 1994 (F. Brandtner/ B. Klíma). After the death of F. Brandtner, however, the inventory of the more recent excavations in the collection went without close examination. In a joint project between the Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Neugebauer-Maresch, Einwögerer) and the University of Cologne (Richter, Hussain) and University of Erlangen (Maier), this extensive find material was comprehensively documented and inventorised for the first time on behalf of the state of Lower Austria (MAMUZ), its legal owner. The contributions of Haesaerts and Damblon as well as Haesaerts et al. supplement this examination with a re-contextualisation and re-interpretation of the chronostratigraphy obtained during the initial excavations.

Schlagworte: Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), open air site, technology, typology, Kammern-Grubgraben, Lower Austria

The combined stratigraphic, archaeological and chronological data gained at Kammern-Grubgraben since 1985 led to the establishment of a loess palaeosol reference sequence for Lower Austria covering the second half of the Late Pleniglacial. Extended to the Middle Dniester Basin, this approach allows the Kammern-Grubgraben data to be inserted into a high-resolution palaeoenvironmental record framed between c. 21,000 and 13,000 BP by a long series of radiocarbon dates on charcoal, which is further correlated with the Greenland ice record.

Schlagworte: Loess stratigraphy, Late Palaeolithic, Late Pleniglacial, Kammern- Grubgraben, Lower Austria

The open-air site of Kammern-Grubgraben is one of the rare find sites of Late Pleniglacial times. The stratigraphy comprises five archaeological layers, containing a high range of animal bones in addition to the stone implements. As there is nearly no charcoal preserved, carefully selected bones and teeth were used for radiocarbon dating.

Schlagworte: Radiocarbon dating, Late Pleniglacial, stratigraphy, archaeological layers, Kammern-Grubgraben, Lower Austria.