Ancient and Middle Stone Age sites in Tyrol

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Paleolithic / Paleolithic

The oldest known finds in Tyrol so far come from the Tischofer Cave . These are eight bone tips from javelins , which were made from cave bear bones and dating from 30,000 BC. Ch. ( Aurignacien ) date. How these artifacts got into the cave is still controversial today. On the one hand, it is assumed that the Tischofer cave served as a resting place for the Palaeolithic hunters, on the other hand, the spear reinforcements could also have been dragged into their shelter by wounded bears. May have been cave bear , also imposes directly within their burrows during the winter sleep.

Middle Stone Age / Mesolithic

Far more sites are known from the Mesolithic era that testify to the presence of groups of hunters in the Tyrol region, such as the "Hohle Stein" near Vent in the Ötztal . This mighty rock fall block lies at almost 2050 m and its overhanging walls probably served the overlying mesolithic people as protection from wind and weather. During archaeological excavations, both a fireplace and indications of an artificially built, simple windbreak were found. It is striking that the stone tools found were made from raw material ( Silex ), which comes from regions of the southern Limestone Alps ( Lake Garda region ). Rock crystal was also used by the stone mallets stored here as a material for the production of equipment. The spectrum of finds includes scratches, drills, burins and residual cores (nuclei or nuclei). Based on the recovered trapezoidal shapes, the site is dated to the 7th and 6th millennium ( Castelnovien and Sauveterrien , not in use today), which can be confirmed with 14 C investigations. Trapeze is the name given to small stone tools that served as arrowheads or insert blades for arrow shafts. Residual cores or nucleus pieces are raw pieces from which chips, blades and lamellas have been processed.

Not far away from the “Hohlen Stein” lies another important site at the entrance of the so-called Rofental at approx. 1950 m . A hiking trail runs right through the site and on the same there were numerous scattered finds of stone artifacts, which is why the area was archaeologically examined. The remains of a fireplace were found that were dated to 7500 BC using the radiocarbon method . Is dated. Post wedges indicate a simple shelter. In its center was a large stone, around which the found objects were concentrated. One can address this area as a striking place , whereby the stone possibly served the Mesolithic rock breakers as a seat. Artefacts include arrowheads , scratches, residual cores, lamellas, trapezoids and notch remains. The last two groups of finds are classified in the late Mesolithic (approx. 7000–5500 BC). In addition to local rocks, rock crystal from the Zillertal Alps and flint from the Lake Garda region ( Val di Non , Trentino) were used as raw material for the production of equipment . The dagger of the man in the ice ( Ötzi ) was also made from flint from this region. Based on the device shape and the materials used, two groups can be distinguished here. Rock crystal and quartzite seem to have been used mainly by the local hunting groups of the 8th millennium, whereas the late Mesolithic preferred south-alpine silex. Due to the nucleus pieces that were often found and were not completely cut off, the site could be seen as a transshipment point for flint material, where different groups of hunters met during the hunting season to “trade” raw materials.

At the site of the Ullafelsen (Rieglschrofen) in the Fotschertal , a seasonal storage site at an altitude of 1867 m, there is an equally diverse range of raw materials from around 9,000 BC. Occupied. In addition to north and south alpine silices , rock crystals from the eastern Tauern window, local radiolarites and chert from the Abensberg / Arnhofen region (Bavaria) were also used. The latter were transported almost 200 km to the site. The material from which the Ullafelsen devices are made also comes from an area on Monte Baldo on Lake Garda.

Another site that is currently being investigated as part of the SFB HiMAT at the Institute for Archeology at the University of Innsbruck is located on the Riepenkar in the Tux Alps . At the southern foot of the Olperer , an attentive mineral collector picked up blade and lamellar chips made of extremely high quality rock crystal, which can be assigned to the Middle and Neolithic epoch. The finds also include a small black radiolarian horn stone of southern Alpine provenance. Presumably passing groups of hunters discovered a lucrative quartz cleft and extracted the crystalline raw material there for the production of their equipment.

Some smaller sites are in the Karwendel , more precisely in the area around the Schleimsattel (e.g. Schleimsattel 3c and Pasillalm 1). Among other things, chert tubers and slabs were recovered that were freshly extracted from the mountain , i.e. directly from deposits in the vicinity. Various microliths such as microtips, triangles, segments and notch remains date the sites to the earlier Mesolithic . The three first-mentioned device forms designate arrowheads or insert blades for arrow shafts. Notch residues are waste products from the manufacture of arrow inserts.

In the Rofan Mountains , too , some finds indicate the presence of Stone Age hunters. Stone tools recovered near the Gruberlacke are classified in the late Mesolithic period. At the Krahnsattel, about 5 minutes' walk from the Gruberlacke, there is a rock fall area with several overhanging boulders. Traces of settlements from the Stone Age and Iron Age were found on one of the so-called “Witches Rock”. The device types of stone artifacts (trapezoids) date the Stone Age inspection horizon to the late Mesolithic. Further concentrations of finds are to the west of the Zireinersee and in the vicinity of the Mauritzalm. On the one hand, both places are conveniently located in terms of raw material sources, on the other hand they represent an ideal starting point for hunting expeditions. Here, too, a temporal classification in the late Mesolithic is assumed.

Litter finds from Sistranser Issboden near Innsbruck come from the Mesolithic period. A scraper-like device and waste from stone tool manufacture show the introduction of silices from southern Alpine areas such as Trentino and rock crystal from the Zillertal main ridge .

Other sites are on the south bank of the Riefelsee in the Pitztal . The stone tools made of flint, quartzite and rock crystal cannot be assigned to any group of forms, which is why a Mesolithic dating can only be assumed. In an abri near the Taschachalm, other artifacts were recovered, including a thumbnail scraper, which is a typical device form of the Mesolithic.

Evidence of the presence of Stone Age hunters was also found in the Gschnitztal valley . At the "Hohlen Stein" near the Laponisalm they found extremely favorable conditions for a rest, as the rock, like its namesake in the Ötztal, offers a protective roof. Salvaged found objects only allow a general chronological classification from 10,000 to 5000 BC. Chr. To. The discovery of a silex split and traces of charcoal on the so-called “Nöckl” indicate that this hilltop was used as a resting place. Further Mesolithic sites are documented between the Nösslachjoch and the Trunajoch.

Web links

literature

  • Thomas Bachnetzer, Beatrix Nutz: The Hexenfels on the Krahnsattel in the Rofan Mountains, North Tyrol . Archeology of Austria 21/2, 2010, pp. 35–38.
  • Joachim Hahn : Recognizing and determining bone artifacts. Introduction to artifact morphology . Archaeologica Venatoria 10 (Tübingen 1991).
  • Isabella Harb: The Early Bronze Age finds from the Tischofer cave near Kufstein . Diploma thesis (Innsbruck 2000).
  • Isabella Harb: The excavations in the Tischofer cave near Kufstein in Tyrol . Praearchos 1 (Innsbruck 2002).
  • Isabella Harb: The excavations in the Tischofer cave near Kufstein in Tyrol . Archaeo Tirol. Kleine Schriften 4, 2002, pp. 13-14.
  • Werner Kneußl: The prehistoric antiquities of the Tischofer cave . Typewritten dissertation (Innsbruck 1967).
  • Klaus Kompatscher, Nandi Kompatscher: Stone Age refractory extraction. Prehistoric use of the radiolarite and chert deposits of the Rofan Mountains . Der Schlern 79, 2, 2005, pp. 24–35.
  • Walter Leitner: The "Hohle Stein" - a Stone Age hunting station in the rear Ötztal, Tyrol (Archäologische Sondagen 1992/93). In: Konrad Spindler , Elisabeth Rastbichler-Zissernig, Harald Wilfing u. a. (Ed.): The man in the ice 2, new finds and results. Publications of the research institute for alpine prehistory of the University of Innsbruck 2 (Innsbruck 1995) pp. 209–213.
  • Walter Leitner: A Mesolithic open-air station in the Rofental . Archeology of Austria 6/2, 1995, p. 19.
  • Walter Leitner: Archaeological research in the Ötztal . Writings of the South Tyrol Museum of Archeology 1, 1999, pp. 69–79.
  • Walter Leitner: A Mesolithic outdoor station in the Rofental, Sölden district . Archaeo Tirol. Small writings 2 (Wattens 2000) 115–116.
  • Walter Leitner: Stone Age hunters and shepherds camp at the "Hohlen Stein" near Vent, in the Ötztal . Archaeo Tirol. Kleine Schriften 2 (Wattens 2000) pp. 117–118.
  • Walter Leitner: Excavations of a Stone Age open-air camp in Rofental, Sölden district . Archaeo Tirol. Kleine Schriften 3 (Wattens 2001) pp. 169–171.
  • Walter Leitner: Stone Age rock crystal mining on the Riepenkar in the Tux Alps, Gem. Finkenberg . Archaeo Tirol. Kleine Schriften 3 (Wattens 2001) pp. 188–189.
  • Walter Leitner: Continuation of the excavations of a Stone Age open air station in the Rofental, Sölden district . Archaeo Tirol. Kleine Schriften 4 (Wattens 2002) p. 188.
  • Walter Leitner: Stone Age rock crystal mining in the Tux Alps . Archäologie Österreichs 13/1, 2002, pp. 44–45.
  • Dominik Markl: Mesolithic hunters on the Sistranser Issboden . Archaeo Tirol. Kleine Schriften 3 (Wattens 2001) pp. 18–22.
  • Dominik Markl: On the lakeshore and under the rock roof: new Stone Age sites in the rearmost Pitztal . Archaeo Tirol. Kleine Schriften 4 (Wattens 2002) pp. 31–34.
  • Dominik Markl: Two Mesolithic hunting rest stations at the “Nöckl” and at the Hohlen Stein in the innermost Gschnitztal . Archaeo Tirol. Kleine Schriften 5 (Wattens 2006) pp. 226–227.
  • Osmund Menghin , Werner Kneussl: The Tischofer cave . Tiroler Heimatblätter 42, 1967, pp. 113-133.
  • Osmund Menghin: Early Aurignacium finds from Tyrol - On the history and geochronological position of the Tischofer Cave . In: Osmund Menghin, Reinelde Kneußl, Werner Kneußl: Contributions to the prehistory of Tyrol . Innsbruck Contributions to Cultural Studies, special issue 29 (Innsbruck 1969) pp. 11–38.
  • Dieter Schäfer: Mesolithic sites in Tyrol . In: Klaus Oeggl , Gernot Patzelt , Dieter Schäfer (eds.): Alpine Vorzeit in Tirol . Booklet accompanying the exhibition (Innsbruck 1997) pp. 7–21.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dieter Schäfer: On the state of investigation on the ancient Mesolithic site of the Ullafelsen in the Fotschertal (Stubai Alps, Tyrol) , in: Germania 76,2 (1998) 439–496.
  2. ↑ Thomas Bachnetzer, Beatrix Nutz: The Hexenfels on the Krahnsattel in the Rofan Mountains, North Tyrol . In: Archeology Austria 21/2, 2010, pp. 35–38