Berglitzl

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Berglitzl is the name of one of the most important prehistoric places of worship in the Danube region with a five-thousand-year continuum as a sanctuary on the former eastern flank of the mouth of the Gusen River into the Danube .

It is located south of the village of Gusen in the municipality of Langenstein , Upper Austria , north of the Danube. The side of the Danube opposite the Berglitzl has always been determined by the nearby estuary of the Traun and Enns rivers with their traffic routes from south to north. Its use as a place of worship spans a period from the Mesolithic Age to the 10th century AD.

Special features of the Berglitzl

Special features of the Berglitzl are:

  • Paleolithic granite stone paving from the Aurignacia as a rite group
  • intensively used medium of Stone Age (Mesolithic) Work Place
  • Fixed cult complex from the Middle to Late Neolithic Age that has remained undamaged
  • Early Bronze Age cult complex at exactly the same location as the Middle to Late Neolithic cult complex
  • the rite of the paved sacrificial place
  • the new ritual expression of sacrificial shafts laid out in the same direction in the same place

In addition, the early Neolithic and La Tène periods are represented by finds on the Berglitzl.

It is also noteworthy that on the Berglitzl up to the 10th century AD, similar pits were built in the same arrangement at the site of the Early Bronze Age sacrificial shafts, which are connected to the somewhat earlier and simultaneous burial field from the 8th and 9th centuries .

The Berglitzl as an element of the landscape

Neolithic-Early Bronze Age cup stone

Until the regulation of the Danube in the middle of the 19th century, the Berglitzl formed the foremost area of ​​a tongue of land that protruded to the main stream and still rises as an island-like elevation about 13 meters above the largely flat terrain level during floods. The Berglitzl consists of a steeply sloping granite stone wall in the west and a gently sloping flank in the east and southeast of loess and alluvial sediments. It extends about 150 meters from north to south and about 90 meters from west to east and forms together with the so-called "church hill" in the village of Gusen and the rock on which Spielberg Castle was once built in the middle of the Danube and the so-called "Tabor" near Enghagen ( municipality of Enns ), a geological peculiarity of this meadow landscape. The Berglitzl is also exactly on the connecting line between the parish church in St. Georgen an der Gusen and the parish church in Enns and has probably been at an important landing point on the northern bank of the Danube since prehistoric times. The former Roman legionary camp Lauriacum was only about 3 kilometers as the crow flies from this ancient sanctuary on the Danube.

Excavation history

The first graves without additions, to which no further attention was paid, were found and documented as early as 1938. Also in 1942 an inspection of the Berglitzl was carried out in connection with the archaeological excavations of the Bronze Age finds on the nearby "Koglberg" carried out by an external command of the Gusen concentration camp . In 1964, the owner of a gravel pit near Berglitzl reported further skeletal finds before the gravel pit was abandoned in 1965 and leveled with surrounding material. After a flood in 1965 cleared about 1.5 cubic meters of archaeological material from this surrounding material, a first test excavation was carried out that year by Ämilian Kloiber , so that in 1965 and 1966 several graves from the Slavic-Early German period were uncovered. A larger excavation in 1968 concentrated mainly on the paleolithic plateau paving of the Berglitzl that was found at that time. Excavations in 1969 and 1970 brought more graves to light. The excavations were continued annually from 1972 to 1974 by Vlasta Tovornik and Manfred Pertlwieser with the focus on "prehistoric cult sites". The early medieval burial ground with 90 burials found on the Berglitzl was assessed in 1975.

Temporal position of the finds

The Paleolithic (Paleolithic) plateau paving (approx. 120,000 to 40,000 before today)

This was arranged on the summit of the Berglitzl as an almost horizontal plane with granite stones directly on the gravel layers of the Würmglacial below . In connection with this paleolithic structure, mousteroid artifacts and bones of extinct animals belonging to the pavement were found and determined. This paved plateau level was covered in subsequent millennia by a layer of loess up to 2 meters thick.

The Mesolithic (Mesolithic) work place (12,000 - 6,000 BC)

This was located at a depth of approx. 2 meters on the south-eastern slope of the Berglitzl on the preserved post-glacial soil surface, which was then on the banks of the Danube. In this soil layer is found next to fragmented mussel and snail shells large amounts battered cobbles, chert blanks, Hornstein discounts and stone tools . Next to it were two hearths with remains of charcoal, long, pointed fragments of animal bones and fragments of rubble with clear scorch marks and heat cracks.

The Middle Neolithic cult complex of the Lengyel culture (5,000 to 4,000 BC)

This was in the form of fire and depot sites also on the southeast slope of the Berglitzl above the Mesolithic layer and was laid out in a curved line along the former bank zone of the Berglitzl. The bank zone to the Danube was additionally fortified by massive rock inserts. The fire and depot sites were circular to long-oval. In them one found perforated, amulet-like objects made of bones, animal teeth, mussel shells and stone as well as considerable amounts of broken ceramics and animal bones which had been cracked open with knocking stones and axes. Individual fire and depot sites also had vessel deposits , which mostly contained small flat axes . Several times, broken human bones were found at these fire and depot sites, indicating cannibalistic cult activities on the Berglitzl.

The early Bronze Age cult complex (approx. 2,000 BC)

This was also located on the southeast slope above the Mesolithic and Neolithic layers. The depot-like accumulation of 15 long, cylindrical stones, some of which showed clear signs of use, was remarkable .

On the southern plateau, near the western wall, a perfectly flat, square area with a side length of about 2.5 meters was found. Half of a human thigh bone (femur) and half of a lower jaw with the characteristics of deliberate disruption, which was covered by several large vascular fragments, were found in this. Both parts of the skeleton were accompanied by a smoothly polished, spindle-like object made of green stone and a horn saw. Above it was an extremely dense and extensive accumulation of vessels and parts of vessels that had apparently been broken at this point.

A row of circular, Early Bronze Age sacrificial shafts with a diameter of 1.2 to 2.2 meters was found above the Neolithic cult complex . In the center of each one found 1 to 3 larger storage vessels with grain. Around this, in a circular arrangement, several to many small and very small vessels. Whole jaws and teeth of canids and parts of burned deer antlers were also found in the pits. The sacrificial shafts were equipped with a superstructure made of round timber as thick as an arm, on which fires were lit until the falling material broke the sacrificial vessels in the shaft.

At the foot of the eastern slope, another facility with relatively closed, elongated hearth stone inserts and locally dense vascular deposits was discovered. There, animal body parts of horses and goats found in the joint bandages and sometimes meter-long, arm-thick charred wood were found. The heavily burnt rubble stone pavements found around these places of worship suggest that they were laid for cultic reasons while the fire was still burning. Even in the Bronze Age, the tradition of depositing special items in the action center was continued. A triangular bronze dagger and a magnificent flint dagger were found in places of worship .

The Neolithic-Early Bronze Age cup stone

The bowl stone functioned as a sacrificial bowl and was an important part of the cult complex

This is also located on the south-eastern flank. It is the only object accessible today and, before it was excavated in 1973, was found under layers of finds that were several meters thick for thousands of years. The triangular and strikingly brandgerötete Schalenstein from granite towered in Early Neolithic time the surface of the Danube by about 1.7 meters, and was accompanied by running parallel to the bank row large stone settings. In the vicinity of this shell stone, apart from animal body parts in a skeletal structure, bronze tools and a large number of green stone flat axes, above all halved lower jaws in special positions as well as smashed and partially burned human bones were found. A cult with intensive fire use was practiced at this important water sanctuary. Of particular importance is the discovery of specially arranged skeletal parts of a girl, which indicate a girl sacrifice carried out there.

The early medieval burial ground (8th to 10th century AD)

By 1975 102 graves from the Carolingian era had been found. The first burials took place in this cemetery, which was laid out in a layer of loess up to 2 meters thick over the Paleolithic plateau pavement, before 800 and ended in the 9th century. The dead were buried in 4 to 5 separate groups during this time. The fact that grave goods were added to the earlier burials and the later burials took place without grave goods suggests the advancing missionary work of the pagan-Slavic population in this area by the already Christian Bavarians and a contribution to the burial order at that time close the church organization emerging in this area. Typical grave goods were for example: poultry, fish, body parts of sheep, goats, pigs and calves in 3–4 waveband pots , weapons, iron knives, tools. The custom of grave goods ends around the middle of the 9th century. In some of the dead, fragments of the bowls that were used at the funeral meal were found in the backfill of the graves. It is also noticeable that 48 percent of the buried children were aged up to about 7 years, and that about a third of the adults were overweight. Even today a small property next to the Berglitzl is called "Freithofer". It is possible that the granite plateau "Kirchenhügel" in the village of Gusen is related to this cemetery from the Carolingian era. But possibly also an assumed early church building on the nearby Frankenberg.

Access

The area is privately owned, the landowner should be asked for a visit.

literature

  • Ämilian Kloiber , Manfred Pertlwieser : The prehistoric find layers on the "Berglitzl" in Gusen, political district Perg, Upper Austria. Results of the excavation years 1965–1968. In: Yearbook of the Upper Austrian Museum Association. No. 114, Linz 1969, pp. 9-18, online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at.
  • Manfred Pertlwieser: On the prehistoric situation of the "Berglitzl" in Gusen, Pol. Bez. Perg, Upper Austria. Results of the excavation years 1965–1972. In: Yearbook of the Upper Austrian Museum Association. No. 118, Linz, 1973, pp. 17–34, text and panels I – IV (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at, panels V – VIII (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at.
  • Vlasta Tovornik: The bowl stone at the prehistoric sacrificial site on the "Berglitzl" in Gusen, Pol. Bez. Perg, Upper Austria. In: Yearbook of the Upper Austrian Museum Association. No. 119, Linz 1974, pp. 19–22, online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at.
  • Vlasta Tovornik: On the status of research into the early medieval burial ground of Gusen- "Berglitzl", Pol. Bez. Perg, Upper Austria. In: Yearbook of the Upper Austrian Museum Association. No. 120, Linz 1975, pp. 57-66, online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at.
  • Manfred Pertlwieser: A non-violent conquest - the primeval settlement of the Danube valley. In: Kulturreferat der Oberösterreichischen Landesregierung (Ed.): The Danube - facets of a European river. Catalog for the Upper Austrian State Exhibition 1994 in Engelhartszell, Linz 1994, pp. 85–92. ISBN 3-85214-608-9 .
  • Alexander Binsteiner , Erwin M. Ruprechtsberger : From the Old Stone Age to the New Stone Age. The Berglitzl in the field of tension of research. In: Studies on the cultural history of Upper Austria. Episode 29, Linz 2010, pp. 1-94. ISBN 978-3-85474-246-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pertlwieser 1973, p. 34.
  2. ↑ a b Kloiber / Pertlwieser 1969, pp. 9-18.
  3. ↑ a b Pertlwieser 1973, p. 18.
  4. ↑ a b Tovornik 1975, p. 57.
  5. ↑ Tovornik 1975, pp. 62-66.
  6. ↑ Pertlwieser 1973, pp. 22-26.
  7. ↑ Pertlwieser 1973, pp. 26-28.
  8. ↑ Pertlwieser 1973, pp. 28-30.
  9. ↑ Pertlwieser 1973, pp. 30-33.
  10. ↑ a b Tovornik 1974, p. 20.
  11. ↑ Tovornik 1974, p. 22.
  12. ↑ a b Tovornik 1975, p. 65.
  13. ↑ Tovornik 1975, p. 64.
  14. ↑ a b c Tovornik 1975, p. 66.
  15. ↑ Information in new citizens' folder ( memento of the original from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . ÖVP St. Georgen, at 6.6 Planet Path / Spilbergrunde , p. 39 (pdf, cms.ooevp.at, accessed March 31, 2015).  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / cms.ooevp.at

Coordinates: 48 ° 14 '59.06 "  N , 14 ° 27' 31.29"  O