Stadlhof cemetery

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The cemetery of Pfatten even burial ground Stadlhof is a Late Bronze Age to early Iron Age occupied burial ground on Stadlhof (now part of the Laimburg Research Center ) in the municipality Pfatten in the South Tyrolean lowlands . The grave field, located at the foot of the Mitterberg to the east under the Kreiter Sattel , provides important evidence for the supraregional contacts of the population at the time.

Research history

In 1850 farmers found a number of ash urns while digging a dump near the Stadlhof . After the find was reported to the owner of the farm, Countess Thun zu Castel Brughiero, she entrusted her chaplain, Ciprian Pescosta, with the exploration of the hill. The chaplain began his work in 1854 and dug at the foot of the Mitterberg for a year, during which time he discovered a large number of urn graves. Over the years, however, the cemetery in Pfatten and its exact location fell into oblivion.

It was not until 1928 that the local researchers Emil Pasolli from Branzoll and Leopold von Unterrichter from Brixen rediscovered the old site. A planned excavation was finally carried out between 1928 and 1930 under the supervision of the then monument conservator Ettore Ghislanzoni, who discovered 157 Early and Elder Iron Age graves, some Late Iron Age and 37 Roman graves. The grave field in Pfatten is the only grave district in Europe in which burials have been continuously documented over a millennium and a half. In addition to the many objects made of ceramics, bronze and iron, the approximately 200 closed excavated grave inventories , which make a chronological analysis possible, are significant .

Epochs of burials

Neolithic

It is not known exactly when the first humans settled in Pfatten and the surrounding area. An important clue is a white flint arrowhead , which, however, cannot be placed in any precise context, but bears the name of origin Pfatten. The type of this long, triangular arrowhead can be connected with the Neolithic cultural group of the so-called "vasi a bocca quadrata", which were found between the Middle and Late Neolithic in Northern Italy and the Alpine Etschland . The best comparisons for this find come from nearby Trentino . In 1925 a stone box grave with a small stone ax and an arrowhead was discovered near Meano in Trento , both of which can be dated relatively late. That is why the grave findings from Pfatten are also set at the turn of the middle and late Neolithic, i.e. the end of the 4th to the beginning of the 3rd millennium before our era.

Bronze age

The few finds from Pfatten, which can be dated to the end of the Bronze Age (approx. 14th – 10th centuries BC), consist of a few pieces of pottery that were rather haphazardly collected. A bronze knife found in the area, which was discovered in isolation, i.e. outside the usual find complex, is very important for the proof of late to late Bronze Age settlement in the Pfatten area. Such engagement tongue knife point in space Pfatten a special feature: between grip tongue and base of the blade is located in the so-called "Pfattener knife" a broad, rear enclosed by a bead spacer. This intermediate piece can vary in cross section. You can find it either angular, round or twisted. Often it also has line-framed ribbon bands. With the blade, on the other hand, arches, garlands or circular eyes dominate as decorative elements.

Iron age

The connection with the “Pfattener Messer” and the urn field stage Ha B1 raises the question of whether burials have been carried out in this zone since the beginning of the earlier urn field stage (approx. 10th century BC). If you now also look at the old finds from the Pfatten cemetery, you can see individual burials dating back to the 10th century BC. To date. Among these early finds are pottery shards, which can be dated to Hallstatt B1 through decorative elements such as herringbone bands, parallel furrows and rows of dents. In contrast to the finds from the Urnfield period, the finds, which are dated to the Hallstatt period, make up a large proportion of the entire find complex. One cannot say exactly why this is so. There are various possibilities, such as B. in the 6th century BC A temporary burial time in another place, insufficient research and a partial emigration of the population. The fact is that from the 5th / 4th Century BC The burial site in the Pfatten area experienced a new boom. However, if you add the various litter finds and some rather sparsely carried out excavations, you can see a reduction in burials in the 6th century BC. Recognize, but one cannot speak of a direct interruption. As a cut in the burial area is now the 5th century BC. Transfer of the graves to the southern area.

The crescent-shaped razors that have often been found in the Pfatten necropolis are very important in this complex of finds . When you talk about the Stadlhof, you can generally refer to two types of these razors, which, in terms of time, are changing. The older type has a comb-like back, which is attached directly to the bar handle with a ring or antenna end and runs through to the tip. The decorative elements are reduced to hatched triangles that can be either hanging or standing. The younger version of this everyday object has a continuous back approach and a raised tip that begins at the ring or antenna end. The decorations in this group are, in addition to the hatched triangles, dotted line patterns and meanders. From these few finds, a two- headed fibula with a framed slash ribbon seems worth mentioning. It is a south-alpine or inner-alpine type. The uniformity of this primer points to a relatively limited number of workshops that made this shape. A special feature is that this type of fibula does not have a button on the needle holder like the other fibulae of this time. The changes during this time can probably be traced back to external influences at that time. This can be seen very clearly in the southern cemetery of Pfatten, the so-called "sepulcreto galloromano". On the basis of the forms of weapons found there, one can clearly see an influence of the Celtic civilization, which can also be seen in the Late Iron Age burial ground of Pfatten. One arrives at the same result with the jewelry forms of the Latène period . In general, one can say that the helmets, swords and lance tips that were found in the South Tyrolean area are most likely items made by local craftsmen, but it cannot be ruled out that they could also have been made by Celtic blacksmiths.

Roman Imperial Era

It seems as if the Roman burials followed directly on from the pre-Roman ones. It can therefore be assumed that the Romans in this area did not want to extinguish the cultural groups and traditions found here, but rather linked them with them. Even if the small number of finds does not allow a type cross-section, one can speak of a continuity of the burials in the cemetery of Pfatten. Since the Roman laying down of graves is directly linked to the pre-Roman times, it is assumed that the area will be taken over more or less calmly by foreign rule. Mention should be made of the so-called crab tail primers. This is a type of the Middle and Late La Tène period , which was worn and produced in the Trentino and Bozen lowlands until the early Roman Empire. The two bucket-shaped clay vessels with notched strips on the shoulder fold, which are also locally produced goods, also date from this time. The other ceramic forms found, which are dated to this epoch, come mainly from northern Italy, e.g. B. the Sigillata plates, light clay jugs or oil lamps with the stamp QGC. There is also a small bottle made of blue-green glass from Roman times, the shape of which is very reminiscent of the large bottles with handles, the so-called hydriae .

literature

  • Ettore Ghislanzoni: Il sepolcreto di Vadena. In: Monumenti antichi. 38, 3, 1940, ZDB -ID 206537-x , Sp. 317-534 (also special print: Bardi, Rome 1940).
  • Reimo Lunz: Studies on the end of the Bronze Age and the earlier Iron Age in the southern Alps. Sansoni, Florence 1974.
  • Reimo Lunz: Pre- and early history of South Tyrol. With views of the neighboring alpine areas. Volume 1: Stone Age. Manfrini, Trient 1986.
  • Georg Tengler, Maria Luise Kiem: Pfatten. Landscape and history. Pfatten village book committee, Bolzano 1991.
  • Franco Marzatico: I materiali preromani della valle dell'Adige nel castello del Buonconsiglio. Volume 1. Provincia autonoma di Trento - Ufficio beni archeologici, Trento 1997, ISBN 88-7702-062-8 ( Patrimonio storico artistico del Trentino 21).
  • Amai Lang (vocational certificate) archeology of Rhaetians I . Ed .: LMU. Munich 2008, p. 26 ( full text [PDF]).

Web links

Coordinates: 46 ° 22 ′ 53.8 ″  N , 11 ° 17 ′ 4.2 ″  E