Neumarkt an der Ybbs cemetery
The grave field of Neumarkt an der Ybbs , also known as the Haidenschaft grave field , was recovered as part of rescue excavations by the Austrian Federal Monuments Office . Finds, grave reconstructions and information boards are exhibited in the Neumarkt an der Ybbs School and Local History Museum.
Geographical location
Neumarkt an der Ybbs is located in the west of Lower Austria, just south of the Danube . The burial ground was in the north of what is now the town center.
Find history
In 1961 skeletal remains and artifacts were discovered due to gravel mining activities and reported to the Federal Monuments Office. The rescue excavation was carried out by Gustav Melzer . He uncovered 45 body graves from grave group A. In 1997, grave remains were found again due to the ongoing gravel mining. The rescue excavation, which was initiated immediately, was headed by Franz Sauer . In 1997 and 2000 91 burials and numerous remains of settlements from grave group B were documented. A connection between the two parts of the cemetery, 200 meters apart, could not be established, but it is possible.
Dating
Due to the location of the skeletons and the graves, 38 of the graves of excavation group A could be dated to the beginning of the Early Bronze Age and eight to the Carolingian period. The Sauer excavation of grave group B concerns burials from the late Early Bronze Age or the beginning Middle Bronze Age, which could be determined due to the elements of the costume.
Cultural assignment
The area south of the Danube and west of the Vienna Woods was populated by the Unterwölblinger cultural group in the Early Bronze Age. This burial site can also be assigned to the Unterwölblinger cultural group because of the burial custom and the finds. The dead lie on their side crouches, men with their heads in the north, women with their heads in the south, both facing west. The dead wear jewelry and are provided with food and drink. At the end of the Early Bronze Age, this tradition changes and food and drinks are no longer given. This final phase is known as the Böheimkirchen group of the Věteřov culture . The closest comparable burial ground was common barn F in the Traisental.
Grave group A
Grave group A consisted of 45 body graves documented by Gustav Melzer in 1961. 38 of these graves date from the Early Bronze Age , eight more graves were created during the Carolingian period .
Early Bronze Age graves
In the graves of the Early Bronze Age, ceramic vessels, jewelry, tools and weapons were found in addition to the remains of the dead. At the beginning of the Early Bronze Age there are still many practices that are known from the Neolithic Age , and the use of the new material in everyday life is only gradually becoming apparent. As early as 1962, i.e. immediately after the recovery, the metallurgical analyzes carried out found that 75 percent of the metal artifacts consist of copper, i.e. that they had not yet been alloyed to bronze by adding tin . This process, which made the metal easier to process, harder and golden in color, only gradually gained acceptance. In advance, the dead were furnished with jewelry made of snail shells, dental implants, shells and bones, which were only supplemented by a few objects made of copper wire.
Found objects
For example, dental implants were connected with copper spiral rollers and formed into a necklace. Round or triangular bone plates were punched and threaded on. One type of headdress for women and men was the knobbed ring, whereby a piece of wire was twisted into a small, flat spiral and this was bent into a ring. This allowed the hair to be held together in highlights. Needles were used to fasten clothes. Here the bone needle has been replaced by the metal needle. The cast wire was imaginatively bent in such a way that the shiny metal was as visible as possible and the needle head could be attached with a cord - more than 1000 years later, the fibula was to be created from it. Sleeve head, loop head and rudder head needles were used in Neumarkt. The dead, who could be described as rich, also wore bracelets and eyelet neck rings around their necks , which were known both as a piece of jewelry and as a bar in the sense of a premonetary function. Copper daggers replaced the previously common flint dagger, as it was still used by Ötzi . The dining fork known to us did not yet exist; a metal point with wood or bone - an awl - could be used for this, provided that the device was found in a dish with meat - or the preserved bones - in the grave. If, on the other hand, it is a personal item on the dead person, for example near the belt, it is a universal tool. The dead were provided with food and drink for their journey into the afterlife. The ceramic vessels were preserved in the ground. As is customary for this era and region, pots and bowls were used for this.
Grave 36
Special attention should be paid to grave 36. A 20 to 30-year-old woman was buried here, who not only stands out from the other graves because of the large number of jewelry pieces. She wore two eyelet neck rings and a perforated bear tooth around her neck and fastened the clothes with two copper pins. Tin tubes were found on the back, suggesting that they were used to decorate the hair or a head and shoulder cape of the dead. The costume decoration with an animal tooth and the so-called head-back decoration is unusual in this region. It points to a contact in what is now the area of the Banat . Relations between these two population groups existed and were connected by the Danube. It has not yet been possible to clarify whether this woman was a “princess”, a trader or a prisoner.
Early medieval graves
Eight early medieval body graves from the 9th century were discovered. They differed in their execution noticeably from the older burials. The dead were buried in rectangular grave pits in a west-east to north-west-south-east direction. They were lying on their backs in wooden coffins . A clay pot could stand next to the head or feet. Jewelry was only found in one grave, and it was thin wire earrings. Another dead person took his knife, fire hammer and flint to the grave. The fragment of a green-blue glass vessel , which was still rare at the time, was also documented here. The tradition of burying the dead with grave goods was practiced by the non-Christian population.
The graphic artist Gustav Melzer
Gustav Melzer, who carried out the excavation with helpers in 1961, left behind the archaeological documentation he had prepared. He drew the graves and their contents on site in a sketchbook, made a verbal description of the grave and final drawings in an A5 exercise book. Finally, he drew the graves in ink on tracing paper as the basis for the planned print. He developed his style of grave drawing, especially when depicting skeletons. His drawings are not to be understood as real, naturalistic images. Rather, he dealt symbolically with the circumstances of the find, whereby his main concern was to record how the skeleton lay in the grave pit and where the found objects were found. Due to the simplified, schematic representation, his skeletons look almost like cartoon characters. The development of a personal artistic style of findings drawings can also be observed , for example, with Ladislaus Kmoch . Original drawings of his archaeological documentation from the Bisamberg area are now in the study collection of the Institute for Prehistory and Historical Archeology, Vienna.
Grave group B
The excavation area from 1997/2000 comprised grave group B with 91 burials, a presumably associated house floor plan and traces of settlement from the Iron Age in the southern area of the burial site. The graves of grave group B are placed at the end of the Early Bronze Age and assigned to the Böheimkirchner group of the Věteřov culture . As before in the Unterwölblingen cultural group , the dead were buried in 89 graves in a gender-differentiated north-south direction. Again men faced the north and women faced the south, both facing east. The sex and age of the skeletons were recorded by anthropologists' morphological examination . Taking into account archaeological and anthropological results, 28 women's and 17 men's graves were identified. In contrast to grave group A, child burials were also documented in grave group B. Of the 42 under 12-year-olds, 17 were girls and 25 were boys who were addressed as such because of their location in the grave. For reasons that are no longer comprehensible today, a man between the ages of 30 and 50 was cremated before burial and only the corpse burn in the form of small bone particles was poured into a pit. A skull dump that was located on the edge of the excavation area can also be designated as a special burial. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that the largest number of graves survived the millennia untouched. Subsequent interventions are only detectable in 18% of the graves. In the grave fields of common barn F at the same time, it is 96%. This enables more detailed information on how to deal with the dead from the Neumarkt an der Ybbs cemetery.
Found objects
| speech | piece |
| Needles | 86 |
| Bangles | 43 |
| Bangles | 11 |
| Daggers | 4th |
| Axes | 3 |
| Belt hook | 3 |
| pendant | 1 |
| Awl | 1 |
In the course of the Early Bronze Age, the burial tradition changed so that there are no more ceramic vessels in the grave. The dead are laid down in their costume with any weapons or tools that we find today, provided they were made of a durable material. Ephemeral materials such as fabric, leather, wood, etc. are only preserved in the most favorable soil conditions with exclusion of air, in absolute dryness or below freezing point. These materials are found in archaeological investigations under water, in the desert or in the ice. All finds in the Neumarkt an der Ybbs cemetery are made of bronze. The dead were dressed in their costumes, which were closed with two needles for women and one needle in the shoulder area for men. At that time, diagonally perforated ball-headed needles were modern. Almost all of the dead, with a few exceptions, wore this type of needle. In addition to the clothes lock, jewelry and weapons were also found on the dead. Women were adorned with bracelets. A version known so far only from the Neumarkt an der Ybbs cemetery is the double bangle . Just like their mothers, children are adorned with needles and bracelets, and they also wore small earrings. Few men are known to have taken their dagger or hatchet with them to the grave. Since most of the disturbed graves are male burials, it can be assumed that these heavy metal objects were often removed secondarily . Special artifacts are the Včelince type pendant and the Franzhausen type circular needle . In summary, the finds, which point to regional as well as international metalworking, show on the one hand a large trading area and on the other hand an independent craft development.
Diseases in the Early Bronze Age
After 3500 years, only the skeletons of the dead have survived , all soft tissues have passed. Traces on the bone caused by illness or injury can still be recognized and explained today, since the bone has the property of adapting to the respective situation of muscle strain. Therefore, conspicuous pathological changes were examined histologically by means of bone thin sections and light microscopic techniques (macro photography, X-ray images, microradiographs) . A 25- to 35-year-old man could be recognized as one-eyed in grave 7. A few years before his death he had lost the vision of his right eye as a result of external influences - in combat or in an accident . A 7-year-old child was in grave 7. It was very likely with a congenital deformity of the ears and a. died of meningitis. A 40- to 50-year-old man was found in grave 12 with a dagger laid at his feet. It could be proven that this man was permanently handicapped by a purulent inflammation on the left ankle and moved with the help of a crutch under the armpit. Apparently he lost the ability to use his dagger from the belt hanging from his waist, where it is usually found in the grave. In a 20 to 25-year-old woman from grave 55, the consequences of metastases in the skull could very likely be diagnosed.
Grave ensemble with skull dump
In the northeast section of grave group B, a pit with a male skull formed the center of an extraordinary grave ensemble. The skull was surrounded by five tree trunks, which can be recognized by the pits that had remained visible due to the discoloration of the ground. The tree trunks presumably carried a construction to mark the position of the skull in the ground above ground. To the southwest and northeast of the skull dump there were women's graves, which stood out from the rest of the graves because of their wealth of jewelry. Between the northeast grave and the pit with the skull there was a building with a stone foundation , as evidenced by the rubble stones that remained in the ground. No more detailed information can be given today about the exact shape of the foundation and the size of the structure. Presumably it was a building and was connected to the two rich women's graves and the skull dump. Of course, the question arises where the man's skull came from. In the burial ground there is the grave of a man without a skull. Its strong bone structure would go very well with the excellently preserved skull, which in this case can only be demonstrated by aDNA analysis. The 14-C dating of the skull suggests the death of the man around 1500 BC. Chr. Firmly. At that time it was evidently customary to give the dead a new function in the realm of the living through special secondary treatment of the skull. For the skull from Neumarkt a use could as that of the skull caps from the settlement Boeheimkirchen have been planned. The settlement was also inhabited by the Böheimkirchen group of the Věteřov culture. During excavations in 1980 three processed human skulls were found there, which had been excavated by J.-W. Neugebauer were referred to as a skull cup. They are currently exhibited in the Prehistory Museum Asparn an der Zaya .
Ceremonial building
In the west of the excavation area there was a building next to grave group B, of which the linear arrangement of the post holes has been preserved. The walls of the house consisted of wattle walls plastered with clay that connected the posts dug into the earth. The house was long and narrow and only the northeastern end was archaeologically examined, which had a porch - a so-called ante . This is an extension of the longitudinal walls beyond the final broad wall. Behind this wide wall, i.e. inside the house, a pit was discovered in which three ceramic vessels stood. It can now be assumed that this house served as a ceremonial building belonging to the burial ground , in which actions took place that took place before or after the burial. In the ceramic vessels there were probably substances (liquids, herbs, incense, ointments or similar) that were available for the ritual and were only accessible at their location for those performing the ritual.
Dynamic organ of memory 3500 years ago
The grave field of Neumarkt an der Ybbs with the infrastructure, as it was documented during the archaeological investigation, gives us an inkling today that dealing with death 3500 years ago was an essential part of the everyday life of the population. The burial site not only served to dispose of the remains of the various people, but also to give them an active place in the lives of those who remained through individual treatment after death, in order to keep them and their deeds in memory .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gustav Melzer. Neumarkt an der Ybbs . Find reports from Austria 8, Berger and Sons, Horn 1974, pp. 48–50
- ^ Franz Sauer and Jaroslaw Czubak. Neumarkt an der Ybbs . Find reports from Austria 36, Berger and Sons, Horn 1997, pp. 24–25
- ^ Franz Sauer and Jaroslaw Czubak. Neumarkt an der Ybbs . Find reports from Austria 39, Berger and Sons, Horn 2000, p. 25
- ↑ Gustav Melzer. Neumarkt an der Ybbs . Find reports from Austria 8, Berger and Sons, Horn 1974, pp. 48–50
- ↑ Herwig Friesinger. Studies on the archeology of the Slavs in Lower Austria . Announcements of the Prehistoric Commission 15–16, Verlag der Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1971–1974, pp. 53–55
- ^ Franz Sauer, Neumarkt an der Ybbs . Find reports from Austria 42, Berger and Sons, Horn 2003, pp. 84–85
- ^ Johannes-Wolfgang Neugebauer. Bronze Age in Eastern Austria . Scientific publication series Niederösterreich 98/99/100/101, Verlag Niederösterreichisches Pressehaus, St. Pölten 1994, p. 69
- ^ Johannes-Wolfgang Neugebauer. The necropolis F of Gemeinlebarn Lower Austria . Roman-Germanic research 49, Zabern, Mainz am Rhein 1991
- ↑ Violetta Reiter. Digital Archiving of the Department Collection . 14th International Congress Cultural Heritage and New Technologies Vienna, 2009, p. 395
literature
- Herwig Friesinger : Studies on the archeology of the Slavs in Lower Austria. Announcements of the Prehistoric Commission 15–16, Verlag der Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1971–1974, pp. 53–55
- Karl Großschmidt and Barbara Rendl: The grave field of Neumarkt / Ybbs. Pathological cases from the Early Bronze Age: one-eyed, deaf, limping and metastases. Archaeologia Austriaca 97–98, 2013–2014, pp. 233–240
- Johannes-Wolfgang Neugebauer : Böheimkirchen. Find reports from Austria 19, Berger and Sons, Horn 1980, pp. 381–383
- Johannes-Wolfgang Neugebauer: The necropolis F von Gemeinlebarn Lower Austria. Roman-Germanic research 49, Zabern, Mainz am Rhein 1991
- Johannes-Wolfgang Neugebauer: Bronze Age in Eastern Austria. Scientific publication series Niederösterreich 98/99/100/101, Niederösterreichisches Pressehaus Verlag, St. Pölten 1994
- Heinz Neuninger and Richard Pittioni: The copper of the Unterwölbling type. Archaeologia Austriaca 32, 1962, pp. 105-120
- Gustav Melzer : Neumarkt on the Ybbs. Find reports from Austria 8, Berger and Sons, Horn 1974, pp. 48–50
- Violetta Reiter: Digital Archiving of the Department Collection. 14th International Congress “Cultural Heritage and New Technologies” Vienna, 2009, pp. 391–399
- Violetta Reiter: Tombs of the Early Bronze Age from Neumarkt an der Ybbs - an overview. Archaeologia Austriaca 97–98, 2013–2014, pp. 213–231
- Violetta Reiter: The Late Bronze Age Cemetery at Neumarkt an der Ybbs: Spatial Analysis and Natural Scientific Technologies to understand it better. Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies 18, Vienna 2014, pp. 1–11
- Franz Sauer and Jaroslaw Czubak. Neumarkt an der Ybbs. Find reports from Austria 39, Berger and Sons, Horn 2000, p. 25
- Florian Schneider: Böheimkirchen and the Early to Middle Bronze Age hill settlements in Lower Austria. In: Early Bronze Age-Middle Bronze Age. New findings on the settlement of Central Germany and neighboring regions (2000–1400 BC), Studies on Archeology in East Central Europe 10, 2013, pp. 197–215
Web links
- Violetta Reiter: The Architecture of the Bronze Age Graveyard Neumarkt an der Ybbs. Abstract. In: chnt.at . 2013. (English).
- Study collection of the Institute for Prehistory and Historical Archeology, University of Vienna
Coordinates: 48 ° 8 '48.1 " N , 15 ° 3' 21.9" E