Celtic settlement on the Biberg

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The Celtic settlement on Biberg was on an island mountain near Kehlbach on the southwestern edge of the Saalfelden basin between Steinernem Meer and the Leogang Steinberge in the Austrian state of Salzburg . The Biberg was a roughly 70 m high knoll that was almost completely removed by a diabase and leukoxene quarry between 1927 and 1957 .

Finds

Archaeological excavations did not take place, but found objects were collected during dismantling and brought to the Salzburg Museum , where they are kept today. Most of the finds are assigned to the middle and late La Tène period (280 BC to the birth of Christ). The main part is made up of fragments of clay pottery decorated with combs, as well as iron tools (axes, chisels, drills, knives, blacksmith tools). Intensive trade contact with areas south of the Alpine ridge can be derived from the finds.

Hirsch vom Biberg, Middle and Late Latene Period, 275-15 BC C.

An outstanding find from 1942 is the "Hirsch vom Biberg", a bronze statuette almost eleven centimeters high from the 2nd or 1st century BC. The figure represents a deer that is about to stand up. The prehistorian Martin Hell bought it for his private collection, after his death in 1975 it came to the Salzburg Museum. The stag from Biberg was presented to the public in the 1980 Celtic exhibition in the Hallein Celtic Museum . The deer has antlers with six ends and is shown lying down with the right front leg bent. A hole at the rear end with traces of a resinous substance indicate a tail made of natural hair (?) Originally attached there. The height of the figure is 10.8 cm. It is unclear whether there is a connection with the Celtic god Cernunnos .

The Alpine Celtic tribe of the Ambisonts , whose name is only passed down from inscriptions on the Tropaeum Alpium near La Turbie and in the town on the Magdalensberg , presumably had a hilltop settlement on the Biberg, which was their tribal center. The hilltop settlement was probably - as a sanctuary? - continued to be used until Roman times.

Further historical significance of the Biberg

After the occupation of the Biberg by the Romans , the Biberg was fortified with a wall in the form of a polygon . During the Marcomann Wars , a tower with a wall thickness of 1.65 m was built inside the complex in 175 AD. Finds from this period have been preserved.

In the Saalfelden basin , the Celto-Roman population was able to survive the migration period undisturbed. The Biberg was also settled after the Bavarian conquest . In 1343 the Biburg estate was owned by the von Kuchl family . A chuntz from Pypurg is mentioned in a document in 1437. It is said that the stones from the seat at Biburg were used to rebuild the market in 1811 after the fire in Saalfelden .

literature

  • Fritz Moosleitner: The Saalfelden Basin in prehistoric and early history. In: 50 years of open-cast diabase mining in Saalfelden 1927-1977 (= Leoben Green Hefts. 170). Montan-Verlag, Vienna 1977, p. 27 f.
  • Fritz Moosleitner: A dedication for Cernunnos. In: Salzburg Museum (ed.): The work of art of the month , art and cultural history of the city and province of Salzburg, 7th year, sheet 77.
  • Susanne Sievers , Otto Helmut Urban , Peter C. Ramsl: Lexicon for Celtic Archeology. (= Communications from the prehistoric commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Volume 73). Volume 2. Verlag of the Austrian Academy of Sciences , Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-7001-6765-5 , p. 1620.
  • Friederike Zaisberger & Walter Schlegel : Castles and palaces in Salzburg. Pongau, Pinzgau, Lungau . Birch series, Vienna 1978, ISBN 3-85030-037-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Old stone quarries and their cultural and historical potential. The Cernunnos from the Holy Biberg near Salzburg. In: megalith-pyramiden.de. Retrieved August 18, 2020 (with illustration of the deer).
  2. ^ Friederike Zaisberger & Walter Schlegel, 1978, p. 130.

Coordinates: 47 ° 26 '  N , 12 ° 49'  E