Prehistory of Austria

Venus von Willendorf , probably the most famous paleolithic find from Austria

The prehistory of Austria ranges from the first evidence of the presence of people on Austrian soil to the onset of history that can be documented by written sources, i.e. to the conquest by the Roman Empire . This covers a period from approximately 300,000 years ago to the birth of Christ. Also due to its geographical characteristics, Austria was not equally densely populated and culturally shaped at all times.

Paleolithic

During the ice ages , the Alpine region was glaciated and primarily ice-free areas were walked on by humans. The oldest human traces from 300,000 years ago come from the Repolust cave in Styria . About 70,000 years old traces of the Neanderthal man are known from the Gudenus Cave (below Hartenstein Castle ) in north-western Lower Austria. Over 50% of the Paleolithic finds so far come from the mostly Upper Paleolithic open-air stations in Lower Austria .

In addition to the numerous traces of the Upper Paleolithic stone tool manufacture (including flint , rock crystal ), rare evidence of tent-like dwellings has also been found in Grub near Stillfried and Stratzing (Lower Austria). Special features are works of art from this time. The 1988 discovered statuette from the Aurignacian -Station of Stratzing / Krems-Rehberg ( Dancing Fanny ) is a 7.2 cm Relief of greenish amphibolite - slate . It is around 32,000 years old and does not fit into the common image of obese women of this era, such as the Venus von Willendorf made of oolite and formerly painted red (around 27,000 years old, 11 cm high).

Human skeletal remains from the Paleolithic are very rare. In Austria they are only proven for the Upper Palaeolithic, the time of the "modern man" Homo sapiens . In the 19th century human bones were found in Spitz / Mießlingtal and at Krems / Hundsteig, but they were destroyed out of superstition and ignorance. Other sparse relics come from Willendorf , Aggsbach and Schletz . In autumn 2005 a 27,000 year old double burial was discovered during the excavation of the Krems-Wachtberg Gravettia station . The toddlers were buried together with red chalk under a mammoth shoulder blade and in the same position. A chain with teardrop-shaped ivory beads was part of the grave equipment . The oldest epoch in human history ended in Austria around 10,000 years ago.

Mesolithic

So far, few sites of the Mesolithic are known. In the Lake Constance-Rhine valley, mesolithic cuttings were examined. Collections show that high-altitude sites in North Tyrol (Loaser Sattel, Schwaz), Tuxer Joch (Hintertux) can also be expected. The early Mesolithic sites include u. a. Salzburg-Maxglan, Kamegg , Limberg and Bisamberg (Lower Austria). In Elsbethen near Salzburg, a child burial from the late Mesolithic was discovered during the investigation of an abandoned building. The sites of Rheinbalme near Koblach (Vorarlberg), Neusiedl am See ( Burgenland ) and Mühlfeld ( Lower Austria ) can also be dated to the threshold of the early Neolithic .

Neolithic

During the Neolithic period, those regions of Austria were settled in which soil cultivation was possible. Sites of the first Central European peasant culture , linear ceramics , were found primarily in Lower Austria ( Brunn am Gebirge ) and in Burgenland , although a smaller cluster of sites occurs in Upper Austria. To the north of Vienna they cluster along the rivers Kamp , Pulkau and Zaya as well as Schmida and Göllers , south of them at Leitha and Triesting . To the west of Vienna and south of the Danube, there is a concentration of the Traisen and Pielach . Far fewer sites have been excavated in Upper Austria, but evidence of the early Neolithic was found in Leonding and Rutzing . The concentration around the central area of Linz persisted until the late Neolithic. To the west of Linz one can only find the remains of the linear ceramics village in Lower Bavaria. The oldest of them come from the 6th millennium BC. This older phase I, also called the oldest and older Neolithic, is also called the Vornotenkopf , while phase II, the younger Neolithic, is called the notenkopf . Such evidence is still pending in the inner-Alpine areas. The influences from the east ( Starčevo culture ) are much stronger at this time , but at the place where it was found in Brunn am Gebirge it became clear that linear ceramic tape was also shaped by strong local influences. The same applies to the late phase (Asparn an der Zaya).

In addition to unfortified settlements, places fortified with up to three ditch systems ( circular ditch systems ) in Lower Austria (including Friebritz , Kamegg Wetzleinsdorf ) have also been proven several times.

The oldest mining dates back to the middle section of the Neolithic. On the Antonshöhe in Mauer in the 23rd district of Vienna , on the Flohberg and on the Roten Berg in the 13th district of Vienna , radiolarite was extracted in open-cast and underground mining .

Numerous dead were found in the ditch that surrounded the Schletz settlement in Lower Austria. The age range of the dead, their injuries from shoe last wedges , the fact that the corpses were not buried regularly - the skeletons showed signs of scavengers' browsing - as well as the abandonment of the settlement (at the end of the ceramic tape) indicate a military attack or a sacrificial cult .

In the 5th millennium, western Austria was neolithised by the Rössen culture . Further to the east, during the painted ceramics / Lengyel culture, settlement activity expanded into the basin and valley landscapes of Styria , Carinthia and Salzburg. Carinthia also shows northern Italian influences. The name for this middle period of the Neolithic is the custom of painting ceramics with decorative, geometric patterns (e.g. meandering hooks), in the older phase yellow-black-red, in the younger phase white-red. The wide range of vessels is particularly noticeable with high foot bowls, small cube-shaped vessels, lids and handles in animal and human form.

Female figures made of fired clay - the appearance is very common compared to the Paleolithic depictions of women - are depicted with broad hips, horizontally protruding stubby arms, dainty breasts and small heads. Scoring and / or painting indicate clothing and jewelry.

Chalcolithic

Copper Age ore prospectors may have played a role in the development of the inner-alpine areas from the beginning (Epi-Lengyel horizon). The oldest artefacts made of copper are likely to have been negotiated from the Carpathian Basin to Austria. Small pearls from a children's grave near Bisamberg as well as the depot find from Stollhof (Lower Austria) are among the few metal finds from this time. The east and south-east of Austria is influenced by the Balkans and the Carpathian Basin, the west benefits from the Michelsberg culture and the Pfyn culture . During the Copper Age (3900 - 2300/2200 BC) the inner-alpine Mondsee culture with its pile dwellings and lakeside settlements as well as the Pannonian-Carpathian Baden culture (3300-2200 BC) with hilltop settlements were formed. The discovery of a scraping trepanation (skull openings) that was successfully carried out during the man's lifetime comes from Zillingtal (Burgenland) and belongs to the Baden culture. Casting spoons in findings from the Mondsee culture speak for the share of pile-dwelling cultures in the prospecting of deposits, copper processing and transport via water routes and the main Alpine ridge. The deterioration in the climate and the associated rise in the water level in the course of the Late Copper Age may have led to the abandonment of the lakeside settlements. The culture of corded ceramics (2900 - 2300/2200 BC) spread from northeastern Europe, Poland, Germany, Bohemia, Moravia to Austria is already on the threshold of the Early Bronze Age with the bell beaker culture . The typical bell-shaped, zonally decorated vessels of this time as well as stone or bony arm protection plates for archers have also been found several times in Austria (including Laa an der Thaya ).

Bronze age

The cultural diversity of the Bronze Age groups is also determined by the geographical possibilities of surrounding cultural influences. The cultural groups are mostly defined by their ceramic products - mostly cup shapes.

Early bronze age

Thus Lower Austria was during the Early Bronze Age between 2300 and 1600 BC. Divided into three "provinces". Between the Enns (river) and the Vienna Woods is the area of the Unterwölblinger Kulturgruppe, which in Upper Austria is influenced by the Straubing area. To the east of the Vienna Woods (Lower Austria, Burgenland, West Hungary), the Wieselburger culture is widespread, the culture bearers of which used lighter, embossed bronze jewelry. North of the Danube lies the sphere of influence of the Aunjetitz culture , the people in this area preferred cast, heavy jewelry. The furnishings are richer along trade routes and in the vicinity of deposits. Well-fortified ramparts ( section fortifications ) as in Böheimkirchen (Lower Austria) have a special position among the settlements . They are examples of the social change in peasants, craftsmen, traders, warriors. There is evidence of alpine copper mining in the Grauwackenzone in Schwaz , on the Kelchalm (Tyrol), on the Mitterberg (Salzburg) and in the Preiner region (Lower Austria).

The predominant burial custom is to bury the dead lying on their side with their legs crouched (stool grave, sleeping position). Orientation rules can be established on larger grave fields. The dead were often placed on the left or right side according to gender, with a certain direction of view being maintained. In western Austria, women were therefore more likely to be buried on the right side with their heads facing south and men more often on the left side with their heads facing north and both sexes facing east. In the east, more uniform (no gender differences) burial customs can be identified within the grave fields, but these are characterized by different peculiarities of the respective cultural group. The jewelry ensembles made of bronze, bone, shell and snail jewelry from the women's graves in Franzhausen in Lower Austria are known from this period . Noticeable below are the preserved bronze sheets of the former headgear.

Middle Bronze Age

At the end of early and on the threshold of the Middle Bronze Age ( Barrow Bronze Age , 1600-1300 v. Chr.) Speak first finds of bridle parts ( Guntramsdorf , Lower Austria) for the use of horses, possibly in the context of two-wheeled chariot . At the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age, eastern Austria is connected north of the Danube with the Větěrov culture of the burial mound culture of southern Moravia and western Slovakia. Influences of the Carpathian Basin and the Lusatian culture can be felt south of the Danube.

The daggers of the Early Bronze Age are replaced by splendidly decorated swords, the bronze jewelry is significantly larger and is worn as neck, chest, arm and leg jewelry. Metal belts and tiaras, as in the three magnificent specimens from Pitten (Lower Austria), are not the rule. Large bronze spirals for arms and legs, bronze fittings with a central spike, however, are common. The ceramics of the Middle Bronze Age also became more ornamented. The deceased are buried under burial mounds. Initially, these burials are body graves, later they move on to cremation ( cremation ). Individual finds such as the throne / drum-shaped cult device from Haschendorf ( Neckenmarkt , Burgenland) are puzzling evidence of cultic life.

Late Bronze Age

The late Bronze Age (1300–750 BC) is also called the Urnfield Age due to the prevailing burial custom . The northern Alpine region is part of the core area of urnfield culture. In Vorarlberg and south of the main Alpine ridge, from Engadin, South Tyrol to Carinthia, ceramics of the Laugen-Melaun type are also used . During the urn field time, the dead were burned in their costume and the remains of the pyre were buried in urns. Initially still under larger burial mounds such as the group of tumuli belonging to the Čaka culture from Siegendorf (Burgenland), these are later replaced by flat graves. In the inner-alpine region, stone boxes are made from larger slabs. Outside this area, stone boxes such as the incised find from Mannersdorf am Leithagebirge (Lower Austria) or the incised tombstone from Illmitz (Burgenland) are rare. Horse bridles indicate an intensive relationship with the Carpathian Basin.

During the Urnfield Period, metal deposits accumulate, which can contain both junk and freshly cast products. At Pass Lueg (Salzburg), a cast cake , tools and a helmet with a comb and cheek flaps were discovered in a depot , the find is interpreted as a dedication after successfully crossing the pass. Large, well-fortified ramparts such as in Stillfried or the Thunau am Kamp (Lower Austria) ski jump are central locations that retained their importance even during the Iron Age. Already at the time of the Urnfield Culture, salt was being mined in the northern group of the Hallstatt mine, which was so important for the subsequent Iron Age . Due to the salt preservation, organic materials such as carrying sacks made of cattle skin (load capacity 45 kg of small pieces of salt), remains of pine chips bundled into torches , pieces of fabric from clothing, fur hats, leftover food ( Ritschert ) and also feces as well as used and unused "toilet paper" made from practically bundled butterbur leaves receive.

Iron age

The Iron Age (750 - around Chr. Born) is divided into two parts. The older Iron Age ( Hallstatt Period ) (750 - 450 BC) was named after the famous Upper Austrian burial ground and salt mining of Hallstatt . The younger Iron Age (450 - around Chr. Born) after a place of discovery in Switzerland Latène culture .

Hallstatt culture

Urban cultures spread in the Mediterranean region during the Hallstatt period, while iron, lead and salt centers emerged in the Alpine region. The Hallstatt culture was spread over almost all of Central Europe and is divided into two forms. The West and East Hallstatt districts are separated by the rivers Enns , Ybbs and Inn . The Westhallstattkreis was in contact with the Greek colonies on the Ligurian coast. In the Alps, contacts are maintained with the Etruscans and the regions in Italy that are under Greek influence. The east had close ties to the steppe peoples who were at home from the Carpathian Basin to the southern Russian steppe regions.

Hallstatt salt mining began in the Eastern Group. Here, too, numerous traces of organic material were found, which allow good conclusions to be drawn about mining technology, management of the mine and above all the everyday life of the miners. Characteristic finds are flat, wide pine shavings, knee wood shafts with slender handles for a bronze rag ax, shovels with oval blades, fur bags, pointed or beret-like headgear as well as heart-shaped signs of degradation. Another important burial ground is on the Burgstallkogel near Kleinklein near Leibnitz . The western group was the earliest destroyed by modern mining and is the least explored.

The finds in the Hallstatt burial ground reflect prosperity and far-reaching trade relationships that arose from the salt trade. Imported luxury goods are: wine, food, bronze tableware, glass, silk fabrics and brocades, amber from the North and Baltic Seas and ivory from Africa. The need for representation and the associated splendid courtship of the rich upper class is made clear by the scenic representations on bronze objects. Naturalistically decorated bronze buckets such as the Situla von Kuffern (Lower Austria), which already marks the transition to the younger Iron Age, or the Situla from Welzelach (East Tyrol) once belonged to multi-part wine services made up of transport and mixing vessels, sieves, ladles or vessels and drinking bowls passed. The representations show competitions, armed warriors, processions, hunts, banquets and much more. Belt plates and hooks, swords and dagger sheaths as well as fibulae could also be decorated figuratively - sometimes with erotic motifs. Pictorial, but more stylized, depictions of everyday scenes also appear on ceramics.

Grave decorations and image sources show that men wore caps or wide-brimmed hats and knee-length overcoats that were held in place with belts. Bronze needles held cloaks together across their chests. Rich men of the western district wore gold chokers. The weapons were swords and later daggers . Equestrian warriors with battle axes and lances , arrows and bows were added later and are typical of the East. The equipment was supplemented by helmets and breastplates . Long veils fastened with pins in the hair are part of the women's costume. The hairstyles were held with bronze or gold curling rings. The clothes were ankle-length and were closed with brooches. Rich women wore valuable and very heavy bracelets and anklets, finger rings, fibulae with rattle plates , necklaces with numerous small pendants made of gold and bronze, glass and amber beads and belts made of sheet bronze.

Shallow graves, barrows with wooden chambers with cremation or body burials, have in common that in the course of the burial, all of the grave goods were clearly arranged for the mourning guests. Typical for the western district is the chariot burial ( Mitterkirchner Prunkwagen in the Celtic village Mitterkirchen ). Firebucks (so-called "moon idols") are often found in women's graves in the Eastern District. Men's graves may contain bull head vessels.

The ceramics of this period are often painted black and red with geometric patterns. In the eastern part of the region, the calendar mountain culture (named after the place where it was found on the calendar mountain near Mödling , Lower Austria) is lavishly decorated with notched clay strips .

Evidence of religious life are cult vehicles. The best known is the large bronze cult car from Strettweg (Styria). Around a large standing female central figure, who is carrying a kettle over her head with her arms, symmetrically directed forwards and backwards, there are two figures each holding a deer by their antlers, behind each a woman with earrings and a man with an ax , flanked by two riders each with helmet, shield and spear . In a similar cultic context, finds of complete deer skeletons (e.g. Stillfried, Lower Austria) or traces of bridles on the bit of hinds in settlement areas can be found.

Latène culture

The Latène culture of the younger Iron Age (450 - around Chr. Born) replaced the Hallstatt period while initially continuing Hallstatt traditions. The salt metropolises on the Dürrnberg (Salzburg) and in Hallstatt are good examples of this. In Tyrol, with the Fritzens-Sanzeno culture, and in the Lake Constance-Rhine valley with the Schneller goods, local specialties emerge. The Latène culture is divided into three parts: the older (450-250 BC), the middle (250-120 BC) and the late La Tène period (born around 120 BC).

Due to the ancient high cultures of the Mediterranean area, the Celts are on the threshold of early history. Although there is no written history of its own, it is repeatedly reported in ancient sources. Therefore, for the first time, a people on Austrian soil can be called by name. The carriers of the Latène culture were the Celts , of whom numerous tribal names are known in Austria and can be regionally assigned. The first political entity on Austrian soil is the Regnum Noricum . Around 170 BC BC negotiated, as Titus Livius reports, a Roman embassy with the tribal alliance to which not only the Norics, but other tribes belonged. Possibly it was about a friendship treaty to prevent further raids, or about a trade agreement with the 181/182 BC. To secure the settlement of Aquileia founded in the 3rd century BC .

Important innovations of this time are ceramics turned on the potter's wheel and the minting of coins . The independent coin production was triggered by payments to Celtic mercenaries with coins from Philip II (Macedonia) and Alexander the Great as well as through trade contacts with Italy and Greece. Despite the typical Celtic motifs, the Celtic coins still show their original designs. The cultural contact with Greece is particularly interesting through a series of similar drilling trephinations that were carried out with a crown trephine of Greek origin in Katzelsdorf and Guntramsdorf (Lower Austria). Sparse evidence of writing with a relationship to the Etruscan alphabet is evidence of contact with Italy. Rhaetian consecration inscriptions from the Schneidjoch ( Tyrol ) and Venetian consecration tablets and rock inscriptions on the Plöckenpass and Findeing-Thörl testify to successful crossings and perhaps point to a sanctuary on the Gurina near Dellach (Carinthia).

Rich deposits of raw materials and the flourishing iron industry (see also the history of Burgenland ) brought an economic boom in contact with the Romans. Ferrum Noricum (Noric iron), coveted in the Roman Empire , reached the quality of tool steel. In the district of Oberpullendorf (Burgenland) around 20,000 pings were counted as traces of opencast mining on lawn iron ore . Countless surface finds are known of the smelting sites where iron was smelted in Rennöfen ( Rennofen type Burgenland).

Fortified hill settlements, some of which already existed in the Bronze Age, were developed into centers of cultural and legal life until the Late Latène Age. Such a central location is often referred to as an oppidum based on the descriptions by Julius Caesar . Fortified hilltop settlements with a central function were among others on Magdalensberg (Carinthia), on Braunsberg near Hainburg not far from Carnuntum , on Oberleiserberg on Umlaufberg from Altenburg (Lower Austria) , on Leopoldsberg (Vienna, see also History of Vienna ), on Gründberg and Freinberg in Linz (Upper Austria) ) and the Kulm near Weiz (Styria), finally the hill settlement of Burg in Schwarzenbach should be mentioned. Schwarzenbach, with his good view of the Oberpullendorfer Bay, is likely to have controlled the iron industry in Central Burgenland (see also the history of Burgenland ). The settlement on the Magdalensberg in Carinthia, on the other hand, was of great importance as a trading center between the rapidly growing Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Noricum . Many of these oppida were taken over by the Romans and built over after the incorporation into the Roman Empire. The center of the Brigantii first became the Roman Brigantium and finally today's Bregenz (Vorarlberg). With the Roman takeover of the Celtic territories, prehistory ends in large parts of Austria. The areas north of the Danube move into the light of early Germanic history .

literature

Archaeological iron research in Europe. WAB 59, Eisenstadt 1977. ISBN 3-85405051-8
Alexander Binsteiner , Riddle of the Stone Age between the Danube and the Alps. Linz Archaeological Research Volume 41, Linz 2011. ISBN 3-85484-440-9
Karl Kaus , Burgenland. Archeology and regional studies, Opera selecta. Scientific papers from Burgenland, (WAB) 114, 2006. ISBN 3-85405-153-0
Luis D. Nebelsick - Alexandrine Eibner - Ernst Lauermann - Johannes-Wolfgang Neugebauer, The Hallstatt Culture in Eastern Austria. Ed. As: Research reports on prehistory and early history Vol. 18 (Öster. Ges. F. Ur- und Frühg.) Or Wiss. Series of publications Lower Austria Vol. 106/107/108/109, 1997. ISBN 3-85326-053-5
Johannes-Wolfgang Neugebauer , The Celts in Eastern Austria. Ed. As: Research reports on prehistory and early history. Vol. 14 (Öster. Ges. F. Ur- and. Frühg.) Or Wiss. Series of publications Lower Austria, Vol. 92/93/94. St. Pölten 1992. ISBN 3-85326-949-4
Johannes-Wolfgang Neugebauer, The Bronze Age in Eastern Austria. Ed. As: Research reports on prehistory and early history. Vol. 16 (Öster. Ges. F. Ur- and. Frühg.) Or Wiss. Series of publications Lower Austria, vol. 98/99/100/101. St. Pölten 1994. ISBN 3-85326-004-7
Christine Neugebauer-Maresch, Paleolithic in eastern Austria. Ed. As: Research reports on prehistory and early history. Vol. 15 (Öster. Ges. F. Ur- and Frühg.) Wiss. Series of publications Lower Austria, vol. 95/96/97. St. Pölten 1993. ISBN 3-85326-981-8
Sigrid Strohschneider-Laue , adventure prehistory. Vienna 1995. ISBN 3-215-11795-9
Otto H. Urban , The long way to history. The prehistory of Austria, Vienna 2000. ISBN 3-8000-3773-4
Otto H. Urban, guide to the prehistory of Austria. Vienna 1989. ISBN 3-215-06230-5

Individual evidence

↑ Austria Lexicon: Paleolithic (Palaeolithic).
^ Austria-Lexikon: Repolusthöhle.
↑ This section is based on Penny Bickle, R. Alexander Bentley, Christoph Blesl, Linda Fibiger et al .: Austria , in: Penny Bickle, Alasdair Whittle (Eds.): The First Farmers of Central Europe. Diversity in LBK Lifeways , Oxbow Books, 2013, pp. 159–204, here: p. 159.

[1] Austria Lexicon: Paleolithic (Palaeolithic).

[2] Austria-Lexikon: Repolusthöhle.

[3] This section is based on Penny Bickle, R. Alexander Bentley, Christoph Blesl, Linda Fibiger et al .: Austria , in: Penny Bickle, Alasdair Whittle (Eds.): The First Farmers of Central Europe. Diversity in LBK Lifeways , Oxbow Books, 2013, pp. 159–204, here: p. 159.