Prehistoric settlement places of Karlstein
The prehistoric settlement areas of Karlstein are the oldest archaeologically researched settlements in the Bad Reichenhall valley basin and are located in the area of the district Karlstein .
The sites that have been discovered and archaeologically examined so far are entered as ground monuments in the Bavarian list of monuments.
location
The settlement areas are located at high altitudes above the Bad Reichenhall district of Karlstein in the south-western part of Schmalschlägerstrasse. Most of the archaeological finds were made on the northern slopes of the Karlstein (on which the castle ruins Karlstein is located) and the Pankrazfelsen (on which the pilgrimage church St. Pankraz is located) as well as on the Haiderburgstein , which is in front of the Pankrazfelsen in a northeastern direction and between Schmalschlägerstrasse and Moserweg are located.
Not far from the settlement areas of Karlstein, only a few hundred meters northeast of Langackertal , there was a much larger settlement. The earliest finds there date back to the Bronze Age , later the area was also settled by the Celts and Romans .
Countless other finds from the Bronze and Iron Ages were made in the area of the formerly independent municipality, but the largest, locally limited finds come from the northern slopes of the Karlstein and Pankrazfelsen, the Haiderburgstein and the Langackertal.
history
Stone age
The oldest finds were dated to the late Neolithic . The Bad Reichenhall local researcher and archaeologist Josef Maurer found remains of Stone Age dwellings among the remains of Bronze Age dwellings. Shards of the bell beaker culture were found , which are now considered the oldest evidence of human settlement in the Reichenhall Valley. There also were found stone axes and from flint produced arrowheads , knives and scrapers . There is no archaeological evidence of settlement during the Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age, but it is assumed that the basin - and especially the high elevations of Karlstein - were also inhabited during this period. Adhering copper slag was discovered on late Neolithic sherds, evidence of early attempts at the manufacture of metal commodities during this period.
Bronze age
The oldest Bronze Age settlements were discovered on the northwest slope of the Karlstein Rock below the Karlstein castle ruins . Seven dwellings were terraced in two groups up the steep mountain slope to the rock walls. The entrances are up to two meters below the current surface and contain many archaeological finds. At the foot of the Pankrazfelsen there were two other dwellings, which in terms of structure and found material corresponded to those below the Karlstein castle ruins.
Urnfield time
Most of the finds come from the urnfield period from the Haiderburgstein, which lies in front of the Pankrazfelsen and thus the pilgrimage church of St. Pankraz in the northeast. Further dwellings and a well were found at the foot of the Pankrazfelsen on the northern side, as well as a cemetery from this period. The finds show that the settlers in Karlstein at that time produced both metals and pottery .
Hallstatt period
Although there are some scattered finds from the Hallstatt period, extensive finds and, above all, dwellings such as those from the Bronze and Urnfield Ages are missing.
La Tène period
In the late La Tène period , well-equipped dwellings were detectable in the areas on the north side of the Pankrazfelsen and on the Haiderburgstein. The utensils were now also made of iron and the ceramics were of higher quality. In Karlstein, ore was processed into bronze and iron goods and ceramics were produced.
Coinage
A widespread type of coin originated from Karlstein. These are small silver coins with the image of a stylized horse, the so-called ball horse. From the middle of the first century BC, these coins were made on the Haiderburgstein. Liquid silver was poured into stippling plates and stamped with a bronze stamp . The coins were about 8 mm in diameter and weighed less than a gram. Since these coins do not belong to the Roman or Greek monetary system and cannot be assigned to a specific Celtic tribe, these coins are referred to as "Kleinsilber Karlsteiner Art" or "Karlsteiner Kleinsilber". This was found in the entire Eastern Alps as far as Slovenia . These finds prove the importance of trade for the settlements in Karlstein.
Historical classification
The chronology system for the late Latène D by Paul Reinecke is based exclusively on the Karlstein finds, which were archaeologically examined by Josef Maurer at the beginning of the 20th century .
Roman Imperial Era
The finds in the Langackertal prove that the Celtic population of the La Tène period continued to exist alongside the early Roman settlers in this area. Since the altitude of Karlstein was not suitable for the usual settlement structure and building style of the Romans, there is no evidence of dwellings from this time.
Archaeological research
Between 1901 and 1905, the area was archaeologically examined by the Bad Reichenhall local history researcher Josef Maurer , and the rich finds were all included in the collection of the Bad Reichenhall Local History Museum .
Bronze Age dwellings
The nine Bronze Age dwellings on the northern slopes of the Karlstein and Pankrazfelsen were built horizontally into the mountainside after extensive excavation and leveling work. The straight front sides, like the side walls, were made of logs grouted with clay . The mountain wall running semicircular after the excavations served as the rear wall. The hut roof rested on an abutment in the mountainside and on the tree trunks of the walls and was covered with reeds or tree bark. The accommodations were between 10 and 14 meters long, 2.5 to 6 meters wide and 1.4 to 2 meters high and represented a mixture of earth dwelling and block wall construction. There was at least one fireplace per hut with a diameter of about one meter.
Milling stones, rubbing stones and knocking stones as well as stone axes, flint knives and flint arrowheads were discovered on stone tools, which were also used in the Bronze Age . Other tools were also made from animal bones. There were also countless bronze objects such as arrowheads, sewing needles, clothes needles, remains of bangles, decorative discs, a finger ring with spiral ends and a belt buckle with a button. The culture layer was interspersed with animal bones and teeth - mostly domestic animals such as cattle and pigs. In terms of quantity, broken pottery made up the majority of the finds. Josef Maurer reassembled over a hundred vessels from the broken pieces, including pots, bowls, mugs, bowls and pots of various sizes with and without handles between 3 and 40 cm. While the smallest potteries are seen as children's toys, the largest are likely to have been used to store grain and water, as there were no springs in the immediate vicinity of the settlement. The bomb-like ceramic vessels of this time had almost predominantly smooth walls, and a large number were decorated with beads and finger-dab strips.
The many ceramic remains in outdoor fireplaces suggest a pottery that operated on this site.
Bronze slag, the remains of a casting mold and a crucible as well as unprocessed items made of bronze are reliable evidence of a foundry in Karlstein.
Urnfield time
Dwellings
From the late Urnfield period , there were dwellings and graves in Karlstein. Josef Maurer verified two living spaces on the Haiderburgstein (the elevation between Moserweg and Schmalschlägerstraße in the northeast of the Pankrazkirche ). Unlike the semi-oval dwellings of the Bronze Age , the huts were square. One hut was 23 square meters, the other was about 14 meters long and 2.5 meters wide. At a depth of 40 to 45 cm, countless everyday objects such as clay vessels, rubbing and knocking stones, cutting of bronze axes and bronze cast lumps were found. To determine the age, two bronze knives with a round tang, a children's bracelet made of a smooth bronze rod with decorated ends, bronze arrow tips as well as small bronze rings and long needles with small decorative buttons were decisive. No traces of iron were found. A large number of potsherds and splattered bronze mass were found near an outdoor fireplace. A hoard was discovered not far from the fireplace . This contained several bronze goods, including two sickles , a rag ax and 26 partly finished, partly unfinished bracelets made of flat and inwardly curved bronze rods decorated with line patterns. Apparently it was a new product from a foundry family that remained on the Haiderburgstein for an unknown reason.
Below the Pankrazfelsen three other dwellings from the Urnfield period were found. One of these huts was ten meters long and three meters wide, with the back wall built directly against the rock. Instead of fireplaces, two large fireplaces were found there, which by their nature must have been pottery kilns . The interior of the ovens, with a floor space of around half a square meter, was vaulted with large stone blocks . The floor consisted of a layer of burnt clay and a layer of fine sand with larger stones. A layer of clay hardened by fire on two boulders formed the end. The two higher huts were a bit smaller, but similar in structure and furnishings. During the excavations, a whole dog's skull was also found, which was assigned to a great dane species. Most of the finds from these dwellings can be assigned to household effects. Numerous clay vessels, knocking stones, rubbing stones and grinding stones, bronze sewing needles and twenty pyramid-shaped objects made of clay were found that probably served as counterweights for a loom . Various designs of arrowheads, a bronze ax, a fragment of a sickle, a fishing rod and various knives were found on bronze tools. Numerous pieces of jewelry were also found, including clothes pins, bracelets and rings with spiral ends. A round decorative plate made of sheet bronze with concentric circles was the most outstanding find on the Pankrazfelsen. In addition to the huts, a wood-paneled fountain system was uncovered, which is in the collection of the local history museum.
graveyard
On a terrace of the Haiderburgstein in the southwest, Josef Maurer examined a small burial place . This consisted of 15 shallow graves with corpses and was surrounded by boulders, which only left access on the east side. The graves were laid out in rows and the grave room was surrounded by stones in an oval. The 30 cm high urns , which were filled with corpse fire and grave goods, stood in the middle of the grave room on a flat stone and were covered with a flat bowl. In some graves, the grave goods were next to the urn, in some the cremation was buried without an urn and only covered with a bowl.
The modest grave goods consisted of beard knives with rings, knives with a round tang, a decorated sword blade, long needles, bracelets, small bowls, bowls without handles, jugs and a bowl with handles. Since the dead were mostly cremated with their grave goods, the metal objects melted completely or partially. Some objects have also been intentionally made unusable by bending or breaking.
The layout of the graves, the additions and the jewelry as well as the ceramics prove perfectly that it is a settlement and a cemetery from the urnfield era.
La Tène period
Corresponding finds from the early and middle La Tène period are so far missing in Karlstein, but there are settlements from the late La Tène period , around 100 BC. BC, again detectable.
Dwellings
The dwellings were in the same places as in the Bronze and Urnfield Ages , as the high altitude above today's Schmalschlägerstrasse provided natural protection. Between the finds from the Urnfields and La Tène periods there was a layer of humus about 25 cm thick . The huts themselves were rectangular structures made of tree trunks, which were placed directly on the rock without a foundation and which were fastened with iron nails and staples and sealed with clay . Only the damp valley floors required foundation walls that were up to 70 cm high. The floor of the hut consisted of tamped clay, which was partly covered with stones. Lockable doors and windows were found in two huts. There were lock cladding made of sheet iron with keyholes and the associated iron keys; Lock springs, door hinges and door handles. The huts already offered much more comfort than the Bronze Age dwellings, which were more or less dug into the mountain. In particular, more space has been left around the living quarters so that it can be used for outdoor activities. Each hut had several outdoor fireplaces, which were filled with iron slag or clay shards and thus provided evidence of a forge and a pottery .
Furnishing
In almost all of the accommodations, numerous grinding , rubbing, knocking and whetstones , flint stones , sewing needles made of bronze and iron , hatchets, knives and skewers made of iron as well as an iron bell with a clapper were found. 35 vessels could be reassembled from countless fragments of clay material. The vessels, which at that time were much more advanced due to the use of a potter's wheel and a harder fire, are much simpler in their design than in earlier times. Mostly different comb-line patterns were found on the decorations. Ornaments and indentations with oblique lines and upper bands were rarer. Only one vessel was painted, this one was decorated with white-red-yellow ribbons. The Haiderburgstein was not directly supplied with water, large clay pots were used for transport and storage. These had an iron hoop at the top and at floor level, which were connected by ribbons and to which additional iron handles were attached. There were also multi- link pull chains to lower the vessels into the water or to hang them over a fireplace.
Rainbow bowl
Since the settlements in Karlstein and Langackertal were at a junction of three important traffic routes - via Salzburg and the Tauern towards the Adriatic , via the Jochberg, Inzell and the Chiemsee towards the north and via the Garnei, the Thumsee , the Weinkaser and Lofer towards the west - there was also brisk trade here. Salt from the Reichenhaller brine springs was sold or exchanged for other things. These included ores from which iron goods were made in Karlstein. The extensive trade relations were also proven by extensive coin finds; one of the 63 coins was of Egyptian origin and probably came from the time of Ptolemy III. from 247 to 222 BC In addition, a heap with 56 rainbow bowls was found in a hut at the foot of the Pankrazfelsen .
trinket
Countless pieces of jewelery come from Karlstein from the La Tène period. Pieces of blue and whitish glass bracelets with yellow enamel inlays were found, differently shaped glass beads, differently worked bronze bracelets, brooches and needles made of bronze and iron, remains of bronze chains, fittings of belts, bronze buttons and half a bronze wheel with spokes. A bronze comb with eight teeth and a high attachment as well as various pendants and amulets are particularly worth mentioning. All pieces of jewelry date from the final phase of the La Tène period to around 15 BC. Chr.
List of individual monuments
Map with all coordinates: - D-1-8243-0045: Cremation graves and settlement from the Urnfield period and settlement from the late La Tène period ( Haiderburgstein , north-east of the Pankrazfelsen / St. Pankraz Church , above the Moserweg ▼ )
- D-1-8243-0049: Settlement of the Bronze Age , settlement and cremation graves of the Urnfield Age , settlement of the Hallstatt Age and the late La Tène period as well as the Roman Empire ( Karlstein / Karlstein castle ruins , Pankrazfelsen ▼ )
- D-1-8243-0193: settlement of prehistoric times, u. a. the Bronze Age (in the area of the so-called Schlössl , Schmalschlägerstraße 16/17 ▼ )
literature
- Lieselotte Mertig: Prehistoric settlement sites in the Karlstein area near Bad Reichenhall , self-published, Bad Reichenhall 1966
- Johannes Lang : History of Bad Reichenhall. Ph.CW Schmidt, Neustadt / Aisch 2009, ISBN 978-3-87707-759-7 , pp. 30-54
- Herbert Pfisterer: Bad Reichenhall in its Bavarian history. Motor + Touristik-Verlag, Munich, 1988
- Hubert Vogel: About the four thousand year old Karlstein (new edition in the history of Bad Reichenhall , Anton Plenk KG, Berchtesgaden 1995)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Bavarian Monument Atlas on blfd.bayern.de, accessed on March 22, 2019
- ↑ Mertig: Prehistoric settlements , pp 3-8
- ↑ a b c d e Mertig: Prehistoric Settlements , pp. 9–12
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Mertig: Prehistoric Settlements , pp. 13–19
- ↑ a b c d e f Mertig: Prehistoric Settlements , pp. 20–27
- ↑ a b c Lang: History of Bad Reichenhall , p. 51ff
- ↑ Mertig: Prehistoric Settlements , p. 26
