Krems-Hundssteig - Mammutjäger der Eiszeit

Findings of mammoth remains were first reported to have been found at Krems in the 17th century. Due to its topographic and climatic position, the slope above the present -day old town facing south was given preference for settlement by man in the last ice age. It was here, at the so-called Hundssteig, where large amounts of paleolithic relics were found in the course of the exploitation of loess at around 1900. Scientific evaluation of this find material characterized it as Aurignacian with an age of 35.000 years. The Hundssteig inventory was and still is famous and well-known among experts, and was only surpassed in terms of name recognition by Willendorf in 1908, when the Venus figurine was discovered. It should take another century until a modern excavation was to get a realistic picture of the site: a large-scale construction project of the Gemeinnützige Donau-Ennstaler SiedlungsAG threatened to destroy intact paleolithic layers just south of the area of former loess exploitation. The Prehistoric Commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences could therefore examine an area of 250 m2 in two years. The project was supported by the Austrian Science Fund and carried out with financial participation of the building contractor. Surprisingly, the main layers and findings provided evidence for Gravettian settlement with an age of 27.000 to 29.000 years. The finds were very well preserved because of rapid aeolian loess sedimentation. Extensive occurrence was documented even for wood - trunk parts, branches and roots, as well as possibly worked pieces, which had been preserved morphologically due to calcification processes in the sediment. Underneath the main Gravettian layers, several older archaeological horizons were deteted in explorative trenches. The stratigraphically lowest position was radiocarbon dated to an age of 41.000 years. Evidence for multiple settlement of the area in the time frame between 33.000 and 27.000 years before today emphasizes the favorable conditions of the so-called Wachtberg, a promontory between the watercourses of the Danube and the river Krems. Abundant lithic raw material occurred in the river gravel, and the wooded flood plains formed an ecosystem, which was richer than the surrounding steppe or tundra, and could therefore attract plenty of game. The area which was examined in the course of the excavations of 2000 to 2002 did in no phase belong to a central settlement area. The hearths had been in use for a short time only. The associated find scatters indicate primary production of stone tools using mainly locally available raw materials. Abundant evidence for the butchering of mainly mammoth and reindeer, as well as gnawing marks of carnivores on parts of the faunal inventory, support a reconstruction of the examined area as a peripheral zone. Seasonal indications scatter broadly, which suggests, along with the evidence for a Gravettian winter camp at the site of Krems-Wachtberg to the north, that the rise had been a favored spot to settle in all seasons.