Die jungpaläolithische Freilandstation Langmannersdorf

At the beginning of the 20th Century, finds at Langmannersdorf an der Perschling produced an increasing interest. After trial excavations 1904-1907, Josef Bayer (Natural History Museum, Vienna) directed intensive excavations in 1919-1920, which brought a palaeolithic camp site to light. In 1953, Wilhelm Angeli (Prehistorical Department of the Natural History Museum, Vienna) published Bayer`s logs and his own analysis of the findings, including communications with other specialists. He considered the locality "as a derivate of the (classical) Aurignacien" and suggested to incorporate it into the "late Upper Palaeolithic industries". Following on from an archaeozoological evaluation of historical excavations in the 1990s, the partly damaged material was brought together again in 2000/01 and was restored, as part of an Academy of Science Prehistorical Commission research project ("Paläolithische Industriekreise vor dem letzten Eishöchststand zwischen 32.000 und 20.000 YRBP unter archäologischen und palökologischen Aspekten"). Within this project, the authors revisioned the faunal remains and the lithic industry. The industry is definitely not typical Aurignacian, since, with the exception of busked burins, it does not include other Aurignacian criteria; Gravettian criteria, like small pointed blades, are also completely missing. The faunal list from Langmannersdof B consists mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), wooly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), wolf (Canis lupus), arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), arctic hare (Lepus timidus) and ptarmigan (Lagopus sp.). The camp-site is hypothesized to have been a place where preyed and previously dissected carcass body-parts were transported and further dismembered for useful parts, including food at the site. The Radiocarbon dates of the Langmannersdor/Perschling site lie between 19,520120 BP and 20,590110 BP. The encampment was used during the spring and early summer season, probably because of mammoth herd migration in springtime. Repeated occupation of the campsite is probable because of the branching of the archaeological horizon, and a two-phased filling of the storage pit. The site is the youngest known site in the Middle Danube region that was culturally based on mammoths. Chronologically-typologically, the site currently stands isolated. In this edition all the results are shown by the authors.