The Avar Cemetry and the Settlement in Zillingtal

The archaeological examination of the Avar cemetery at Zillingtal - Unterer Kapellenberg was completed in 1994. In the course-of the ten excavation campaigns which have taken place since 1985, a total of 586 graves has been examined (D 1-586). Including those burials which were excavated in 1927 and 1930, the cemetery therefore comprises 797 graves altogether. The analysis of the archaeological documentation is approaching completion. In the course of the excavations in the cemetery, it has been possible to localise the appertaining settlement. In 1994, after several small test campaigns, larger-scale excavations were begun in the settlement area. They were continued in 1995 and 1997. Although so far only a fraction of the actual settlement area has been examined, some interesting insights have been gained, both concerning the general structure of Avar settlements and the work of Avar craftsmen. A number of post holes demonstrate the elaborate construction of wooden buildings above ground. Three furnaces for smelting and smithing serve as evidence for the production of iron tools. It has also been possible to examine parts of a building from the Roman period. Although we had previously suspected that the Avars reconstructed Roman ruins for their own purposes, it has now been possible to prove that they did not, in fact, respect the Roman buildings. Ditches and postholes penetrate the pavement and there is no evidence suggesting adequate re-use or repair of those buildings. Apparently, in the Avar period, one liked to settle in the vicinity of Roman villae only because some aspects of the Roman infastructure were useful, especially the roads and because the former fields and greenlands werde now once more usful for the Avar agriculture, especially for breeding livestock. In the course of the applied project we plan to analyse the archaeological material and present the research results. This requires first of all the completion of the catalogue of the finds and documentation of the cemetery as well as the settlement. At the same time it will - in accordance with those questions which are presently of utmost importance - be necessary to undertake material and technical analyses and additionally - a small-scale test excavation in Unterpullendorf, central Burgenland, where archaeologists have recently located the remains of early medieval furnaces for smelting and smithing iron; the only known parallels from the region of Zillingtal. Furthermore we plan to test a series of hypotheses concerning the production of metal objects, especially jewellery, by means of archaeological experiments.