Studies in Palaeolithic industries

Research project P 13780 Studies in Palaeolithic industries Herwig FRIESINGER 28.06.1999 The discovery and study of nearly all known archaeological sites in Lower Austria is based upon works of the first three decades of our century and the time after World War H. Only in the middle of the 80s purposeful research of the Palaeolithic age has been started again in different places. The excavations on the "Galgenberg" at Stratzing/Krems-Rehberg have to be especially mentioned, which did not only uncover a statuette of -human form - Austria`s oldest work of art - , but are also the largest excavations of Palaeolithic settlements in Austria. The stratigraphy of these excavations shows at least three cultural layers, which belong into the Aurignacien, respectively the turn from the Aurignacien to the Gravettien. The comparison of the dates that have been won in the fields of physiogeography, macalogy, archaeozoology and artefactmorphology cannot even be started, because there are no suitable results of examinations (with the exception of Willendorf II). The period from the end of the Aurignacien and the time of the Gravettien till the latest highest level of glaciation will be examined, starting with the scientific results for archaeology and history of climate from the sites of Willendorf and Stratzing. To achieve this aim, on one hand, well-known old sites central region of Lower Austria will be re-examined, on the other hand, new sites will be discovered by extensive prospecting work. This service and the linking of geo-scientific, palaeontological and archaeological research methods will be used in all these cases. Therefore, the history of settlement and environment in the neighbourhood of the famous sites of the "Pollauer Berge" between 32.000 and 20.000 BP can be studied with the help of modern methods, documented and prepared for publication. A not unimportant side effect is that the paleological examinations can be used in the fields of ecology of landscape and modern tillage.