Situla Art Monuments in Austria (7th - 4th century BC)

This project has led to a re-assessment the iconographic structure as well as the craftsmanship of Situla Art. Having been made aware of the existence of preliminary sketches on the situla lid from Hallstatt, which originated in a workshop in the Este region, it was possible to draw destinctions about the quality of Situla Art regardless of their size. This was done particularly on the basis of the votive inventory from the sanctuary of Mechel/Meclo (Northern Italy) where it was possible to discern the differencial use and design of the plaques. The reuse and remodelling of situlas and their lids as votive plaques underscores the prestigious character of objects decorated with Situal Art. This is corroborated by the repairs seen on belt plaques decorated in the Situla Style and allows us to gain an insight into the customs related to votive objects long before the advent of Christianity. This can be particularly demonstrated by the existence of votive plaques which were fashioned as the result of a vow. These votive plaques have been found in sanctuaries, above all in the region of Venetia and on numerous so called "burnt offering sanctuaries" in North and South Tyrol, which are currently being intensively examined. The discovery of the preliminary sketch on the front of the Hallstatt lid, which was traced by thinly scratched lines, led to an intensive search for such sketches on other pieces of Situla Art. The search has been successful in cases where the final engraving diverges from the preliminary drawing. Such sketches could also be found on objects, which were decorated in the older point-and-boss-manner on the votive plaques from Mechel as well as Gurina in Carinthia. But in contrast to Situla Art the sketch always lies on the back of the bronze sheating. Scratched sketches were also discovered on the back of the figuratively decorated bronze vessels, embossed in the point-and- boss-manner, from the princely tombs in Kleinklein (Styria), during their current restoration in Mainz. The situla from Toplice (Slovenia), which was in such a bad state of preservation that it was almost beyond repair due to corrosion, was also restored in Mainz. In the course of the restoration a hitherto unexpected hunting scene appeared. This has lead to an invitation to republish the piece. The results of project support the perception that the figurative decor of these embossed beaten bronze objects, i.e. Situla Art, represent in coded form the ideas and beliefs of various cultures of the Iron Age, and augment the evidence for the mentality of these societies which can otherwise only be conjectured on the basis of archaeological evidence.