The Oberleiserberg in the Bronze Age

Research project P 14568 The Oberleiserberg in the Bronze Age Michaela LOCHNER 09.10.2000 The prehistoric finds and findings of the excavations on the Oberleiserberg from 1976 to 1990 shall be examined in respect of their chronological position, problems of the settlement structures on the site and the history of settlement in the Weinviertel. New results and further knowledge of the chronology of the Early Bronze Age (the transition from the Aunjetitz Culture to the Veterov Culture) and the Urnfield Culture are to be expected.

Since 1872 the archaeological site called Oberleiserberg in Lower Austria is known to archaeologists as a prehistoric hill-top settlement. During the last decades results were mainly published about the Germanic princely residence of the 4th and 5th century A.D. Finds and features of the Bronze Age settlement, excavated in the years 1976-1990, were subject of this research project. New knowledge on the settlement history of Oberleiserberg and the central Weinviertel, an area north and northeast of Vienna in Lower Austria, was gained. The first large settlement is dated to the Early Bronze Age (Aunjetitz Culture). Originally the site was not fortified. In the course of events a trench surrounding the plateau was dug. Outside the trench a rampart was erected using the material from the trench (limestone) and soils from the inside area of the settlement, these being full of broken pottery and other settlement debris. At the end of the Aunjetitz Culture the fortification was destroyed by fire. Parts of the burned rampart fell into the trench. Soon after this fire disaster the settlement was given up. In the Late Bronze Age (Urnfield Culture) a new settlement was built. It is quite probable that this habitation was again protected by a rampart. Only few traces tell that it must have been a construction made of wood, stone and clay. It cannot be said with certainty whether this rampart was also destroyed by fire. This settlement ended in the course of the later Urnfield period. Prosperity and open-mindedness of its inhabitants were encouraged by the protection of the site and its central location as regards transport facilities. This is shown by the imported objects from distant regions and objects of local artisans such as moulds for bronze objects and spindle whorls as well as loom weights for textile production. The publication of the extensive documentation and of the results of the analyses is in preparation and will be edited as a volume of the "Mitteilungen der Prähistorischen Kommission" by the Austrian Academy of Science. The results will also be shown to a wider public in the exhibition at the observation tower on the Oberleiserberg.