Mesolithic site Ullafelsen

The human use of the high altitudes of the west Austrian Alps for the early Holocene was quite indistinct so far from the traditional knowledge of prehistory. Since finding and first examinations at the Ullafelsen site in 1994 there is a change of our view about this part of prehistory, Available are now the first radiocarbon data of a mesolithic site in Austria itself and several other aspects of ancient subsistence pattern will be more clear. Among others there are climatological and geological aspects of using the alpine region during the early Mesolithic and the specific character of the site (intrasite specific relations like space pattern of the artifacts, there use by the humans, the raw material distributions etc.). Analyzing the petrographic characteristics of the stone artifacts used at the Ullafelsen site helps to reconstruct the directions (and possible ways) by which were brought the lithic raw materials by the mesolithic humans into the Fotscher valley. The `Project Ullafelsen` may serve as a good example for the interdisciplinary cooperation possibilities between human discipline (Anthropology in wide sense) and natural science.

The "Ullafelsen" (Fotscher Valley, Stubai Alps, Tyrol), is the first and the oldest mesolithic site in Austria that has been investigated by an interdisciplinary research group. The investigation of this time period of the last hunter-gatherers (11.000 to approx. 7000 yr BP) is of high interest for different reasons: It helps us to answer the question, how, when and why the mesolithic people started to settle again in the subalpine and alpine altitude zones after the retreat of the glaciers of the last ice age. Since the culturalechnological development during this time period in Bavaria was different from that in Upper Italy, the question arises, what the position of the Western Austrian area in this development was. A sophisticated excavation and documentation technique was used in order to get detailed information about the site, which is also important for criticism of archaeological data sources and spatial and functional aspects of the intra-site analysis. The successful extensive investigation at Ullafelsen contributed substantially to the establishment of a systematic Mesolithic research in Austria. The most important results are: 1. Dating of the so far discovered fire places yielded an age between 9.500 and 10.500 yr BP, which represents a unique data base for the prehistory of the early Holocene in the subalpine zone of the central Alps. 2. The analysis of hundreds of charcoal pieces from three of the fire places allows for the first time a correlation of human activities and changes in the altitude of the natural timberline. 3. A large part of the excavated artefacts has a geological source/origin that lies far away from Ullafelsen. For one of the silex groups the longest transport path during the Mesolithic in the circumalpine region could be proofed. 4. The presence of south Alpine silex groups in the inventory clearly proofs the Early Holocence crossing of the Alps. 5. The refitting of several hundred of artefacts (still in progress) yields information about the technological procedures (production of blank forms and tools, rehafting and retooling processes etc.), that were carried out at the site. 6. For the first time we found traces of organic shafting on several artefacts. 7. Additional prospecting and restricted soundings gave more indications of the prehistoric and historic use of the vicinity of the Fotscher Valley. For that purpose, an attribute system that combines several aspects of geology, geomorphology, soil science, botany, and archaeology was developed. - Online Informations: http://www.hochgebirgsarchaeologie.info/