The inner sacral area in the celtic sanctuary on Frauenberg

Between 1991 and 1998, a Celtic sanctuary of the `Picardie` type was excavated on a terrace in the summit area of the Frauenberg mountain close to Leibnitz. The sanctuary has the basic form of a trapezium. The surrounding entrenchment of 150 x 100 metres in length encompasses an area of over 5,000 m. The identification of the findings indicated that this area formed the inner sanctuary. A section of the south-western entrenchment of around 80 metres in length, including the entrance area, yielded important findings for the interpretation and chronological classification of the site (the findings are currently being examined in the framework of the FWF project P16231- G02 `The Late Latène Sanctuary on the Frauenberg Mountain, Leibnitz, Styria`). While the outer form of the sanctuary corresponds widely to the northern French type, the contents of the entrenchment differ significantly. Although extensive archaeological findings were excavated - fragments of weapons and armoury, remnants of costume, pottery and coins - the amount and assortment of the skeletal remains of domestic animals were striking: around 2,000 shoulder blades from over 1,000 cows and oxen. This unusually broad range enables detailed studies of the composition of herds in Celtic societies for the first time, especially since comparison is now possible with the similarly comprehensive Oppida Manching and Altenburg-Rheinau findings. Modified human bones deposited in the earthworks in various phases indicate complex burial rites and/or rites of sacrifice, and give evidence of the collection of trophy skulls. The richly stratified archaeological material enabled a detailed typo-chronological analysis for the south-eastern Alpine region from the middle of the 2nd century B.C. to the middle of the 1st century A.D. for the first time. The results of the archaeological investigation and related research in the natural sciences will allow changes in the ecological environment to be traced and the process of deposition to be reconstructed. Comparison in the fields of religion and ethnography as well as the analysis of historical sources will contribute to the construction of a model of the sanctuary with regard to the site and rituals conducted there. The main aim of the successor project is to reconstruct the inner sanctuary enclosed by the entrenchment. An initial investigation of the skeletal remains of animals in the inner area revealed elements not found in the entrenchment and vice versa, e.g. shoulder blades were not found in the inner sanctuary. These findings give detailed information about different functional areas within the sanctuary and point to the rituals held while the sanctum was in use.

During rescue-excavations of Austrian Departement for the Protection of Monuments between 1991 and 1999 on Perl-/Stadläcker on the Frauenberg near Leibnitz/Styria, it was for the first time possible, to find a sanctuary of the gallic "Picardie"-type in the eastern celtic area. In cooperation of archeologists, archeozoologists, archeobotanic, palynologist, dendrochronologist, geologist and numismatic in two FWF-projects, a perfect synthesis of finds and environment was possible. The sanctuary, which was separated from the fortified settlement, included an area of more than 5000 m with a ditch of trapezoid shape, that was interrupted by an entrance. Outside around the ditch a small rampart was situated, maybe with palisades (?) on the top. Inside the "Temenos", where younger structures were reponsible for a high degree of destruction of older objects, it was possible to find remains of a "temple", a lot of pits, which contained al large number of ceramics and animal bones, as well as fire-places and other "areas of activities". For the reconstruction of the rituals or processes inside the sanctuary, the different layers of the ditch are of decisive importance. It was possible to separate nine levels of filling, the first started in the first half of the 2nd cent. B.C., the last activities happened around the turn of time. The enormous finds were dominated by four maingroups: animal bones, human bones, weapons and pottery. There were also parts of waggons, female accessoirs, gold- and silvercoins and two pieces of moulds for the production of coins, which can give evidence for celtic coin-production on Frauenberg. While weapons, which were destroyed to small pieces, were obligate part of all layers in the ditch, the animal bones dominated the lowest and oldest layers. A change of ritual becomes obvious, the "bloody" animal sacrifice was subtituted by rituals of food- and drink-sacrification or cultical meals. Without compareable example are more than 2000 scapulae of cows, which belong to at least 1300 animals (mainly bulls!) and were deposited in the ditch mostly at the same time. A lot of fine scratching-lines on the fleshless side of scapulae is still without any logical explanation. Human bones with cutting-marks are relicts of a complex multistepped inhumation process, whereas the skulls seem to be remains of trophees. On some pieces of ceramicsherds remains of incised inscriptions or single letters could be found. While the alphabet is venetic, the language seems to be celtic. One fragment contains parts of a dedication inscription and underlines the charakter of sacrification.