Celtic Hilltop Settlement on Oberleiserberg

An estimated 10 to 100 tonnes of meteoric matter hits the Earth`s atmosphere daily; most of this material is too small to be seen or to reach the surface of the Earth. Most of this material evaporates and - presumably - provides the nuclei for ice particles in consequence causing other phenomena which occur in the mesosphere (70 to 90 km). Under special conditions NLC (= noctilucent clouds) can form from these ice particles which are visible from the ground. The probability and the altitude of the clouds have, within the accuracy of the triangulations and observations, not changed for more than 100 years. However, the brightness has detectably increased since the advent of satellite borne measurements, i.e. over only two decades. A connection of the variability of this phenomenon with man-made atmospheric emissions since the beginning of the industrial era is a hot topic of many investigations. For a sound understanding of the formation of NLC and the associated polar mesospheric radar echoes an investigation of all conceivable ingredients for the ice formation is essential. In Summer 2011 a sounding rocket will be launched from northern Sweden to investigate the relevant part of the atmosphere (the mesosphere) by using a novel combination of diagnostic instruments. Among these instruments is a new microwave radiometer to measure in situ water vapour in the mesosphere. Other diagnostic instruments will establish neutral temperatures with high resolution, the size of mesospheric ice particles, the densities of atomic oxygen and hydrogen, as well the densities of electrons and ions. This comprehensive set of measured parameters will provide insight into the atmospheric processes at the extremely cold polar mesosphere, and - in consequence - help to better interpret long term observations pertaining to global change.

Oberleiserberg is one of the most important archaeological sites in eastern Austria. Over many years of archaeological research, rich traces of settlements starting from the late Neolithic period to modern times have been found. A group of finds dated to the Late Iron Age and connected with La Tène culture settlements forms an important part of the archaeological material coming from Oberleiserberg. All the materials come either from methodical archaeological research or they were gathered from the surface of the site. For the most part, these were unpublished finds. The main premise of the project was to conduct a detailed inventory and documentation of La Tène archaeological material unearthed during 12 research campaigns on Oberleiserberg over the years 1996 - 2009, as well of the very rich collection of stray and surface finds from this site. The inventory comprised tens of thousands of ceramic fragments, of which a few thousand had to be additionally documented pictorially and photographically. Moreover, there were about two thousand non-ceramic artefacts from Oberleiserberg: metal (iron, bronze, silver and gold), glass, bone and stone. A considerable proportion of these artefacts mainly metal ones required restoration or conservation, and all of them had to be documented pictorially and photographically. All of the finds were described in archaeological terms (detailed chronology, typological category, origin, cultural category). Coins (about 150 items) represent a particularly significant group of finds here. Apart from work on the archaeological finds (artefacts), a considerable part of the project was devoted to work on the settlement features documented during the archaeological research. A separate part of the project was interdisciplinary work on archaeo-zoological material. All materials are being prepared for publication.