The Hallstatt mines: ISOwood - Origin of prehistoric wood

This transdisciplinary project between the Museum of Natural History Vienna (NHM), the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) aims at the development of analytical tools and techniques for the interpretation of artefacts excavated at the salt mine in Hallstatt towards the provenance of prehistoric goods to enhance the understanding of economic and social structures in early history. The interpretation of results will provide insights into organisation and infrastructure of prehistoric mining with respect to provisioning and trade routes. The project will focus on the investigation of selected prehistoric wooden artefacts which have been excavated in Hallstatt/Austria. Analysis of isotope ratios (C, N, H, O, Sr) will be performed along with multi-element analysis and dendrochronological examinations. The data will be interpreted for the provenance of the samples by comparison with regional isoscapes established from analytical data of recent material. The final results will be used to interpret the industrial infrastructure of the site and prehistoric trade routes during Bronze Age and Early Iron Age.

This transdisciplinary project between archaeology, wood science and analytical chemistry between the Museum of Natural History Vienna (NHM), the Francisco Josephinum Wieselburg and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) aimed at the development of analytical tools and techniques for the interpretation of wooden artefacts excavated at the salt mine in Hallstatt towards the provenance of these prehistoric goods. Major focus was set on the investigation of tool handles. It is expected that these do not origin from Hallstatt. The project made use of modern analytical techniques for the investigation of the isotopic composition of the naturally occurring elements carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and strontium. The different isotopic composition of these elements has been successfully applied for provenance studies e.g. for food provenancincg. Within this project, the first isoscapes (maps of the variation of the isotopic composition) of domestic wood could be established. By comparing the chemical data of prehistoric samples to the data of the isoscapes, possible provenances could be deduced. In this context it was necessary to extract the original information of the wood to avoid analytical artefacts via the chemical information of the repository material, which intruded into the wood during storage in the mine. First conclusions on probable provenances could be drawn. The final interpretation of the data in the context of the archaeological knowledge is currently ongoing. The final results will be used to interpret the industrial infrastructure of the site and prehistoric trade routes during Bronze Age and Early Iron Age with the goal to enhance the understanding of economic and social structures in early history.