Volume IV
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Issue 1/2013
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Pages 117–122
InterdIscIplInarIa archaeologIca
natural scIences In archaeology
homepage: http://www.iansa.eu
IV/1/2013
a look at the region
Institute of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, University of Vienna
Vienna university, Faculty of historical and cultural sciences, Institute of prehistoric and historical
archaeology, Franz-Klein-gasse 1, a-1190 Vienna, austria
http://www.univie.ac.at/urgeschichte/; e-mail: urgeschichte@univie.ac.at;
phone: (0043) 01 4277/40401 – 40404
gerhard trnka, timothy taylor
1. Institutional history
Prehistoric archaeology was irst recognized as a subject at
the university of Vienna in 1892 as taught under the direction
of Moritz hoernes. the prehistoric Institute (prähistorisches
Institut) was founded in 1917. oswald Menghin later
changed the name to the ‘urgeschichtliches Institut’ (which
also translates into english as prehistoric Institute, although
‘ur’ has more of a ‘primal’ connotation). the premises were
originally small rooms in Wasagasse in the 9th district and in
hanuschgasse in the 1st district, not far from the state opera.
In 1963, richard pittioni changed the name to Institut für urund Frühgeschichte (Institute of prehistory and early history)
and the Institute moved to the university’s at the time new
institute building, near the main university in the city centre.
the Institute relocated once again, under the leadership of
Herwig Friesinger, in 1988, moving into the last great building
of the Imperial and royal Monarchy, the former academy
for World trade, erected in 1917 and overlooking Währinger
Park. The building also currently houses the Institute for
classical archaeology, the Institute for numismatics and the
history of Money, and the austrian archaeological Institute.
this relocation provided ample space on the 3rd, 4th and 5th
loors for teaching and research and has accommodated the
successful expansion of the student body. The oficial journal
of the Institute, Archaeologia Austriaca, is jointly published
with the austrian society for pre- and early history and
the prehistoric commission of the austrian academy of
Sciences by the Academy press: http://verlag.oeaw.ac.at/
reihen/archaeologia-austriaca.
The editorial ofices of the Journal of World Prehistory
published by Springer (New York) are also housed at the
institute.
We became the Institut für Urgeschichte und Historische
archäologie (Institute of prehistoric and historical
archaeology) in 2013, signalling our engagement with the
entire scope of human history, from evolutionary origins (as
before) through to the contemporary period.
2. Facilities
as concerns research and teaching, the Institute meets the
necessary standards of a university. the Institute currently
comprises eleven academic staff, a photographer with two
assistants, a graphics technician, four conservators and three
administrative staff in the secretarial ofice. The building
houses a subject library with 75,000 volumes and an active
acquisition programme, two lecture rooms, a seminar room,
a computer room and an extensive teaching collection.
archaeological conservation takes place in the conservation
Laboratory, with its restoration and X-ray capacities. The
Photographic Laboratory provides analog, digital, ilm
and video facilities for the documenting and archiving of
archaeological material.
The loft space of the building on the 5th loor houses the
archaeological prospection unit, supporting air photography
and magnetometry. This is a collaborative initiative with the
ludwig Bolzmann Institute for archaeological prospection
and Virtual archaeology (lBI). scanning electron
Microscopy and archaeometallurgy exist as part of our
collaboration with the Vienna Institute for Archaeological
science (VIas). Finds processing takes place in the
basement of the original building, while the so-called New
Building (Neubau) to the rear (which is partly occupied by
the university’s Centre for Translation Science) contains both
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Gerhard Trnka, Timothy Taylor: Institute of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, University of Vienna
Figure 2. Alexandra Krenn-Leeb – Kleiner Anzingerberg, Lower Austria,
2011: Final neolithic Jevišovice culture settlement with domestic remains.
Figure 1. Michael doneus – perspective representation of lIdar laser
scanning data from an overlight near St. Anna in der Wüste, Lower Austria.
digital surface model with vegetation (left) and without vegetation (right).
an extensive basement storage area and, in the 5th loor loft,
the Vienna-Lithothek (VLI) – a substantial global archive of
lithic raw materials.
the oldest of the Institute’s numerous facilities is the
teaching collection, based on the late 19th century collection of
Matthäus Much with an original inventory of 80,000 objects.
Important elements of the Much collection include inds
complexes and assemblages from Willendorf in the Wachau
(Middle upper palaeolithic), Mondsee (late neolithic), and
the cemetery of stillfried on the March (late Bronze age).
3. Research and Teaching
the mission of the Institute is to develop research and
teaching through projects and programmes of cooperation
Figure 3. erik szameit – gars-thunau, lower austria, 1990: early
Medieval cemetery.
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and collaboration with colleagues at home and abroad. These
span periods from the palaeolithic through to the historical
present, involving extensive interdisciplinary project work
along with research and teaching which includes excavation
programmes in Austria and abroad. This mission has recently
been strengthened with the appointment of two new professors
with research emphases in landscape archaeology and in
theoretical archaeology/World prehistory respectively.
disciplinary teaching currently includes a three year
(6 semester) Ba and a two year (4 semester) Ma, along with
a three year doctoral programme.
For our Ba see:
http://studentpoint.univie.ac.at/vor-dem-studium/
detailansicht/studium/033-601/?tx_univiestudentpoint_pi1
For our Ma see:
http://studentpoint.univie.ac.at/vor-dem-studium/
detailansicht/studium/066-801/?tx_univiestudentpoint_pi1
For our doctoral sudies see:
http://studentpoint.univie.ac.at/vor-dem-studium/
detailansicht/studium/792-xxx/?tx_univiestudentpoint_pi1
or.
http://doktorat.univie.ac.at/zustaendigkeiten/
studienprogramm-leiterinnen-fuer-das-doktoratsstudium/
historisch-kulturwissenschaftliche-fakultaet/
Figure 4. eva lenneis – Mold, lower austria, 1996: early neolithic linear
pottery culture (lBK) settlement with domestic remains.
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Gerhard Trnka, Timothy Taylor: Institute of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, University of Vienna
Figure 6. claudia theune-Vogt – Former concentration camp at
Mauthausen, upper austria, 2009: Medical centre – Barrack no 6.
Figure 5. erich draganits – Mycenean sewage from tiryns (greece) 2010.
4. Associated Institutes and Societies
LBI: ludwig Boltzmann Institute for archaeological
prospection and Virtual archaeology(ludwig Boltzmann
Institut für archäologische prospektion und Virtuelle
Archäologie): http://archpro.lbg.ac.at
ÖGM: austrian society for Medieval archaeology
(Österreichischen gesellschaft für Mittelalterarchäologie),
the Medieval Archaeology archive, and the journal Beiträge
zur Mittelalterarchäologie in Österreich: http://www.univie.
ac.at/oegm/)
ÖGUF: austrian society for prehistoric and early
historical archaeology (Österreichische gesellschaft für urund Frühgeschichte) and its journal Archäologie Österreichs:
http://www.oeguf.ac.at/
VIAS: Vienna Institute for archaeological science: http://
vias.univie.ac.at/
and applications. Projects: Automated georeferencing and
orthorectiication of archaeological aerial photographs.
Erich Draganits – research interests: geoarchaeology,
stratigraphy, geological resources, stratigraphy, sea-level
change, provenance of lithic artefacts, micro-toponyms.
Projects: Geoarchaeological analysis of a Mycenaean
sewage channel in tiryns, greece.
Ulrike Fornwagner – research interests : Airborne Remote
Sensing. Projects: Integrated archaeological interpretation of
airborne remote sensing and geophysical prospection data of
the case study area around Zillingdorf.
Herwig Friesinger – research interests: early history
of the Eastern Alps and Danube area with a focus on late
antiquity and slavic archaeology.
Alexandra Krenn-Leeb – research interests: neolithic
period; copper age; Bronze age; social archaeology; human
5. Projects in progress
Michael Doneus – research interests: archaeological
aerial photography; landscape archaeology, digital methods
Figure 7. natascha Mehler – tingwall, shetland Islands, 2011: settlement
dated from the irst to sixth centuries AD.
Figure 8. Otto H. Urban – Braunsberg, Lower Austria, 2000: reconstruction
of the Late La Tène fortiications.
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Gerhard Trnka, Timothy Taylor: Institute of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, University of Vienna
Figure 9. gerhard trnka – raw material samples collection.
Figure 10. Institute of prehistoric and historical archaeology, university
of Vienna – electron microscope laboratory.
ecology; archaeology of space; ritual and conlict; resource
and crisis management. Projects: Identity, mobility and
tradition in the area of conlict of Bronze Age populations
(Wieselburg Culture). Human Ecology of the Copper Age:
environmental, economic, landscape-archaeological and
social archaeological parameters of the connection network
between human beings and the environment (research
excavation at the Kleiner Anzingerberg in Meidling im Thale,
lower austria). deposition in the context of space and ritual:
strategies and concepts in the Bronze Age. Conlict and Cult?
crisis and coping with crisis versus ritual manipulations in
the neolithic period. – Focus postwar period: history of
science of prehistory and medieval archaeology in austria.
– Balance: promoting health in archaeology.
Andreas Lippert – research interests: economic and
social structures in the copper-, Bronze- and early Iron
Age; settlement archaeology. Projects: Interdisciplinary
settlement archaeology in the Gasteinertal, Salzburg.
archaeological survey, analysis of communication routes,
air photography. Prehistoric sacriicial sites in eastern Alpine
passes (Salzburg).
Natascha Mehler – research interests: historical
archaeology in central and north-east europe; Viking
Period. Projects: The Assembly Project (TAP) – Meeting
Places in Northern Europe AD 400–1500. Harbours in the
north atlantic ad 800–1300 (hanoa). the hanseatic
expansion into the north atlantic (ca 1400–1700) – in
cooperation with Queen’s university, Belfast.
Alois Stuppner – research interests: the roman empire
and Late Antiquity. Projects: The Oberleiserberg in the
roman period and late antiquity. roman and Migration
period settlement structures in the grafenwörth area.
digitisation of the Institute’s study collections.
Erik Szameit – research interests: Migration period
and Medieval archaeology; slavic archaeology; medieval
weapon research. Projects: Thunau: investigation of the
early medieval settlement and cemetery of thunau, gars
am Kamp, Lower Austria. Northeastern Bavaria (Oberpfalz)
and neighbouring regions in the Migration- and Medieval
Period (excavation project in cooperation with Dr. Hans
Losert, University of Bamberg, Germany). Metallurgical
examination of medieval arms and armour.
Timothy Taylor – research interests: archaeological theory
(including history of scholarship, art, gender, symbolism,
death-related and visceral behaviours, materiality); world
prehistory; later prehistory of eurasia with special reference
to Eastern Europe and the steppes. Projects include
diachronic analyses of Kreisgrabenanlagen (in collaboration
with the university of Buffalo and the lBI, Vienna) and
interdisciplinary analysis of Inca child sacriice (with the
university of Bradford).
Claudia Theune-Vogt – research interests: Medieval,
post-medieval, and contemporary archaeology. Projects:
contemporary archaeology in former concentration camps
in austria. the early Medieval cemetery of Weingarten,
Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland. Space and material
culture in medieval tulln, lower austria. the eastern
alpine zone revisited – continuity and change from the late
antiquity to the medieval period.
Figure 11. Institute of prehistoric and historical archaeology, university
of Vienna – photo laboratory.
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Gerhard Trnka, Timothy Taylor: Institute of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, University of Vienna
Gerhard Trnka – research interests: palaeolithic, neolithic
and Bronze Ages; lithic raw materials in archaeology; lint
mining; Kreisgrabenanlagen. Projects: The Celtic hilltop
settlement of Oberleiserberg. Construction and curation
of the Institute lithic raw material collection (VlI/Viennalithothek).
Otto H. Urban – research interests: the Iron age; celtic
archaeology; archaeological methods; history of scholarship
(including the study of prehistory under national socialism).
Projects: Prehistoric hilltop settlement around Linz. The
fortiication architecture of Vix und Mont Lassois, Bibracte,
France.
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Gerhard Trnka, Timothy Taylor: Institute of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, University of Vienna
gerhard trnka at the Blue nile river in 2012. hidase Bridges, gohatsion
district, ethiopia. photo: gerhard trnka.
Gerhard Trnka – a scientiic proile
Gerhard Trnka was born in 1955 in Vienna. He completed
his BA studies at the University of Vienna in 1974 (subjects
Prehistory, Ancient Archaeology and History). He became
a student assistant at the Institute of prehistory in 1980. he
completed his doctorate (dr. phil.) in 1981 and was appointed
an institute assistant. After completing his habilitation in
prehistory at the philosophical Faculty of the university
of Vienna in 1989 he became an assistant professor and
eventually univ. prof. in 1997. his teaching courses cover
the epochs from the palaeolithic through to the Bronze ages.
his special interests include middle neolithic “rondell”
enclosures (Kreisgrabenanlagen) and lithic raw material
analyses. He established the Vienna-Lithothek (VLI) in 1996.
Selected publications:
TRNKA, G. 1990: Spätneolithische Abschnittsbefestigung mit zweifacher
Grabenanlage in Strögen. Archäologie Österreichs 1/1–2, 38–39.
trnKa, g. 1991: Studien zu mittelneolithischen Kreisgrabenanlagen.
Mitteilunger der prähistorischen Kommission Wien 26.
trnKa, g. 1991: nordische Flintdolche in Österreich. Archäologie
Österreichs 2/2, 4–10.
trnKa, g. 1991: neolithische Befestigungen in ostösterreich.
Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien 121, 137–156.
TRNKA, G. 1992: Neues zu den „Brotlaibidolen“. Festschrift zum
50jährigen Bestehen des Institutes für Ur- und Frühgeschichte der
Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, Universitätsforschungen zur
prähistorischen Archäologie 8, 615–622.
TRNKA, G. 1992: Eine frühbronzezeitliche Kreisgrabenanlage von
Herzogbirbaum in Niederösterreich. Schriften Vorarlberger LM, Reihe
A/5, 73–76.
TRNKA, G. 1992: Das urnenfelderzeitliche Gräberfeld von Gusen in
Oberösterreich. Archaeologia Austriaca 76, 47–112.
TRNKA, G. 1993/1994: Die frühbronzezeitliche Grabenanlage von
Kollnbrunn in Niederösterreich. Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen
Gesellschaft in Wien 123/124, 277–300.
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schappelWeIn, c., trnKa, g. 1995: die frühlengyelzeitliche
Kreisgrabenanlage von Strögen, Niederösterreich, Arch. Austriaca 79,
63–168.
haesaerts, p., daMBlon, F., Bachner M., trnKa, g.: revised
stratigraphy and chronology of the Willendorf II sequence (lower
austria). Archeologia Austriaca 80, 25–42.
penZ, M.,trnKa, g.: ein ehemaliges Flintensteindepot aus dem schloss
Neugebäude in Wien, Fundort Wien. Berichte zur Archäologie 7, 234–
244.
TRNKA, G. 2004: Niederbayerischer Hornsteinimport in das
niederösterreichische donautal im raum Melk. In: hänsel, B.,
studeníková, e. (eds.): Zwischen Karpaten und Ägäis. Neolithikum
und Ältere Bronzezeit (Gedenkschrift für Viera Němejcová-Pavúková),
Internationale archäologie – studia honoraria 21, 309–321.
TRNKA, G. 2005: Die jungpaläolithischen Stationen von Alberndorf im
pulkautal im nördlichen niederösterreich (Weinviertel). Mitteilungen der
Kommission für Quartärforschung der Österreichischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften 14, 195–212.
MateIcIucoVÁ, I., trnKa, g., gÖtZInger M. a. 2006: Zur
Rohstoffverteilung und -verfügbarkeit in der westlichen LengyelKultur. In: Krenn-Leeb, A., Grömer, K., Stadler, P.: Ein Lächeln für
die Jungsteinzeit – Festschrift für Elisabeth Ruttkay, Archäologie
Österreichs 17/2, 82–89.
steguWeIt, l., trnKa, g. 2008: Ivory artefacts from the aurignacian
site Alberndorf I in the Pulkau valley (Lower Austria) and their
interpretation as tools, Wissenschaftliche Mitteilungen aus dem
Niederösterreichischen Landesmuseum 19,149–165.
MÖdlInger, M., trnKa, g. 2009: herstellungstechnische
untersuchungen an riegseeschwertern aus ostösterreich. In: Kienlin, t.
L., Roberts, B.: Metals and Societies. Studies in honour of Barbara S.
Ottaway. universitätsforschungen zur prähistorischen archäologie 169,
350–357.
TRNKA, G. 2010: Zur Problematik frühbronzezeitlicher Kreisgrabenanlagen
im Mitteldonauraum. In: Meller, h., Bertemes, F. (eds.): Der Griff
nach den Sternen. Wie Europas Eliten zu Macht und Reichtum kamen.
Internationales Symposium in Halle (Saale) 16. – 21. Februar 2005,
tagungen des landesmuseums für Vorgeschichte halle 5/1, 317–331.
pÉtreQuIn, p., errera, M., gauthIer, e., Klassen, l., trnKa,
g. 2010: der alpine Beilnacken aus Kamegg (niederösterreich) und die
Verbreitung des Bégude-Typs in Westeuropa. In: Šuteková, J., Pavúk, P.,
Kalábková, P., Kovár, B. (Eds.): PANTA RHEI. Studies in Chronology and
Cultural Development of the South-Eastern and Central Europe in Earlier
Prehistory presented to Juraj Pavúk on the Occasion of his 75. Birthday.
studia archaeologica et Mediaevalia 11, Bratislava, 137–157.
trnKa, g. 2010: early Flint mining and siliceous raw materials in central
Europe. In: Dominguez-Bella, S., Muñoz, J. R., Gutiérrez, J. M., Pérez
rodríguez, l. M. (eds.): Minerales y Rocas en las Sociedades de la
Prehistoria. grupo de Investigación huM-440. universidad de cádiz,
17–36.
trnKa, g. 2011: the neolithic radiolarite mining site of Wien – Mauerantonshöhe (austria). In: Biró, K. t., Markó, a.: Emlékkönyv Violának.
Papers in Honour of Viola T. Dobosi. Hungarian National Museum,
Budapest, 287–296.
trnKa, g. 2012: die erforschung der mittelneolithischen
Kreisgrabenanlage von Kamegg im Waldviertel, Niederösterreich. In:
Bertemes, F., Meller, h.: Neolithische Kreisgrabenanlagen in Europa –
Neolithic Circular Enclosures in Europe. Internationale Arbeitstagung in
goseck sachsen-anhalt 7. – 9. Mai 2004, tagungen des landesmuseums
für Vorgeschichte halle 8, 2012, 197–221.
TRNKA, G. 2013: Ein bemerkenswerter Klingenkern aus Szentgálradiolarit von groß-schollach im westlichen niederösterreich. In:
anders, a., Kulcsár, g.: Moments in Time – Papers Presented to Pál
Raczky on his 60th Birthday. Ősrégészeti Tanulmányok / Prehistoric
studies 1, Budapest, 277–287.