Quaternary Archaeology

Since 2015, excavations have been carried out at the well-known Upper Palaeolithic site of Kammern-Grubgraben. The site is characterised by exceptional stone features and finds, including numerous jewellery objects.

After 10 years of field research at the Gravettian site of Krems-Wachtberg, the data obtained will be evaluated and published on an ongoing basis. The site is characterised by a partially preserved in situ find layer with an infant double burial of monozygotic twins and the burial of another infant.

Project aim is a comparison of Upper Palaeolithic records and sediment archives of the Krems area in northeast Austria and the Ceahlău Basin in the eastern Carpathians. At the current stage, data collection in the Ceahlău Basin is intensified by fieldwork conducted jointly with the Valahia University of Târgoviste.

This interdisciplinary study deals with the pigments from the burials and settlement layers of the Gravettian site Krems-Wachtberg. The focus is on pigment analysis, investigations into the origin of the colour raw materials as well as conclusions about the preparation and use of the various pigments.

The project deals with the creation, maintenance and further development of the Quaternary Archaeology research group's site database. By feeding in data from fieldwork and material recording, the database also plays a central role in the evaluation of the inventories.

Since 2017, silicite deposits and their prehistoric use are investigated in Vienna. Amongst the approximately 30 detected quarrying and workshop sites one assemblage is particularly intriguing due to technological aspects and the high amount of thermally altered lithics. This assemblage was therefore studied in a research project.

Die „Süßwasser-Opale“ vom Csaterberg wurden als leicht verfügbare Rohmaterialquelle über lange Zeiten hinweg zur Werkzeugherstellung genutzt. Das Projekt untersucht dieses Thema in seiner ganzen Komplexität, angefangen von paläontologisch-geologischen Aspekten über chronologisch-technologische Fragen bis hin zu Distribution und Verbreitung der Artefakte.