Propylaeum

Society and the environment are complex systems that were also subject to constant change in the early and high Middle Ages. However, this process of change shows specific dynamics in different temporal phases and regions. This study analyses the structural development of three small southern German regions in Middle Franconia, Lower Franconia and Swabia between the 6th and 13th centuries on different levels. On the basis of archaeological sources, written evidence and geo-archives, individual peculiarities and supra-regional commonalities are worked out through a systematic diachronic comparison. Special attention is paid to the changes around the year 1000 and the Hungarian invasions as a possible triggering factor. Especially around the turn of the millennium, however, the three micro-studies reveal a particularly pronounced individuality. Economic processes, ecological crises and political-property and social upheavals are discussed as the causes of these region-specific special paths.

Ad Volume 1

After the new presentation of the Kröllkogel, the other three princely tombs of the Separatnekropole of Kleinklein were also to be reworked.
The graves show a clear chronological sequence: At the beginning is Hartnermichelkogel 1, where the founder of the Separatnekropole was buried in the last decades of the 8th century BC. The clearly younger Pommerkogel is likely to date between 660/650 and 630/620 BC. What is remarkable is that the grave furnishings are largely identical, which testifies to a fixed set of rules according to which the highest elite had to be buried in small graves over a period of 150 years. The construction of the separate necropolis thus suggests a clearly elevated position of this group of people as well as a pronounced dynastic consciousness.

The book’s aim is to make a comprehensive introduction of the Sarmatians, the crucial people in the world of Iranian language speaking nomads.
The first part of the volume deals with the history and archaeology of these tribes starting from their emergence to the Hunnic invasion after which Iranian domination of the steppe belt was replaced by the power of Turkic nomads. Based on literary sources and archaeological material, the second part synthetises the history of the Sarmatians in the Carpathian Basin from the 1^st to 5^th century AD. A special emphasis is put on the steppe relations of the Alföld Sarmatians, innovations brought by new migration waves and, their impact on the autochthonous population. The third part is an outlook to the afterlife of the Sarmatians the traces of which stretch out from Britain to China.

At that time, the Roman cemetery of Halbturn I belonged to the western part of Pannonia; the ancient city of Carnuntum was about 30 km away. The cemetery was completely investigated by systematic excavations, which is unusual for this region. 

The finds show a great variability in burial customs, which can be seen in the positioning of the burials and the buried, as well as in the different efforts invested in the construction of the tombs. These characteristics depend, on the one hand, on the chronological period in question (2nd-5th century) and, on the other, on the personal status of the deceased (according to age at death, sex and physical disabilities). Particularly unusual are the numerous infant and child graves. 

In addition to the archaeological-typological evaluation, the monograph offers important insights into life at the time: for example, a child's amulet is the oldest evidence of Jewish faith in Austria to date. Nutrition, diseases and injuries - whether caused by agricultural activities or domestic violence - are also described in detail, as well as considerations on animal breeding and husbandry, cultivated and wild plants, stone monuments, etc. Last but not least, the site, which was previously recorded by aerial archaeology, geophysical prospection and systematic field surveys, offers numerous further insights into the associated agricultural holdings.

At that time, the Roman cemetery of Halbturn I belonged to the western part of Pannonia; the ancient city of Carnuntum was about 30 km away. The cemetery was completely investigated by systematic excavations, which is unusual for this region. 

The finds show a great variability in burial customs, which can be seen in the positioning of the burials and the buried, as well as in the different efforts invested in the construction of the tombs. These characteristics depend, on the one hand, on the chronological period in question (2nd-5th century) and, on the other, on the personal status of the deceased (according to age at death, sex and physical disabilities). Particularly unusual are the numerous infant and child graves. 

In addition to the archaeological-typological evaluation, the monograph offers important insights into life at the time: for example, a child's amulet is the oldest evidence of Jewish faith in Austria to date. Nutrition, diseases and injuries - whether caused by agricultural activities or domestic violence - are also described in detail, as well as considerations on animal breeding and husbandry, cultivated and wild plants, stone monuments, etc. Last but not least, the site, which was previously recorded by aerial archaeology, geophysical prospection and systematic field surveys, offers numerous further insights into the associated agricultural holdings.

At that time, the Roman cemetery of Halbturn I belonged to the western part of Pannonia; the ancient city of Carnuntum was about 30 km away. The cemetery was completely investigated by systematic excavations, which is unusual for this region. 

The finds show a great variability in burial customs, which can be seen in the positioning of the burials and the buried, as well as in the different efforts invested in the construction of the tombs. These characteristics depend, on the one hand, on the chronological period in question (2nd-5th century) and, on the other, on the personal status of the deceased (according to age at death, sex and physical disabilities). Particularly unusual are the numerous infant and child graves. 

In addition to the archaeological-typological evaluation, the monograph offers important insights into life at the time: for example, a child's amulet is the oldest evidence of Jewish faith in Austria to date. Nutrition, diseases and injuries - whether caused by agricultural activities or domestic violence - are also described in detail, as well as considerations on animal breeding and husbandry, cultivated and wild plants, stone monuments, etc. Last but not least, the site, which was previously recorded by aerial archaeology, geophysical prospection and systematic field surveys, offers numerous further insights into the associated agricultural holdings.

At that time, the Roman cemetery of Halbturn I belonged to the western part of Pannonia; the ancient city of Carnuntum was about 30 km away. The cemetery was completely investigated by systematic excavations, which is unusual for this region. 

The finds show a great variability in burial customs, which can be seen in the positioning of the burials and the buried, as well as in the different efforts invested in the construction of the tombs. These characteristics depend, on the one hand, on the chronological period in question (2nd-5th century) and, on the other, on the personal status of the deceased (according to age at death, sex and physical disabilities). Particularly unusual are the numerous infant and child graves. 

In addition to the archaeological-typological evaluation, the monograph offers important insights into life at the time: for example, a child's amulet is the oldest evidence of Jewish faith in Austria to date. Nutrition, diseases and injuries - whether caused by agricultural activities or domestic violence - are also described in detail, as well as considerations on animal breeding and husbandry, cultivated and wild plants, stone monuments, etc. Last but not least, the site, which was previously recorded by aerial archaeology, geophysical prospection and systematic field surveys, offers numerous further insights into the associated agricultural holdings.

Al Andarin, ancient Androna, with its two enclosing walls, ten churches, a public bath and a large military building (castron) covers an area of 155 ha and is thus one of the largest ruined sites in the water-scarce steppe areas of central Syria. As the first of about 300 settlements in these areas, Androna was investigated by excavations and surveys in 1997-2007.
The present results on the surface features, the castron (559 AD) and the wall rings not only make the history of Androna in the 5th-7th centuries AD tangible, they also paint an extremely vivid picture of the relationship between countryside and city in the Late Antique-Early Byzantine period.

s. Volume 2

Al Andarin, ancient Androna, with its two enclosing walls, ten churches, a public bath and a large military building (castron) covers an area of 155 ha and is thus one of the largest ruined sites in the water-scarce steppe areas of central Syria. As the first of about 300 settlements in these areas, Androna was investigated by excavations and surveys in 1997-2007.
The present results on the surface features, the castron (559 AD) and the wall rings not only make the history of Androna in the 5th-7th centuries AD tangible, they also paint an extremely vivid picture of the relationship between countryside and city in the Late Antique-Early Byzantine period.

s. Volume 1

The village of Vergina stands on the ancient necropolis of Aigai, the first capital of the Macedonian Empire. With over 300 burial mounds still visible in the terrain, it dates from the early Iron Age (around 1000 BC) to the Hellenistic period (2nd century BC).
This volume presents for the first time the features and finds of the rescue excavations under the direction of Ph. Petsas in the course of road construction in 1960-1961. Together with the results of the systematic excavations by M. Andronikos, representative material is available to investigate the chronology, chorology and organisation of the necropolis and to enable statements to be made about Macedonian society in the early Iron Age.

Bazzano near L'Aquila is one of the largest pre-Roman burial sites in Apennine Central Italy and even surpasses the necropolises of Fossa and Campovalano in the number of graves.
More than 500 burials of the Orientalising and Archaic period (8th-5th century BC) from the excavations of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell'Abruzzo from 1992-2004 are presented and analysed in this publication for the first time.
Above all, Etruscan pottery imports and their local adaptations enable a finer dating of the graves with their seemingly older traditional Italic decorative elements and weapons within an absolute chronology. In this way, the occupation sequence of the necropolis in four main phases, established on the basis of seriations and grave overlaps, can be better compared with the existing chronology systems.
In addition to questions on burial customs and social structures, the main part of the work is devoted to the classification and chronology of typical Middle Italian objects that are widespread far beyond Bazzano. With the complementary anthropological contributions, the picture of a mobile Iron Age population is sketched, which differed in its lifestyle from the individuals buried in the neighbouring necropolis of Fossa. Possibly this is due to a pronounced pastoral economy, transhumance or a very active warrior class, whose status is also emphasised by the high number of graves containing weapons.

Bazzano near L'Aquila is one of the largest pre-Roman burial sites in Apennine Central Italy and even surpasses the necropolises of Fossa and Campovalano in the number of graves.
More than 500 burials of the Orientalising and Archaic period (8th-5th century BC) from the excavations of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell'Abruzzo from 1992-2004 are presented and analysed in this publication for the first time.
Above all, Etruscan pottery imports and their local adaptations enable a finer dating of the graves with their seemingly older traditional Italic decorative elements and weapons within an absolute chronology. In this way, the occupation sequence of the necropolis in four main phases, established on the basis of seriations and grave overlaps, can be better compared with the existing chronology systems.
In addition to questions on burial customs and social structures, the main part of the work is devoted to the classification and chronology of typical Middle Italian objects that are widespread far beyond Bazzano. With the complementary anthropological contributions, the picture of a mobile Iron Age population is sketched, which differed in its lifestyle from the individuals buried in the neighbouring necropolis of Fossa. Possibly this is due to a pronounced pastoral economy, transhumance or a very active warrior class, whose status is also emphasised by the high number of graves containing weapons.

Bazzano near L'Aquila is one of the largest pre-Roman burial sites in Apennine Central Italy and even surpasses the necropolises of Fossa and Campovalano in the number of graves.
More than 500 burials of the Orientalising and Archaic period (8^th-5^th century BC) from the excavations of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell'Abruzzo from 1992-2004 are presented and analysed in this publication for the first time.
Above all, Etruscan pottery imports and their local adaptations enable a finer dating of the graves with their seemingly older traditional Italic decorative elements and weapons within an absolute chronology. In this way, the occupation sequence of the necropolis in four main phases, established on the basis of seriations and grave overlaps, can be better compared with the existing chronology systems.
In addition to questions on burial customs and social structures, the main part of the work is devoted to the classification and chronology of typical Middle Italian objects that are widespread far beyond Bazzano. With the complementary anthropological contributions, the picture of a mobile Iron Age population is sketched, which differed in its lifestyle from the individuals buried in the neighbouring necropolis of Fossa. Possibly this is due to a pronounced pastoral economy, transhumance or a very active warrior class, whose status is also emphasised by the high number of graves containing weapons.

The sites around the Burgstallkogel between Großklein and Gleinstätten in western Styria are among the most outstanding of the Early Iron Age in Austria and Central Europe. The centre is the hilltop settlement on the Burgstallkogel, at the foot of which lies the Sulmtal necropolis, with some 700 burial mounds still standing.
On the first river terrace of the Saggau valley, near Kleinklein, the four richest princely burials of the entire eastern Hallstatt district were found. Most of the finds were made in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A successful re-excavation in 1995 in the most recent princely tomb, the so-called Kröllkogel, provided the impetus for the present new treatment and re-evaluation of this magnificent tomb. To achieve this goal, the Joanneum Universal Museum in Graz and the RGZM joined forces and organised an interdisciplinary group of researchers to examine all aspects of the find.

With the tuff mines around the Laacher See volcano, we grasp the roots of the building stone industry in Central Europe. It was the master builders who came from the Mediterranean region as part of the Augustan expansion and urbanisation policy who brought the knowledge of stone architecture to our region. Quarried in extensive tunnel systems, the valuable stone was used from the beginning for the construction of representative large-scale buildings. Eloquent evidence of this is the so-called Ubier Monument in Cologne, the oldest stone building in Roman Germany. As an early export hit, tuff was the first "lightweight building stone" and a sought-after building material on ancient and medieval large-scale construction sites. Based on this 2000-year tradition, the tuff industry is still an important economic factor in the region today.

In the book, the 59 known ancient mines are described in detail, as are the techniques used to extract and process stone. The unusually good sources also allow a well-founded assessment of the yield of the deposits. Research on the numerous quarry and consecration inscriptions sheds new light on the sanctuaries in tuff mining and provides insight into the religious imagination of the people working there. A detailed study by Lutz Grunwald on the pottery from the mines led to a completely new assessment of the medieval mining activities.

In discussions on the evolution of human behaviour, the question of how humans moved in space plays a crucial role. The earliest evidence of behavioural patterns that can be interpreted in this sense comes from the transition from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic.

The Thuringian site of Oelknitz represents one of the most important testimonies to early social systems, which become visible as early as about 15000 years ago. The analysis of this site is able to show the variability of settlement systems in the late Upper Palaeolithic and to contribute to a much more complex understanding of settlement systems, despite the worldwide scarcity of such excellently preserved findings.

Burial structures served not only to commemorate a person, but also to represent the family. The adoption or transformation of Roman status symbols by indigenous people in the provinces is therefore a measure of romanisation. The adaptation of Mediterranean forms can mean a break with indigenous traditions or - on the contrary - in certain selections be an instrument to communicate traditional values and patterns in a contemporary presentational framework.
The study shows where the models came from, which social groups conveyed them and which took them up and even developed them further. Monument topography and architectural types are taken into account as well as the media of epitaphs and sculpture. The differences between the Rhine and Danube provinces are revealing.

Burial structures served not only to commemorate a person, but also to represent the family. The adoption or transformation of Roman status symbols by indigenous people in the provinces is therefore a measure of romanisation. The adaptation of Mediterranean forms can mean a break with indigenous traditions or - on the contrary - in certain selections be an instrument to communicate traditional values and patterns in a contemporary presentational framework.
The study shows where the models came from, which social groups conveyed them and which took them up and even developed them further. Monument topography and architectural types are taken into account as well as the media of epitaphs and sculpture. The differences between the Rhine and Danube provinces are revealing.

Although the archaeology and history of the Byzantine Crimea is a well-researched subject, the results of this research have received little attention outside the Russian-speaking world.
This monograph by the internationally renowned archaeologist Aleksandr I. Ajbabin, the result of a joint project between the RGZM and the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, is intended to help raise awareness of this region, which was essentially characterised by the tense relationship between the steppe peoples and the Byzantine Empire.  
This thoroughly revised and expanded translation of the work, which was first published in Russian in 1999, provides the German public with a comprehensive overview of the find material and its chronology, some of which is difficult to access.

During excavations in important Greek sanctuaries such as Olympia or Delphi, large quantities of weapons and pieces of armour from the 8th to 4th century BC were found. They are considered to be pieces of booty that Greek city states donated to the gods after victorious battles.

In this volume, the custom of dedicating weapons in the Greek world between Sicily and Cyprus is summarised. More than 130 sanctuaries with weapon finds form the basis of the analysis, which also includes written and epigraphic sources. This makes the volume a comprehensive compendium of an important votive custom in ancient Greece.

The Roman army had a complex system of signalling that used acoustic and visual aids - wind instruments and field signs - to communicate orders quickly. The standards used for this purpose, the signa militaria, were not only objects of daily use, but also important symbols of Roman military power and important symbols of identification for the soldiers united under them. The loss of such an emblem was considered a great shame not only by the soldiers but by all Romans.
In this volume, the standards of the Roman army are intensively analysed on the basis of an extensive and richly illustrated collection of material, including numerous ancient depictions, inscriptions and fragments of original field insignia. The focus is on their appearance, use and religious status. In addition, the depictions of standards in Roman art will be examined for their attention to detail and their semantic meaning. The result is a multi-layered picture of Roman field insignia, which were more than simple aids to orientation on the battlefield, and not only in the eyes of the soldiers.

On the Katzenberg near Mayen, a military fortification, one of the largest of its kind, existed from about 300 AD until the middle of the 5^th century to protect the economic centre of Mayen.

Based on the results obtained there, 143 other hill fortifications in northern Gaul are examined. Oriented along traffic routes, especially waterways, these fortifications by no means have the character of hidden refuges. Rather, they can also be classified as military installations that were integrated into an overarching defence concept. They ensured the continuity of civil and economic life in rural areas. Thus, hilltop fortifications are one of the elements of a deep military defence in Late Antiquity.

The Byzantine Empire (395-1453 AD) has long been the subject of research in the humanities. In particular, the large number of available written sources has provided the basis for reconstructing the political, economic and socio-cultural developments of the period. However, the written sources are largely silent on everyday matters: they did not seem worth mentioning. This includes food. Comprehensive work in the natural sciences is ideally suited to fill this gap and to corroborate the findings of the written sources.
As a first step in this direction, this volume summarises the status quo of archaeozoology for the Byzantine Empire. It shows what is already known about Byzantine animal husbandry, hunting, fowling and fishing, and what cultural, historical or eco-geographical factors influenced these economic sectors in the provinces. Regional and temporal differences are considered as well as commonalities, including the importance of Roman tradition and the role of Christianity in nutrition.

Where hunter-gatherers camped between 15000-5000 BC in the steppes and forests of Europe, stone artefacts and hearthstones were usually left behind in large numbers. Only rarely, however, are dwellings directly verifiable on the basis of preserved construction elements.
In this book six accumulations of lithic artefacts are examined to see if there are indications that tent walls once surrounded them as an obstacle to a diffuse distribution of the stone debris to the outside: Orp Ost and Rekem 10 in Belgium, Cepoy in the Paris Basin, Geldrop 3-2 in the southern Netherlands, Berlin-Tegel IX, and Hartmannsdorf 26 in Brandenburg. In these settlement structures as well as in the dwellings and unroofed campsites of this period used for comparison, it is also possible to reconstruct work areas

The study of the early medieval settlement (7th-8th century AD) and the pottery finds from the associated cemetery focuses on three main areas: Avar settlement features and settlement structures in the Carpathian Basin, pottery production and use in the Avar period, and Avar traditions in the Zillingtal regarding the burial of pottery vessels.
Among the settlement finds, the early medieval reuse of the Roman ruins is of particular interest. The analysis of the find material focuses on the pottery finds, together with the pottery vessels from the Avar cemetery. Archaeological and archaeometric analyses as well as methods of experimental archaeology are used. The chronology of the pottery and the anthropological data of the burials form the basis for the analysis of Avar traditions in the burial of pottery.

Part 2 here.