image/svg+xml
215
XI/2/2020
INTERDISCIPLINARIA ARCHAEOLOGICA
NATURAL SCIENCES IN ARCHAEOLOGY
homepage: http://www.iansa.eu
Book reviews
Volume XI ● Issue 2/2020 ● Pages 215–216
Das Frühmittelalterliche Hügelgräberfeld
von Bernhardsthal (Early Medieval
Burial Mound Cemetery Bernhardsthal)
Jiří Macháček and Peter Milo with chapters
written by Wolfgang Breibert, Petr Dresler,
Stefan Eichert, Anna Pankowská and
Friedel Stratjel
Archäologische Forschungen In Nieder-
österreich, Franz Pieler and Armin
Laussegger, eds.), Neue Folge Band 7 (2019),
Krems. 144 pp. ISBN 978-3-903150-58-4.
English, References) the core of the book
presents the discovery, excavation, pottery
analysis,
14
C dating, anthropological
analysis, interpretation of the site, and
presents the discovery in its wider context.
It is a particular pleasure to read the
chapter describing the discovery of the site
in which remote sensing and geophysical
prospection played the main role. Freely
available airborne LiDAR data enabled
the initial discovery of the burial mounds.
Due to the dense vegetation on the one
hand and the relative obscurity of the
mounds on the other, the site had not
been previously discovered despite the
intensive archaeological activities in
the area. The initial interpretation of the
airborne LiDAR-derived data was followed
up by geophysical research that provided
evidence for two types of burial mounds of
diferent construction. This information was
decisive when the subsequent excavation
had to be planned. In addition, numerous
structures were identifed, proof of intensive
settlement activities, and imply the presence
of archaeological fndings from diferent
time periods. Important indications for an
Early Medieval dating have been gained:
the spatial connection with the Moravian
Pohansko site, as well as a similarity with
some already known Slavic burial mounds.
Based on the location of the burial mounds,
its tendency towards a grouping in roughly
an East-West direction was also indicative –
as it is a common feature of early medieval
burial mounds.
The main part of the book is devoted to
the excavation of two burial mounds that
took place in 2013 and 2014. The book is
therefore a demonstration of good practice:
the prompt publishing of excavational
results. Chapter three clearly presents the
methodology of the excavation and gives
a description of the fndings that is easy
to follow thanks to high-quality plan and
section drawings and interpretations.
One of the most important parts of the
book is chapter four: devoted as it is to
the pottery analysis. Four phases have
been detected. First, burial mound No. 15
was built with the primary burial on the
top of the burial mound in the frst and
second thirds of the 7
th
century. Mound
No. 14 was built later, when the cremation
with its ceramic items were deposited at
its base, probably in the second half of
the 7
th
century, or at the beginning of the
8
th
century. In the course of the 8
th
century,
the urn with the cremation was buried in
the north-eastern area of burial mound 15.
There were also some fragments at the site
dated to the 9
th
century, which bear witness
to the last activity in the area of the burial
mounds that are no longer in use.
The next chapter thoroughly presents the
results of
14
C dating, a part that is too often
amiss in archaeological publications.
Meaningful anthropological analysis
of burnt bones is always a difcult task.
In chapter six it is executed masterfully:
applying state-of-the-art methods. The
examined material was a representative
example of the diversity of burial customs
in the Slavic period. The cremation
probably occurred at a low temperature,
or only for a very short time, and was not
homogeneous. The bone fragments buried
represent only a small selection of what
must have remained at the stake. One urn –
analysed with the micro excavation method
– enabled the reconstruction of the manner
of bone burial: the lower extremities had
been deposited frst and then the skull on
top.
Chapter seven brings the interpretation of
the burial site. Based on the precise analysis
of the wooden construction, combined with
the thorough analysis of previously known
examples and anthropological analogies,
a highly likely and persuasive interpretation
of the “house of the dead” burial
construction is presented. But perhaps
even more impressive is the interpretation
of the Early Medieval community of
Bernhardsthal as refected in the structure
and development of the burial ground.
Chapter eight presents the burial site in
its wider settlement context and the last
chapter presents comments on the Early
Medieval burial mound cemeteries in Lower
Austria in the context of the new discovery.
Both are masterfully written in a manner
The book “Das Frühmittelalterliche
Hügelgräberfeld von Bernhardsthal” (The
Early Medieval burial mound cemetery of
Bernhardsthal) has been written in German
by Jiří Macháček and Peter Milo with
colleagues (Wolfgang Breibert, Petr Dresler,
Stefan Eichert, Anna Pankowská and Friedel
Stratjel). It presents a timely and very well
executed publication presenting a relatively
rare type of archaeological site in this
part of Europe: An Early Medieval burial
mound cemetery. The book was published
within the Archäologische Forschungen in
the Niederösterreich series edited by Franz
Pieler and Armin Laussegger.
The book is divided into twelve chapters.
In addition to the standard scientifc
apparatus (Introduction, Summary in
image/svg+xml
IANSA 2020 ● XI/2 ● 215–216
Book Reviews
216
that is far too concise to be summed up in
a few sentences. It must be read in full by
anyone interested in either Early Medieval
archaeology or the archaeology of death.
In conclusion, I can only repeat the above
statement. The book is a demonstration
of the good practice of prompt publishing
of research results. The remote sensing
analysis is a pleasurable read and the
geophysical research is an important
addition to the overall understanding of
the site. The exact analysis of the fnds
and fndings is used as the basis for
a convincing interpretation of a previously-
poorly-understood phenomenon.
Benjamin Štular