Burgstallkogel (Sulm Valley) - Settlement History

Settlement History

The first significant habitation on the hill was established during the late Urnfield culture period around 800 BC. when hilltop settlements became common in continental Europe. Although the name "Burgstallkogel" (a generic German popular term for a hill fortification) suggests that historical knowledge of the hill persisted until the Middle Ages, very little was known to archaeological science until 1982-1984 when an exploratory dig established facts which led to significant improvements of our conception of the "Sulm Valley Subgroup" of the Eastern Hallstatt culture.

Four cultural layers were identified containing pottery which led on from the late Urnfield culture to the mid-Hallstatt culture period (Ha B2/3 to Ha B3/C1). Erosion has destroyed the youngest layers of the late Hallstatt period, especially on the summit where nobility is likely to have resided. While the earliest settlement traces are believed to extend over much of the hill on all its sides (the southern slopes are covered by vineyards and are almost impossible to investigate archeologically), the settlement contracted towards the mountain top after it was destroyed by fire twice (around 750 and 700 BC) during the subsequent Hallstatt period. It was essentially abandoned shortly after 600 BC. The Burgstallkogel settlement itself was not fortified (although a system of Hallstatt-era trenches was found close to the Sulm valley bottom at the northwestern side of the hill, which is most exposed to attacks), and archeology gives no indications that it ever suffered from war; the two catastrophic fires seem to have been accidental.

One of these fires destroyed a house containing the largest vertical loom from the Hallstatt era that has ever been identified in Central Europe. The fact that the stone weights of this loom remained in situ when it collapsed allowed its reconstruction, adding a valuable piece of knowledge to our conception of advanced woven-textile manufacturing technology during the central European Iron Age. This illustrates that the Burgstallkogel population had a comparatively high standard of living (though not as high as is typical for the Western Hallstatt culture), which can also be inferred from the fact that the inhabitants slaughtered their cattle at a relatively young age.

In 2004, reconstructions of typical mid-Hallstatt period houses (a residential building, a granary and a bakery) were erected the Western slope of the hill employing experimental archaeology methods. However, the findings from the digs offer no proof that these buildings resemble any actual situation at the Burgstallkogel settlement during this period.