Burgstallkogel (Sulm Valley) - The Necropolis and Its Investigation

The Necropolis and Its Investigation

In contrast to the grave mounds in the Western Hallstatt zone where the deceased were mostly buried intact, all Burgstallkogel dead were cremated, frequently together with some of their personal articles, before the remains were deposited in the stone grave chamber and earth was piled on it to erect the tumulus.

The "common citizen" tumuli of the Sulm valley necropolis (believed to have numbered in excess of 2,000 before agriculture destroyed most of them) surrounded the Burgstallkogel settlement on all sides, and originally they covered much of the hill range between Gleinstätten and the village of Kleinklein, where a small area had been set aside for the much larger tumuli of the chieftains. The oldest grave mounds in the necropolis correspond to the youngest surviving settlement strata of the Burgstallkogel settlement, while two later (Hallstatt B3/C1) burial phases can only be inferred from secondary deposits. Besides being larger than most other necropolises in the Eastern Hallstatt area, the Sulm valley necropolis is set apart by the fact that preserved non-aristocratic burials far outnumber the nobility's graves.

Today the surviving tumuli appear clustered in well-defined and dense groups. Most likely, this does not reflect a design from the Hallstatt period but rather the persistence of larger tumuli which were better able to resist human interference and natural erosion, or were protected from both by forest growing over them.

The hill graves have been a natural part of the local population's environment for centuries, and were surrounded by much folk lore. The first crude excavations date back to 1844, and some finds were on display during the 1873 World Exposition in Vienna. The first systematic scientific efforts were made by four officials, E. Pratobevera in 1856-1857, and Radimský, Szombathy and Gurlitt between 1881 and 1883 on behalf of the Austro-Hungarian and Styrian Anthropological Societies.

The excavations continued throughout World War I and into the 1930s. After a long lapse during World War II and the post-war-era, they resumed in 1972. As is the case at all other well-known archaeological sites, modern professional grave robbers (many equipped with metal detectors which have only very recently been outlawed in Austria) have since caused much damage through their unscientific efforts but have also made finds of some significance which found their way into the public domain.

There are also several flat graves in the Burgstallkogel area, which date back to the 10th century BC.