Urnenfelderzeitliche Kupfergewinnung am Rande der Ostalpen

Combining geophysical prospection and core drilling: Reconstruction of a Late Bronze Age copper mine at Prigglitz‐Gasteil in the Eastern Alps (Austria)

“…The dump was characterized by very high resistivity and low phase values, indicating a negligible content of metallic minerals. A low resistivity anomaly was clearly visible in the dump between electrodes 17 and 20, which was consistent with the backfilled excavation areas 2–6 from the excavations conducted between 2011 and 2013 (Trebsche, 2014a , 2014b ).…”

“…According to a series of radiocarbon dates and some chronologically significant bronze finds, the period of activity of the site lasted from ca. 1050 to 780 BC; in archaeological terminology, it belongs to the younger phase of the Urnfield Period (Ha B2–3) (Trebsche, 2015 ). Archaeological excavations took place here in 1956 and 1958 under the direction of archaeologist Franz Hampl and mineralogist Robert J. Mayrhofer (Hampl & Mayrhofer, 1963 ) and again from 2010 to 2014 under archaeologist Peter Trebsche ( 2010 , 2011 , 2012 , 2013 , 2014a , 2014b , 2014c ).…”

“…1050 to 780 BC; in archaeological terminology, it belongs to the younger phase of the Urnfield Period (Ha B2–3) (Trebsche, 2015 ). Archaeological excavations took place here in 1956 and 1958 under the direction of archaeologist Franz Hampl and mineralogist Robert J. Mayrhofer (Hampl & Mayrhofer, 1963 ) and again from 2010 to 2014 under archaeologist Peter Trebsche ( 2010 , 2011 , 2012 , 2013 , 2014a , 2014b , 2014c ). The excavations on the excellently preserved settlement terraces, which were established on waste dumps immediately adjacent to the mining operations, provide detailed insights into the animal‐ and plant‐based diet of the inhabitants (Heiss et al, 2021 ; Trebsche & Pucher, 2013 ) and the various activities related to metal production (Haubner et al, 2015 , 2017 , 2019 ; Mödlinger & Trebsche, 2020 , 2021 ; Mödlinger et al, 2021 ), thus providing a unique insight into the living and working areas, the division of labour and the organizational structure of a relatively small copper production site on the edge of the Eastern Alps.…”

Melting, smelting, and recycling: A regional study around the Late Bronze Age mining site of Prigglitz-Gasteil, Lower Austria

“…They include seven small casting cakes, four casting residues (two casting drops, one casting cone, and one casting sprue), and 16 entirely preserved finished objects (six awls, two belt clips, two knives, two dress pins, two small rings, and two socketed arrowheads) and seven fragments of bronze objects (three bar fragments, one wire fragment, one bracelet fragment, one tubelet fragment, one tip fragment; cf. [16], Figs 7,14,19). Also included for analysis were a LBA socketed axe ( This study includes finds from eight LBA sites to represent the overall regional distribution and exchange of metal materials (Fig 1).…”

“…The copper alloy and ore samples investigated in this paper were excavated from the Prigglitz-Gasteil site in the district of Neunkirchen, Lower Austria (Fig 1 :Star). The site was discovered in the early 1950s and investigated in 1956 and 1958 by archaeologist Franz Hampl and [16,[37][38][39]. These investigations showed a complete chaîne opératoire for copper metal production, including an opencast ore mine, beneficiation and primary ore smelting infrastructure, evidence for the refining of black copper, and alloying and casting of copper-based objects.…”