Surveys

2011

2011 In this year the active fieldwork in the Case study area started with small magnetic and GPR surveys at Ochsenberg (Early Bronze Age hillfort) and Türkenschanze (presumably Iron Age hillfort). In May a test excavation was carried out at the Ochsenberg to collect soil data for further interpretation of the site. The archaeological Material which was revealed allowed the dating of the site to the Early Bronze Age.

x Close Kreuttal Magnetic susceptibility measurements in 2013.

Magnetic susceptibiliy survey. Click to enlarge.

In late summer a first motorized survey was organized, which took place in the Northern part of the CS-area around the village Hornsburg. During the next years the focus will be set upon this area. Within this survey coverage of nearly 90ha was achieved. Additionally the survey was used to test and develop the hardware of the used carts.

2012

Due to excellent weather conditions field walking and ALS test walking took place in wintertime. During these surveys some anomalies detected by ALS were visited and classified. At the Ochsenberg another test excavation was organised in cooperation with the University of Vienna. Sampling procedure for future projects were tested on site.

A second motorized geophysics campaign started in March covering mostly areas around Hornsburg. In October a third campaign was carried out surveying the area between Hornsburg and Kreuzstetten in the most northern part of the CS-area. So fare 2.3 km2 are geophysically prospected. In November field walking surveys were made in the same area.

x Close Kreuttal Coverage map magnetic prospection 2012.

Magnetometry coverage map. Click to enlarge.

2013

In 2013 the main focus was set upon a huge excavation project at Hornsburg 1, a middle-neolithic ring ditch system. It turned out that the site is extremely good preserved a therefore a number one aim for all different kinds of research questions. Several methodological aspects concerning the prospection and remote sensing techniques used and development by the LBI Archpro were tested on site at the excavation of Hornsburg 1. A main focus was set upon the setup and design of the magnetoscanner, a moveable platform holding six Caesium gradiometers with inlinespacing of 50cm and 25cm possible. It was of main interest to scan the area of the excavation trench before and after the removal of the topsoil to gain more information of the buried features. In addition one of the ditches excavated was constantly scanned during the excavation process. Additionally a complete susceptibility survey of the excavation trench was carried out and cross-sections being documented with this technique. For the first time a pXRF was used on site to gain more information of the chemical composition of the different deposits.