!!!Altsteinzeit

Old Stone Age (Paleolithic Period), earliest period of human 
pre-history (in Austria, 300,000 - 8,000 B.C.); the following 
period of  Prehistory is the  Middle Stone Age. The Old Stone Age is 
characterised by acquisitive economic activity (nomadic hunters and 
gatherers). The earliest traces of humans in Austria, which are 
approximately 300,000 years old, have been found in the  Repolust Cave 
near Peggau in Styria, which contained several fireplaces and stone 
implements used by cave bear hunters. It is now believed that, in the 
area of today's Austria, Neanderthal people were superseded by the 
forebears of modern Man between 40,000 and 35,000 B.C. These new 
inhabitants were already hunters of steppe animals (mammoth, woolly 
rhinoceros, reindeer, bison and wild horse). Among the impressive 
specimens of paleolithic art in Austria are two female statuettes, the 
 Venus vom Galgenberg found near Stratzing (approx. 30,000 B.C.) 
in 1988 and the  Venus von Willendorf (approx. 25,000 B.C.).Other 
paleolithic finds were made at: Aggsbach,  Gudenus Cave near 
Hartenstein,  Herdengel Cave near Lunz am  Teufelsrast - Felsdach 
Finds near Albrechtsberg, Krems-Hundssteig, Langenlois, 
Langmannersdorf (all in Lower Austria), Upper Austria: Ramesch Cave 
near Spital am Pyhrn, Styria:  Salzofen Cave near Bad Aussee, Tyrol:  
Tischof Cave near Kufstein; Salzburg: Unken.

!Literature
O. H. Urban, Wegweiser in die Urgeschichte 
Oesterreichs, 1989; J.-W. Neugebauer, Oesterreichs Urzeit, 1990; C. 
Neugebauer-Maresch, Archaeologie im Osten Oesterreichs, 1993.


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