!!!Bronzezeit

Bronze Age (2300/2200-800/750 B.C.): The transition from the  Copper 
Age, a period when pure copper was worked, to the Bronze Age took 
place in Austria around 2300 B.C. Its beginning was marked by 
complete mastery in the use and processing of bronze, a copper-tin 
alloy, and ended with the rise of the  Iron Age. Bronze working 
brought considerable changes in the development of tools and 
equipment, as well as in the economic and societal structure: without 
the organisation of labour, the mining, smelting, and processing of 
the ore would not have been possible. This division of labour and 
consequent specialisation led to the development of groups engaged in 
different crafts and occupations and thus to considerable social 
differentiation. The hoarding of metal objects made people feel a 
greater need for protection and security. Fortified camps were 
constructed and political institutions as well as a "class" of leaders 
emerged. There is evidence of links with the cultures of the Aegean 
and the eastern Mediterranean. The Bronze Age is divided into early, 
middle and late periods according to the type of burial; a further 
subdivision is made on the basis of cultures named after important 
archaeological sites with their distinctive forms of vessels, tools, 
ornaments and weapons and differences in development  ( Prehistory). 
a) Early Bronze Age (2300/2200-1600 B.C.): The farmsteads were mainly 
in the lowlands, with houses up to 20 metres long. Naturally and 
artificially protected settlements, probably centres of trade and 
metal working, increasingly appeared. The term "crouched burial 
culture" (also "flexed burial culture") refers to the burial of the 
dead lying on their sides in a contracted position. Gradual transition 
to: b) Middle Bronze Age (1600-1250 B.C.): The dead were interred in 
burial mounds ("Tumulus Culture"). Burial and cremation are both found 
in this period, and bronze objects appeared in increasingly intricate 
forms and ornamentation. The rich finds from the  Pitten burial fields 
are particularly beautiful. Despite certain distinctions, the early 
and middle Bronze Ages form a unified whole. c) Late Bronze Age. 
Urnfield culture (1250-800/750 B.C.): In the 13th century B.C. a new 
culture developed in central Europe. Its predominant burial form was 
cremation with burial of the ashes in urns or unseparated cremation. 
This habit is regarded as the visible expression of a 
spiritual-religious change and the emergence of new conceptions of 
life and death. As well as open-country settlements, more and more 
fortified hilltop settlements appeared, which were probably the main 
centres. A larger number of defensive camps, numerous weapon 
grave-gifts and hoards seem to indicate that this was a troubled and 
warlike period. Iron objects such as ornaments, knives, spearheads and 
axes appeared first sporadically, and then with increasing frequency. 
In the course of the 8th century, smooth transition to the  Hallstatt 
Culture. Important archaeological sites are:  Boeheimkirchen; Fels am 
Wagram;  Franzhausen (in the municipality of Nussdorf ob der Traisen); 
 Gemeinlebarn; Goetschenberg;  Herzogenburg;  Inzersdorf an der 
Traisen; St. Andrae vor dem Hagentale (in the municipality of  
St. Andrae-Woerdern); Schleinbach;  Stillfried; Unterwoelbling ( 
Unterwoelbling Civilisation), all in the province of Lower Austria;  
Siegendorf (Burgenland);  Mitterberg (Muehlbach am Hochkoenig) and  
Goetschenberg (both in the province of Salzburg); Tillmitsch (Styria); 
 Kitzbuehel (Tirol).

!Literature
J.-W. Neugebauer, Oe. Urzeit, 1990; C. Eibner, Der 
Kupferbergbau in den oesterreichischen Alpen in der Urzeit, 1992; 
J.-W. Neugebauer, Archaeologie in Niederoesterreich, 1993; idem, 
Bronzezeit in Ostoesterreich, 1994.


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