The beginning of the Neolithic in Austria – a report about recent and current investigations

Abstract

The “Earliest Linear Pottery-Culture” (LPC I) is to be seen as a synonym for the beginning Neolithic in Central Europe and therefore also in Austria. The distribution of this culture was limited by several facts of the natural environment, as its economic base was agriculture and stockbreeding. Traces are only to be found through Austrian territory outside the Alps in altitudes up to 400/450 m, on the best arable soils (mainly on loess base) and in the driest and warmest climatic zones with a clearly defined limit of tolerance. In the last two decades excavations of very different scale have been effected. A short overview is given upon the biggest ones and their main results. The first field researches had been between 1984–1986 within an international investigation project. Their results were analysed in detail and just gone into print. In this article they were presented shortly in a sort of summary. At least an outlook is given on current excavations and other projects.

Keywords

• distribution of LPC I in Austria
• recent and current excavations
• main results of analyses of two settlement sites