Bandkeramik Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

This is the detailed publication of my dissertation from 2021. Between 1989 and 2005, large parts of an Early Neolithic LPC settlement were excavated in Brunn am Gebirge, Wolfholz (AT). With at least 125 houses, which were also confirmed by the geophysical surveys in the past years, it is one of the largest settlements of the Linear Pottery culture in Austria, situated on the right side of the Danube. Currently, this is the only large settlement on the right side of the Danube, and it can therefore be regarded as a regional centre. The 500 years of continuous settlement from 5585 to 5095 calBC offer an ideal opportunity for the analysis of the development of the longhouses’ architecture from the Formative phase to the youngest phase of the LPC, during which the houses are no longer flanked by the characteristic longitudinal pits.
The first part of the publication presents an architectural overview of the Early Neolithic floorplans of Brunn am Gebirge, Wolfholz with its architectural history. The large number of houses as well as the duration of the settlement itself enabled studies on the changes in architecture, the durations of use, the orientations of the buildings as well as typology and chronology. Here, the older houses in site 2, which belong to the Formative phase Brunn 2 (5585 – 5265 calBC), are particularly significant. A broader spectrum of floorplan shapes – rectangular as well as the first trapezoidal shapes – appears in site 3, which is around 300 years younger than the oldest houses of Brunn. As opposed to site 2, these buildings are not oriented NW–SE anymore, but rather NE–SW. The reason for this change in orientation is not fully clarified, but it could be related to climatic circumstances on the site (e.g. longer/shorter phases of ground frost in spring) and the exact time of construction during the year.
The second part of the publication deals with all aspects of Early Neolithic housebuilding. Here, the focus mainly lies on the inner framework, which is the characteristic element of this architecture. The construction history of the buildings and the settlement as well as specific architectural features are analysed in order to subsequently compare the houses with each other. Especially the interior layout with smaller and larger rooms in the houses are important here and they can justifiably be described as modular constructions. Since walls were not preserved in most cases in Brunn am Gebirge, the spaces between two neighbouring transverse rows were analysed and then compared. This showed that, for example, leaving out the transverse row can result in a large room, from which the post-free middle part might have developed in the LPC architecture. Houses with naves that are wider in the east than in the west are a feature that has hardly been described up to now. The different-sized roof areas on both sides of the house could be an indication of roof pitches being different on each side, which could indicate one side facing the weather.
The activity zones were often located in the east sides of the houses, where the house-accompanying trenches are often interrupted, suggesting that entrances were situated here, as opposed to the consistent trenches on the west side.
In the third part, the houses of Brunn am Gebirge are supra-regionally compared with others within the area of distribution in order to work out the similarities and differences, which can lead to a better understanding of the transmission of architectural knowledge.
For the first time, house floorplans were projected on top of each other to recognise similarities and calculate correspondences. For this, each house floorplan first had to be scaled and adjusted in its orientation. Also, a projection point needed to be defined for every single case, with which two floorplans could be projected on top of each other. Astonishingly, identical structures can be found in floorplans that are up to 600 kilometres away from the houses of Brunn, which is evidence for specific construction plans and a shared understanding of LPC builders. With the help of modular constructions, the buildings could be expanded with relatively simple methods, or whole floorplans could be transferred onto other sites. The newly developed procedure could be a crucial step in comparing house floorplans, independent of chronology, typology or the location within the LPC settlement area, since, in addition to complete houses, floorplans in worse states of preservation can be compared in this way, as long as parts of the inner framework have been preserved.

The work, which consists of two volumes, is currently in print and will soon be available for purchase.

Rezension J. Lüning:

Lieber Herr Stadler,
Herzlichen Dank für die Zusendung der beiden Bände über die Häuser und Gruben der ältestbandkeramischen Siedlung Brunn am Gebirge (2022), die vor einigen Tagen bei mir eintraf. Es handelt sich zweifellos um die bisher am besten und ausführlichsten
dokumentierten, bandkeramischen Haus- und Grubenbefunde in hervorragenden Fotos und Plänen. Letztere geben mit ihren Höhenschichtenplänen ein ungewöhnlich anschauliches Bild der Gruben-Formenwelt, und die farbigen Befunddarstellungen und
Rekonstruktionen (z.B. Bd. a, 371ff.) werden zweifellos Eingang in jede Vorlesung und jeden Vortrag über diese Materie finden. Dieses nicht zuletzt auch wegen des präzisen und anschaulichen Textes von Herrn Minnich.
Kurzum: eine gelungene, schöne und beispielhafte Befundpublikation.
Mit besten Grüßen und Wünschen Ihnen und Ihren Mitautoren
verbleibe ich Ihr J. Lüning
Prof. em. Dr. Jens Lüning
Am Botanischen Garten 34
50735 Köln