Publications
14C dating of the Upper Paleolithic site at Krems-Hundssteig in Lower Austria
- Author(s)
- Eva Maria Wild, Christine Neugebauer-Maresch, Thomas Einwögerer, Peter Stadler, Peter Steier, F. Brock
- Abstract
The open-air archaeological site at Krems-Hundssteig is a well-known Upper Paleolithic site located in Lower Austria. The site was discovered in the late 19th/early 20th centuries when a large number of archaeological remains were collected during the course of loess quarrying. Although no systematic excavation has ever been performed, Krems-Hundssteig has been described since its discovery as typical of the Aurignacian period in this region based on the numerous archaeological finds; accordingly, the culture has been named Kremsien by some authors. Surprisingly, the artifacts found in a recent excavation adjacent to this location showed solely Gravettian features, calling into question the original assignment to the Aurignacian. Although the earlier assignment was supported by a radiocarbon date of similar to 35 kyr BP (Hahn 1977), new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) C-14 dates proved that the recently excavated cultural layer originates from the Gravettian period. Older paleosols were also detected by sondage drillings at some depth below it.
The new results indicate that a large Aurignacian level and a substantial complex of Gravettian layers are present in this area. Therefore, it must be assumed that more than I cultural level was affected and destroyed by the historic loess quarrying, and that the assemblage of Krems-Hundssteig artifacts, traditionally ascribed to the Aurignacian, might be interspersed with Gravettian pieces.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, Isotope Physics
- External organisation(s)
- Niederösterreichisches Landesmuseum, University of Oxford, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW)
- Journal
- Radiocarbon
- Volume
- 50
- Pages
- 1-10
- No. of pages
- 10
- ISSN
- 0033-8222
- Publication date
- 2008
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 1030 Physics, Astronomy, 103005 Atomic physics
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/14c-dating-of-the-upper-paleolithic-site-at-kremshundssteig-in-lower-austria(0ff6486a-f080-44eb-a543-420b60573c58).html