Kelti 2024

The La Tène Period in Central Europe - International Conference

23rd edition of the conference on Later Iron Age KELTI / DIE KELTEN / THE CELTS.

14th–17th May 2024 Žilina, Slovakia

Organizer: Institute of Archaeology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the Regional Monument Board in Žilina, the Slovak Archaeological Society by the Slovak Academy of Sciences, and the town of Žilina.

During the conference, the progress of the CATA project was presented to the international scientific community under the title "News from CATA: a spot on Franzhausen". Most importantly the presentation showed the double enclosures that seem to play an important role in the burial culture of the Late Iron Age . Thus explaining the spacial organisation of the cemetery itself.

Furthermore, anthropological results from the cemetery of Walpersdorf provided by Friederike Novotny and Michaela Spannagl-Steiner and archaeological information by Leona Kohl about Vekerzug Pottery and "geriefte Drehscheibenware" inside a cremation burial from Walpersdorf were shared on two poster presentations. 

Moreover the second meeting with the Advisory Board took place.

New Team Member

Since the beginning of May our new team member Mgr. Patrik Urban joined us in Vienna. As a prae doc student of Brno, specialized on La Tène cemeteries in Moravia he brings new perspectives and methods to our workflow.

He steps in instead of Thomas Koch Waldner, since he excepted an employment as leading archaeologist at the Keltenmuseum Hallein. We are looking forward to further cooperation with him and the museum.

Field trip Marzabotto

From 5th to 7th of Mach we visited the Museum of Marzabotto for the purpose of documenting and inspecting the La Tène artefacts on display in the exhibition. We found assistance by Dr.essa Federica TIMOSSI (Direzione Regionale Musei Emilia-Romagna) and had a meeting with Prof. Andrea GAUCCI (Senior Assistant Professor, univ. Bologna, Dept. History and Cultures) regarding the process of our project. Furthermore we were able to visit the sight of the cemetery itself, gaining new perspectives and a better understanding of the landscape and surrounding structures.

Depot Urzeitmuseum Nussdorf-Traisental

On 27 November 2023, our team inspected the depot and display cases of the prehistoric museum in Nussdorf in search of objects to be processed in the project. The finds were photographed and catalogued on site. All objects that still needed to be restored were borrowed from the museum. The local museum presents the most important artefacts from the major Traisental excavations of the 1980s and 1990s, from the Neolithic to the Early Middle Ages, with a focus on the Bronze and Iron Ages.

Meeting in Bologna

From 5th to 8th November 2023, Peter C. Ramsl, Friederike Novotny and Thomas Koch Waldner held a project meeting with our Italian project partners in Bologna. The Italian colleges, Vanessa Poli from the Soprintendenza Bologna and the excavators of the Casalecchio di Reno cemetery, Xabier Muro and Davide Mengoli, were present during the archaeological discussions. Jacopo Ortalli also honoured us at this meeting, which focused on the further procedure and the inspection of the archaeological findings. At the Institute of Anthropology we held a meeting with Giovanna Belcastro, Davide Mameli and Rita Sorrentini. During the meeting, the human remains from Casalecchio where examined and the progress of the anthropological investigations was discussed. With Andrea Gaucci from the Institute for Etruscologia e Antichità italiche a co-operation was agreed on the processing of some skeletons from Marzabotto. The discussions and agreements on how to proceed at both meetings can be regarded as extremely successful.

Field Excursion Traisen Valley

In the course of a field excursion to the Traisen Valley on Aug. 23, 2023 two soil samples from the cemeteries Walpersdorf and Franzhausen and four water samples from the Traisen river and creeks of the direct surroundings (e.g., Eisenbründl, Theyerbach) were collected.

These samples will be used as local references for isotopic analyses (Sr, O, C, N) carried out on 55 teeth or bones of selected individuals for a precise distinction between local and nonlocal individuals and potential food sources.

New Showcase at the Department in Vienna

Recently we equipped a display cabinet at the Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology in Vienna. It is intended to represent the project and make its progress traceable, especially for the students. Soon more findings, which are currently being restaurated, will be put out for display. Furthermore a reconstruction drawing of a grave is planned.