Settlement of the SE Alpine Area in the Early Middle Ages

The aim of this project is to write a synthetic study of the settlement of the south-eastern Alpine region in the early middle ages (c. 5001000 AD). This will be achieved by chronological and spatial analysis of the settlement phases for the entire region and three micro-regional studies that will address selected questions on economy, society and culture. Early medieval archaeology of the south-eastern Alpine region bases its sources on cemeteries, hoards and settlements. The key to a better understanding of this period is a throughout knowledge of all types of archaeological sites. This is mostly hindered by poor knowledge of settlement sites and their archaeologi- cal evidence. This can be traced 1) to the scarcity of finds in comparison to sites from other periods; and 2) to the settlement continuity of many sites until this day. Nonetheless, in the past two decades the num- ber of known settlement sites increased significantly, mainly due to large-scale rescue excavations. How- ever, less than a quarter of the newly discovered settlements have been analysed and published. Poor knowledge of settlement can therefore be identified as the major problem of early medieval archaeology in the south-eastern Alpine region. But for the first-time sufficient data on settlements is available to con- duct a research that will remedy this situation, which is the aim of this project. To fulfil the proposed aim the project pursues two goals: 1) analysis of early medieval settlement in the south-eastern Alpine region focussing on detecting spatial and chronological changes in settlement sites; 2) analysis of three micro-regions chosen to address selected key socio-economic topics relevant to the whole region: a) genesis of an župa (territorial unit); b) genesis of an early medieval principality; and c) modes and forms of transition of the early medieval administrative structures into the high medieval feu- dal system. The main data source for the regional analysis is the web-based ZBIVA-database containing all published early medieval sites. Within the project this database will be supplemented with data from unpublished excavation reports in Slovenia and Austria and subjected to spatial analysis. The archaeological-historical micro-regional studies go along with analyses of site-catchment, visibility, density etc. by use of ALS data and with retrograde analysis of the cultivated surfaces. This approach enables us to contextualise archaeological data in their physical environment, which conveys a new perspective of the physical land- scape. Instead of being treated as dots on a blank map settlements and cemeteries are embedded in land- scape filled with path-networks, field system and natural features. The most important result of the project will be the first synthetic analysis of early medieval settlement of entire south-eastern Alpine region without restraints by present national borders. The results of the mi- cro-regional analyses will bear importance on wider understanding of the early medieval re-settlement processes and the contacts with autochthonous populations. In addition, our beyond-the-state-of-the-art tools and algorithms for GIS and ALS will be further developed.

The bilateral project Settlement of the Southeastern Alpine Area in the Early Middle Ages was conducted in close cooperation between archaeologists of the Slovenian Academy of Science and Graz University. A meanwhile open-access database containing c. 3400 sites (http://zbiva.zrc-sazu.si/) was supplemented and modified for modern computer application. With adapted digital tools borrowed from geography and computational sciences, a cross-border regional analysis could be operated for the southeastern rim of the Alps, a space open to the East, affected by multi-ethnical migrations during the Early Middle Ages (ca. 500 1000 CE) and a border- and contact region of different political and military entities since Late Antiquity. In addition, three well-researched micro regions were thoroughly investigated with combined archaeological and technical methods based on newly evaluated digital landscape models: Bled in the upper Sava valley, Dravsko polje around Ptuj and the area around the Schlossberg of Wildon. These analyses yielded nice results for new research hypotheses to build upon: Very likely, we can assume two Slavic migrations along the rivers leading into die Alps (Mur, Drava, Sava), the first one as early as after 500, the second one before 700 CE. Based on subsistence farming, the settlement sites of this time are situated on easy arable soils at the foot of the hills along the river valleys. Settlement pattern of this time shows isolated concentrations with vast empty zones in between, which is a strong contrast to the comprehensive and homogenous settlement pattern of the Roman and Late Antique times before. With middle of 9th century at the latest, settlement pattern changes, a shift that also has been observed by traditional archaeology in the grave goods for the same time. Thorough investigation of diagnostic finds materials for Styria showed, that Late Antiquity here ended as early as around 430 CE, maybe caused by Hunnic pressure from Pannonia, only in middle 7th century new settlement activity can be stated along the river Mur. The few single finds, that can be dated to the two centuries in between are not enough to assume proper settlement activity. From the middle of the 8th century onwards, in comparison to other regions, Styria shows some peculiarities like an increased amount of hilltop settlements and specialized sites on bad soils dealing with pit mining and iron ore processing. Given a suitable database like ZBIVA, the new method of regional analysis, as conducted in the project, will be applicable for any investigation of settlement archaeology in the future.