The Bronze Age castle in Ratzersdorf

Above the Dachsgraben close to Ratzersdorf near Wölbling was a fortified hilltop settlement that may have had an important function in the Early Bronze Age.
In 1928 Josef Bayer, an archaeologist at the Natural History Museum Vienna, discovered traces of a heavily fortified settlement from prehistoric times in woodland north of the Dachsgraben in Ratzersdorf. Based on the characteristic fortification structures and the finds recovered, the settlement is dated to the Early Bronze Age around 1800 to 1600 BC. Archaeological excavations have been taking place here again since 2018, led by Alexandra Krenn-Leeb of the University of Vienna.

The ‘castle’ and its fortifications
The settlement is located on a plateau and is surrounded by a well-preserved rampart-and-ditch system. To the north and east, there is another fortified area in front of this rampart. There were another two ramparts with ditches in front at the flattest point in the north, from where it was – and still is – easiest to access the site. It can be assumed that the ramparts originally had a wall-walk and wooden palisades in order to ward off invaders.

The innermost fortification of the settlement consisted of a surrounding rampart with a ditch in front and another lower rampart in front of the ditch. The main rampart had a screen wall, the collapsed remains of which were found in the ditch. This is the oldest evidence to date of a stone fortification wall in Austria.

To the north and east, there was a fairly extensive area in front of the core fortification, which was also protected by a rampart-and-ditch system. Sludge and water from springs that rose here made it more difficult for attackers to get across the ditch.

An Early Bronze Age centre
The site is likely to have been an important central settlement in the region during the Early Bronze Age Unterwölbling culture (named after the finds from a burial ground discovered close to the nearby village) until the transition to the Middle Bronze Age around 1900 to c. 1550 BC. A number of finds and findings indicate that metalworking was carried out. The fortified settlement on the Dachsgraben presumably fell victim to a warlike event, with sling stones being detected in the destruction layer – an unprecedented find.