The fortified central settlement of Thunau
Historical sites
Description
The fortified settlement on the Schanzberg in Thunau am Kamp is the most extensively excavated early medieval site in Austria.
Early medieval finds were made on the Schanzberg, a ridge above Thunau am Kamp, during building work in the second half of the 19th century. The site was systematically excavated and studied from 1965 onwards, first by means of annual excavations led by Herwig Friesinger of the Department of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology at the University of Vienna and subsequently by Erik Szameit and Martin Obenaus.
A well-protected site for millennia
The entire area on the Schanzberg is fortified by a surrounding rampart, which is covered with a granulite screen wall in places. A solid rampart from an older settlement phase in the Late Bronze Age is also integrated into the fortifications. The site is entered through gates with towers. The manor house, which is surrounded by palisades, is at the heart of the settlement. It was used by the ruling family for living purposes and for official functions. The site also includes a large cemetery with over 200 burials. A number of richly furnished graves and signs of a sophisticated ‘courtly’ lifestyle indicate a concentration of power and prestige: freshly hunted wild game meat was served, and bears were kept for entertainment.
A central settlement in the borderland
There are also written records associated with Thunau: a donation of estates in the lower Kamptal valley to the diocese of Freising is mentioned in 902/903 AD. The donor was a vir venerabilis named Joseph, who may have been a Slavic nobleman who had been baptized a Christian and whose seat was on the Schanzberg in Thunau. At that time, the Danube region of Lower Austria – in particular the areas south of the Danube – was under Carolingian rule as the ‘Bavarian Ostland’ (east land); to the north, the Great Moravian Empire was established with its centres in Southern Moravia.
The central settlement in Thunau probably lost its importance when the trade routes shifted in the tenth century. However, the large settlement at the foot of the Schanzberg continued to exist even after the decline of the fortified sites, probably until Gars Castle was founded in the early 11th century.
Tip: the excavations on the Schanzberg are explored in the Zeitbrücke Museum in Gars.
