The Central "Manor Farm" and Various Hallstatt Period Building Structures

The chronology of the site is exceedingly complicated and up till now, only a basic evaluation has been made. We can be sure, however, that there are at least three main building phases present. This conclusion is based on various feature intersections, overlaps and other detailed observations.

Enkering: Section of the plan showing a feature overview in the area of the central manor farm. Green: definite or possible building features.

The central manor farm was constructed during one of the latest periods. This period itself also appears to have been divided into two phases.

Area on planum 1

A fourfold, staggered system of palisades and ditches can be seen in the plan as well as later post structures. These lend the complex a distinct, deliberately conspicuous and defensive character.

The complex is almost perfectly square with the outermost ditch having sides which are approximately 54 and 58 metres long and is aligned almost exactly north to south.

The outer ditch is approximately 1.2 to 1.8 m across. The maximum retained depth is 70 to 80 cm. The ditch is partly v-shaped and partly u-shaped and has a 10cm thick layer of dark brown to black humus on it's floor. Over this layer of humus there are various light grey-brown, loamy layers with some patches of light brown clay. The top layer of the feature-fill is dark brown and, as can be expected, contains more humus.

Two sections of the ditch surrounding the central manor building

Three entrances have been found running through the outermost ditch and the inner ditch and palisade system. There is an entrance on each side of the enclosure but they are not centrally positioned. The entrances are indicated by clear ditch terminals. It may be assumed that there was also an entrance on the North side of the complex which has not yet been investigated.

The second, inner ditch surrounding the manor farm is 1 to 1.5 metres wide like the outer ditch but is conspicuously deeper. It has been dug up to 1.5 metres deep into the subsoil and is mostly v-shaped in section. This ditch contained a approximately 10cm thick layer of dark grey-brown humus on it's base, the next layer being grey-brown, loamy and very patchy. The type and distinctness of fill varied widely.

Some areas of the layer were seamed with compacted charcoal and burnt daub. There were also sections which had been deliberately filled with large, light brown lumps of clay.

Section of the ditch, partially filled with stone

The northern area was found to contain large stone flags as well as a layer which had been filled using several cartloads of stones. We also repeatedly uncovered layers of ceramic sherds containing near-complete vessels. The next part of the fortification system after this ditch was the first of the two staggered palisades ditches. They run parallel to the inner ditch and are about 2.5 metres apart. They also display palisade terminals to the south which correspond to the entrance ways in the inner and outer ditches. In some places, only the residual remains of this palisade ditch could be observed, whilst other parts were exceptionally well preserved.

Detail of the palisade. The palisade posts can be seen at the bottom of the picture

The innermost palisade was particularly well preserved. The entire interior side is lined with posts which cut through the ditch. It was possible to make detailed, significant observations concerning the construction of the palisade using the structures which were revealed in the excavated sections.

The evidence must be analysed in more detail but it is obvious that the site contains a larger variety of preserved archaeological features than any other previously investigated manor farm. In the south east corner, for instance, there is a line of 10cm thick, round posts which run for approximately 2 metres along the lower edge of the ditch. It seems likely that the corners of the palisade construction were made of hurdle or wickerwork fencing. The traces of very closely spaced, trunk-like posts were found in other areas so that a reconstruction of this section of the palisade would have looked more like a solid bulwark.

Hearth feature in situ

The site contains many small fireplaces, hearths and sherd pavements, as well as countless middens, some of which were very rich in finds. Areas of stone paving also cropped up time and time again. All of these make this settlement one of the most important recent discoveries for Hallstatt period settlement archaeology. There is still a lot of work to be done, however, before the complex structures and features from the excavation can be arranged and classified in a thorough and coherent system.

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