Discussion of Difficulties During Excavation

The excavations in the Enkering Anlauter valley were consistently problematic as the ground water level lay only a few decimetres below the surface in summer and rose to surface level or above during winter.

Left: Extremely problematic excavation conditions due to constantly rising ground water levels in the autumn of 1998. On a more positive note, the moist environment protected organic finds such as wood etc. which are usually not preserved.	Right: The sections degrade very quickly due to the rising ground water. Unconventional salvage methods had to be employed.

Unfortunately, due to constant financial shortages, we were only able to excavate once funding had been obtained for a particular area, often only after tough negotiations. In 1998, this meant that the best excavation season during the summer was wasted. We were only able to begin excavating again in early autumn, by which time it was necessary to run pumps at all times. The constantly rising ground water caused serious technical problems for general documentation tasks. The main problem that we faced was that the rising water caused sections to collapse. We would like to thank our excavation team for their perseverance in these often catastrophic conditions, especially the excavation leaders Sabine Watzlawik M.A. and Stefanie Graser M.A. as well as the rest of our team and the asylum seekers and workers from job creation schemes who participated in the excavation. Excavations on the site are currently being pursued as far as possible by the Bavarian heritage authorities.

Enkering: Mapping of Hallstatt period finds locations in the surrounding area. The mapping shows the high concentration of settlement and grave field sites around Schellenburg.

Finally, the archaeological importance of the surrounding area in the Schwarzach, Anlauter and Altmuehl valleys should not be ignored. Further settlements from the Hallstatt and early La Tene period were found during the large scale archaeological investigations in the area of the ICE tracks. A very large contemporary grave mound field was also discovered containing well over 1000 burials (near Kinding-Ilbling). This evidence, when added to that of the known grave mound fields and features recorded using aerial photography, produces a picture of extremely dense Hallstatt period colonisation of this area with almost complete coverage. This density of colonisation and the remarkably high quality of the finds can only be explained by the convenience of the geographical location at the confluence of the Altmuehl and the Schwarzach. Evidence of the exploitation of iron ore deposits on the mountain plateau and valley slopes should also be taken into consideration. Iron slag has been found in the settlements (although admittedly these finds are few and far between) which may point to iron having been used in the Hallstatt and La Tene periods.

Considering the existing wealth of finds and features, it must be hoped that the excavations on the ICE lines will be continued despite financial difficulties. The project offers the unprecedented opportunity to salvage and analyse representative sectors of a small area of national importance.

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