MIDO-STEIN
The early medieval cemetery of Micheldorf-Am Stein/Upper Austria
UIBK Team
Barbara Hausmair (PI, Historical Archaeology)
Ulrike Töchterle (Conservation)
Jennifer Portschy (PhD student, Bioarchaeology, IFK Junior Fellow & ÖAW-Doc scholar)
Project Partners
OÖ Landeskultur / Unit for Archaeology (Jutta Leskovar)
Independent researchers:
Dr.in Martina Reitberger (fieldwork)
Markus Wandelt (zooarchaeology)
Funding Bodies
Land OÖ / Kulturförderung
Cooperations
Skoglund Lab for Ancient Genomics, The Francis Crick Institute (Ancient Genomics)
ERC Synergy Projekt HistoGenes (Nr. 856453) (Ancient Genomics)
FWF CHRONOCU Electrochemical age determination of archaeological bronzes (Nr. 10.55776/P34960)
Since 2022, the University of Innsbruck and the OÖ Landeskultur GmbH have been jointly investigating the cemetery of Micheldorf-Am Stein in Upper Austria (Fig. 1) – a burial site of the 8th and 9th centuries AD which was discovered during construction work in 2016 and then partially excavated the archaeology firm Archeonova.
The grave goods from the 2016-campaign were analysed by students from the Universities of Innsbruck and Vienna. Since 2022, the UIBK and the OÖLK are continuing the fieldwork in the framework of a field school (Fig. 2).
Fig. 1 The three early medieval cemeteries in the area of Micheldorf, Upper Austria: Am Stein – Kremsdorf – Georgenberg.
Fig. 2 Students during field school in summer 2022.
First insights into the cemetery of Micheldorf-Am Stein
Abb. 3 Plan des Gräberfeldes Micheldorf-Am Stein
During the 2016- and 2022-excavations it was possible to determine the cemetery’s extent in the Northwest and the Southeast (Fig. 3). To date, 44 burials have been excavated and another 10 grave shafts documented over ground. All of the recovered burials were single inhumation graves, some of them containing moderate sets of grave goods such as simple knives and pieces of jewellery made of wire and pressed sheet metal, which show similarities to objects from the Middle-Danube region and the Eastern Alps (Fig. 4 and 5).
Abb. 4 Grabbeigaben aus Bestattungen der Notgrabungen 2016
Abb. 5 Reste von Textilien auf der Rückseite einer Pressblechfibel
In terms of demography, it is notable that almost half of the graves excavated until today contained the burials of subadult individuals, in particular small children who died in early infancy yet receiving the same burial treatment as the rest of the community (Fig. 6).
The cemetery’s internal structure exposes at least two different grave groups, which can be clearly distinguished by their orientation (Fig. 3). The northern group aligns with the Krems river on a Norwest-Southeast axis, whereas the southern grave group is oriented towards Georgenberg hill on a Southwest-Northeast axis. A diagonal structure that cuts through the cemetery – roughly between the two burial groups – possibly represents a former path running through the burial ground. However, further archaeological investigations are required to confirm this interpretation.
Whether the reasons for the cemetery’s spatial structure are to be sought in chronological, social or cultural differences of the buried individuals is further investigated in the ongoing analyses of the finds and the human remains but will also require further excavations, since the cemetery definitely extends beyond the current excavation borders.
Fig. 6 Infant burial with jewellery.
Fig. 7 Drone image of the excavation 2022.
Local and supra-regional importance of the cemetery Micheldorf-Am Stein
The cemetery of Micheldorf-Am Stein is of scientific relevance not only because of its interesting internal structure, but also because of its specific regional setting. The Krems Valley is a focal point of early medieval research in Upper Austria. In 777 CE, the Bavarian Duke Tassilo III. founded the monastery of Kremsmünster, which was supposed to serve as a base for the establishment of the Duchy’s ecclesiastical organisation in the area and for the expansion of Bavarian rule over the people settling east of the river Traun. Although the founding charter of the monastery mentions a “Slavic deanery” (Slawendekanie) led by a “Župan”, the early medieval text actually does not reveal very much about the people living in this area in the early Middle Ages. Today we have only a vague idea that the regions between the river Traun and central Lower Austria became a geopolitical buffer zone after the end of the Roman Empire. To the West of it, the Bavarian Duchy and the Frankish Empire emerged in the early Middle Ages, to the East the Avar Empire, and a little later the Duchy of Carantania in the South. The written sources, however, remain largely silent about how society and settlements developed between these dominions in the late Merovingian and early Carolingian periods.
The Upper Krems Valley in particular has become a focal point for research, because in the area of present-day Micheldorf several (late) antique settlement sites have been recorded as well as three early medieval cemeteries (Fig. 1): the cemetery of Micheldorf-Kremsdorf with over 70 graves of the 8th and early 9th centuries, which expose diverse cultural contacts to the South, the East and the West; the cemetery of Micheldorf-Georgenberg (dated to the 9th and 10th centuries), which most likely represents the first churchyard on Georgenberg hill and the successor generation of the people buried in Kremsdorf.
The burial site Micheldorf-Am Stein raises new questions about early medieval society and settlement structures in the Upper Krems Valley, such as the size of communities, health and demography, or cultural developments in the Micheldorf area, e.g. in regard to processes of Christianization and the consolidation of ecclesiastic infrastructure in the Carolingian period. It also provides new insights into the supra-regional importance of South-Eastern Upper Austria as a cultural border and contact zone during the early medieval periods.
Publications
- Hageneder, S., Angerer, C., Delvai, E., Gomahr, L.M., Heisters, V., Pomaro, M., Radumilo, M., Reiterberger-Klimesch, M., Schubbach, S., Tausch, R., Töchterle, U., Weirather, E., Hausmair, B., 2024. Auswertung der Grabbeigaben aus der Notgrabung 2016 im frühmittelalterlichen Gräberfeld von Micheldorf-Am Stein, OÖ. Jahrb. Ges. Für Landeskd. Denkmalpfl. Oberösterr. 169, 9–98.
- Hausmair, B., 2023. Buried in ruins. Early medieval burial communities and late antique sites in Northwestern Noricum ripense, in: Bavuso, I., Castrorao Barba, A. (Eds.), The European Countryside during the Migration Period. Patterns of Change from Iberia to the Caucasus (300–700 CE), Ergänzungsbände Zum Reallexikon Der Germanischen Altertumskunde. De Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 173–199.
- Hausmair, B., 2022a. Some remarks on society and settlement dynamics in the early medieval Alpine foothills of north-western Noricum, in: Felgenhauer-Schmiedt, S., Theune, C., Eichert, S., Scharrer-Liška, G. (Eds.), Zwischen Spätantike und Jahrtausendwende: Eine Zeit der Neuorientierung und Neukonstituierung – Das archäologische Bild aufgrund von Siedlungen, Beiträge zur Mittelalterarchäologie in Österreich. ÖGM, Wien, pp. 89–106.
- Hausmair, B., 2022b. Neue Einblicke ins frühmittelalterliche Kremstal: das Gräberfeld von Micheldorf-Am Stein. Sonius 31, 3–6.
- Hausmair, B., 2022c. Archäologische Ausgrabungen liefern neue Einblick in das Frühmittelalter in Micheldorf. Mag. Marktgemeinde Micheldorf 6/2022, 6–7.
- Hausmair, B., Imre, D., Grabherr, G., In press. KG Mittermicheldorf, OG Micheldorf [Frühmittelalterliches Gräberfeld Micheldorf-Am/Geoprospektion]. Fundberichte Aus Österr. 2022.
- Hausmair, B., Portschy, J., Reitberger-Klimesch, M., Gomahr, L.M., In press. KG Mittermicheldorf, OG Micheldorf [Frühmittelalterliches Gräberfeld Micheldorf-Am/Grabung]. Fundberichte Aus Österr. 2023.
- Hausmair, B., Portschy, J., Reitberger-Klimesch, M., Maaß, K., Gomahr, L.M., In press. KG Mittermicheldorf, OG Micheldorf [Frühmittelalterliches Gräberfeld Micheldorf-Am/Grabung]. Fundberichte Aus Österr. 2024.
- Klimesch, W., Reitberger-Klimesch, M., 2016a. Mnr. 49111.16.01: Archäologische Grabung frühmittelalterliche Bestattungen Mittermicheldorf Gst. 2039/3, 2619/1. Bericht Teil B (Grabungsbericht (unpubliziert)). Archeonova, Traun.
- Klimesch, W., Reitberger-Klimesch, M., 2016b. Mnr. 49111.16.02: Archäologische Grabung frühmittelalterliche Bestattungen Mittermicheldorf Gst. 2038/2, 2039/2. Bericht Teil B (Grabungsbericht (unpubliziert)). Archeonova, Traun.
Project-related Student Theses
- Egger, K. Zur Struktur und Ritualistik der Keramikbeigaben im frühmittelalterlichen Gräberfeld Micheldorf-Am Stein, OÖ, MA-Arbeit, Universität Innsbruck, laufend
- Ertlschweiger, A. Das Grab 92 des karolingerzeitlichen Gräberfelds Micheldorf-Am Stein. Eine Graböffnung?, BA-Arbeit, Universität Innsbruck, 2026.
- Gratl, H. Textilarchäologische Analysen an Grabbeigaben des frühmittelalterlichen Gräberfelds Micheldorf am Stein, MA-Arbeit, Universität Innsbruck, laufend.
- Jovic, M., Vergleichende Analysen zu Textilfunden aus karolingerzeitlichen Gräberfeldern Oberösterreichs, MA-Arbeit, Universität Innsbruck 2026.
Further Sugested Reading
- Hausmair, B., 2020. Das dunkle 6. Jahrhundert? Zum beginnenden Frühmittelalter in Oberösterreich. Sonius 27, 10–13.
- Hausmair, B., 2016. Micheldorf/Kremsdorf – Frühmittelalter zwischen Baiovaria und Karantanien, in: Leskovar, J. (Ed.), Frühmittelalter in Oberösterreich. Inventare aus den Sammlungen des Oberösterreichischen Landesmuseums, Studien zur Kulturgeschichte von Oberösterreich. OÖLM, Linz, pp. 11–189.
- Hausmair, B., 2009. Langsax und Gürtel. Archäologische Hinweise zu kulturhistorischen Prozessen im frühmittelalterlichen Ostalpenraum. Sonius 5, 5–6.
- Leskovar, J. (Ed.), 2016. Frühmittelalter in Oberösterreich. Inventare aus den Sammlungen des Oberösterreichischen Landesmuseums, Studien zur Kulturgeschichte von Oberösterreich. OÖLM, Linz.
- Pertlwieser, M., 1980. Die frühmittelalterlichen Gräberfeldgrabungen des OÖ. Landesmuseums, in: Holter, K. (Ed.), Baiern und Slawen in Oberösterreich. Probleme der Landnahme und Besiedelung. Symposion 16. November 1978, Schriftenreihe des OÖ. Musealvereins - Gesellschaft für Landeskunde. Traun, Linz, pp. 43–80.
- Tovornik, V., 1980. Das Gräberfeld der karantanisch-köttlacher Kultur auf dem Georgenberg bei Micheldorf, pol. Bezirk Kirchdorf/Krems, in: Holter, K. (Ed.), Baiern und Slawen in Oberösterreich. Probleme der Landnahme und Besiedelung. Symposion 16. November 1978, Schriftenreihe des OÖ. Musealvereins - Gesellschaft für Landeskunde. Traun, Linz, pp. 81–132.
- Vetters, H., 1976. Tutatio. Die Ausgrabungen auf dem Georgenberg und in Micheldorf (OÖ), Der römische Limes in Österreich. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the owners and the tenant of the land on which the burial ground is situated for granting us permission to carry out our fieldwork, the municipality of Micheldorf for supporting our research, and the Jaga in Krems for their excellent accommodation
Contact
Email: barbara.hausmair@uibk.ac.at
Post: Prof. Barbara Hausmair, Institut für Archäologien, Universität innsbruck, Innrain 52a, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria