Microstratigraphy, detailed analysis and overall evaluation of an older Hallstatt period state grave from Otzing, district of Deggendorf, Lower Bavaria.

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Rupert Gebhard; Professorin Dr. Carola Metzner-Nebelsick; Dr. Robert Schumann
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 492848518

This project examines an early Hallstatt period sumptuous burial from Otzing in Lower Bavaria, that was discovered in 2010 and block lifted a year later. Since then it has been under excavation and documented in the laboratories of the Archaeological State Collection in Munich. This burial stands out due to the good preservation and the intensive examination as well as the grave goods interred, which include a decorated yoke, weapons, a large vessel set and a wooden construction decorated with thousands of bronze studs, that is part of a wagon or a bier. In this project, alongside restoration and documentation, we focus on material and natural scientific analyses to reconstruct and interpret the stratigraphy and setup of the burial as well as analyze different details of the grave goods. The burial of Otzing offers many insights also for the intensively discussed topic of social organizations of early Iron Age communities, therefor the analyses performed in this project are not only of significance for this burial, but also for the broader perspective on early Iron Age southern Central Europe.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants