The Neolithic settlement in Schletz
Historical sites
Description
First one of the centers of the first farming culture in Central Europe, later the scene of a massacre: Schletz is one of the most exciting archaeological sites in Lower Austria.
The prehistoric fortified settlement of Schletz is located on an elongated hill west of the market town of Asparn. As the site has been used for agriculture for centuries, no traces of the former site are visible on the surface.
A center of the Linear Pottery culture
Asparn/Schletz was one of the main sites of the first farming culture in Central Europe, the Linear Pottery Culture, named after the decoration of the pottery vessels, around 5500 to 4900 BC. The site probably formed the center of a settlement landscape that extended over a radius of around ten kilometers.
During the archaeological excavations from 1983 to 2005, parts of the settlement and several fortification ditches were uncovered. The excavated material from the ditches was probably piled up to form a rampart, although none of it has survived. The inner settlement area was surrounded by two oval ditches, which were not built at the same time. In the main expansion phase around 5100 BC, an almost trapezoidal area to the north-east of the oval was fortified with another ditch, presumably a kind of outer bailey.
The massacre of Schletz
The Asparn/Schletz site owes its Europe-wide fame to the discovery of around 300 human skeletons at the bottom of Trench II, the outer of the two oval ditches. Initially thought to be a gruesome sacrificial cult, forensic methods revealed that they were the remains of what is currently the oldest battlefield in Europe. As the dead were left unburied and the bones showed signs of being eaten by animals, archaeologists assume that the massacre sealed the fate of the settlement and its inhabitants. These tragic events 7,000 years ago represent a unique snapshot of life and death in the Neolithic period, which will enable researchers to answer many unanswered questions.
Tip: Some of the finds from Schletz are on display at the MAMUZ Museum of Prehistory in Asparn an der Zaya.
