Burgstallkogel

The Burgstallkogel (458 meters or 1563 feet; also known as Grillkogel) is a hill situated near the confluence of the Sulm and the Saggau river valleys in Southern Styria in Austria, about 30 km south of Graz between Gleinstätten and Kleinklein.

The Burgstallkogel settlement itself was not fortified (although a system of Hallstatt-era trenches was found close to the Sulm valley bottom at the northwestern side of the hill, which is most exposed to attacks), and archeology gives no indications that it ever suffered from war; the two catastrophic fires seem to have been accidental.

The fact that the stone weights of this loom remained in situ when it collapsed allowed its reconstruction, adding a valuable piece of knowledge to our conception of advanced woven-textile manufacturing technology during the central European Iron Age.

In 2004, reconstructions of typical mid-Hallstatt period houses (a residential building, a granary and a bakery) were erected on the western slope of the hill employing experimental archaeology methods.

Besides being larger than most other necropolises in the Eastern Hallstatt area, the Sulm valley necropolis is set apart by the fact that preserved non-aristocratic burials far outnumber the nobility's graves.

As is the case at all other well-known archaeological sites, modern professional grave robbers (many equipped with metal detectors which have only very recently been outlawed in Austria) have since caused much damage through their unscientific efforts but have also made finds of some significance which found their way into the public domain.

(Among weapons and impressive bronze vessels, these early and badly documented digs yielded the famous small face mask with the pair of hands which subsequently became a symbol for the necropolis).

A final and total excavation of this large tumulus, conducted in 1995 following thorough geomagnetic and geoelectric prospections, unveiled an astounding amount of previously ignored pottery (much of it ritually smashed for the burial), and other very remarkable findings, including osteological proof of cremation of three people (two male, one female), several animals, and a bronze sword that was already about 200 years old (and outmoded for actual combat) when it was burnt and buried alongside the deceased ruler.