The Bronze Age and Urnfield periods hilltop settlement on the Bullenheimer Berg, Bavaria - The settlement processes in the southern part

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The Bullenheimer Berg which is best known for its numerous hoards from the Urnfield period is representative of a system of Bronze Age and Urnfield hilltop settlements in Main-Franconia, Northern Bavaria. Fieldwork carried out in the 1980s had already yielded substantial information about the fortifications. Since 2010 archaeological surveys and excavations are undertaken on the Bullenheimer Berg by the University of Würzburg. The project is planned for a period of six years, and the scientific goals are to investigate the settlement organisation, the economy, the social organisation and possible religious functions of the hilltop settlement from a diachronic perspective. In the first four years of research excavations in four areas of the site have yielded detailed results which, however, remain partial. In the third funding period the current excavation areas will be extended. Based on the locations of individual buildings, the overall structure of the settlement units will be determined. Thereby, building structures, activity zones and find materials in the prehistoric settlement layer can be differentiated stratigraphically. In this way it is possible to discern occupation layers from the younger and the late Urnfield culture. The aim is, particularly, to investigate a presumed farmstead, a large edifice and a terraced building area of the Urnfield period. Alongside the excavations archaeozoological, archaeometric, pedological and environmental analyses are carried out. Archaeological prospection using magnetometer survey, drill testing and test excavations provide additional data on the occupation and use of the mountain plateau.