The Southern Upper Rhine Valley (Breisgau Baden-Württemberg and Elsass/Haut Rhin) during the Hallstatt Period. Archaeological and bioarchaeological investigations of settlement organization and social structures

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Due to its geomorphological, climatic, and geographical properties, the Upper Rhine Valley is a closed, fertile, and easily accessible landscape in the distribution area of the Northwest Alpine Hallstatt Culture (800-450 BC). It shows significant indication for the development and alteration of structures of power during the Late Hallstatt Period. For instance, princely graves in monumental mounds are known since the 19th century. Furthermore, the topographical situation and Mediterranean imports found at the hillfort settlements of the Münsterberg in Breisach (Baden-Württemberg) and the Britzgyberg near Illfurth (Haut-Rhin) suggest that they were central places. However, comprehensive publications of the Hallstatt period finds are still lacking and bioarchaeological data are neither available. Therefore, the proposed project seeks to analyze the finds of old and new excavations and to conduct anthropological investigations which build the foundation for further analyses. The research strategy is primarily determined by the find situation - the dominance of graves: Traditional grave analyses will reconstruct burial sequences in the mounds and within cemeteries, define patterns of grave furnishing and map their distribution within the burial sites. This aims on disclosing social structures based on the organization of the cemeteries and rules of grave furnishing. In comparison with the results of osteological and stable isotope analyses, the project will disclose to which extent the hierarchy of grave furnishing was connected to sex, age, origin, diet, and status. GIS analyses of the topographic locations and soil quality in connection with distance analyses of settlements and cemeteries will allow conclusions on settlement organization. Strontium and oxygen isotope analyses of animal teeth will provide indication for land use patterns and animal husbandry strategies. Together with the archaeological record these data will furthermore provide indication for possible functional differentiation, long and short distance relations as well as hierarchical classifications of settlements. The investigations, moreover, address the relations of the central places of Münsterberg and Britzgyberg to each other. Were they contemporarily responsible for own territories leading to competition, or did they exist successively? Connected to this, the research discloses if the Upper Rhine Valley was a culturally, economically, and supposedly also politically uniform area with the Rhine as an important north-south traffic artery, or if the river formed a border between the territories east and west of it. The stable isotope data can also contribute to these evaluations by providing indications for mobility and exchange relations.