The fortified Late Bronze Age hilltop settlement on the Hohenberg near Annweiler in Rhineland-Palatinate, West Germany. Settlement structure, economy and function within the settlement pattern of the micro-region

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The Upper Rhine area, a region favourable for agriculture and commerce, has been intensely populated in the Late Bronze Age and has yielded spectacular finds. However, only a few hilltop settlements of the Urnfield culture have so far been identified which, moreover, prove problematic as regards archaeological preservation and investigation. The recently discovered hilltop settlement on the Hohenberg at the fringes of the Palatinate Forest is extraordinarily well preserved and provides excellent conditions for archaeological investigations. Several hoards with bronze objects and raw copper from the advanced and late Urnfield culture (11. – 9. century BC) suggest a particular importance of the settlement for the distribution of metal. In preliminary investigations in the settlement area, which has an extension of 3,5 ha, two hilltop enclosures and artificial settlement terraces could be examined. The goal of the scientific project is first to reconstruct the building structures on the terraces, as well as the layout, development and economy of the hilltop settlement. On this basis the chronological and functional relations to neighbouring hilltop settlements and to settlements in the Upper Rhine valley of the adjacent micro-region are examined. The analysis will focus on how the settlement on the inhospitable mountain peak was supplied with food, pottery, and products of metal and stone on a local, regional or supra-regional level, and further, whether there was specialized craftsmanship at the site. Excavations in the area of the hilltop settlement will especially focus on the circular fortification walls, one gate of the enclosure and settlement terraces. Due to the complexity of the archaeological stratigraphy on slopes soil geographic methods for analysis of slope modeling processes are included in the project. In addition to typo-chronological studies of the pottery and small finds, archaeometric analysis of ceramic, stone, glass and metal artefacts is carried out. Archaeobotanical analyses also supply information on the subsistence economy and environment. As a further step, the rich find assemblages from excavated settlements in the nearby plain of the Rhine valley will be documented and analysed in an exemplary manner, with the goal of working out possible economic interactions with hilltop settlements. Additionally, archaeological field surveys will be carried out in two more hilltop settlements of the Urnfield culture in the vicinity of the Hohenberg which have scarcely been investigated until now. The objective here is to clarify the precise chronological relation between the three Late Bronze Age hilltop settlements.