Abstract
Among many other objects a number of (mainly broken) figurines made of burnt clay were found in a richly furnished Early Iron-age tomb excavated in Lower Austria. Some of these had a dark organic material on their legs, obviously intended to fix the figurines to a base. A small sample of this agglutinant was analyzed: upon isolation of the characteristic terpenecontaining fraction C-nmr spectroscopy showed considerable quantities of betulin. Thus this adhesive can be considered as birch bark pitch.
Highlights
In 1981 an Early Iron-age Tumulus of the eastern Hallstatt-culture with rich grave furnishings (“prince-burial“) was discovered in Langenlebarn, District of Tulln, Lower Austria, and excavated by the Department of Archaeological Monuments of the Austrian Federal Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments (Abteilung für Bodendenkmale des Bundesdenkmalamtes), directed by Johannes-Wolfgang Neugebauer
A small sample of this material was used for chemical analysis. This should show whether or not this agglutinant is identical with the material which was used for many purposes in prehistoric central and northern Europe, i.e., whether or not it is birch bark pitch[3]
The analytical method applied was one published by us recently[4,5], which is mainly based on isolation of the significant terpene-containing fraction, ensued by 13C-nmr spectroscopy
Summary
Apart from some smaller bronze objects the cremation burial contained 38 richly decorated, mostly red and black painted clay vessels. The same is true for a number of (mostly fragmented) figurines made from burnt clay which were found in this grave: a horseman with a shield (picture 1), Picture 12. Clay figurine of a horseman (total height:[9,8] cm, length of the horse: 8,7 cm).
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