Zwischen Stillstand und Aufschwung. Die Prähistorische Kommission der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften von 1918 bis 1938

Abstract

This study presents the history and the activities of the Prehistoric Commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences during the years 1918 to 1938 and therefore deals with a time period that was characterised by historical-political upheavals and economic hardships. During this time, the ‘Commission for the promotion of prehistoric research and excavations on Austrian territory’, installed in 1878 at the initiative of Ferdinand von Hochstetter, was confronted with completely changed circumstances. Through the dissolution of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy and the loss of the crown lands, the Prehistoric Commission was drastically reduced in its sphere of activities, which subsequently, paired with enormous financial difficulties, led to a considerable decline of research activities. While the Prehistoric Commission was able to finance about 110 excavations from own funds during the first four decades of its existence, only about one tenth of these were achieved in the inter-war period, and mostly only in combination with several subsidies and institutions. Even if this result seems meagre, the activities of the Prehistoric Commission nevertheless proved to be fruitful during these years. Following a short introductory review of the founding and the early years of the Prehistoric Commission, the development, characterised by new ways and sustainability, will be traced through so far unpublished archive material mainly from the inventories of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, but also from various museums, the archive of the University of Vienna and the Austrian State Archive. The main focus lies on the research activities of the Prehistoric Commission and its members, among which were not only renowned prehistorians such as Josef Szombathy or Walter Schmid, but also a new generation represented by Herbert Mitscha-Märheim, Leonhard Franz, and Richard Pittioni. In addition, the underlying questions of the organisation, personnel structure and financing of the commission's activities are dealt with. The study concludes with the nomination of Oswald Menghin as chairman of the Commission, which at the same time reveals an outlook on the future of the Prehistoric Commission that was overshadowed by National Socialism.