combined the results of archaeological fieldwork with provincial Roman history. Treatments of grave and votive inscriptions were undertaken by ancient historians beginning with Otto Hirschfeld and Eugen Bormann who worked on Corpus inscriptionum latinarum III with Theodor Mommsen. Today, this tradition is carried on by Ekkehard Weber and Manfred Hainzmann. The numerous publications of Fritz Lochner-Hüttenbach are also noteworthy.

Supraregional, monographic studies of small finds are rare. Ceramic research was initiated by August Schörgendorfer and Éva Bónis (Hungary), and terra sigillata (red ware pottery) studies were begun by Paul Karnitsch (Austria). Lamps were first systematically studied by Franz Miltner (Austria); fibulae (broaches) by Ilona Kovrig (Hungary) and Jochen Garbsch (Germany); bronzes by Robert Fleischer (Austria); bronze vessels by Aladar Radnóti (Hungary); and bricks by Alfred Neumann (Austria). These subjects are researched today by numerous archaeologists working in various parts of Austria. The bibliography in the journal Pro Austria Romana gives a good overview of this material. The Kärntner Museumsschriften [Kärnten Museum Series] and Der römische Limes in Österreich [The Roman limes in Austria] are two important series in which individual categories of finds are treated in monograph-length studies.

Research Foci since 1960

The establishment in 1966 by the Austrian Academy of Sciences of the Kommission für das Corpus der Skulpturen der Römischen Welt (CSIR, Commission for the Corpus of Sculpture in the Roman World) is an initiative in which many archaeologists, both from the regional museums and from the Federal Monuments Authority (Bundesdenkmalamt), participate. In 1969, a second chair in Klassische Archäologie mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Feldarchäologie (Classical Archaeology with Particular Attention to Field Archaeology) was established. First occupied by Vetters, it has also been led by Fritz Krinzinger. Since 1978, the Numismatische Kommission der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Numismatic Commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences), under the direction of the late Robert Göbl, has published Die Fundmünzen der römischen Zeit in Österreich [Numismatic Finds of the Roman Period in Austria]. Thus, for the systematic cataloging of individual categories of material, the various commissions established by the Austrian Academy of Sciences since the 1960s have been of enormous value, particularly since old groups of finds have been restudied in their entirety and published in a new, improved format.

Today, archaeological research in Carinthia is particularly noteworthy, e.g., Piccottini’s investigations of traces of early Roman settlement at Magdalensberg and Franz Glaser’s work on early Christian churches at Hemmaberg and a late antique bishopric in Teurnia. Such research projects, carried out systematically over a number of years with the results regularly published, are a hallmark of Austrian archaeology.

Another area of research focus is the Roman limes. In recent decades Herma Stiglitz and Hannsjörg Ubl have undertaken numerous excavations, although final publications for most of their sites have yet to appear. As a result it is difficult to get an overview of the excavations of Carnuntum, the most important Roman city in Austria, particularly as excavations have been carried out at numerous locales and only rarely published in a coordinated way. Around Carnuntum the damage done by illicit excavators working with metal detectors is clear, as are the problems created by so much uncoordinated fieldwork. Thus, one must conclude that the fragmentation of the research efforts of a relatively small number of investigators among such a large group of institutions and publications is an unfortunate characteristic of provincial Roman archaeology in Austria. The journal Pro Austria Romana, founded by Rudolf Noll in 1951, and the annual Österreichische Archäologentage (Austrian Archaeologists Meetings), which began in 1983, have been helpful in facilitating the exchange of up-to-date information. The most important major congress in recent years was the 14. Internationale Limeskongreß (Fourteenth International Limes Congress) held in Carnuntum in 1986 (proceedings published in RLÖ in 1990).