Fritz Moosleitner in Salzburg, Diether Kramer in Steiermark, and Karl Kaus in Burgenland) collaborate with the Bundesdenkmalamt on salvage excavations, but the ultimate responsibility for these excavations rests with the Department of Sites within the Bundesdenkmalamt.

Education

Today, there are two institutes of pre- and proto-history and four institutes of classical archaeology in Austria. Pre- and proto-history are taught at the Universities of Vienna and Innsbruck, and classical archaeology is offered at the Universities of Vienna, Salzburg, Graz, and Innsbruck. In addition, archaeology is taught in the Institute of Ancient History at the University of Salzburg. Roughly half of the lecturers are not employed by the universities but teach in addition to their regular work in museums or the Bundesdenkmalamt.

Archaeology in Austria Today

The fragmentation of archaeology into different academic disciplines has led to the frequent absence of fruitful, positive discussion. Moreover, it has made it much more difficult to gain a synthetic view of the country’s past. To date, interdisciplinary research institutes with particular thematic concentrations have not been established, and the fact that most projects, financed by grants, are funded only over the short term hardly helps matters. Even sensational new finds, such as the Bronze Age Ice Man discovered in 1991, fail to improve the situation.

Compared to similar institutions in other countries the Austrian Bundesdenkmalamt functions poorly. The general regard in which archaeology is held in Austria is low, and the legal foundations of the relevant legislation concerning sites and monuments are often divorced from reality. Fulfilling the requirements of the existing laws is almost impossible, and the cooperation between regional and federal offices required by the archaeological research increases the difficulties of compliance.

Moreover, a publicly available register of all protected sites and monuments, and clear signs in the landscape to point them out to visitors, are lacking, so the public is scarcely aware that certain sites are, in fact, protected. The Österreichisches Nationalkomitee zur Koordination und Beratung im Bereich der archäologischen Forschung Österreichs (Austrian National Committee for Coordination and Advice on Archaeological Research in Austria), an advisory council, has as its main task a long overdue review and reorganization of the structures in place. Coordination of all federal, regional, and local offices; amateur investigators; and folk museums and a definition of their jurisdictions and responsibilities, along with the identification of opportunities for cooperation in the protection of monuments and the prosecution of research, would be highly desirable.

Otto H. Urban; translated by Dan Potts

See also

Czech Republic; German Prehistoric Archaeology; Slovenia

References

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