The Bronze and Iron Alpine Ash Altar Material in the Frankfurth Collection at the Milwaukee Public Museum William Arnold University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
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University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations May 2014 Fire on the Mountain: the Bronze and Iron Alpine Ash Altar Material in the Frankfurth Collection at the Milwaukee Public Museum William Arnold University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons, and the Library and Information Science Commons Recommended Citation Arnold, William, "Fire on the Mountain: the Bronze and Iron Alpine Ash Altar Material in the Frankfurth Collection at the Milwaukee Public Museum" (2014). Theses and Dissertations. 352. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/352 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN: THE BRONZE AND IRON ALPINE ASH ALTAR MATERIAL IN THE FRANKFURTH COLLECTION AT THE MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM by W. Brett Arnold A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Anthropology at The University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee May 2014 ABSTRACT FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN: THE BRONZE AND IRONALPINE ASH ALTAR MATERIAL IN THE FRANKFURTH COLLECTION AT THE MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM by W. Brett Arnold The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2014 Under the Supervision of Professor Bettina Arnold Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) Accession 213 is one of many collections orphaned by nineteenth century antiquarian collecting practices. Much of the European prehistoric and early historic material in MPM Accession 213 was collected in a single two-year period from December 1889 to December 1891, but the sudden death of the donor—William Frankfurth—and the passage of a decade between collection and donation left the museum without much context for the materials. Among the artifacts in MPM Accession 213 is a collection of almost 350 metal objects from prehistoric and early historic Europe that have yet to be examined or contextualized. Through archival research and comparative analysis, I demonstrate that the prehistoric metalwork present in this collection comes from one or more of seven identifiable sites—the Grumserbühel, the Sinichkopf, the Segenbühel/Hochbühel, the Fachegg, the Tartscherbühel, the Sonnenburgerbühel, and the Tuiflslammer—all of which have produced evidence of a specific type of prehistoric context called Brandopferplätze [places for burnt sacrifices], also known as Alpine ash altar sites. Alpine ash altar sites offer a unique glimpse into the ritual life of prehistoric European populations because they were in continuous use from ii the Bronze Age to the Roman period. Using the excavation history of each of these sites, it was possible to narrow down the probable candidates to three of the known sites, as well as at least one unknown Roman site. The artifacts were then categorized and analyzed for presence/absence and degree of damage against existing collections from other Alpine ash altar sites to assess the likelihood of the material coming from this type of context. It was expected that the material profile would closely match the presence/absence of materials from more recently excavated Alpine ash altar sites, and thus provide a foundation for further research into the origins of MPM Accession 213. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .......................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ iv List of Figures ...............................................................................................................vii List of Tables .................................................................................................................xii Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Nineteenth Century Collecting and MPM Accession 213 ................................ 2 1.3 Collection Background ................................................................................... 6 1.4 William Frankfurth ....................................................................................... 10 1.5 Factors Governing Attitudes toward Frankfurth in Austria ............................ 14 1.6 Review of Literature ..................................................................................... 17 1.7 Ringwall and Wallburg Studies ..................................................................... 18 1.8 Alpine Ash Altar Sites .................................................................................. 21 1.9 Summary ...................................................................................................... 26 Chapter 2: Theory and Methods .................................................................................... 29 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 29 2.2 Ash Altar Sites and Ritual Deposition: Towards a Theoretical Model ............ 29 2.3 Spaces of Ritual Deposition in Prehistoric Europe ........................................ 31 2.4 Fire and Sacrifice in the Ancient World ........................................................ 33 2.5 Deposition of Metal Artifacts ....................................................................... 37 iv 2.6 Data and Methods ........................................................................................ 41 2.7 Summary ...................................................................................................... 45 Chapter 3: The Frankfurth Sites .................................................................................... 47 3.1 A Note on Spelling and Language ................................................................. 47 3.2 Frankfurth’s Journey to Austria .................................................................... 48 3.3 Fridolin Plant ............................................................................................... 50 3.4 The Excavations ........................................................................................... 52 3.5 Post-Frankfurth Excavation Histories ........................................................... 63 3.6 Grumserbühel ............................................................................................... 64 3.7 Sinichkopf .................................................................................................... 66 3.8 Hochbühel .................................................................................................... 68 3.9 Fachegg ........................................................................................................ 73 3.10 Tartscherbühel ............................................................................................ 77 3.11 Sonnenburgerbühel ..................................................................................... 89 3.12 Tuiflslammer .............................................................................................. 96 3.13 Summary .................................................................................................. 100 Chapter 4: Analysis ..................................................................................................... 104 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 104 4.2 Fibulae ....................................................................................................... 104 4.3 Straight Pins ............................................................................................... 118 4.4 Other Personal Ornamentation .................................................................... 122 4.5 Weapons/Tools ........................................................................................... 125 v 4.6 Fixtures, Finials, and Miscellaneous Decoration ......................................... 131 4.7 Other .......................................................................................................... 133 4.8 Unidentified ............................................................................................... 134 4.9 Breaking and Burning: Evidence of Ritual Killing ...................................... 136 4.10 Discussion ................................................................................................ 142 4.11 Summary .................................................................................................. 147 Chapter 5: Conclusion ................................................................................................ 148 5.1 Directions for Future Research .................................................................. 152 References Cited.......................................................................................................... 154 Appendices Appendix A: Selected Passages from Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) Box 19………………………………………………………………………………..166 Appendix B: Representative MPM Accession 213 Metal Artifacts…………….174 Appendix