ISBN: 978-615-6388-42-1
Description: hardback, 958 pages (29x21cm)
Condition: new
Weight: 3028g.

Tünde Horváth, Elisabeth Ruttkay, Mödling-Jennyberg, A Hilltop Settlement of the Boleraz and Leithaprodersdorf Cultures, Martin Opitz Publisher, Budapest 2023

Running in a north–north-east to south–south-west direction, the Flysch zone with its gently rolling hills forms the transition between the lowland of the Vienna Basin and the rocky mass of the High Alps. This geographic and climatic zone is also known as the Thermenlinie [thermal line] or Thermenregion [thermal region]. Characterised by special ecological conditions, the Thermenregion is one of the best wine-growing regions in Austria and it is also famed for its soothing thermal and medicinal waters, which gave rise to a thriving bathing culture from the Roman period onward. On the testimony of the archaeological record, the plateaus of the gently rolling hills between the two markedly different terrains had been settled by human communities from early prehistory.

The two famed historical towns of the Thermenregion lying south of Vienna are Mödling (medieval Medelich, the seat of the Babenberg Dynasty between 1177 and 1246) and Baden, lying no more than 10 km apart.

Ensconced among the limestone rocks of Wolfstal Valley between the medieval ruins of Rauheneck Castle crowning a hilltop near Baden and Mt. Lindenkogel lies the half-open dark cavern of Könighshöhle [King’s] Cave, where Gustav Calliano, a local historian, uncovered an impressive number of prehistoric finds in 1892. One characteristic group of these finds was in the 1920s identified as representing the Late Neolithic by Oswald Menghin and Josef Bayer, which they named the Baden culture after the eponymous site. According to local lore, the cave was named after a Hungarian king who once rested there, but whose name has since long been forgotten.

Communities of the Boleráz group representing the early horizon of the Baden culture and of the Leithaprodersdorf group established their settlement on the Jennyberg near Mödling. Although the site has been intensely investigated since the 1800s, the first systematic excavation of the site was undertaken by Elisabeth Ruttkay, the archaeologist of the Natural History Museum in Vienna, in the early 1970s. By then, the stone quarries active in the area had strongly disturbed the site, which suffered extensive damage on the side facing the town.

The town’s inner area, rich in medieval relics, appears to have been less intensely occupied during prehistory. Standing beside St. Othmar’s Church built in the Gothic style was a fortified rotunda that was set on fire by the Hungarians in 1252. Some 1500 townspeople met their death in the church, while others were taken captive by the nomadic Cumans fighting in Béla IV’s army and hauled off as slaves to Hungary. The purpose of the Hungarian campaign was to put Béla IV’s candidate on the throne; however, the title of Duke of Austria was not won by his protégé, but by Ottokar II of Bohemia. The historical sources confirm that Béla IV, King of Hungary, had passed through in Mödling in 1252.