Krems-Wachtberg excavations 2005-12: Main profiles, sampling, stratigraphy, and site formation

Since 2005, detailed archaeological investigations have been carried out at the Upper Palaeolithic site of Krems-Wachtberg in eastern Austria where a well-preserved Gravettian find layer is embedded in an 8 m high Late Pleistocene loess sequence. The excavations are accompanied by interdisciplinary sampling strategies applied on the main profiles' entire sediment series as well as on selected locations within the archaeological context. The latter include both evident anthropogenic structures, an in situ occupation surface with hearths and burials, and periglacial features that together determine the morphology and explain the formation of the main Gravettian find horizon.