Hascherkeller

Harvard excavation completed: The “Hascherkeller” complex reveals its secrets!

In the debate about the social structure of the Central European Early Iron Age, the “Herrenhof” plays a considerable role as the presumed seat of a high status farmer. A rectangular farmstead of this type is the famous Hascherkeller site on the northern outskirts of Landshut, dating mainly from the Early Hallstatt period. The first magnetic prospection ever conducted at such an archaeological structure was carried out here in 1978. The site became widely known for its distinctive complex appearance and the excavations undertaken there between 1978 and 1981 by Peter S. Wells, then assistant curator of European archaeology at the Peabody Museum of Harvard University.

After four decades, an opportunity arose to resume excavations in areas not explored at the time and bring them to a conclusion. The most important result of the recent field work, which was completed in 2022, is the stratigraphic disentanglement of the numerous ditches. Initially, the loess terrace had been divided by a ditch running across the terrain, having apparently been dug before the Hallstatt complexes were constructed and which was possibly contemporaneous with the palisaded farmstead A. During the excavation it was revealed that the middle of the three rectangular farmsteads that had been assumed to exist on the site was not in fact present. In a later phase, the two sites were joined together by two connecting ditches. Finally, the ditch of enclosure B was recut.

In addition, about 200 m further to the southwest, a similar double enclosure was discovered. About 5 km to the northeast, a group of unconnected rectangular farmsteads has recently been magnetically surveyed. These are characterized by a larger number of long pits indicating former house sites.

• P. S. Wells, Rural Economy in the Early Iron Age: Excavations at Hascherkeller, 1978–1981. American School of Prehistoric Research, Bulletin 36 (Cambridge 1983).
• I. Denk, F. Reitmaier, T. Saile, C. Tinapp, Herrenhöfe am Hascherkeller – „Missing Link“ nach vier Jahrzehnten. Das archäologische Jahr in Bayern 2020, 2021, 72–74.