Identification of historic quarries in the “Wienerwald”-area

Michaela KRONBERGER¹ / Martin MOSSER² / Maria HEINRICH³ / Beatrix MOOSHAMMER³ / Lionel DORFFNER⁴ / Andreas ZÖCHLING⁴

(¹Museen der Stadt Wien, Vienna, Austria / ²Stadtarchäologie Wien, Vienna, Austria / ³Geologische Bundesanstalt, Vienna Austria / ⁴Magistrat der Stadt Wien – Stadtvermessung, Vienna, Austria)

Outline: The presented project contains the identification of Roman stone material and the surveying of Roman quarries in Vienna by using Airborne Laser Scanning.

Within a project concerning the determination of ancient stone material of Roman Vienna (Vindobona) it was necessary to identify possible quarries, which supplied the location with building material, slabs of tombstones, votive stones etc. The nearest possible origin of the stones are the hillsides in the west of Vienna (“Wienerwald”). An important tool for researching this area to find ancient quarries is the Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of the department of Surveying and Geoinformation in Vienna. Recorded by Airborne Laser Scanning you are able to document every uprising of historical objects in the landscape without the interfering wooden areas, like it has been done by the University of Vienna in the Leithagebirge southeast of Vienna. Especially the quarries, occurring at any times in the Wienerwald are visible by this tool in a very high degree. The aim of the project will be to separate possible ancient quarries from the more modern ones by corresponding surveys or at least to identify the origin of the Roman stone material of Vindobona.

Keywords: ancient quarries, Airborne Laserscan, Digital terrain model, Roman Vienna