ÖZKD LXXVIII 2025 Heft 1, pp. 43-60, 2025/05/08
Monitoring in der Archäologie
After the prehistoric pile dwellings were added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2011, management structures for protecting, researching, and conveying knowledge about these archaeological sites was established in all participating countries. The monitoring of sunken sites plays a central role in the management plans. Since cataloguing and documenting underwater were widely discontinued in Austria in the mid-1990s, new structures had to be created in this country with the founding of the Kuratorium Pfahlbauten (board of curators for pile dwellings) in 2012. Annual condition checks show that various animal and plant species, human activity, and acts of nature can be hazardous to monument conservation. Moreover, the increasing challenges through climate change and invasive species highlight the need for more comprehensive monitoring and a strategic conservation plan for all of Austria’s underwater cultural heritage.