Visuality - Movement - Performance. The Costume of a rich woman from Franzhausen in Austria, c. 2000 BC

Abstract

In Franzhausen in Austria, some of the largest and most important Early Bronze Age cemeteries are known, unearthed during rescue excavations of the Austrian Cultural Heritage Agency (Bundesdenkmalamt). At Franzhausen I more than 1200 inhumation burials were detected, covering a time-span from c. 2200-2000 BC. Most remarkable is Grave 110. A woman was laid to rest with remarkable grave goods and a costume that included a headdress consisting of a cap, a massive bronze crest, remains of a striped veil, bronze jewellery and other dress accessories. The paper describes how the woman’s dress has been reconstructed and discusses how it, and its visual appearance may have affected the woman’s stance, movements, and how she was perceived by her her contemporaries.