In cooperation with the Institute for Pre- and Ancient History of the University of Vienna (A. Lippert, G. Tiefengraber), part of the analysis of the finds and the overall interpretation, in the framework of the project "Vicus on the Saaz Hill 2002-2005", were carried out at the OEAI. The Roman vicus on the Saaz hill, with its overall expanse of nearly 9 ha., represents one of the largest Imperial settlements known to date from the eastern region of Styria. The results of the excavations of 2002-2005 by the Institute for Pre- and Ancient History of the University of Vienna, the survey work over many years, and the geophysical investigation of almost the entire surface area allow a detailed overall picture of the settlement. On the south slope, the settlement can be traced for a minimum length of 600 m., and it was intersected almost in its centre by a paved road running parallel to the slope. To the north and south of this road were grouped building complexes which although differing in size generally had similar ground-plans; these were set out on artificial terraces. Roughly in the middle of the settlement, the geophysical investigation (Archeo Prospections®) identified a large open space or plaza-like structure.
To the west, the paved road was flanked by tomb buildings: from this "street of tombs", revealing many different phases, an extensive walled tomb enclosure with a central aedicula has been exposed; beneath this, older tomb structures have been found, which presumably can be interpreted as constructions built into tumulus tombs. This ensemble, consisting of independent settlement and street of tombs, containing tumulus tombs and slightly later monumental tomb buildings according to Italic-Roman fashion, can be contrasted with the large tumulus tomb field on the northern slope of the Saaz hill; there was no direct visual contact between this field and the settlement itself. The oldest settlement horizon of the Flavian-Trajanic period is characterized by wooden structures. A new construction phase using stone, and the related reorganization of the settlement with individual parcels of land oriented towards the direction of the cliff slope, cannot be assumed before the Hadrianic period. The typical residential and workshop building of this period, in Saaz as in other areas of south-east and western Noricum, is generally the single- or multi-room house in an enclosed area.
The abandonment of the early High Imperial structures and a renewal of building activity towards the end of the 2nd century A.D., following a hiatus in the settlement, can be attested in the vicus of Saaz on the grounds of finds from differing sections of the settlement. With the renewal of settlement activity, a final period of prosperity can be recognized at the same time: the discovery of the aedicule tomb indicates a distinct economical revival in the Severan period. At the same time a transferral of the settlement center took place, as the reduction of finds of the beginning of the 3rd century in the region of the previously-flourishing residential- and economic area points to a loss of importance. This displacement of the focus of the settlement seems to have led to a discontinuity of usage in the mid-decades of the 3rd century.
Of equal interest, along with the question regarding the settlement development at Saaz, is without doubt the question regarding the reasons for the alteration in the settlement: the construction of the vicus with stone architecture and timbered framing in the Hadrianic period can be paralleled by finds from other well-studied settlements from south-east Noricum (Kalsdorf, Gleisdorf), whereby in each case a clear period of prosperity in the middle decades of the 2nd century led to broad changes in construction methods. A hiatus in the settlement development during the final decades of the 2nd century, clearly documented at Saaz, has not yet been identified in the neighbouring vici, and can only be proven with the necessary stringency at Flavia Solva, the civic centre of the region. At that site, a destruction of the settlement level in the course of the Marcomanni wars has been inferred based on archaeological evidence (burnt levels). At Saaz, however, finds which might be significant for a violent destruction are absent; the reasons for an abandonment of the settlement might equally be connected to warlike events in the surrounding land, and therefore to be interpreted in the sense of economic and social "collateral damage."
Evidence for material culture in Saaz is important with regard to the conservatism of a society. Continuity of typical characteristics without large-scale change can be documented from the Flavian-Trajanic period up to the late 2nd century A.D. Liberation from these invariables apparently seems to have been accomplished first with the upheavals of the late 2nd century, whereby changes in the archaeological spectrum seem to have occurred through a strong intermixture of autochthonoi and allochthonoi from neighbouring Pannonia. These steps in development in the material culture, due to the findings from Saaz, can now for the first time be presented as a model for a south-east Norican vicus.

Picture Captions
Fig. 1: View of the excavations in the vicus, from the Saaz hill (Photo: G. Tiefengraber)
Fig. 2: Complete plan of the Roman settlement of the Saaz hill, excavation season 2003 (G. Tiefengraber)

Bibliography:
H. Sedlmayer - G. Tiefengraber, Forschungen im südostnorischen Vicus am Saazkogel (Steiermark). Die Grabungen der Jahre 2002-2005, SoSchrÖAI 41 (2006).