Willendorf is probably the most famous paleolithic site in Central Europe. Due to its continuous stratified deposits, covering the time period of >40 000 to 23 000 years BP, it is a reference site for the Central European Upper Palaeolithic.
The majority of research in Willendorf took place between 1908 and 1926, which brings along a suite of methodological and documentation problems. The goal of the Willendorf Project is to conduct new excavations to clarify the dating and formation of the lower levels of the site. The second objective is to get a clearer understanding of human activities, especially about the behaviour of the first anatomically modern humans.
The Willendorf Project is supported by the Leakey Foundation, the Hugo Obermaier Gesellschaft, the Department of Human Evolution of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, the Department of Anthropology and the Institute of Prehistory, University Vienna. The Vienna Natural History Museum, the municipality of Aggsbach and the Willendorf Museum Society gives logistical and moral support to the fieldwork.