'Rusty Treasure' in Austria Revealed as Europe's Largest Cache of Iron Age Iron Bars
Researchers say the 1-ton trove could forge about 500 swords, and they believe it was likely lost in a shipwreck during river transport.
- In a study published Monday in Antiquity, archaeologist Peter Trebsche of the University of Innsbruck and Marion Berranger of the Archaeomaterials Research Institute detailed the discovery of 540 ancient iron bars in Deinham, Austria, marking Europe's largest known prehistoric iron cache.
- Workers at a gravel extraction plant discovered the haul in 2019 among underwater gravel along the Danube River; researchers believe the iron likely represents a sunken ship's cargo from the 3rd/2nd century BCE.
- Weighing around 2,200 pounds, the collection consists of uniform bipyramidal 'semi-products' intended for forging; Trebsche noted the material would have been sufficient to equip a large group of warriors with approximately 500 swords or 8,000 iron nails.
- The homogeneous assemblage indicates commercial transport, challenging previous assumptions about Iron Age trade and production capacities; researchers note that specialized boats would have been required to carry such a massive load.
- Ongoing analysis aims to trace the metal's geographical origin, as the bars may have been forged in Bavaria; future examinations will determine if the iron came from a single location or multiple smelting regions upstream along the Danube.
27 Articles
27 Articles
Over two thousand years ago, an iron bar-loaded ship was thrown into the waters of the Danube, Austria, carrying with it a colossal load of about a ton of metal...
A true treasure of iron bars from the time before Christ's birth has been discovered in Austria. They were probably to be delivered to gunsmiths, but never arrived there.
A ton of iron from the Celts period was hidden for thousands of years in Austria. It speaks of the largest find of prehistoric iron in Europe.
The set of more than 2,000 years ago would have been enough to forge approximately 500 swords
An excavator brings rusty iron lumps from the Danube. What looks like scrap at first turns out to be a treasure from the Iron Age – with enormous value.
Around 500 iron bars have been found in Deinham, the largest known find of this species from the La Tène period in Europe.
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