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Gold treasure worth €50K found in Austria

The Local Austria
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Gold treasure worth €50K found in Austria
OÖ Landesmuseum

Archaeologists have unearthed gold treasure in Austria thought to be worth as much as €50,000.

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The 44 Celtic gold coins, weighing 7.5 grams, were found on a site in Traun, near Linz in Upper Austria, that was being excavated before the building of a machinery hall.

The gold pieces are thought to have been made in the Iron Age between the 1st and 2nd centuries BC in the region that is known as Bohemia today and likely ended up in Austria through trade.

According to the ORF, researchers at the provincial museum say the discovery is of the highest importance as it is one of the just three similar finds from the pre-Romanian time in Upper Austria.

This era is seen as the crossover from an economy based on trading goods to a monetary economy, which came with the Romans.

Since building work began on the nearby Linz Airport 80 years ago, many examples of ancient ceramics, jewellery, work tools and parts of buildings were found in the area. Researchers suspect that there was once a 15-hectare settlement in the area.

Austria is home to several famous archaeological sites, including the Roman military camp Carnuntum on the Danube river that is home to a 1,800-year-old gladiator school.

Another famous find is the small limestone figurine called the Venus of Willendorf. The figure, which can be seen at Vienna’s Natural History museum, was found at the Paleolithic site at Willendorf in 1908 and is thought to have been carved between 28,000 and 25,000 BC.

In the same area, archaeologists also found the oldest traces of modern humans in Europe, dating back to 43,500 years ago.

Austria's western region of Tyrol is also home to what is thought to be Europe's oldest known natural human mummy - affectionately known as Ötzi - who was discovered in 1991 and is thought to have been alive in 3,300 BC.

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