The Bronze Age burial grounds in Franzhausen

The largest ever Bronze Age burial sites in Central Europe were discovered in the Traisental valley.

Franzhausen is one of the most important archaeological sites of the Early to Middle Bronze Age (2000 to 1500 BC) in Lower Austria. At the time, the Traisental belonged to the area of the ‘Unterwölbling culture’, which was named after the site of Unterwölbling (a village in the Traisental) and extended along the Danube from Linz to around Vienna.

A burial ground of European dimensions
As a result of large-scale gravel mining, the Traisental has one of the densest concentrations of finds in Lower Austria. Franzhausen is known to have had two Bronze Age burial grounds; the first was used from the late Neolithic period to the Early Bronze Age (c. 2800 to 1800 BC). From then on, the Franzhausen II burial ground began to be used, with burials continuing to take place there until the Middle Bronze Age. The continuous development of the site over several centuries that can be observed here is completely unique and makes Franzhausen a textbook example of European dimensions.

Bronze Age burial culture
The Franzhausen I burial ground was completely excavated. It comprises a total of 727 graves, of which one belonged to the Baden culture, 12 to the Corded Ware culture and the rest to the Early Bronze Age.
A total of 3,002 objects from the Early to Middle Bronze Age were documented in Franzhausen II, but the burial ground was not completely investigated. The dead were usually placed on their sides in a flexed position; cremations were very rare. Cloak pins and decorative metal plates enable parts of people’s dress at the time to be reconstructed. Metal brackets reminiscent of a helmet crest are particularly impressive. These appear to have been part of a woman’s headdress and identify the wearers as privileged members of the upper class.

Tip: a number of finds from the burial grounds are on display at the Museum of Prehistory in Nussdorf ob der Traisen.