The Stollhof Hoard – the oldest gold jewellery in Austria
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The metal deposit found above Stollhof is thought to be around 6,000 years old and contains mainly copper and gold jewelry.
In the summer of 1864, a shepherd boy found some copper and gold objects at the foot of the Hohe Wand at around 700 m above sea level above the village of Stollhof. They lay between steep rocks at a shallow depth in the scree and were probably hidden around 4000 BC, perhaps as an offering. The discovery of the young shepherd turned out to be one of the most spectacular early metal finds from Central Europe and contained, among other things, the oldest gold jewelry in Austria.
Priceless find made of valuable metal
In addition to two flat axes made of copper, which were also used as weapons and tools, the find mainly consists of copper jewelry. A boar's tooth-shaped ornamental plate with fastening holes was probably sewn on, and two arm spirals were worn on the forearm. Nine spiral rolls were probably threaded onto a necklace, while six massive double spirals probably hung individually in front of the chest. The highlights of the depot, however, are two gold disks with diameters of 10.6 and 13.8 cm and weights of 71 and 212 g respectively. Their polished fronts are each decorated with three protruding bosses and the rim is decorated with dots. The fastening holes on the sides suggest that the gold disks were also attached to necklaces or neckbands.
Imported from south-eastern Europe
Similar pieces are known above all from the so-called Balaton-Lasinja culture of western Hungary and Slavonia. We do not know who wore the discs and for what occasion. However, it can be assumed that only certain people were entitled to wear them and that they had a special meaning.
The Stollhof deposit is an outstanding find from the first heyday of metallurgy in Europe at the end of the 5th millennium B.C. However, the near-surface deposits used at the time in the Carpathian Basin or in south-eastern Europe were quickly exhausted, which is why the majority of tools were still made of stone.
Tip: The find from Stollhof can be viewed in the Natural History Museum in Vienna.
