500 Iron Age iron bars found in Austria reveal a 1-tonne cargo transported 2,000 years ago

Archaeologists found over 500 forged iron bars in the Danube River. This discovery represents Europe’s largest known Iron Age iron assemblage. Radiocarbon dating places these bars in the Late Iron Age, between 4th and 1st centuries BC. The bars likely represent cargo lost during river transport along the Danube. This significant find highlights the scale of Iron Age iron production and trade.