The Pingen Fields of Unterpullendorf- Relics of the Celts & Romans
Burgenland is one of the oldest settled areas in Austria. Since the Neolithic Age, for about 8,000 years, people have lived here - mainly from agriculture and animal husbandry.
However, Burgenland, especially Central Burgenland, also has a notable industrial past. It goes back more than 2,000 years, to the younger Iron Age. At that time, iron ore was mined here on a large scale by the Celts. The center was the today forested area east of Oberpullendorf between Großmutschen, Großwarasdorf and Raiding.
In miners' language, pits are called round, funnel-shaped pits, which have been preserved as remains of collapsed shafts. On the ridge between the Stoober and Raiding brooks in Unterpullendorf, you can see evidence of former iron mining.
The exploration of iron ores in the area of Oberpullendorf or in the Landseer Bucht actually started by archaeologists and "Heimatforscher". In the forests of central Burgenland around Oberpullendorf - Unterpullendorf - Großmutschen (Roman Amber Road) as well as Langental - Großwarasdorf - Nebersdorf, hundreds of funnel-shaped depressions first attracted attention, which subsequently turned out to be pits of several mining structures dating back a long time. The "Ferrum Noricum", famous in antiquity, may have been the iron ore from the central Burgenland. The first export product of Burgenland - for the Roman armaments industry.
This is how you get there: Road between Unterpullendorf and Frankenau. Turn off at the sign "Pingenfeld".