Drachenhöhle
Cave entrance
The Dragon's Den at Mixnitz is located in 950 m above sea level. A. in Rothelstein south of Bruck an der Mur, Styria in Austria.
Finds of Paleolithic stone tools from the Aurignacian and the remains of hearths from the warm phase of the Würm glaciation 65000-31000 BC show an early visit to the cave by humans. From the main cultural layer are a total of around 800 artifacts.
The cave has always been known in the population, since the twelve feet high and twenty feet wide portal is visible from afar. Numerous bones of cave bears were kept for the remains of dragons. This is evidenced in particular the legend of the dragon slayer of Mixnitz.
After the first world war was started due to lack of fertilizers to the mining of up to twelve meters thick deposits of phosphate earth. To this end, a cable car was built to the cave entrance. With a reduction of 3,000 tons of the dragon's cave was the main source of the Austrian cave fertilizer action and contributed to the discovery of numerous cave bear bones in. The number of individuals found is estimated to be 30,000. Some cave bear bones can be seen in the Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz and at the Natural History Museum in Vienna.