Under the farming fields of a small Austrian village, archaeologists have uncovered evidence of an ancient factory that was far bigger than anyone expected. In Hannersdorf, located in eastern Austria near the border with Hungary, researchers recently dug up the remains of two Roman-era pottery kilns—and they believe roughly 100 more could still be hidden underground.
The discovery began a few years ago when construction workers first spotted fragments of ancient pottery near a local road called the B56 Geschriebenstein Straße. Later, scientists used a technique called geomagnetic surveying—which measures subtle magnetic signals in the ground—to peek beneath the surface without digging. They found hints of many buried structures: kilns, building foundations, and old burial mounds.
Basema Hamarneh from the University of Vienna led a team of students to excavate the site in 2025. Within just two weeks of digging, they uncovered two complete kilns along with pits for storing clay and holding waste—all sitting only about 40 centimeters (roughly 16 inches) below the surface. The kilns were filled with pottery.
What makes this find so exciting is the sheer scale of it. The team discovered hundreds of vessels preserved whole—something rare in archaeology, since pottery usually breaks into fragments over centuries. They also found many defective pieces, meaning items that cracked or failed during production. These give researchers clues about how the pottery was made.
This was not a small backyard operation. The team believes the site produced pottery for much wider markets, not just local use. One clue: there is no major Roman settlement immediately nearby. The closest city was Savaria (now Szombathely, Hungary), about 16 kilometers (10 miles) away. Yet this workshop seems to have been a busy hub, churning out bowls, dishes, cups, and storage containers for a regional trade network.
The spot may have been chosen for very practical reasons—its location along an ancient trade route. Interestingly, people had been drawn to this same place for thousands of years before the Romans arrived. Neolithic finds dating back to around 4000 BCE have also turned up in the area: pottery shards and remains of longhouses from farmers who lived there millennia earlier.
Excavations were expected to continue through early August 2025, with the team uncovering new artifacts daily. Hamarneh noted that every broken piece, imported luxury item (like terra sigillata tableware from Italy), and whole vessel helps build a clearer picture of life and commerce in Roman times.
For a quiet village field to hide such an enormous workshop—big enough to supply a whole region—is a reminder that the ground beneath our feet still holds countless stories waiting to be told.