Country
Fossil hunting in Austria
Austria holds the largest fossil oyster reef known anywhere. About 15,000 Miocene giant oysters lie uncovered in place at Stetten in the Weinviertel, under a roof, half an hour north of Vienna.
Fossilienwelt Weinviertel is built over the reef rather than beside it. The oysters stay in the sediment that buried them, and a walkway takes you across the excavation. The deposit formed in the Miocene Paratethys sea, in the Korneuburg Basin, a satellite basin north of the Vienna Basin.
The site also runs a supervised sand bay where visitors dig and sieve for small fossils in a 50-minute slot. Finds that fit the bag provided are yours to keep.
1 fossil site
Updated 11 September 2026
Frequently asked questions
- Can you keep fossils from Fossilienwelt Weinviertel?
- From the supervised washing area, yes. The site provides screened sediment for visitors to sort. The oyster reef itself is an in-situ excavation and nothing is collected from it.
- How old is the Stetten oyster reef?
- It is Miocene, laid down in the Paratethys sea in the Korneuburg Basin. About 15,000 giant oysters have been uncovered and left in place.