Drachenhöhle is a cave near Mixnitz, Styria, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, south-east of Bruck an der Mur

Bruck an der Mur

Bruck an der Mur is a city of some 13,500 people located in the Austrian state of Styria. It is located at the confluence of the Mur and Mürz Rivers. Its manufactures include metal products and paper; Bruck is an important rail junction in the region located on the Graz to Vienna main...

 at an elevation of 950 m. During a shortage of fertilizers during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

sediments were dug in the cave. While soldiers were digging, they discovered numerous bones of cave bears, first thought to be dragons, remains of open hearths and Palaeolithic stone tools. Dated to between 65,000 and 31,000 B.C., these are some of the oldest human traces in Austria.