Until the early 20th century, there were hundreds of quarries, sand quarries and clay pits in the city of Vienna. Fossils from these sites in the collections of the Natural History Museum Vienna provide important information about the climate history of Europe. The new book “Wien am Sand” by Mathias Harzhauser and Thomas Hoffmann takes a journey through time through Vienna’s geological past.
While 14 million years ago there was a sandy beach in Pötzleinsdorf, Grinzing was already in the deep sea. Where beer is brewed today, manatees grazed in the seagrass meadows of Ottakring. In Kalksburg the surf roared against a cliff lined with pine forests. 12 million years ago seals and alligators hunted in Hernals. 10 million years ago, the first wine grew on the banks of a huge lake around Vienna. How do we know this? Research into the geological past of the Vienna Basin is a focus of the Geological-Paleontological Department of the Natural History Museum Vienna.
In the project entitled, funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences „A geological time travel through Vienna“ A team of paleontologists scoured the geological collections of Vienna’s museums and universities to record the spatial and temporal distribution of the various organisms. Around 23,000 objects were identified, which came from more than 230 locations within Vienna. The sites range from Rodaun in the west to the Transdanubian Danube city in the east, from Stammersdorf in the north to Rothneusiedl in the south. Most of the former quarries, sand and clay pits have long since disappeared. So how can you find them these days?
Together with the geologists from Geosphere Austria, the exact positions of many of the finds were reconstructed. Historical maps and original publications helped. The composition of the fossils from the individual sites provides information about the former habitats. The youngest fossils are mammoth teeth and bones. They were also the first to be found back in 1443. However, at the time they were interpreted as the bones of giants.
In their new book “Wien am Sand” (it was published by the NHM Vienna publishing house), Mathias Harzhauser and Thomas Hoffmann provide a varied account of the findings from the research project and take readers on an entertaining journey through time. They know Vienna like the back of their hand; for them, Vienna is “in a way the measure of (almost) all things”. They reveal Vienna layer by layer. From Atzgesrdorf via the Wienerberg ponds to Prince Eugen’s menagerie in the Belvedere, the observations of Vienna culminate in the “unknown Viennese Bestiary”.
Book presentation at the NHM Vienna
Wednesday, October 2, 2024, 6:00 p.m. in the lecture hall
greeting
Dr. Katrin Vohland
General Director and Scientific Director, NHM Vienna
Travel guide
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Mathias Harzhauser
Head of Department Geology & Paleontology, NHM Vienna
Mag. Thomas Hofmann
Head of Library, Publishing & Archive Department, GeoSphere Austria, Vienna
Musical accompaniment
Viennese blonde
Verena Doublier & Sebastian Radon
Vienna on the sand
ISBN 978-3-903096-75-2
270 × 190 mm, paperback
Ꞓ 19.90 (incl. VAT)
Available from October 2, 2024 by ordering at verlag@nhm.at and in bookstores and the NHM shop
Scientific query information:
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Mathias Harzhauser
Department Director Geology & Paleontology and Curator of the Paleobotanical Collection, NHM Vienna
Phone: +43 1 52177 DW 250
mathias.harzhauser@nhm.at
“Wien am Sand”: Lecture and book presentation
Datum: October 2nd, 2024, 6:00 p.m
Art: Lectures and discussions
Ort: Natural History Museum Vienna
Maria Theresa Square
1010 Wien
Austria
URL: https://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/veranstaltungsprogramm/wien_am_sand_vortrag_und_buchpraesentation_1