Traun () is a
river in the
Austrian state of
Upper Austria. Its source is in the
Totes Gebirge mountain range in
Styria
Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...
. It flows through the
Salzkammergut area and the lakes
Hallstätter See and
Traunsee. The Traun is a right tributary of the
Danube, which it meets near the city of
Linz. Other towns along the river are
Bad Aussee,
Bad Ischl,
Gmunden
Gmunden () is a town in Upper Austria, Austria in the district of Gmunden (district), Gmunden. It has 13,204 inhabitants (estimates 2016 ). It is much frequented as a health and summer resort, and has a variety of lake, brine, vegetable and pine-c ...
,
Wels and
Traun. The Traun is long, and has a basin area of . Its average
discharge
Discharge may refer to
Expel or let go
* Discharge, the act of firing a gun
* Discharge, or termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer
* Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from serv ...
at the
mouth
In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...
is .
Until the late 19th century, it was only possible to reach
Hallstatt (at the Hallstätter See) by boat or via narrow trails. However, this secluded and inhospitable landscape nevertheless counts as one of the first places of human settlement due to the rich sources of natural salt, which was mined for thousands of years, originally in the shape of hearts. Some of Hallstatt's oldest archaeological finds, such as a
shoe-last celt – a long thin stone tool used to fell trees and to work wood – date back to around 5000 B.C. One of the first blacksmith's sites was excavated there. Active trade and thus wealth allowed for the development of a highly sophisticated society, hence the term
Hallstatt culture
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Western Europe, Western and Central European Archaeological culture, culture of Late Bronze Age Europe, Bronze Age (Hallstatt A, Hallstatt B) from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and Early Iron Age Europe ...
. In 1846, a large prehistoric cemetery was discovered close by the current location of Hallstatt. There is little room for cemeteries so every ten years bones used to be exhumed and removed into an ossuary to make room for new burials. A collection of elaborately decorated skulls with the owners' names, professions, death dates inscribed on them is on display at the local chapel.
References
Gallery
Image:Tussen Au en Steeg, bij de Traun foto3 2011-07-28 15.34.jpg, The river Traun between and (two districts of Bad Goisern)
Image:Lauffen, de Traun foto4 2011-07-29 10.14.jpg, The Traun near Lauffen
Rivers of Upper Austria
Braided rivers in Europe
Rivers of Austria
{{Austria-river-stub