Evidence for Bronze Age and Medieval tin placer mining in the Erzgebirge mountains, Saxony (Germany). Issue 2 (13th August 2019)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Evidence for Bronze Age and Medieval tin placer mining in the Erzgebirge mountains, Saxony (Germany). Issue 2 (13th August 2019)
- Main Title:
- Evidence for Bronze Age and Medieval tin placer mining in the Erzgebirge mountains, Saxony (Germany)
- Authors:
- Tolksdorf, Johann Friedrich
Schröder, Frank
Petr, Libor
Herbig, Christoph
Kaiser, Knut
Kočár, Petr
Fülling, Alexander
Heinrich, Susann
Hönig, Heide
Hemker, Christiane - Abstract:
- Abstract: Tin is an essential raw material both for the copper–tin alloys developed during the Early Bronze Age and for the casting of tableware in the Medieval period. Secondary geological deposits in the form of placers (cassiterite) provide easily accessible sources but have often been reworked several times during land‐use history. In fact, evidence for the earliest phase of tin mining during the Bronze Age has not yet been confirmed for any area in Europe, stimulating an ongoing debate on this issue. For this study, a broad range of methods (sedimentology, pedology, palynology, anthracology, OSL/14C‐dating, and micromorphology) was applied both within the extraction zone of placer mining and the downstream alluvial sediments at Schellerhau site in the upper eastern Erzgebirge (Germany). The results indicate that the earliest local removal of topsoil and processing of cassiterite‐bearing weathered granite occurred already in the early second millennium BC, thus coinciding with the early and middle Bronze Age period. Placer mining resumed in this area during the Medieval period, probably as early as the 13th century AD. A peak of alluvial sedimentation during the mid‐15th century AD is probably related to the acquisition of this region by the Elector of Saxony and the subsequent promotion of mining.
- Is Part Of:
- Geoarchaeology. Volume 35:Issue 2(2020)
- Journal:
- Geoarchaeology
- Issue:
- Volume 35:Issue 2(2020)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 35, Issue 2 (2020)
- Year:
- 2020
- Volume:
- 35
- Issue:
- 2
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2020-0035-0002-0000
- Page Start:
- 198
- Page End:
- 216
- Publication Date:
- 2019-08-13
- Subjects:
- alluvial sedimentation -- anthracology -- Bronze Age economy -- micromorphology -- OSL -- palaeoenvironmental reconstruction -- tin mining
Archaeological geology -- Periodicals
930.1028 - Journal URLs:
- http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1520-6548 ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1002/gea.21763 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0883-6353
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 4116.841000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library STI - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 12791.xml