Flint mine in Olten and Wangen

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The flint mine near Olten and Wangen near Olten was a large Stone Age mining area for the extraction of flint in Switzerland . The archaeologically proven mining area extends over several hectares on both sides of the border between the city of Olten and the municipality of Wangen bei Olten .

Of the previously known flint mines in Switzerland, the site near Olten was probably particularly productive due to the large extent of the silex-bearing rock layer of Malmkalk that was close to the surface of the ground . Flint was extracted from this site between 6000 and 2000 BC. Originally, a layer rich in flint bulbs was probably visible on rocks and rock ridges rising above the ground, which was first exploited on the surface and later opened up through tunnels under the ground.

In the agricultural corridor in the middle of the area, there are still numerous chips and splinters of flint on the surface of the ground. In the wooded area of ​​the mine area on the floor of the city of Olten, in the area with the field name Chalchofen, traces of pings or manholes can be seen.

Research history

On Kalchofenweg in Olten, the Olten prehistory researcher Theodor Schweizer (1893–1956) observed artificial pits and depressions in the ground in which he found flint bulbs, cuttings and hooks of deer antlers while building a private house in 1922 . He interpreted the finding as a Stone Age mine .

In 1934, the high school teacher Leo Fey from Olten came across a two meter deep cave with adjoining tunnels, north of the first site, in which there were numerous lumps of flint.

In 1971, when a garage was being built in the adjacent rock on Dorfstrasse in Wangen near Olten, cavities were discovered in which archaeologists found skeletal remains of several people from the Stone Age during an investigation.

In the winter of 2009/2010, the canton archeology of Solothurn examined several tunnels in the Silex mine prior to a construction project on Kalchofenweg. In addition to thousands of slivers of flint, the excavators found fragments of deer antlers that had been used as tools to mine the limestone.

At the site in Wangen near Olten, discovered 40 years earlier, the Solothurn Cantonal Archeology department carried out a further investigation in the winter of 2010/2011 because of a construction project. It turned out that the observed rock formation had recently been reduced in size by soil work. The archaeologists unearthed eight shafts sunk into the rock several meters deep and branched tunnels a few meters below the surface. Numerous flint bulbs could still be seen on the walls of the excavated shafts and tunnels. In the backfills of the pits, large amounts of flint waste and several demolition hammers made of rubble came to light.

During the construction of the Olten bypass road around 2010, the silex-bearing rock layer near the Dünnern was dug up again 200 meters southeast of the previously known mine areas .

Trade in Silex devices from Olten

On the rock surface in Wangen near Olten, which was examined in 2011, there was a Stone Age strike site on which the flint lumps that had been pulled out of the ground had been roughly worked. Impact of waste was also in several by prospecting proven Stone Age settlements in the area of Olten, for example at the site Dickenbännli in Olten. Firestone tools from Olten can be found in Stone Age sites in a large part of Switzerland, for example on Lake Zurich, Lake Biel and Lake Neuchâtel and in Valais.

literature

  • Jehanne Affolter: Provenance des silex préhistoriques du jura et des régions limitrophes (= Archéologie neuchâteloise. 28, ZDB -ID 1070240-4 ). 2 volumes. Service et Musée Cantonal d'Archéologique, Neuchâtel 2002.
  • Thomas Hess: Geoarchaeological site visits in the vicinity of the Neolithic Silex mine Chalchofen in Olten and Wangen near Olten. Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Solothurn, PDF, accessed on June 8, 2015.
  • Christoph Lötscher: The Neolithic Silex mine in Chalchofen near Olten. In: Archeology and Monument Preservation in the Canton of Solothurn. 19, 2014, pp. 13-42 , PDF, accessed June 8, 2015.
  • Christoph Lötscher: The Neolithic Silex mine in the “Chalchofen”, Canton Solothurn. In: as. Archeology Switzerland. 37, 2014, No. 4, pp. 26–33.
  • Theodor Schweizer: Prehistoric finds in Olten and the surrounding area. sn, Olten 1937.
  • Cantonal administration of Solothurn, Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archeology: Report on the excavations in Wangen bei Olten. Retrieved June 9, 2015,

Coordinates: 47 ° 20 '44.5 "  N , 7 ° 52' 53.6"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred and thirty-three thousand four hundred seventy  /  243967