Medieval mine in the old warehouse
The medieval mine in the old camp is an archaeological site on the Rammelsberg in Goslar on the northern edge of the Harz Mountains . It was discovered in 2011 during an excavation in an overburden dump above the Altes Lager ore deposit . Found wooden parts, which date from the 14th to 15th centuries, indicate a not crack-aware, filled shaft with a tunnel . According to the first estimates of the archaeologists, this mine was used during the late Middle Ages for underground follow-up mining in the deposit that had not been fully exploited in previous centuries in open-cast mining .
Reference
The site of the discovery is at the outcrop of the old camp , an approximately 30-meter-wide and 400-meter-long strip of land in which the ore exposed by erosion was mined in open-cast mining until around the year 1000. For centuries the site was then used by the miners as a dump for overburden and for disposing of defective equipment and other utensils. During an archaeological inspection in 1999, remnants of a leather shoe were found here by chance, which can be dated to the year 1024 using the 14 C method . The site remained largely untouched by the later mining on Rammelsberg. It was only from the quarry Schiefermühle cut, which was created in the 1920s to offset material for filling ausgeerzter workings to win. The quarry is now being backfilled. Decades ago, when it was excavated, a section was cut that is still exposed in a steep face, but is buried inside after a few meters.
Excavations
Since 2001, the job studied mining archeology of the Lower Saxony State Office of Historic Monuments under the direction of archaeologist Lothar Klappauf the medieval mining on Rammelsberg in Goslar. From June 2010, archaeological excavations began in annual campaigns in the filled open-cast mine of the old camp . This area turned out to be promising because of the discovery of an approximately 1000 year old leather shoe in 1999 and the subsequent prospecting . A total of three excavation cuts were made, which are adjacent to each other. In one area there are the remains of the medieval mine, in the other a silted-up pond with sediment prints and in the third a presumed woodworking area . The excavation site is owned by Bergbau Goslar GmbH , which supports the excavations. The excavation work is carried out by an excavation technician and five excavation helpers as one-euro jobbers from the job center in Goslar with the support of Caritas . There is a cooperation with the Institute for Inorganic Chemistry at Leibniz University Hannover for investigations and mapping of the dump body. This is done by students as part of internships under the direction of the chemist Robert Lehmann from the Archaeometry Working Group . The documentation of the excavation area as well as individual finds is done using 3D photography . Before the excavations began, an excavator removed the soil material from modern dumps in order to reach the layers of soil from the late Middle Ages. In 2012, 4000 m³ of soil were relocated. Currently (2013) the stratum of the excavation is around the 13th century. In 2013, it is planned to explore the course of the tunnel down to the bottom . For the next few years, the excavation will penetrate into the soil layers that are only slightly deeper than the 10/11. Century.
Finds
During the 2011 excavation campaign, three planks came to light that could not be clearly classified at first. During the further exposure in the following year, they presented themselves as likely parts of a shaft extension with an adjoining tunnel , the roof of which has been preserved. The tunnel was driven through the pile body by means of gear carpentry. The saiger shaft was then sunk from the site of the tunnel . The fact that the roof of the tunnel was severely damaged in parts indicates that the tunnel has collapsed. The discovery of this medieval mine in the old camp of the Rammelsberg was announced on September 6, 2012 at a press conference in Goslar. A few days later, on the day of the open monument , the site was presented to the public for the first time and visited by the then Minister for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, Johanna Wanka .
Dendrochronological investigations assign the pit timbers found to the 2nd half of the 15th century. Other finds were wood trunks and shavings , which probably belonged to a suspected medieval woodworking site for pit timbers. Due to the special preservation conditions for organic material with the conserving effect of heavy metals in the dump body, the finds made of organic material have been preserved for centuries. Organic substances usually decompose within a few decades.
In an excavation area, the remains of a silted -up pond with wagon tracks and the hoof prints of a horse and a deer were discovered in a layer of soil . The finds also include the oldest miner's lamp found in Germany to date , which is made of coarse clay and dates from the 14th century. Other finds were tools and remains of clothing from miners, such as belt and shoe parts, as well as remains of ropes and fabrics.
During the prospecting, a well-preserved ravine was found in the rock in the immediate vicinity of the later excavation . It served as an ore transport route, on which the wheels of the transport carts with a track width of 1.42 meters were clearly visible carved into the rock.
The frog lamp fragment from the 14th century
Replica of the red clay fragment
Complete replica of a clay frog lamp
Knitted sleeve made of wool from the mine in the old warehouse
Find meaning and interpretation
According to the interpretation of the archaeological findings so far, the discovered wooden structure is a former tunnel and shaft system with the oldest wood-secured tunnel in Central Europe. Another special feature of the site is that, apart from being covered with overburden, it has remained almost untouched by modern mining.
According to the working hypothesis of the archaeologists, the miners wanted to get to parts of the old camp that had not yet been exploited in the 14th century . At first, the old camp was open to mining . After the open pit was abandoned around the year 1000, it was filled with overburden, through which the miners drove a horizontal tunnel around the 14th century. From the tunnel they had made a tunnel in the depth drilled to the remaining ore of the old camp dismantle.
presentation
The excavation site is located on a property owned by Bergbau Goslar GmbH and is not open to the public. The excavation site is to be made accessible to visitors to the neighboring Rammelsberg World Heritage Site Museum , so that the ongoing excavation work can be presented on guided tours. So that the 45 meter difference in height between the museum and the excavation area can be overcome without barriers , the inclined elevator from the 1930s was restored to function and put back into operation in 2014.
From September 21, 2018 to January 6, 2019, a number of finds from the former mine in the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin were shown in the exhibition Moving Times. Archeology shown in Germany , which took place on the occasion of the European Cultural Heritage Year 2018.
literature
- Lothar Klappauf : First archaeological excavations in the old camp of the Rammelsberg near Goslar in: Reports on the preservation of monuments in Lower Saxony 2/2012
Web links
- Katharina Malek : A tunnel made of wood in the Lower Saxony Monument Atlas
- Photos of the excavation site and the finds at harzarchäologie.de
- Report of the excavation manager Lothar Klappauf on the status of the excavation in mid-2012 and at the end of 2012 and 2014
- Extensive picture collection from the excavation site on September 9, 2012 on the day of the open monument
Individual evidence
- ↑ 3000 year old rubbish tip near Goslar discovered in: Die Welt from September 6, 2012
- ↑ The side rock of the Rammelsberg consists largely of slate. Mill comes from the mining term mountain mill .
- ^ Base Goslar / Mining Archeology Unit of the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation
- ↑ a b Excavation campaign in the old camp - new questions at Rammelsberg from December 14, 2012
- ↑ Field excursion "Excavation Rammelsberg" ( Memento of the original from March 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Lothar Klappauf: Excavation campaign in the old camp - new questions at Rammelsberg. Rammelsberg World Heritage Site, September 13, 2012, accessed on September 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Daniela Zeibig: Unique find in the Harz Mountains. 700 year old wooden shaft illuminates medieval mining. Spektrum.de, September 7, 2012, accessed on September 21, 2013 (description of the site with a reconstruction sketch).
- ↑ Minister Wanka at the “Open Monument Day” in Goslar , press release from the city of Goslar on September 10, 2012
- ↑ Mining: Archaeologists find 700 year old tunnels in the Harz in: Der Spiegel from September 6, 2012
- ↑ Researchers find mine light. In: HNA online. October 10, 2011, accessed on October 19, 2014 (according to Lothar Klappauf's statement, the lamp has now been dated to the 14th century (uncertain).).
- ↑ a b Lothar Klappauf: On the trail of early mining on the Rammelsberg near Goslar. Lower. LA f. Monument Preservation, accessed October 19, 2014 .
- ↑ Katharina Malek , Dorte Schaarschmidt: A sleeve from the old camp on Rammelsberg, city of Goslar at the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation
- ↑ Rammelsberg releases 700 year old tunnels at ndr.de from September 6, 2012 ( Memento from September 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ In the footsteps of the old man, October 21, 2011
- ↑ 700 year old tunnel discovered in the Harz in: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung from September 6, 2012
- ↑ Martin Wetzel: Inclined elevator officially opened. In: World Heritage Rammelsberg Blog. June 6, 2014, accessed October 19, 2014 .
- ↑ Turbulent times. Archeology in Germany at the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation
- ^ Reports on the preservation of monuments 2011/2
Coordinates: 51 ° 53 ′ 24.3 " N , 10 ° 25 ′ 18.6" E