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.
Since the twelfth century, forest areas in the upper reaches of the low mountain ranges of central Europe provided an important source of wood and charcoal especially for mining and smelting as well as glass production. In this case study from a site in the upper Erzgebirge region (Ore Mountains), results from archeological, geophysical, pedo-sedimentological, geochemical, However, although glass production is generally assumed to have caused intensive deforestation, the impact on this site appears rather weak compared to the sixteenth century onwards, when charcoal production, probably associated with emerging mining activities in the region, became important.Local deforestation and soil erosion has been associated mainly with this later phase of charcoal production and may indicate that the human impact of glass production is sometimes overestimated.
Abstract. Geoarchaeological reconstructions of land-use changes may help to reveal
driving cultural factors and incentives behind these processes and relate
them to supra-regional economic and political developments. This is
particularly true in the context of complete abandonment of a settlement.
Here we present a case study from the site of Faule Pfütze, a small
catchment in the Eastern Ore Mountains (Saxony). The historical record of
this site is confined to the report of a settlement called Hohenwalde in
1404 CE and two later references to the then-abandoned settlement in 1492 and
1524 CE in this area. Combined geoarchaeological studies allowed for the
reconstruction of several phases of land use. While a first phase of alluvial
sedimentation occurred during the late 12th century, archaeological
evidence for a permanent settlement is absent during this period. The onset
of settlement activity is identified during the late 14th century and
included a hitherto unknown massive stone building. Mining features are
present nearby and are dated to the early 15th century. The local
palynological record shows evidence for reforestation during the
mid 15th century and thereby corroborates the time of abandonment
indicated by written sources. These processes are discussed in the context of
a local political conflict (Dohna Feud) leading to the redistribution of
properties and the development of a mining economy during this time. Later
land use from the mid 16th century onwards appears restricted to
charcoal production, probably in the context of smelting works operating in
nearby Schmiedeberg as indicated by rising lead concentrations in the
alluvial record.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.