Staudt et al Bergbau Jochberg ArchA
Markus Staudt
Roman Lamprecht2024, Archaeologia Austriaca
https://doi.org/10.1553/archaeologia108s139
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Abstract
As early as in the 1930s, the archaeologist Richard Pittioni and the mining engineer Ernst Preuschen investigated prehistoric mining traces in the Kitzbühel Alps in the area of the Kelchalm/Bachalm near Aurach in Tyrol and subsequently also numerous smelting sites in the Jochberg region. Research by the younger generations of archaeologists subsequently focused primarily on the smelting of chalcopyrite, although the origin of the ores mined in the Jochberg areas could not be clearly determined. During archaeological prospections between 2017 and 2020 by the research centre HiMAT (History of Mining Activities in the Tyrol and Adjacent Areas), located at the University of Innsbruck, it was possible to identify prehistoric copper ore mining in Jochberg for the first time. The visible mining traces extend over the Alpine region in the ridge area between the Schützkogel (2,068 m asl), the Gamshag (2,178 m asl) and the Geißstein (2,363 m asl) south-east of Jochberg. In addition, similar to the Kelchalm/Bachalm, traces of wet-mechanical ore beneficiation can be observed, which can be dated to the transitional phase between the Middle and the Late Bronze Age. The newly discovered mining sites with extensive dumps shed new light on the North Tyrolean chalcopyrite mining. Numerous finds of bronze tools (pick tips and fragments of socketed picks) as well as stone tools (hammerstones, netherstones and eastern alpine upper grindstones) indicate, from a technological point of view, an influence from the Mitterberg chalcopyrite districts. From a chronological point of view, the mining activities in the Kitzbühel Alps represent a link between the Salzburg chalcopyrite districts in the east and the fahlore districts in the Lower Inn Valley (Schwaz-Brixlegg) in the west.
