The German-Czech project "ArchaeoTin" is dedicated to researching the tin mining landscapes in the Ore Mountains, where tin was mined 4000 years ago during the Bronze Age. The project aims to answer important questions about tin mining at that time and the trade in the coveted metal. Tin can be alloyed with copper to produce the valuable tin bronze. Compared to other alloying methods, such as the use of arsenic and copper, the tin-copper alloy produces a higher quality and technically more advanced bronze alloy. At the same time, the climate and environment in this harsh region at the time are also being analysed.
Over the next three years, more than 20 scientists from seven project partners from Saxony, Bavaria and the Czech Republic will be conducting joint, cross-border research. The lead partner of the project is the State Office for Archaeology of Saxony, which already made a sensational discovery of Bronze Age mining in the Eastern Ore Mountains in 2018.
The main aim of the project is to investigate soap mining for tin in selected regions of the Saxon-Bohemian Ore Mountains, which are now part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Montanregion Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří". Multidisciplinary research methods will be used, including remote sensing (LiDAR), historical research, prospection and archaeological soundings, supplemented by scientific analyses such as dendrochronology, C14 dating, palynology, anthracology, botanical macro-residue analysis, archaeometallurgy, micromorphology, sedimentology, mineralogy and petrography.
The project leader, Dr Christiane Hemker from the Saxon State Office for Archaeology, emphasises the importance of researching the influence of tin from the Ore Mountains on cultural development and the shaping of the montane cultural landscape in the Ore Mountains between the Bronze Age and the modern era.
The project is being implemented as a project of strategic importance with a budget of €4,397,009.35 million as part of the Interreg Programme Saxony - Czech Republic 2021-2027. The EU funding (ERDF) amounts to €3,517,607.43.
The results of the project are to be presented in a multimedia travelling exhibition on tin mining in the Ore Mountains, which will be on display in the towns of Teplice and Ehrenfriedersdorf. An international conference and several scientific publications are also planned.
The project team is made up of various institutions: The State Office for Archaeology of Saxony, the Institute for Archaeological Monument Preservation of Northwest Bohemia in Most and the Institute for Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology and Provincial Roman Archaeology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München are investigating the montane archaeological relics of soap mining. The Institute of Forest Growth and Forest Informatics at the Technical University of Dresden is focussing on the reconstruction of the development of local forest composition. The Institute of Archaeology and Museology at the Masaryk University in Brno is carrying out archaeometallurgical research to reconstruct the technical procedures and work processes of tin mining.
Contact:
- Dr Christiane Hemker, Project Manager, State Office for Archaeology Saxony, e-mail: christiane.hemker(at)lfa.sachsen.de
- Jana Burdová, Public Relations ArchaeoTin, e-mail: Archaeomontan(at)uappmost.cz
