Mining archaeology in British Isles
Encyclopedia
Mining Archaeology is a specific field well developed in the British Isles during recent decades. A reason of ongoing interest in this field is the particular bond between regional history and the exploitation of metals. References to mines in the area exist in Strabo
’s works. However the first accomplished study on the topic was attempted by Oliver Davies in 1935. Other momentous researches were that of geologist John Jackson about mines in Ireland and Lewis and Jones in Dolaucothi goldmine in Wales
. It would be inappropriate not to mention the contribution of R.F.Tylecote not only in this section but in general about the establishment of archaeo-metallurgy. Moreover in the 1980’s and 1990’s a new generation of amateurs and scientists began investigations in different locations in British Isles, including Duncan James on the Great Orme
’s Head, Simon Timberlake with the Early Mines Research Group at sites in Wales and William O’Brien in Ireland.
Signs of Bronze Age
metal extraction have been identified from several locations in the British Isles; this has been certified with carbon-14 analysis. Oliver Davies has accomplished the most intensive archaeological investigation in central Wales at Cwmystwyth
]. The first investigation conducted in 1935, however in 1986 a group of scientists instituted the Early Mines Research Group and reinvestigate the Copa Hill region including Cwmystwyth . Even though lead deposits are the main concentration the first metal extracted in the area was copper. The main lead lode is at “Comet lode” where a large opencast was excavated. At the walls of the opencast, revealed entrances of tunnels, which were constructed to follow smaller veins. At one of them, a wooden “pipe” was found. Moreover, in the same area a considerable amount of dump was exposed including stone hammers and lead ores. Charcoal samples from the site give several different dates from 2000-1900 BC to 1400 BC.
Other two significant sites are Parys Mountain and Nantyreira mine located in mid-Wales. Copper was the reason for their early exploitation even if Nantyreira’s main lode contained predominantly lead ores. S.Timberlake and the Early Mines Research Group in 1986 explored them. The excavations had as a result the discovery of dump in both sites. Charcoal and stonehammers were found inside the tip. The C14 samples place both areas at the Early Bronze Age 2000-1500 BC.
The Great Orme mine exploitation, on the North Wales coast began in the Bronze Age and continued until the nineteenth century. According to remains, mine workings have been traced in the Bryniau, Poethion and Pyllau valley. The dolomitised limestone deposits are rich in copper which early miners must extract mostly by malachite
. Because of ground composition, the extraction was sufficiently easy, this explains also the scale of the operations.
In 1976 Duncan James revealed in Great Orme a shaft which included a firesetting in connection with stone hammers, bone tools and rock dump. The deposit was placed by radiocarbon-dating to 1395-935 BC. Andy Lewis continued the research in the area at the late 1980s. It is believed that the operations in the location ended shortly after 1000 BC.
Extractions techniques with visible remains are the opencasts at the surface and group of shafts and caverns underground. The underground complex system was accessible by many different openings which simultaneously used as a ventilation system for the tunnels. The tools in the site constitute mainly by pointed bone tools and stonehammers. Other stone tools revealed at the locations were stone mortars and pestles, which indicate another stage in the ores exploitation. Moreover a unique find for British Isles were the giant hammers.
Evidence for early quarrying was also discovered in Alderley Edge
though industrial operations in the 19th century destroyed a big part of the earlier deposits.
Ireland has also has many areas related with mining activities from the prehistoric period (O’Brien 2003). However, the two important mines are Mount Gabriel and Ross Island mines.
Ross Island lies near Killarney. Inside its area they have been exposed two primitive mines. O’Brien excavate “Danish mines” and revealed a mine cave and a huge spoil concentration nearby thus after the excavation of the latter, another unknown mine also appeared. Furthermore, he investigates pits and dips in the bedrock, which also considered primitive. The feature that differentiates this site is the discovery of a Beaker settlement very close with metallurgical pits, hammers and rock waste. This finds in combination with an early phase in 2400 BC makes the site and the settlement very important for mining Archaeology in the British Isles.
Mount Gabriel located close to west Cork provides useful evidence for the exploitation of copper ore in the Early Bronze Age about 1700 BC. Through research thirty-two areas of activity were underlined. Shallow concaves and significant amount of dump with charcoal and tools are the evidences of Bronze Age copper extraction in the region. Mount Gabriel constitute until now the only locations, where primitive assemblages remained undisturbed by 19th century deeds due to the low quality of its veins.
With the beginning of the Iron Age about 700 BC operations associated with ore exploitations spread around the British Isles. A representative example of the period are Puzzlewood
’s surface mines. The site prospered especially in the Romano-British period and the late Middle Ages. The limonite
ores represent a small part of the local Carboniferous Limestone. The archaeological remains of mining which can be detected in the area are opencasts, known as Scowles Holes. It’s important to underline the discovery of habitations areas in close proximity, dated around 100-400 AD.
massive veins exploitation took part in the Mendips and Dolaucothi . Further metallic lead pigs originate from Peak District
in Derbyshire has been discovered but the exact position of the mines remains unknown .
It is possible that the Mendip sources were already exploited in Late Bronze Age and some evidence earthworks are associated with British Iron Age
activity, but the peak of production is linked with Roman era. Even if we do not have many actual evidences about the mines, through the examination of the archaeological sites in the area is known to us that the Charterhouse Roman Town
were guarded by a fort and similar conditions may occurred in Green mines also at least for a period.
Though the most acquainted site is the Dolaucothi Gold Mines near Pumpsaint in Wales. The gold mines were investigated by Jones and Lewis in 1969. The mines were in use until nowadays and their utilization is obvious towards the surface of the site but also underground. The Roman presence in the area is dated from the beginning of their establishment in Great Britain and for a period of 300 years. The remains of mine workings former than 19th century are concentrated in five areas Ogofau, Niagara, Allt Cwmhenog, Pen-lan-wen and Cwrt-y-Cillion trenches. Furthermore in the Ogofau region a number of pits came to light. Despite the concentrations of dump and posterior workings the opencasts of roman period are visible and well preserved. The main one had preserved a depth of 24 metres at least other two opencasts are dated in the same period the co-called “Roman pit” and the “Mitchell pit”. Likewise a second location with possible roman dated exploration is Pen-lan-wen where a group of adit
s was found, traces of chisels and picks were obvious at the surfaces of the ambit’s walls but the evidence are tenuous. Undoubtedly the most striking feature of Dolaucothi mines is the constructions linked with hushing
. Through the excavations by Lewis and Jones four main leat
s, a complex group of tanks and reservoirs were revealed in different areas either in direct vicinity with the mines or nearby water sources. Another crucial discovery was the fragment of a “drainage wheel”, suggesting the existence of an underground wheel system similar to the well-known system of Rio Tinto in Spain.
was a flourishing period for the exploitations of metal in general, a prime mover for this was the inference of monasteries in extraction of minerals. A famous archaeological site of this period is the northern Pennines
at Brownhill
, Cumbria
, where lead ores were extracted from argentiferous lopes. The mine was under the jurisdiction of the Crown. The lead ores were obtained by opencasts that took a semi-ellipsoid shape thus they called “bell-pits”. Evidences of medieval exploitation are preserved also at Copa hill were small parts of a leat system came to light. Further Ross Island excavations displayed a smelting site connected with a settlement nearby the local mines but the contemporary workings are untraceable. As far as tin industry concerns “lode back pits” at Godolphin have identified as medieval.
important observations have occur as far as primitive techniques of extraction and their traceable residues or ways in which mining tools were used their properties and the distinctive marks of their usages. Moreover scientific analytical methods can submit important data about chemical composition of minerals, slag and artifacts allowing archaeologists to built correlations or identify provenance. Further the science of geology and pollen analysis can give us an image of landscape per eras. Finally documents and inscriptions as well offer valuable help for the historical periods .
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
’s works. However the first accomplished study on the topic was attempted by Oliver Davies in 1935. Other momentous researches were that of geologist John Jackson about mines in Ireland and Lewis and Jones in Dolaucothi goldmine in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. It would be inappropriate not to mention the contribution of R.F.Tylecote not only in this section but in general about the establishment of archaeo-metallurgy. Moreover in the 1980’s and 1990’s a new generation of amateurs and scientists began investigations in different locations in British Isles, including Duncan James on the Great Orme
Great Orme
The Great Orme is a prominent limestone headland on the north coast of Wales situated in Llandudno. It is referred to as Cyngreawdr Fynydd in a poem by the 12th century poet Gwalchmai ap Meilyr...
’s Head, Simon Timberlake with the Early Mines Research Group at sites in Wales and William O’Brien in Ireland.
Prehistoric Period
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
metal extraction have been identified from several locations in the British Isles; this has been certified with carbon-14 analysis. Oliver Davies has accomplished the most intensive archaeological investigation in central Wales at Cwmystwyth
Cwmystwyth
Cwmystwyth is a village located in Ceredigion, Wales near Devil's Bridge, and Pont-rhyd-y-groes.The Ordnance Survey calculates Cwmystwyth to be the Centre point of Wales, - History :See Cwmystwyth Mines...
]. The first investigation conducted in 1935, however in 1986 a group of scientists instituted the Early Mines Research Group and reinvestigate the Copa Hill region including Cwmystwyth . Even though lead deposits are the main concentration the first metal extracted in the area was copper. The main lead lode is at “Comet lode” where a large opencast was excavated. At the walls of the opencast, revealed entrances of tunnels, which were constructed to follow smaller veins. At one of them, a wooden “pipe” was found. Moreover, in the same area a considerable amount of dump was exposed including stone hammers and lead ores. Charcoal samples from the site give several different dates from 2000-1900 BC to 1400 BC.
Other two significant sites are Parys Mountain and Nantyreira mine located in mid-Wales. Copper was the reason for their early exploitation even if Nantyreira’s main lode contained predominantly lead ores. S.Timberlake and the Early Mines Research Group in 1986 explored them. The excavations had as a result the discovery of dump in both sites. Charcoal and stonehammers were found inside the tip. The C14 samples place both areas at the Early Bronze Age 2000-1500 BC.
The Great Orme mine exploitation, on the North Wales coast began in the Bronze Age and continued until the nineteenth century. According to remains, mine workings have been traced in the Bryniau, Poethion and Pyllau valley. The dolomitised limestone deposits are rich in copper which early miners must extract mostly by malachite
Malachite
Malachite is a copper carbonate mineral, with the formula Cu2CO32. This green-colored mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses. Individual crystals are rare but do occur as slender to acicular prisms...
. Because of ground composition, the extraction was sufficiently easy, this explains also the scale of the operations.
In 1976 Duncan James revealed in Great Orme a shaft which included a firesetting in connection with stone hammers, bone tools and rock dump. The deposit was placed by radiocarbon-dating to 1395-935 BC. Andy Lewis continued the research in the area at the late 1980s. It is believed that the operations in the location ended shortly after 1000 BC.
Extractions techniques with visible remains are the opencasts at the surface and group of shafts and caverns underground. The underground complex system was accessible by many different openings which simultaneously used as a ventilation system for the tunnels. The tools in the site constitute mainly by pointed bone tools and stonehammers. Other stone tools revealed at the locations were stone mortars and pestles, which indicate another stage in the ores exploitation. Moreover a unique find for British Isles were the giant hammers.
Evidence for early quarrying was also discovered in Alderley Edge
Alderley Edge
Alderley Edge is a village and civil parish within the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 4,409....
though industrial operations in the 19th century destroyed a big part of the earlier deposits.
Ireland has also has many areas related with mining activities from the prehistoric period (O’Brien 2003). However, the two important mines are Mount Gabriel and Ross Island mines.
Ross Island lies near Killarney. Inside its area they have been exposed two primitive mines. O’Brien excavate “Danish mines” and revealed a mine cave and a huge spoil concentration nearby thus after the excavation of the latter, another unknown mine also appeared. Furthermore, he investigates pits and dips in the bedrock, which also considered primitive. The feature that differentiates this site is the discovery of a Beaker settlement very close with metallurgical pits, hammers and rock waste. This finds in combination with an early phase in 2400 BC makes the site and the settlement very important for mining Archaeology in the British Isles.
Mount Gabriel located close to west Cork provides useful evidence for the exploitation of copper ore in the Early Bronze Age about 1700 BC. Through research thirty-two areas of activity were underlined. Shallow concaves and significant amount of dump with charcoal and tools are the evidences of Bronze Age copper extraction in the region. Mount Gabriel constitute until now the only locations, where primitive assemblages remained undisturbed by 19th century deeds due to the low quality of its veins.
With the beginning of the Iron Age about 700 BC operations associated with ore exploitations spread around the British Isles. A representative example of the period are Puzzlewood
Puzzlewood
Puzzlewood is an ancient woodland site, near Coleford in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. The site, covering 14 acres, shows evidence of open cast iron ore mining dating from the Roman period, and possibly earlier....
’s surface mines. The site prospered especially in the Romano-British period and the late Middle Ages. The limonite
Limonite
Limonite is an ore consisting in a mixture of hydrated iron oxide-hydroxide of varying composition. The generic formula is frequently written as FeO·nH2O, although this is not entirely accurate as limonite often contains a varying amount of oxide compared to hydroxide.Together with hematite, it has...
ores represent a small part of the local Carboniferous Limestone. The archaeological remains of mining which can be detected in the area are opencasts, known as Scowles Holes. It’s important to underline the discovery of habitations areas in close proximity, dated around 100-400 AD.
Roman Period
During the Roman periodRoman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
massive veins exploitation took part in the Mendips and Dolaucothi . Further metallic lead pigs originate from Peak District
Peak District
The Peak District is an upland area in central and northern England, lying mainly in northern Derbyshire, but also covering parts of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, and South and West Yorkshire....
in Derbyshire has been discovered but the exact position of the mines remains unknown .
It is possible that the Mendip sources were already exploited in Late Bronze Age and some evidence earthworks are associated with British Iron Age
British Iron Age
The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...
activity, but the peak of production is linked with Roman era. Even if we do not have many actual evidences about the mines, through the examination of the archaeological sites in the area is known to us that the Charterhouse Roman Town
Charterhouse Roman Town
Charterhouse Roman Town was a town in the Roman province of Britannia. Its site is located just to the west of the village of Charterhouse-on-Mendip in the English county of Somerset....
were guarded by a fort and similar conditions may occurred in Green mines also at least for a period.
Dolaucothi
Adit
An adit is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, and ventilated.-Construction:...
s was found, traces of chisels and picks were obvious at the surfaces of the ambit’s walls but the evidence are tenuous. Undoubtedly the most striking feature of Dolaucothi mines is the constructions linked with hushing
Hushing
Hushing is an ancient and historic mining method using a flood or torrent of water to reveal mineral veins. The method was applied in several ways, both in prospecting for ores, and for their exploitation. Mineral veins are often hidden below soil and sub-soil, which must be stripped away to...
. Through the excavations by Lewis and Jones four main leat
Leat
A leat is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond...
s, a complex group of tanks and reservoirs were revealed in different areas either in direct vicinity with the mines or nearby water sources. Another crucial discovery was the fragment of a “drainage wheel”, suggesting the existence of an underground wheel system similar to the well-known system of Rio Tinto in Spain.
Medieval Period
The Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
was a flourishing period for the exploitations of metal in general, a prime mover for this was the inference of monasteries in extraction of minerals. A famous archaeological site of this period is the northern Pennines
Pennines
The Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...
at Brownhill
Brownhill
Brownhill is a suburb of Blackburn, in the unitary borough of Blackburn with Darwen, in Lancashire, England. It is situated to the north-east of the town centre, in the Roe Lee ward which has an estimated population of around 5948...
, Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
, where lead ores were extracted from argentiferous lopes. The mine was under the jurisdiction of the Crown. The lead ores were obtained by opencasts that took a semi-ellipsoid shape thus they called “bell-pits”. Evidences of medieval exploitation are preserved also at Copa hill were small parts of a leat system came to light. Further Ross Island excavations displayed a smelting site connected with a settlement nearby the local mines but the contemporary workings are untraceable. As far as tin industry concerns “lode back pits” at Godolphin have identified as medieval.
The contribution of other fields in Mining Archaeology
To shape an overall image for mines in antiquity we have to consider in mind many different factors not only the architectural remains. Social context is one of these factors. The term includes the social status of the miners, their way of life, the relationships with adjoined communities due to archaeological record, the symbolic value of the ore which was reflected also at the finished objects and in general to recreate the past society in which these operations took part. Yet in collaboration with experimental archaeologyExperimental archaeology
Experimental archaeology employs a number of different methods, techniques, analyses, and approaches in order to generate and test hypotheses, based upon archaeological source material, like ancient structures or artifacts. It should not be confused with primitive technology which is not concerned...
important observations have occur as far as primitive techniques of extraction and their traceable residues or ways in which mining tools were used their properties and the distinctive marks of their usages. Moreover scientific analytical methods can submit important data about chemical composition of minerals, slag and artifacts allowing archaeologists to built correlations or identify provenance. Further the science of geology and pollen analysis can give us an image of landscape per eras. Finally documents and inscriptions as well offer valuable help for the historical periods .