Re: Bronze Age in the Baltic

On Wed, 28 Jun 2006 12:05:44 +0200, "Peter Alaca" <P.Alaca@xxxxxx>
wrote:


Copper ore was mined in the Hartz Mountains
farther north, but I don't know if that was already
the case in the Bronze Age.

In all likelihood that was the Kupferschiefer deposit, lower Permian
black shale, which was mined until the collapse of East Germany. It is
still mined in Poland.

If so, the isotope and geochemical signature should be unique because
the deposit is not a primary one, related to igneous activities, but
secondary, in a sedimentary rock where it was deposited by chemical
processes.

One of the richest ore deposits was the Rammelsberg near Goslar which
produced lots of silver and other metals. Its possession was hotly
contested during the Medieval times, much of the German emperor's
wealth around 1200 BCE came from that mine. The Rammelsberg was in
origin similar to the Black Smokers which are observed near modern
mid-ocean spreading centers - submarine mafic volcanism with an
extensive water circulation system driven by igneous heat. Again, I
expect the isotope and geochemical signal to be entirely different
from those of granite-related deposits as in the Ore Mountains.

Hayabusa

.