Underground Prehistoric Mining in Europe

Abstract

In the south-west of Spain, the archaeological site of El Jadramil (Arcos de la Frontera, Cádiz) presents a great number of vertical cylindrical pits and horizontal subterranean galleries, with an estimated chronology of the Bronze Age (3000-2000 BC). A new interpretation of underground extractive mining techniques used at the site is presented in this article. The archaeology of the site shows how agricultural societies exploited local raw materials. A preliminary geoarchaeological study of these mining structures and an aerial survey of the site have been carried out. The geological relationship to the possible raw material extracted from this site and the properties of these materials are discussed.

Keywords

• archaeology
• Prehistoric mining
• geoarchaeology
• archaeometry
• Bronze Age
• mining tools
• lithic raw materials