A Miner's Life - Prehistoric times

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Since there are no cementeries in the Geopark Ore of the Alps, we can only fragmentarily reconstruct family life in prehistoric times. Women and children were most likely active in the processing, while the men were busy working underground and with metallurgy. This also included the timber industry and charcoal burning. Keeping sheep and goats was a great necessity for daily life.

Through the cow dung collected to bind flour-fine ore, we also learn about the cattle farming that was already being practiced at that time.

Grain had to be sourced primarily from the climatically favorable Alpine foothills. Women and children likely worked on preparing and acquiring food (pasture farming and pig breeding). In addition to wooden buildings in the direct vicinity of the mines, people also lived in buildings constructed from logs with relatively flat roofs and wooden shingles with stones, which was built above the roasting beds and pit furnaces, likely on the upper floor (right under the roof). Life was certainly difficult, but settlement mounds also indicate a more comfortable family-friendly way of life. There were also simple tent-like huts, especially near the charcoal burners.