Mining archaeology in Montafon, Vorarlberg (Austria)Archeology and history of a mining district in the Central Alps

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The mining district in the Montafon achieved in comparison to the major mining districts in the Eastern Alps, hardly no significance and remained so far from the research unnoticed. Only in the course of the new research on the prehistoric settlement and mining history, since 2002 mining archaeology and geoarchaeological and archaeobotanical data together with scientific dating have yielded a wealth of impressive results. Noteworthy are now numerous evidences of the mining activity in the High Middle Ages, the latest with the Pingenbergbau on the Kristberg mountain and on the Bartholomäberg from the 11/12th century AD. The extraordinary discoveries and findings from the period around 1300 from an excavation on the Kristberg mountain, refer impressively the importance of mining and the resulting induced prosperity, finally in the establishment of churches in Bartholomäberg and on the Kristberg.The new data since 2002 from mining sites of the mining district Montafon make it clear, that we constitute a jewel of the early mining history of the region and are far beyond only at the beginning of the exploration of the early history of mining in the Montafon and far beyond.A particular focus will be on further exploration of the different indications of prehistoric mining in the Bronze and Iron Ages, which were developed only in recent years. As part of the project application, new archaeological excavations in mining sites shall help to understand the development of these oldest traces of mining. This is an important task in order to reconstruct the economic background in addition to the subsistence and livestock for the prehistoric settlement chamber at Bartholomäberg.