Archaeologia Austriaca 100/2016 Zeitschrift zur Archäologie Europas
Journal on the Archaeology of Europe
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
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DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
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Archaeologia Austriaca 100/2016 Zeitschrift zur Archäologie Europas
Journal on the Archaeology of Europe
ISSN 0003-8008
Print Edition ISSN 1816-2959 Online Edition ISBN 978-3-7001-8049-4 Print Edition ISBN 978-3-7001-8088-3 Online Edition Archaeologia Austriaca 100 doi:10.1553/archaeologia100
2016, 324 Seiten, zahlr. Farb- und SW Abb., 29,7x21cm, broschiert € 98,–
Zdravko Tsintsov,
Nadia Petrova,
Mathias Mehofer
S. 109 - 118 doi:10.1553/archaeologia100s109
Abstract: Ada Tepe is the oldest known open-pit mine on the Balkan Peninsula for mining gold from host rocks. The mine probably started operation around 1500 BC and continued to function until the end of the 12th to the middle of the 11th century BC. The sedimentary and hydrothermally altered host rocks in the upper zone of Ada Tepe are usually of a grey or yellow colour or, in some places, yellow-brown. The rock pieces in the waste dumps are usually darker, with a red or red-brown coloration, which is obviously not connected to geological processes. It is suggested that the difference in colour between the host rocks and the fragments in the waste dumps are due to the phase transformation of minerals caused by the ancient miners using fire to fracture the host rocks in order to extract the gold ore. The majority of the analysed rock samples have a polyphase composition of goethite, hematite, schwertmannite, Au-Ag alloys, iron ochres, quartz and adularia. The phase diagnostics were performed by ore microscopy and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), morphological peculiarities were determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) while the thermal behaviour was investigated by differential thermal analysis and thermo gravimetric (DTA-TG) method. This paper will present the analytical results, which led to the conclusion that the difference in the coloration is due to the processes of transformation of nano-sized Fe3+ (oxy)hydroxides and (oxy)hydroxysulfate minerals caused by anthropogenic thermal processing. Keywords: Gold, Bronze Age, gold mining, mining archaeology, mineralogy, host rocks, Fe-oxides/hydroxides, Ada Tepe, east Rhodopes, Bulgaria Published Online: 2016/12/19 08:50:36 Document Date: 2016/12/19 08:07:00 Object Identifier: 0xc1aa5576 0x00349819 Rights: .
Barbara Horejs, Estella Weiss-Krejci
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |