Mining History

This page is to provide a short overview of the mining history of the Black Forest in General, with short views at mines in the Upper Rhine Graben and the Kaiserstuhl.

The first activities

The first mining activities, as far as we know, took place in neolithic times, 4500 - 5000 years B.C., when hematite had been mined as a red pigment (not as an ore mineral). The mining took place in the southwestern corner of the Black Forest. Two areas so far have been recognized: The Rammelsbach Valley next to Münstertal and the Speichel Mt. to the east of Sulzburg.

Hematite in these areas does occur as red ochre in very hard quartz veins. The miners had used hard quartzite pebbles from the Upper Rhine Valley, which were artificially shaped and sharpened and mounted at a wooden handle. Also, chert nodules from jurassic limestones had been mined next to Kleinkems to the north of Basel.

Map of the neolithic mining localities in the Southern Black Forest.

Map taken from www.openstreetmap.org.

Keltian iron mining

In the La Téne period (around 500 B.C.), iron mining took place next to Waldrennach. Waldrennach is a part of the town of  Neuenbürgand is situated in the Neuenbürg Mining District, Northern Black Forest.

Limonite had been mined there as an iron ore, especially at the Upper Schnaizteich Vein.The ore had been dug from small, bowl-shaped opencuts. About 50 furnaces were discovered in a small area. These furnaces were about 1 m in heighth and made of clay. Iron ore and charcoal had been filled in, then the charcoal had been ignited. The heat had been increased by usage of a pair of bellows, but the temperature had by no means reached the melting point of iron (around 1500 degrees), but usually are lower than 1200 degrees. Thus, iron output had been rather low, the iron forming a mass in close connection to the fayalite slag. This kind of iron  usually is really brittle.

Today, a reconstructed model of such a furnace can be seen next to the visitor's mine Frisch Glück not far from the keltian mining area.

Map of Neuenbürg showing the mining area in Keltian times. Map taken from www.openstreetmap.org

Roman mining activities

The Roman period began with the expansion of the Roman Empire to the north, especially in the first century, and ended around 350.

The ancient Romans founded several towns in the area, one of the biggest being Rottenburg next to Tübingen in the Neckar Valley. Although Rottenburg isn't situated directly in the Black Forest, the Black Forest had been influenced by the Roman towns in this area. There had been a plastered road from the Neckar Valley throgh the Central Black Forest, mostly alongside the Kinzig Valley Some relics can be visited near Schiltach and Schenkenzell.

Although there are Roman villages and roads in the Central Black Forest (as far as I know), no Roman mines have been found in this part.

Roman mining activities are limited to the southwestern part of the Black Forest, between the towns of Freiburg and Basel.

Clearly roman in age is a Villa Rustica (a type of Roman houses) at the "Geißmättle" hill east of Sulzburg, in close distance (a few hundred meters) to the lead-silver veins. Mining activities in this area are very likely in the 2nd/3rd century. East of this locality, in the Sulzbach Valley, at least five old stockpiles are located alongside the creek, which are clearly Roman in age. Those stockpiles are from gold panning activities in the creek.

At Badenweiler there is a Roman spa. Parts of it can be seen even today as ruins in the midth of the spa area in midtown Badenweiler. East of Badenweiler there are lead veins poor in silver. Roman mining activities in this area are very likely.

Another locality, where Roman mining activities are very likely, is the Münstertal Valley. But in this area Roman mines are not approved.

In the Roman period, mining usually took place at the outcrops, often as shallow diggings. The Roman minesites usually aren't preserved due to medieval mining in the same place.

Medieval Mining

The medieval mining probably started in 8th to 9th century.

The oldest known evidence is an piece of charcoal from an heat-treated ore sample from an unnamed, very old adit of theTeufelsgrund Mine, Münstertal Valley. It had been reported by the President of tthe Federal Geological Surey of Baden-Württemberg , F. Kirchheimer (1971), to be from around 950. That the charcoal had been found in an adit suggests that mining had started earlier.