Study of ancient mines Pb/Ag/Cu of Lorraine Warndt North – France (DSA memory). Chrono-typological approach of mining technologies Antiquity – Middle Age
Etude des mines anciennes (Pb / Ag / Cu) du Warndt du Nord Lorrain (mémoire de DSA), France, Vol 1. Essai de chrono-typologie des techniques d'abattage (Antiquité – XIX e Siècle).
Résumé
Study of ancient mines Pb/Ag/Cu of Lorraine Warndt North – France Chrono-typological approach of mining technologies Antiquity – Middle Age The Warndt mining district belongs to the sarro-Lorraine region which forms a homogeneous geological and geographical entity located in the North-Center part of the Moselle Department in France between Saarlouis in the Northwest, Saint-Avold in the South and Forbach in the East. The lead-silver and copper mineralizations are located in the upper Bundsandstein sandstones layers which constitute the main part of the geology of this area. This metallic ore deposit determined very early the setting-up of surface and underground mining works, with shafts or adits, which evolved according to the periods, the technologies, concessions and the nature of the metallic ores which was researched. This paper aims to take back, the researches on this mining district and to realize new investigations at the same time on the outcrops and underground of the more important mining sites, like Grande Saule (Great willow), or Bering Mines, which could reveal ancient mining works. The report is drawing up a current inventory and a detailed history of the researches since the end of the years 1970. Researches in the National Archives, in Moselle, Meurthe-et-Moselle Archives Departments and in the Archives of the French School of Mines, particularly for modern and contemporary periods. Four years of intensive field survey in Northern Warndt allowed collecting now a lot of information and mining traces. About 468 unpublished mining entrances have been located and inventoried in a database what establishes a wide potential of archeological sites in this area. The study of galleries sections, working faces, toolmarks and lamp traces constitutes the third part of this report. Thus, it leans on an original approach of analysis and identification of stoping marks which is abundantly illustrated. Underground, mining exploration and recognitions allowed to observe numerous evidences of works among them a few of them are previous to the appearance of black powder. By comparing the data recently acquired by the archeologists of the Deutsche Bergbau Museum of Bochum, on close mines dated the III th century BC., and observations led inside wide underground networks as Bleiberg or Great Saule Mine, no doubt that there are real similarities both in the layout of the ore deposit and in the morphology of the galleries. The exhaustive inventory of these mining sites: waste deposits, mines entrances, has been edited in a second volume; it contains georeferenced index survey maps, but these will remain unpublished in order to protect the sites. Field prospections and underground investigations have brought elements allowing to understand the organization of these exploitations thorough time and specially to map this mining district, showing the dispersal of sites and their distribution within the geomorphological context. The evolution and the perfection of certain works during the specific so called "Saur period" is a typical example. Warndt underground mines are an exceptional conservatory of marks. Underground landscapes allow redrawing an evolution of technologies over several centuries of history. Their location and the bedrock composition constitute a key factor for heritage conservation.
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