Loccata CMS

Co-ordinates: Rechtswert:  9.91608421 Northing: 47.097814573 Altitude: Category: History Countryside The landscape is shaped by the old mines

Knappa Gruaba

The depressions in the slope mark former adit entrances. An adit is a nearly horizontal passage from the surface in a mine. The hills with flattened tops are dirt pits of barren rock. Each of the pits can be correlated with one adit entrance. The landscape of dirt pits and adit entrances developed during the climax of the mining activities at Bartholomaeberg between 1000 and 1600 AD.

Mining activities on the Bartholomaeberg

The ores at Bartholomaeberg – Kristberg are restricted to the transition zone of the Silvretta Crystalline to the overlying sediments of the Northern Calcareous Alps. The ores originate from old volcanoes which, 285 million years ago, spewed ignimbrites which are clouds of lava, that were rich in copper, barite, silver, gold, uranium, lead and iron.

Living and Working Conditions of the Miners

As the occurrence of ore at Bartholomaeberg has always been small, mining was often done by loosely connected cooperatives. There was a great difference to the mining activities in the Tyrol where families like the well-known Fuggers or large companies dominated the field of mining, whereas in the Montafon valley mining was carried out in most cases by the inhabitants alongside of farming.