G. Wurzer, H. Reschreiter:
"The prehistoric salt mines from Hallstatt - perfect preservation leading to insightful simulation!";
Keynote Lecture: Ifac Mmm 2016, Vienna (invited); 2016-08-31 - 2016-09-02.

Hallstatt counts among the most important archaeological sites in Europe. For over 7000 years salt was mined here. Salt production shaped the cultural history of the Hallstatt region and was e.g. the reason for the development of the medieval town of Hallstatt since the 14th cent. AD.

Both Bronze Age salt mining (1500-1000 BC) and Iron Age salt mining (900-350 BC) have been researched in high detail and are well understood.

Foremost the mining sites are characterized by their extraordinary conditions of preservation. Everything that was left in the mines by the miners thousands of years previously has been preserved in perfect condition due to the salt. Thousands of tools and implements, fragments of clothing, wooden construction elements and other organic materials have been uncovered through the archaeological excavations.

Due to the excellent preservation conditions the working processes in the salt mines can be reconstructed in high detail, making it possible to simulate the activities of prehistoric miners in great detail. Mining, however, does not happen in isolation: It requires a vast amount of infrastructure, supplies as well as a proper workforce which is employed not only within the actual mining facility but also in the surrounding region. By drawing together data on birth and death rates of the area through e.g. excavations at the burial site in the Hallstatt high valley, we were able to simulate population dynamics and get a peek at the would-be society at this time. Furthermore, muscosceletal markers and other traces of erosion on the skeletons of the Early Iron Age miners gave us insight into age and furthermore characterized the typical gender-specific work division. Using these insights, it was possible to sketch out how life and work conditions in the Hallstatt salt mines may have looked like. We invite you to join our exciting fact finding mission in the plenary evening lecture during which we will present not only the current state of research but also some of the most advanced simulation techniques available to archaeology at this time.

archaeology, simulation, hallstatt