Eine Zeitreise durch 10.000 Jahre Bergbau in den Ostalpen

Mining in the Eastern and Southern Alps commenced early in the prehistoric past. Particularly the use of the rich mineral raw materials and geo-ressources such as hunting grounds and pastures stimulated or even caused human occupation of Alpine landscapes. However, the presently dominant understanding of the Alps as a recreation park and a traffic block increasingly supersedes the notion of the ancient coherence of the cultural landscape. In the past, periods of an increased interest in the Alpine region [e.g. in copper, salt or iron] and phases of marginalisation [e.g. in the major contexts of the Imperium Romanum or the present] took turns creating a permanent “uphill” and “downhill” as indicated by the exhibition title. This short guide provides for these and other aspects in its nine chapters dealing with the Alps as a physical space and cultural area, with geology and mining, copper, salt, the Romans in the Alps, the Medieval struggle for droits de régale, mining as a public task in Early Modern times, and the question of what remains and will remain of all this in the present and future. The volume is printed in colour throughout and ends with registers of authors and lenders.