Mining archaeology in the British Isles
Other momentous researches were that of geologist John S. Jackson about mines in Ireland and Lewis, Jones in Dolaucothi goldmine in Wales, and the pioneering work of Ronald F. Tylecote.
Moreover, in the 1980s and 1990s a new generation of amateurs and scientists began investigations in different locations in the British Isles, including Duncan James on the Great Orme's Head, Simon Timberlake with the Early Mines Research Group at sites in Wales and William O'Brien in Ireland.
[3] The Great Orme mine exploitation, on the North Wales coast began in the Bronze Age and continued until the nineteenth century.
[4] In 1976 Duncan James revealed in Great Orme a shaft which included a firesetting in connection with stone hammers, bone tools and rock dump.
[5] Evidence for early quarrying was also discovered in Alderley Edge though industrial operations in the 19th century destroyed a big part of the earlier deposits.
This finds in combination with an early phase in 2400 BC makes the site and the settlement very important for mining Archaeology in the British Isles.
[7] Mount Gabriel located close to west Cork provides useful evidence for the exploitation of copper ore in the Early Bronze Age about 1700 BC.
Mount Gabriel constitute until now the only locations, where primitive assemblages remained undisturbed by 19th century deeds due to the low quality of its veins.
Further metallic lead pigs originate from Peak District in Derbyshire has been discovered but the exact position of the mines remains unknown.
Likewise a second location with possible Roman dated exploration is Pen-lan-wen where a group of adits was found, traces of chisels and picks were obvious at the surfaces of the ambit's walls but the evidence are tenuous.
Through the excavations by Lewis and Jones four main leats, a complex group of tanks and reservoirs were revealed in different areas either in direct vicinity with the mines or nearby water sources.
[13] The Middle Ages was a flourishing period for the exploitations of metal in general, a prime mover for this was the inference of monasteries in extraction of minerals.
Further Ross Island excavations displayed a smelting site connected with a settlement nearby the local mines but the contemporary workings are untraceable.
The term includes the social status of the miners, their way of life, the relationships with adjoined communities due to archaeological record, the symbolic value of the ore which was reflected also at the finished objects and in general to recreate the past society in which these operations took part.
Yet in collaboration with experimental archaeology important observations have occur as far as primitive techniques of extraction and their traceable residues or ways in which mining tools were used their properties and the distinctive marks of their usages.
Moreover, scientific analytical methods can submit important data about chemical composition of minerals, slag and artefacts allowing archaeologists to build correlations or identify provenance.
