La miniera di Monte Loreto dal Neolitico all’alto Medioevo

This paper discusses prehistoric copper mining at Monte Loreto. Work between 1996 and 2004 by the then Archaeological Superintendency of Liguria and Dept of Archaeology, University of Nottingham (UK), had two main aims:1) in collaboration with the Centro Studi Sotterranei, Genoa, to investigate 19th century reports of prehistoric copper mines in fissures in the country rock; we were able to identify these which were 14C-dated to the Copper Age.2) to undertake an area excavation of mine tailings (ML6) with a large number of surface finds of hammerstones. Mining and ore beneficiation debris, underlying an iron forge of Byzantine-Langobardic date, was radiocarbon dated to the Copper Age.Rescue excavation for the construction of a new water supply tank yielded three new dates, one Copper Age, the other two Neolithic (first quarter of the 4th millennium BC). This work, in various locations across the mountainside, suggested that prehistoric mining did not continue after the Copper Age (although a sherd found in one mining trench, T11, could perhaps be dated to the Bronze Age).Further work was undertaken in 2006 by the Superintendency to define the area of archaeological interest so that it could be designated. Machine trial trenching was carried out at six points.Test pit S3 (figs 2A, 2B) was on the edge of an area of tailings where hammerstones had been found, next to a deep feature interpreted as a trench mine. Two 14C dates, LTL2502A: 2462±45 BP (770-410 BC) and LTL2057A: 4164±45 (2890-2620 BC), showed that the mine was exploited in the Copper Age and in the Iron Age.Test pit S4 (figs 3A, 3B) was 30m further along the same fissure. Seven potsherds probably relate to a Final Bronze Age (FBA) brazier. Four 14C dates - US 1B - LTL2056A: 1361±60 BP (560-780 AD); US 3A - LTL2503A: 1829±40 BP (80-320 AD); US 6 - LTL2504A: 2053±40 BP (180 BC – 50 AD); US 9 - LTL2055A: 2792±65 BP (1120-810 BC) - document multiple phases of mining by firesetting in the FBA, Roman, and Late Antique periods. A large hammerstone of unusual form found nearby may document their continued use in the FBA.Test pit S400 (figs 4A, 4B) was sited near ML6. Two 14C dates, US 3 - LTL2052A: 2808±50 BP (1110-830 BC) and US 8 - LTL2059A: 3521±60 BP (2030-1690 BC), show that mining continued there into the EBA and was likely reprised in the FBA.Excavations in fissure mine T11 (figs 5A, 5B, 8, 9) were extended. The layer with Bronze Age type pottery was dated Beta 203529: 2960±40 BP (1290-1030 BC), confirming its RBA-FBA date; lower layers had Copper Age dates: LTL 2053A: 3887±55 BP (2550-2200 BC); LTL 2054A: 3901±50 BP (2560-2200 BC); LTL 2058A: 4039±45 BP (2860-2460 BC). This suggests two distinct mining phases. The trial trenching shows that the area of ancient mining covers more than 4 ha. Our evidence for Iron Age mining confirms the use of Monte Loreto copper at the 1st mill. BC cemetery at Chiavari (Pearce, Maggi this volume). It should be noted that our previous estimates of the prehistoric copper production at Monte Loreto need to be recalibrated for the longer period of mining