Ancient salt-mining in Austria

Extract

Above Hallein, 14 km south of Salzburg and at 800 m above sea level, the spa village of Heilbad Dürrnberg clusters around what until recently was a centre of commercial salt production. Its prehistoric roots overlapped with the hey-day of the well-known Hallstatt site, 40 km east. From c. 750-150 BC a community of perhaps 200 provided the labour force for the mines. It was clearly dangerous work; in 1573 and again in 1616 there are contemporary records of the discovery of the wellpreserved bodies of Iron Age miners while on the Dürrnberg as again at Hallstatt there are indications of serious landslides. As in historic times, the miners probably worked part-time only, in spring and autumn tending their pigs and cattle and pasture land. The wealth of this small settlement is clearly evidenced by the clusters of graves which surrounded the various rectangular houses.