Segers-Glocke, Christiane [Hrsg.]; Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege [Hrsg.]; Institut für Denkmalpflege [Hrsg.]; Balck, Friedrich [Bearb.]: Arbeitshefte zur Denkmalpflege in Niedersachsen: Aspects of mining and smelting in the Upper Harz Mountains (up to the 13th/14th century) - in the early times of a developing European culture and economy (St. Katharinen: Scripta Mercaturae Verl., Heft 22.2000)

45

Samples taken from the sites are prepared and sent to the appropriate scien-
tists for analysis. In the case of slag samples, a duplicate is kept at the centre for
reference.
The analytical results from slags, ores, metal relics, radiocarbon dating or
botanical studies are entered in the appropriate database from which they are
readily retrieved for analysis.
The chemical analyses point to the origin and preparation of the ores as well
as the smelter-technology used and the finished products produced at a site.
Carbon dating and botanical studies allow the elucidation and reconstruction of
the impacts of the mining industry on the surrounding forests.
All of this data is transmitted to the central database of monuments in Lower
Saxony. From there, the location of a find is notified to landowners and forestry
offices respectively and appropriate measures for its preservation are initiated.
The sites are also marked on a 1 : 2 500 wall chart to obtain an overview of
the work in progress. In this age of computerisation this, somewhat antiquated,
form of mapping is a luxury particularly pleasing to the eye.


Eisen 1: 104.2400/101.5300/99.0000
Eisen 2: 126.4100/121.2300/90.8500
Eisen 3: 140.6224/117.9029/97.0390

Fig. 11
Site 1549: high-resolution topographic survey of a lead smelter site.