The institutional mining archaeological research in Tyrol of the last years was focussed on the “big players” like Schwaz/Brixlegg and Kitzbühel areas. But beside these well-known major copper deposits there are more than 70 base metal mineralizations in Tyrol, west of the mining district of Schwaz/Brixlegg. In this area no systematic mining archaeological research was carried out until 2011, therefore the project “Prähistorische Kupferproduktion im Nordtiroler Oberland” was launched. The two main goals were the mineralogical and geochemical characterization of occurring copper ores and locating evidence for prehistoric mining in the target region. A selection of the most important results is presented here.
Within this project more than 30 surveys in 27 different mining areas have been carried out and 21 copper ore occurrences were sampled and analysed. Three mining areas yielded indication for prehistoric or roman mining and are waiting for detailed examination. Furthermore many different historic mining traces from this area would also merit thorough documentation.
From a mineralogical point of view the results show, that even in a small area like western Tyrol a great diversity of copper ore parageneses can be found. Theoretically it would have been possible to produce the main prehistoric copper types from genuine ores.