Abstract
Mining waste deposits from Austrian Stone Age mining are the oldest anthropogenic deposits recognized on geological maps of Austria. These anthropogenic deposits come from extensive Bronze Age mining for copper (e.g., the Mitterberg area, Salzburg District) and salt (e.g., the Hallstatt area, Upper Austria), having an age around 1400 BC. Based on these mapped geological units, which should be included into a forthcoming definition of the Anthropocene, I argue for an “old” base of the Anthropocene to include such anthropogenic deposits.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Certini, G., & Scalenghe, R. (2011). Anthropogenic soils are the golden spikes for the Anthropocene. The Holocene,22, 1491–1494.
Crutzen, P. J. (2002). Geology of mankind. Nature,415, 23.
Crutzen, P. J., & Stoermer, E. F. (2000). The ‘Anthropocene’. Global Change Newsletter,41, 17–18.
Price, S. J., Ford, J. R., Cooper, A. H., & Neal, C. (2011). Humans as major geological and geomorphological agents in the Anthropocene: The significance of artificial ground in Great Britain. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A,369, 1056–1084.
Ruddiman, W. F. (2003). The anthropogenic greenhouse era began thousands of years ago. Climatic Change,61, 261–293.
Stadler, P. (1999). Aktueller Stand der Verschiedenen Gruppen des urgeschichtlichen Bergbaus und eines Blockbaus in Hallstatt aufgrund von 14C-Daten. Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien,101a, 69–80.
Stöllner, T., Cierny, J., Eibner, C., et al. (2006). Der bronzezeitliche Bergbau im Südrevier des Mitterberggebietes. Bericht zu den Forschungen der Jahre 2002 bis 2006. Archaeologia Austriaca,90, 87–137.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Wagreich, M. (2014). Do Old Mining Waste Deposits from Austria Define an “Old” Anthropocene?. In: Rocha, R., Pais, J., Kullberg, J., Finney, S. (eds) STRATI 2013. Springer Geology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04364-7_185
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04364-7_185
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-04363-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-04364-7
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)