People and Geology
Geopark Heritage People and Geology
Mining and geology have existed inseparably almost as long as the human species, making the foundation of economic, cultural, scientific, technical-technological and general social development both in the past and the present. The emergence of mining and geology is related to the man’s attempts to subordinate nature to his needs, to use resources provided by nature, make tools for work and ensure existence. It was a long road from the original collection of minerals on the earth’s surface to one of man’s greatest breakthroughs in history that occurred eight thousand years ago – that a piece of rock turns into metal when heated by fire. The old wisdom about history being the witness of time, the light and truth and the life’s teacher (testis temporum, lux veritatis and magistra vitae) confirms its truthfulness on the example of mining and geology and also teaches us that neither development nor history begins with us, that we are only a link in the ongoing process.
Rudna Glava Mine
Searching for and collecting flint, obsidian and pigment are the germs of the common beginning of mining and geology. Archaeology indicates that the roots of mining, geology and metallurgy lie in the territory of Serbia in prehistory, which is proved by numerous archaeological sites, specific representative cultural monuments from the beginnings of mining, geology and metallurgy in the Neolithic and the early Eneolithic, including Rudna Glava near Majdanpek, Belovode in the vicinity of Petrovac on the Mlava River, Pločnik near Prokuplje, Mali Šturac (Prlovi) at Rudnik, Stojnik at Kosmaj, Jarmovac near Priboj, Deli Jovan, Rujnik etc.
In the first half of the 20th century, during the years-long operation of the modern mine of iron ore – magnetite, on a hill above the village of Rudna Glava, the remains of old mining works, mining shafts, were discovered, dating back to the prehistoric period, as well as the traces of mining galleries from the ancient times. In the 1960s, after stopping the exploitation of the modern mine, archaeological explorations of ancient mining began. They lasted as many as two decades and, thanks to them, today we know the locality of the “Mine – Open Pit”, as this archaeological site is called, as the oldest copper mine in Europe and one of the oldest in the world (second half of the 6th and the beginning of the 5th millennium BC – the Vinča culture). This place is considered the starting point and foundation for the future development of European culture and civilization, i.e., the place where the metal age revolution began.
The explorations showed that the ore was extracted mostly in vertical shafts (pits), or in vertical ore lens channels with the diameter of 1.5–2 metres, so that two miners could work in them at the same time. The skill of prehistoric miners is supported by the depth of the shafts, with the deepest one being about 20 metres, while the layout of about 40 open shafts shows that copper ore in Rudna Glava was exploited intensively and lasted for a long time. This mine functioned from spring to autumn, when tools were stored in special rooms until the next seasons. The tools found in the five storage rooms were made of river pebbles originating from volcanic rocks and differing in their size and shape – massive rams with transverse grooves for clamping the ropes used for ore breaking and crushing; smaller tools, or wedges for crushing larger pieces of ore, and bone tools in the form of deer antlers used for collecting the broken and crushed ore. The ceramic bowls were also found – of large dimensions and massive walls, mostly pots and amphorae, which served for pouring water onto red-hot walls of the ore vein channels, in order to make ore brittle. In the storage rooms in Rudna Glava, parts of special bowls were found that had a cult character –altars with stylized representations of deer heads and recipients placed on four legs and decorated with geometric carvings. The ceramics and tools used by miners are made of local materials, together with the fact that there are no traces of other impacts, are a clear proof of the autochthonous knowledge, work and experience of Rudna Glava miners.
The found artefacts coming from the locality of the Mine – Open Pit, the ancient mine in Rudna Glava near Majdanpek: stone and bone tools, ceramic bowls and so-called ceramic altars, are part of the archaeological collection in the Museum of Mining and Metallurgy in Bor. The material on display represents the “tools and cult objects” of the miners who exploited this mine, today known as one of the oldest mines of malachite and azurite, copper minerals, which dates back to the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 5th millennium BC.
Source: “History of Serbian Mining”, Slobodan Vujić, the Museum of Mining and Metallurgy in Bor
Majdanpek and mining through centuries
Mining in Majdanpek and its vicinity has been present for a very long time, more than seven thousand years. The name of this mining town has not been substantially changed since its first mention in the historical sources in the 16th century. Both the former Medani Pek and modern Majdanpek are the names containing the words copper, mine and the Pek. Although no systematic archaeological explorations have been conducted in Majdanpek, some accidental findings indicated the remains of the Eneolithic mining, as well as the presence of Ancient Romans, Byzantines, medieval Saxons, Turks and Austrians. Therefore, mining has been performed in the valley of Mali Pek for thousands of years.
In the distant past, in the period preceding the Trojan War, ancient Greeks are assumed to have exploited the gold-bearing rivers of today’s north-east Serbia, the richest of which was the Pek River.
The time when the Argonauts started searching for the Golden Fleece is also dated in the period of the 13th and 12th centuries BC. The presence of the Greeks in this territory, according to ethnologist Paun Es Durlić from Majdanpek, can also be proved by the name of the Pek River, as the second part of the compound name Majdanpek. According to Durlić, the hydronium Pek is of Greek origin and comes from pekos, meaning sheep fleece.
It is known that ancient Argonauts used to place sheep fleece into the riverbed for the purpose of gold washing. This ancient washing technique was maintained by the inhabitants in the Pek River Valley until quite recent times, while today it is mostly used for tourist purposes.
In written historical sources, Majdanpek as Medani Pek appears first in the 16th century, while the first written document with the name of the settlement dates back to 1560, when copper production was renewed in Medani Pek, as it was called by the Turks.
Earlier historiography related the beginning of Turkish exploitation to the year of 1574, when a certain spahi Behram was given a ziamet (land tenure) for having discovered and renewed the mine of Majdanpek with his own means. The historians’ assumption is that this is quite likely, and that spahi Behram started production in 1560 and was given the well-deserved reward in 1574.
A large number of researchers assigns Turkish origin to the name of Majdanpek. However, ethnologist Paun Durlić notes that the oeconym Medani Pek, documented both in Hungarian and in some later Western sources, is based on the word med, stating that it is definitely an old Serbian name for copper. He believes that the Turks actually inherited that name, which is also solid proof that this mine previously used to be in Serbian hands.
Medani Pek as an important crossroads at “17 days from Istanbul is mentioned in the 17th century, which was recorded by Stojan Novakovič in his paper “Haji-Kalfa or Ćatib-Čelebija – the 17th century Turkish Geographer about the Balkan Peninsula”, published in the Almanac (Spomenik) of the Serbian Royal Academy No. 18, Belgrade, from 1892.
This settlement with a similar name, which still contains the word med in its base, appears in the Western sources of the 18th century and since then it has gradually been suppressed by the competing Turkish form based on the Arabic word madan (mine, ore), widely accepted in Serbia in the form of majdan, with the same meaning.
Miners have been present here for many centuries, although in a modern way, not with sheep fleece, while the name of the mining town has been maintained with slight modifications to date.
Treskavac
With the height of 755 m above sea level, Treskavac is one of the highest peaks in the Romanian Iron Gates natural park, opposite the first and only geopark inn Serbia, Djerdap UNESCO geopark. The bare, almost vertical porphyry rock, as the last remnant of the long-extinct volcanic cone, is certainly one of the most impressive sights from both sides of this section of the Danube. Since it is opposite Lepenski Vir, many archaeologists and historians believe that the inhabitants of this prehistoric settlement had a special relationship towards Treskavac and that they intentionally build their houses in the shape of this rock trapezoid. It is particularly interesting that pieces of volcanic rocks from Treskavac, particularly those of silicified volcanic glass, were used in the cut stone industry in Lepenski Vir.
Today, we definitely do not know how Treskavac was looked at by our distant ancestors thousands of years ago, but it is evident that this peak, even after so much time, continues to intrigue the imagination of people living on both sides of the large river. There are frequently those who often believe in the supernatural features of Treskavac, while the crown proof for their beliefs is that almost all thunderbolts strike this very peak in a storm. That is how it got its name, which was accepted by Romanians in an adapted version of Trescovăţ, which would not be difficult to explain by the composition and position of the rock. However, some will always claim that “there is something in it”.
Furthermore, what has made Treskavac special throughout centuries is the double sunrise above this peak on the summer solstice, which can be seen in our time as well.
This astronomical phenomenon over the characteristic mountainous relief on the other side of the Danube is what nature provided to the former inhabitants of Lepenski Vir – a measuring instrument for orientation in time and a sort of calendar.
The double sunrise in Treskavac on the summer solstice was the starting point of that calendar and ancient inhabitants of Lepenski Vir watched how the sunrise point moved right on that particular day, which announced shorter days. It lasts until winter solstice on 21st December, when the sun rises behind the peak of Kukujovo and the process reverses.
Researchers and archaeo-astronomers believe that the inhabitants of Lepenski Vir noticed the regularity in the movement of the sunrise on the eastern horizon with the change of seasons, as well as that, according to the predicted changes, this community was able to prepare the stocks of food, warm clothes and kindling in a timely manner, and to find a safe shelter for the winter period. In his works, the founder of archaeometeorology, Professor Clive Bonsall, observes that Lepenski Vir is the only of several settlements of the same civilization in Djerdap Gorge that survived the cooling period 8,200 years ago, when Europe was stricken by strong rain and floods, while the inhabitants of the neighbouring settlements left their dwellings. Academician Dragoslav Srejović, who discovered Lepenski Vir, noticed the direction of most houses in this settlement towards Treskavac. He explained it by exceptional significance assigned to Treskavac by the inhabitants of Lepenski Vir.
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