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Römischer Basaltlava-Abbau zwischen Eifel und Rhein
Between the towns of Andernach on the Rhine and Mayen in the Eifel, there was already one of the large mining areas for mineral raw materials in ancient times. Products made of basalt lava - above all high-quality millstones - became real export hits in Roman times. Traded on a large scale across the Rhine, they found buyers in Britain as well as in the foothills of the Alps.
The study focuses on the millstone quarries at the Bellerberg volcano near Mayen. New excavations and prospections within the framework of the Volcano Park East Eifel Project allow a detailed reconstruction of the production processes and show a high degree of division of labour. Model calculations including all finds and features also from pre- and post-Roman epochs allow quantification of the economic processes. A synthesis of all comparable mining areas in the Old World rounds off the study.
