Krzemionki Prehistoric Striped Flint Mining Region

Krzemionki Prehistoric Striped Flint Mining Region
Located in the mountain region of Świętokrzyskie, Krzemionki is an ensemble of four mining sites, dating from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age (about 3900 to 1600 BCE), dedicated to the extraction and processing of striped flint, which was mainly used for axe-making. With its underground mining structures, flint workshops and some 4,000 shafts and pits, the property features one of the most comprehensive prehistoric underground flint extraction and processing systems identified to date. The property provides information about life and work in prehistoric settlements and bears witness to an extinct cultural tradition. It is an exceptional testimony of the importance of the prehistoric period and of flint mining for tool production in human history.

Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Région minière préhistorique de silex rayé de Krzemionki
Situé dans la région des montagnes de Świętokrzyskie, Krzemionki est un ensemble de quatre sites miniers datant du Néolithique et de l’Âge du bronze (environ 3 900 à 1 600 ans AEC) dédiés à l’extraction et à la transformation de silex rayé, qui a principalement servi au façonnage de haches. Avec ses structures minières souterraines, ses ateliers de taille du silex et ses quelque 4 000 puits et fosses, le bien présente l’un des systèmes d’extraction et de traitement du silex souterrain préhistorique le plus complet répertorié à ce jour. Ce bien illustre les modes de vie et de travail des communautés préhistoriques sédentarisées et témoigne d’une tradition culturelle qui a disparu. Il s’agit d’une preuve exceptionnelle que la période préhistorique, avec l’extraction du silex pour produire des outils, a été une étape charnière dans l’histoire de l’humanité.

Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

منطقة تعدين الصوان التي تعود لفترة ما قبل التاريخ في كرازمنسكي
يوجد هذا الموقع في منطقة جبال سويتوكرزيسكي، ويتكون من أربعة مواقع تعدين يرجع تاريخها إلى العصر الحجري الحديث والعصر البرونزي (أي حوالي 3900 إلى 1600 سنة قبل الميلاد). وتستخدم هذه المناطق في المقام الأول لاستخراج ومعالجة الصوان المخطط، الذي كان يستخدم بشكل رئيسي لصناعة الفؤوس. ويتميز الموقع بفضل هياكل التعدين الموجودة تحت الأرض وورش قطع الصوان وامتلاكه لحوالي 4000 بئر وخندق، بامتلاكه لأحد نظم استخراج الصوان التي يرجع تاريخها إلى عصور ما قبل التاريخ وأكثرها تكاملاً حتى يومنا هذا. ويوضّح الموقع أنماط الحياة والأعمال التي كانت تمارسها المجتمعات في عصور ما قبل التاريخ، ويقف شاهداً على التقاليد الثقافية المندثرة. ويعدّ أيضاً دليلاً فريداً على أن فترة ما قبل التاريخ كانت، بفضل استخراج الصوان واستخدامه في إنتاج الأدوات، مرحلة فارقة في تاريخ البشرية.

source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

科舍米翁奇的史前条纹燧石矿区
科舍米翁奇矿区位于圣十字省的山区,由4个采矿点组成。这些采矿点可追溯至新石器时代和青铜时代(公元前3900-1600年),开采和加工的条纹燧石用于石斧制造。该矿区包含地下采矿结构、燧石锻造工坊、4千多口矿井,是迄今发现的最全面的史前地下燧石采集和开发系统之一。该遗产地提供了关于史前人类定居点的生活和工作情况的信息,并见证了已灭绝的文化传统,是史前时期和用于工具生产的燧石开采在人类历史上的重要性的突出见证。

source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Кшемёнки, район добычи полосатого кремня
Расположенный в районе Свентокшиских гор, Кшемёнки представляет собой ансамбль из четырех объектов добычи и переработки полосатого кремня эпохи неолита и бронзового века (около 3900 – 1600 гг. до н.э.). В те времена кремень использовался для производства топоров. На территории этого объекта находится около 4000 скважин и карьеров, а также мастерские и подземные шахтные сооружения. Этот культурный объект представляет собой одну из самых комплексных доисторических систем добычи и обработки кремня, дошедших до наших дней. Кшемёнки предоставляет информацию об образе жизни и работе в доисторических поселениях и свидетельствует об исчезнувшей культурной традиции. Это исключительное свидетельство того, что доисторический период извлечения кремня для производства орудий труда был важной вехой в истории человечества.

source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Región minera prehistórica del sílex rayado de Krzemionki
Situado en la región montañosa de Świętokrzyskie, el sitio de Krzemionki comprende cuatro minas que datan del Periodo Neolítico y la Edad del Bronce (circa 3900-1600 años a.C.). Dedicadas a la extracción y transformación del sílex rayado para fabricar hachas principalmente, esas minas contaban con estructuras subterráneas e instalaciones para la talla de este mineral, y también con unos 4.000 pozos y fosas. Todos esos elementos hacen de este sitio el complejo prehistórico más completo de minería de fondo del sílex que se ha encontrado hasta la fecha. Este sitio ilustra los modos de vida y de trabajo de las comunidades prehistóricas sedentarizadas y es testimonio de una tradición cultural ya desaparecida. Se trata de una prueba excepcional de que el periodo prehistórico, con la extracción del sílex para fabricar herramientas, fue una etapa fundamental en la historia de la Humanidad.

source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Outstanding Universal Value

Brief synthesis

Krzemionki Prehistoric Striped Flint Mining Region (in short: Krzemionki) is located in the north-eastern fringe of the Świętokrzyskie (Holy Cross) Mountains in central Poland on both sides of Kamienna River. It is a serial property comprised of four component parts: the principal Krzemionki Opatowskie Mining Field; two smaller mining fields, Borownia and Korycizna, aligned on the same geological structure; and the Gawroniec prehistoric miners’ permanent settlement that received semi products of flint axes from the mines for finishing and polishing prior to distribution. The property dates from 3,900 BCE to 1,600 BCE (Neolithic to Early Bronze Age) and is one of the largest known complexes of its type in the Neolithic Period. It is also the most completely preserved and wholly readable socio-technical system of prehistoric underground flint mining and processing and illustrates the greatest range of prehistoric flint mining techniques known in a single property. Attributes include great chambers with a floor area of over 500 m2 that are unknown from any other site. At the property, a unique type of flint – striped flint banded in exceptional zebra-like patterns of alternating shades of grey – was mined and fashioned into axes and distributed in a verifiable radius of 650 km from the complex, in present-day Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania.

A diverse range of mine types are also identified with different surface expressions in a remarkably intact anthropogenic surface that presents a rare prehistoric industrial landscape of shaft depressions and up-cast waste, remnants of flint workshops, miners’ camps and communication routes. Gawroniec Settlement, integral to the functioning of the deposit management system, is a legible testimony to the organisation of a prehistoric community based around mining.

Criterion (iii): Krzemionki Prehistoric Striped Flint Mining Region is illustrative of the living and working patterns of settled prehistoric communities that distinguish the Neolithic period from that which preceded it. The serial property bears witness to the economic and social organisation of segments of the Neolithic society, which were linked to the extraction of flint and its use for the production of polished axes.

The attributes of the property, including the integral Gawroniec Settlement are further enhanced by the proven distribution of striped-flint axes that have been identified in a radius of over 650 km from the complex – the largest recorded range for prehistoric flint axes which act as significant indicators for prehistoric movements.

Criterion (iv): Krzemionki Prehistoric Striped Flint Mining Region represents an exceptional type of Neolithic mining landscape, bearing witness both to a complex technical and social system and to human adaptation to the conditions of natural resource exploitation that is a landmark in the history of mining. It provides evidence that the prehistoric period brought flint mining to produce tools in the largest known example for the prehistoric exploitation of flint. The serial property illustrates diverse underground prehistoric mining structures comprising open-pit, niche-gallery, gallery, pillar-chamber and chamber mines – and primary workshops, which survive intact in well over 4,000 shafts and pits.

Integrity

Krzemionki Prehistoric Striped Flint Mining Region, as a whole, comprises the best preserved, most technically diverse and complete prehistoric flint mining assemblage known in a European context. All attributes necessary to express the Outstanding Universal Value are included in the serial property that represents the exploitation of the only known deposit of striped flint to be mined in prehistory. Principle features and attributes have been confirmed in detail using a combination of archaeological research methods, including Airborne Laser Scanning that has accurately mapped the sites in 3D under forest cover. The permanent settlement site, on a promontory in open agricultural fields, was archaeologically excavated in the late-1940s and 1950s and the boundary exceeds the archaeological site boundary that contains all known evidence of prehistoric settlement.

The property does not suffer from current adverse development or neglect. The preserved visual setting of the property is protected by means of restrictive buffer zone management and the rigorous application of heritage impact assessments including to quarries used in recent times.

Authenticity

Krzemionki Prehistoric Striped Flint Mining Region is authentic in all its attributes, expressed by information sources, that include: the well preserved form and structure of the underground structures, such as shafts, chambers, communication galleries, transport corridors, supporting pillars or waste heaps of mining and processing, as well as the aboveground industrial mining landscape consisting of shaft depressions and waste tips, remnants of flint workshops, miners’ camps and communication routes. The majority of the mining fields are left unexcavated. At Krzemionki Opatowskie Mining Field, a small segment of the mining field has been excavated archaeologically and, after some conservation work, illustrates a combination of attributes that have remained almost unchanged for over 5,000 years. Attributes of Gawroniec Settlement are equally easily legible in terms of location and setting, form, and archaeological evidence that is tangible proof of organisation and process directly tied to the mining fields. Archaeological excavations were conducted between 1947 and 1961 and apart from plentiful waste from flint processing, dateable evidence included pottery (large storage vessels, funnel-shaped flasks and vases, ceramic pipes, and ceramic weaving spindles) and organic remains which were radiocarbon-dated to between 3,500 and 3,200 BCE.

Protection and management requirements

The property is under full legal protection in its entirety. The management system for Krzemionki Prehistoric Striped Flint Mining Region is implemented by the ‘Krzemionki’ Archaeological Museum and Reserve (Muzeum Archeologiczne i Rezerwat „Krzemionki”), a local museum which takes the lead role in the management and protection of Krzemionki. Its activity has been adapted and extended to the other three component parts in the series, as part of a new property management plan process. A cultural park is being created (2020-2025) to facilitate the preparation of a local spatial development plan in integration with the management plan, which will enable planned and coordinated execution of the tasks and protection of the wider setting of the property.
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