History
Along with Dognecea area, Ocna de Fier is among the few settlements in the world that supported almost continuous mining for some 4000 years.
Archaeological evidence shows that mining in the area dates back to the Bronze Age (1900 - 1700 BC). The main ore exploited in those times was native copper from the oxidation zone of the deposit. Later on, iron ores brought about a gradual switch from copper to iron mining.
Mining was an activity of the Dacians, the ancient inhabitants of present day Romania. After the Roman conquest in 106, mining was expanded in the Roman province of Dacia. At Berzovis (present day Berzovia, ten kilometres northwest of Ocna de Fier) a Roman metallurgy school, Schola fabrorum, was established, showing the keen interest the Romans had in metal extraction. At Cracul cu Aur (= "Golden Hill" in Romanian), north of Ocna de Fier, old Roman gold mining galleries can still be seen. They look like the much better preserved ones at Rosia Montana ("Verespatak"), in the Apuseni Mountains.
The "Constantin Gruescu" Iron Aesthetic Mineralogy Museum is located in Ocna de Fier.
Read more about this topic: Ocna De Fier
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“You that would judge me do not judge alone
This book or that, come to this hallowed place
Where my friends’ portraits hang and look thereon;
Ireland’s history in their lineaments trace;
Think where man’s glory most begins and ends
And say my glory was I had such friends.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“The history of a soldier’s wound beguiles the pain of it.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“The history of men’s opposition to women’s emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)