The Largest Prehistoric Copper Mine in the World

Video Description

Download and play Tacticus for Free today: https://play.tacticusgame.com/DanDavisHistory USE CODE: NOVHELLO to get 2000 gold and 50 Blackstones for FREE! This is the story of what ancient mining experts have called “the largest prehistoric copper mine in the world”. The incredible Mines of Kargaly. At the farthest reaches of Europe, on the steppes, between the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea, almost four thousand years ago, massive mining works completely transformed the landscape. They dug vast numbers of vertical shafts into the bedrock and then chased the veins of ore by digging a staggering network of interlinked tunnels extending for hundreds of kilometres. Their excavations were so extensive that experts estimate they produced up to a staggering 150,000 tons of copper during the Bronze Age. But what society was conducting operations of this scale out here on the steppe? How did they find these ore deposits so long ago? Where did the miners live and how did they carry out these works? And what ultimately happened to them? *If you enjoy my videos please consider supporting the channel* Become a YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUVwT8zcS5Z_rYXnpomlbfg/join Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/dandavisauthor All my books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3xngwz5 *My Links* Website http://dandavisauthor.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dandavisauthor/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanDavisWrites Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dandavisauthor/ *Artwork* Ancient Europeans: https://www.instagram.com/ancienteuropeans2/ Ancestral Whispers: https://x.com/Sulkalmakh *Sources* Prehistoric Copper Mining in Europe: https://amzn.to/3vw0Omp A History of Metallurgy: https://amzn.to/3s2Go1Y Metals Make the World Go Round: https://amzn.to/3KtR9B4 W. Powell, G. Barjamovic, C. Pulak, Copper for the early oxhide ingots traced to the South Urals, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104583 Garcia et al, Environmental impact of copper mining and metallurgy during the Bronze Age at Kargaly, 2010 Morales-Muñiz, Arturo and Antipina, Ekaterina, Srubnaya faunas and beyond: A critical assessment of the archaeozoological information from the East European steppe, 2003 AN Usachuk, ONCE AGAIN, KARGALY GAVE US A LOT OF SURPRISES...” (NOTES ON THE 2002 SEASON), 2022 N. Shishlina, N. Roslyakova, Yu Kolev, O. Bachura, O. Kuznetsova, D. Kiseleva, V. Retivov, E. Tereschenko, Animals, metal and isotopes: Mikhailo-Ovsyanka I, the Late Bronze Age mining site of the steppe Volga region, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2020.100229, 2020 Morgunova N.L., Faizullin A.A., 2021.New Data About the Initiate Time of the Pre-Ural (Kargaly) Mining and Metallurgical Center. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/nav.jvolsu.2021.1.1 The above includes affiliate links so we may make a small commission from your purchases at no additional cost to you which is a way to support the channel. *Video Chapters* 00:00 The Largest Ancient Mine 02:04 Warhammer 40,000 Tacticus 03:17 Yamnaya Copper Mining 04:47 Srubnaya Copper Mining 05:25 Ore Prospecting in the Bronze Age 06:23 Mining Techniques at Kargaly 08:33 Living and Working at Kargaly 10:40 Ritual Activity at Kargaly 12:12 Copper Exports 13:27 The End of Kargaly