https://www.archaeology.org/issues/482-2209/digs/10770-digs-switzerland-mesolithic-tools

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Alpine Crystal Hunters

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By ERIC A. POWELL

September/October 2022

SO22 Digs Alps OutcropIn the winter of 2013, amateur geologist and
expert crystal hunter Heinz Infanger was backcountry skiing in the
mountains of central Switzerland's canton of Uri when he came upon a
rich vein of rock crystal exposed by a retreating glacier. Infanger
soon discovered antler tools, wood fragments, and rock crystal
artifacts, which suggested the outcropping had been visited by
crystal hunters in the distant past. He reported his discovery to
local heritage authorities, and a team led by archaeologist Marcel
Cornelissen of the Institute of the Cultures of the Alps visited the
site and conducted a thorough excavation. The team determined that
hunter-gatherers living during the Alpine Mesolithic period (ca.
9000-5500 B.C.) visited the site as recently as 5900 B.C. and
extracted rock crystal from the vein, after which it was covered by
the advancing glacier. The closest known Mesolithic encampments are a
two-day trek from the outcropping. Cornelissen and his colleagues
have embarked on a broader field survey of the area, where warming
conditions may have exposed more sites dating to this
little-understood period. 

 

SO22 Digs Alps Bone and Crystal Tools

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IN THIS ISSUE


Features

Rediscovering Egypt's Golden Dynasty

1,000 Fathoms Down

Letter from Germany

Digs & Discoveries

The Case of Tut's Missing Collar

Alpine Crystal Hunters

Don't Give an Inch

Australia's Blue Period

Romans Go Dutch

Surveying Samnium

Heart of the Matter

Mexican Star Power

Pictish Pictograms

Linking the Lineages

The Avars Advance

Herod's Fancy Fixtures

Off the Grid

Around the World

 

A pregnant tortoise, sunken Spanish cargo, Maya orthodontics, Mongol
summer plans, and the first fruit farmers

Artifact

 

A memento left along the way

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