Hallstatt Salt Mine

The oldest

The Hallstatt salt mine is the world's oldest working salt mine

The mine lies within the Haselgebirge Formation of the Northern Limestone Alps. It has 21 levels and several smaller shafts, from 514 metres above sea level at the Erbstollen level to around 1,267 m at the Erzherzog Matthias Schurf level.

21levels, plus several smaller shafts

Bronze Age

Salt was produced here in large quantities in the Bronze Age

During the Bronze Age salt production became a day-to-day commercial activity. It was done in evidently highly organized arrangements, with specialist workers. Mining reached a peak from the 8th to 5th centuries BC.

Kept by salt

The salt preserved the shoes, cloth and backpacks the miners left behind

In the mine workings the salt has preserved textiles, wood and leather. Abandoned shoes, pieces of cloth, tools and miner's backpacks have survived in good condition. The salt was originally mined in the shape of hearts, owing to antler picks.

The cemetery

Johann Georg Ramsauer found a prehistoric cemetery at the mines in 1846

Ramsauer excavated it through the second half of the 19th century and it yielded 1,045 burials, though no settlement has yet been found. The distinctive grave goods gave the Hallstatt culture its name.

The end

Major activity at the site ended about 500 BC, for reasons that are unclear

Many graves were robbed, probably at that time. There was widespread disruption throughout the western Hallstatt zone, and the salt workings had by then become very deep.