Assessment of Excavated Volume and Labor Investment at the Novotemirsky Copper Ore Mining Site

Abstract

In this work, we attempt to estimate the volume of excavated material at the prehistoric mining site of Novotemirsky. We gather field data and employ computer-aided modeling to reconstruct the unknown three-dimensional geometry of the copper ore quarry and calculate the volume of a vertical shaft located near the quarry. To achieve this, we create a three-dimensional model of the dump around the quarry using the photogrammetric data and the cross-sections; a three-dimensional model of the quarry using the excavation data; a three-dimensional model of the shaft. Each model allows calculating the object's volume and then estimating the amount of excavated rock. Finally, we apply the ethnographic and experimental data to calculate the labor investment and compare this estimation with the archaeological period's length. We conclude that the work could be done in a relatively short period of 2–7 years by one full-time worker. As the work most likely was collective and was stretched during some 300 years or more, the actual annual labor investments were relatively small. Perhaps, the mining work was carried out on a seasonal basis by small groups of miners.