Zwergenhöhle (Dwarf Cave) Arbacher Gangzug

<< "Dwarf Cave" gallery in a pinge of the Arbacher Gangzug >>
"... In the early Middle Ages, the new heyday of the local ore mines began with the introduction of tunnel construction. This technology enabled a new mining method for iron ore extraction. The tunnels were driven with mallets and iron by hand to under the ore veins and the iron ore then from below The first tunnels were built quite high up on the mountain slope in order to have to cut the tunnels as short as possible. The resulting rock material could be stored directly in front of the tunnel mouth hole If the iron ore was mined above from these tunnels, the next tunnel was set up further down the slope in order to get to the lower lying ore.
Due to the sloping slopes, the deeper tunnels were correspondingly longer. As a result, the tunnels built on the valley floor were the longest. With a larger cross-section, it was possible to bring the rock into the light of day with wooden mine wagons, the so-called Hunten.
These tunnels, laid out in stages, were used until the valley was reached. If the vein was thick enough (extensive), or if several veins appeared in the mine structure, which led to the suspicion that veining could continue at greater depths, further civil engineering was carried out (die mining) and a production shaft was sunk (dug into the depths). ... "The "dwarf cave" (colloquially) is located at the lowest point of this pinge and has a length of 35 m. Entering the dwarf cave is prohibited - danger to life!

Information board about the dwarf cave