[Mining in the Harz Mountains in the times thereafter and its effects on the environment]

Not only during the industrial age have mining and metallurgy strongly influenced environmental developments. Since the beginning of mining activities and smelting ores, parts of the processed minerals, especially various heavy metals, have been lost during various technical operations and been distributed by water and wind over large areas. A good example for the Middle Ages and thereafter was the silver, lead, and copper mining district of the Harz Mountains in northeastern Germany. Environmental problems caused by the activity in this mining center have been known since the Renaissance. The rivers transported sand-like lead minerals over long distances, which were distributed over large areas by floods, especially in spring when the snow melted. The lead got into the food of various farm animals and poisoned them, as we know from the complaints of inhabitants of the area to the authorities particularly during the 17th-19th centuries. These environmental problems have been the subject of scientific studies as early as the first half of the 19th century.