Act 3, part 1: XII libri de rei metallica
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Thus, our small climatic history shows the people and its ever-increasing interventions and demands in / to nature. We are now nearing the pinnacle of this drama and will inevitably be rushing past aspects in the passage of time. We are entering the era of the Great Land Development in the second half of the 12th century. So far, Saxony is in a broad strip of the Ore Mountains, Erzgebirge foreland, Vogtland and Lusatian highlands almost unpopulated. No traces of human settlement from the Stone Age to the High Middle Ages in an area that will significantly shape the history of present-day Saxony in the following period. But in the 13th century, the country is settled up in the comb layers. The basis for this is probably also the high-medieval climatic optimum, which allows the population to grow and enable agriculture in the rather inhospitable Ore Mountains.
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Another man. In 1556, the book XII libri de rei metallica by Georgius Agricola (in later German translation: Twelve books on mining and metallurgy) is published. The work with its 292 detailed woodcuts will be the bible of mining science for two centuries. Saxony had become the most important mining territory in German lands since the discovery of rich silver ore in 1470 in Schneeberg. The "second Berggeschrey" brings wealth on the one hand (but not everybody benefits) and a profound change in the environment on the other hand. Agricola himself goes into detail. The critics of mining make serious allegations: blasted fields, extinct animal species, poisoned waters. (Picture: Woodcut from the 3rd book: the massive deforestation is shown)"There is more harm than good". He does not have a solution.
