Ocna de Fier ( hu, Vaskő, german: Eisenstein) is a
commune in
Caraș-Severin County
Caraș-Severin () is a county ( județ) of Romania on the border with Serbia. The majority of its territory lies within the historical region of Banat, with a few northeastern villages considered part of Transylvania. The county seat is Reșița ...
, in the
Banat region of southwestern
Romania. It is composed of a single village, Ocna de Fier.
History
Along with the
Dognecea
Dognecea ( hu, Dognácska) is a commune in Caraș-Severin County, in the Banat region of Romania, with a population of 2,009 people. It is composed of two villages, Calina (''Kalina'') and Dognecea.
The commune is located in the northwestern part ...
area, Ocna de Fier is among the few settlements in the world that supported almost continuous
mining for some 4000 years.
Archaeological evidence shows that mining in the area dates back to the
Bronze Age (1900–1700 BC). The main ore exploited in those times was native
copper from the oxidation zone of the deposit. Later on,
iron ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...
s brought about a gradual switch from copper to iron mining.
Mining was an activity of the
Dacians, the ancient inhabitants of present-day Romania. After the
Roman conquest in 106, mining was expanded in the Roman province of
Dacia. At
Berzovis (present day Berzovia, ten kilometres northwest of Ocna de Fier) a Roman
metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
school, Schola fabrorum, was established, showing the keen interest the Romans had in metal extraction. At Cracul cu Aur (Romanian for "Golden Tributary"), north of Ocna de Fier, old Roman
gold mining galleries can still be seen. They look like the much better preserved ones at Rosia Montana ("Verespatak"), in the Apuseni Mountains.
The Constantin Gruescu Iron Aesthetic Mineralogy Museum is located in Ocna de Fier.
Museum Information
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ocna De Fier
Communes in Caraș-Severin County
Localities in Romanian Banat
Mining communities in Romania