8589356556

34 Jacek lech

there was a smali working in the form of a nichc with a dipping roof. Its maximum height was 1 m, and thc depth 40 cm. Further down, thc wali bccamc vertical again. Then the shaft narrowcd to a step 50 cm widc. Below the step the wali reached the bottom (Fig. 48 b). In thc west shaft wali, at a depth of 1 ma two part niche had bcen started. Its biggest height from thc shaft bottom was 2.35 m (Fig. 48c). This height was carried 1.6 m into the niche. Further on the roof dipped and the floor rosę. In this way the height decreased 70 cm. The coni-plete length of this niche was 3.4 m (Gurina 1976, 158). The third niche occurred in the east shaft wali (Fig. 48c). To the depth of 1 m the wali was vertical, then it widened to form a niche. At a depth of 1.8 m from thc surfacc the niche took a horizontal direction. At the end there was rather striking narrowing I m high. The niche floor was 80 cm above thc shaft floor. The completc length of the east niche was 2.2 m. Because both niches — east and west — were situated oppositc to each other, the maximum width of the shaft in thc lower part amounted to 7 m. The bottom was very uneven.

In shaft No 5 all niches were clearly above the shaft bottom. Niches in shaft No 9 were situated at its bottom (Fig. 49a-d). Shaft No 9 was 1.6 m diameter and was 3.4 m deep (Gurina 1976, 159). The north shaft wali was cvcn and almost vertical to the bottom. The south one had a smali niche at the bottom (Fig. 49c). The height of thc south niche was 1.2 m. The length of the niche, measured along the shaft bottom, was 50 cm. There was a big niche in the west part of shaft. The roof became lower with the inerease in the distance away from the centre. The bottom was at the same lcvel as the shaft. The depth of the niche was 1.8 m, its biggest height 1.8 m, the smallest one 60 cm (Fig. 49 d). The niche in the south-east part of the shaft started at a depth of 2 m. It was 1.4 m high there. Further on it changcd into a gallery 70 cm high. At the end there was an oval leading to shaft No 127 (Fig. 49d).

Shaft No 127 also had nichc workings (Fig. 49e, f). The diameter at the surface was 1.2 m and the depth was 3 m. In the north wali there was a shallow niche (50 cm), 1.8 m high (Fig. 49e). A much deeper niche (2 m) of the same height — was in the south-west part (Gurina 1976, 159). In the north-west part of the shaft a niche 1 m high gradually changcd into a gallery 70 cm in diameter, leading to shaft No 9. In the north part of the shaft there was also a working forming the pas-sage to shaft No 142. On the south side the shaft bottom rosę and its depth was reduced to 2.2 m. The passage to shaft No 10 went through that place. The thickness of the wali dividing both shafts was 40 cm (Fig. 49f).

6. UNDERGROUND SHAFTS WJTH GALLERIES AND STALLS

Underground shafts with galleries and stalls are known from the minę at Krzemionki Opatowskie and from the minę at Rijckholt-St.Geertruid, near the west border of the area under discussion. At Krzemionki Opatowskie the shafts are wide (Fig. 50), while at Rijckholt-St.

Geertruid they are narrow (Fig. 51). Long, narrow horizontal workings are described as galleries (Fig. 52). Stalls are most commonly formed through widening the galleries to extract the raw materiał over a larger surface (Fig. 53). Sometimes stalls formed as a result of

Fig. 50. Krzemionki Opatowskie. Cross-section of shaft and plan of workings

a — cross-section through shaft and wastc-heap; I — wastc-hcap, 2 — soil with sand, .? — brown clay, 4 — clay with admixture of limcstonc, 5 — limestone riftcd in blocks, 6 - limcstonc rifted in plates, 7 - galleries, FJ. F2. F3 - layers of flint; b - plan of thc fully-developed exploitation system with stalls and galleries

After T.Żurowski