23

Frog King Underground

With burning pieces of kindling held between their teeth the first miners in Europe made their way down the mineshaft. Missing teeth therefore turned them into invalids, no longer fit to work underground. In Ancient Egypt miners used lamps fueled with oil and tallow. The first ceramic lamps came to Central Europa with Roman legionnaires. These were the starting point for the development of first open, later also of closed, so-called “Froschlampen” (frog lamps). Since the 18th century pitmen wore their lamp fixed to their miner’s hat or carried the “Freiberger Blende” on a thread around their neck – a wooden box lined with metal that contained an oil lamp, tallow lamp or wax candle behind a glass pane. This allowed them to use both hand for work while at the same time the area in front of them was well lit.
The era of oil lamps came to a sudden end when the carbid lamp was introduced around 1900. Its flame was at least ten times brighter than the traditional lamps and was less affekted by draughts and dripping water. If a lack of oxygen occurs ordinary lamps are of advantage because their flame dies.
This decorative Froschlampe almost certainly has never been undergroud. Lamps like this one on display in the Mining Museum were gifts honouring important officials or served representative purposes.