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Ore mining in solid rock has long been the focus of intensive archaeological research in Germany (Bartels and Slotta, 2012; Kommission Montanarchäologie des VLA, 2022). In contrast, the extraction of heavy minerals from alluvial and eluvial placer deposits, called placer mining or streaming, has been a gap in archaeological research in Germany and continental Europe until recently. This research gap is a striking contradiction to the number and size of the corresponding archaeological relics that have survived in the forests of the Saxon Ore Mountains (Figure 1). Although many of these mining relics likely go back to the oldest extraction technologies, a systematic scientific approach to these mining methods and the associated technology chains is still pending. Questions about the settlement and economic history of the rich ore districts of the Ore Mountains and their position in early European tin trade have also remained unanswered. The enormous total area of the preserved Ore Mountain tin streaming relics (see below) indicates the former economic importance of this nowadays almost forgotten industry. Thanks to initial archaeological investigations and discoveries made as part of the ArchaeoMontan projects conducted by the Department of Mining Archaeology at the Archaeological Heritage Office Saxony (Tolksdorf, 2018, pp.111-133; Schröder, et al., 2025, pp.142-170), placer mining has for several years now been the focus of increased attention in Saxony’s mining research. As part of the EU Interreg Saxony/Czech Republic project “ArchaeoTin. Archaeology in the World Heritage Site – Tin Mining Landscapes”, German and Czech archaeologists, specialized in ancient mining, have been investigating tin-placer mining in cooperation with researchers from other disciplines since 2023. Ever since the mining archaeologists discovered a Bronze Age worked tin placer remnant near Schellerhau in the Eastern Ore Mountains in 2018, mining research in Saxony has focused on placer mining for tin. To this day, there are numerous placer relics in the forests of the Saxon-Bohemian Ore Mountains, where large quantities of placer tin were once mined. Given their number and size, a systematic scientific investigation of the extraction method and the affiliated technology chains was initially required because the oldest mining technologies and the considerable economic relevance of tin extraction from the Bronze Age onward are likely behind all placer remains. Via remote sensing methods, we recorded, explored, and interpreted the placer relics to obtain reliable and detailed insights into their extent and chronological classification. The latest LiDAR data and DTM modelling technology facilitated the archaeological classification of features in the tin placer deposits. This led to the development of the DTM-based method of the “horizontal stratigraphy of extraction areas,” which we used to distinguish extraction areas and phases and then strategically preselect extraction areas and archaeological features for subsequent investigations in the often difficult-to-interpret relict terrains. Radiocarbon dates from soundings and drill cores support the chronologically differentiated regional extraction typology we have created. For the first time, verified observations on the morphology, structure, and typification of tin placer remains in the Ore Mountains of Saxony are presented here. Our methodological approach is substantiated by the results of the preliminary archaeological investigations in the “Sauschwemme” tin placer relic near Eibenstock/Johanngeorgenstadt in the Western Ore Mountains (see part 2 in this issue).