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Crystal and Mineral Digging by Gaëtan Bally
Crystal and mineral digging is a very old Swiss affair. As early as the Early Stone Age, people in the Alps cut crystals out of quartz rock to make tools and weapons. Later, churches and princely houses throughout Europe coveted them as aesthetic jewellery, for example for altar crosses and vases. Today, about a dozen professional crystal and mineral prospectors still earn their living in this way in Switzerland. One of them is Christoph Betschart. Keystone-SDA photographer Gaëtan Bally accompanied the professional prospector together with his friend and hobby prospector Sepp Imholz during an operation in Urserenthal, in the Canton of Ur, Switzerland. (geo)