Throughout history, new materials have always first appeared as jewellery or status symbols. This was also the case with shiny reddish-brown copper. Rare and extraordinary in the Stone Age, it quickly gained in importance. A shiny disc, decorated with dots, probably belonged to the most important person in the village. A copper dagger adorned the chieftain’s belt. And the copper axe, such as the one Ötzi carried in his luggage, was also among the most prestigious weapons of a Stone Age community. The copper deposits in the Alps (in South and North Tyrol or the Balkans) determined the course of the trade routes. Presumably, the first natural roads ran along the northern edge of the Alps alongside the major rivers, but also over the Alpine passes into Italy. They were regularly used for the exchange of special goods.