Archaeological research in the western section of the Nová Véska village cadastre documented a panning site located on the Černý potok stream where alluvial sediments containing gold found in the weathered bedrock were mined. The mining process was reconstructed by the analysis of the land formations shown in a digital model of the landscape relief. The analysis of the material yielded by the archaeologically investigated heaps and layers filling the terrain depressions illustrates the manner of the processing of the mined sediments and the mechanism of the formation of the local mining relief. Environmental research, the most important part of which was the palynology of samples taken from the archaeological probes and one drilled profile, provided information about the sudden onset of mining activities in a forested landscape previously unaffected by man, the changes in vegetation following the end of mining and the beginning of farming activities. On the basis of radiocarbon dating, the panning activity and the observed development of vegetation in its surroundings can be linked to historical accounts of the settlement process in the Bruntál region in the course of the 13th and 14th centuries.