Water networks of Roman gold mines of Northwestern Iberian Peninsula

Moro, María Ruiz del Árbol; Ramos, Francisco Javier Sánchez-Palencia; Prats, Inés Sastre; Valle, Almudena Orejas Saco del

doi:10.1007/s12685-014-0100-z

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In 1494, the conquistadors made their first gold discovery on the Figure 6. A different illustration of the exploitation of alluvial gold reserves using hydraulic power [33].…”

Section: The Colonialism Of the Americas And The Evolution Of Indigen...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Alluvial Gold Mining Technologies from Ancient Times to the Present

Mathioudakis,

Xiroudakis,

Petrakis

et al. 2023

Mining

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This article provides a comprehensive and chronological account of the technological advancements in alluvial gold mining. Gold has been a highly prized commodity throughout history and has played a significant role in humanity’s economic and cultural progress. The primitive methods of extracting gold from riverbeds were carried out in Ancient Anatolia and Ancient Greece. The earliest references to the extraction of gold from riverbeds can be traced back to the Argonautic expedition and the myth of the “Golden Fleece”. In this myth, fine gold particles were believed to be trapped within the skin of the fleece, thus alluding to the early practices of gold recovery from rivers. Since then, gold extraction and processing technologies have evolved. During the Roman Empire period, Emperor Augustus made significant advancements in hydraulic gold mining. He developed the “ground sluicing” method, which used water to wash away the overlying soil and expose the bedrock where gold deposits were located. Subsequently, the revolutionary pumps described by Georgius Bauer (Agricola) gained significant popularity during the Renaissance. Additionally, Spanish colonialists in America enhanced their techniques by observing the efficient methods employed by the indigenous populations. Finally, the “gold rush” era was perhaps the most crucial period in alluvial gold mining and took place in the rivers of America during the 19th–20th centuries. Today, technologies have evolved significantly, and exploring the evolution of primitive methods to the present is considered essential.

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“…In 1494, the conquistadors made their first gold discovery on the Figure 6. A different illustration of the exploitation of alluvial gold reserves using hydraulic power [33].…”

Section: The Colonialism Of the Americas And The Evolution Of Indigen...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Figure6. A different illustration of the exploitation of alluvial gold reserves using hydraulic power[33].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Alluvial Gold Mining Technologies from Ancient Times to the Present

Mathioudakis,

Xiroudakis,

Petrakis

et al. 2023

Mining

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“…In particular, it depicts the water tank (from which water is fed to the mining area through a channel), the use of trenches for moving the conglomerates to the lower section, the miners removing the larger boulders manually, and the sluice box devices used to wash the conglomerates and separate gold particles with different sizes. In general, this specific technique is known as "ground sluicing" and it was particularly suited for mining deposits with a thickness ranging from 4 to 6 m. When dealing with dry soils, they would create 6 to 8 converging trenches, each inclined at a 5% angle relative to the horizontal plane [8]. By utilizing the force of running water, the miners would push the alluvial deposits towards the trench walls, gradually driving them downwards along the slope.…”

Section: The Roman Empire and The First Need For Massive Alluvial Gol...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Alluvial Gold Mining from Argonauts to Agricola

Mathioudakis,

Xiroudakis,

Petrakis

et al. 2023

RawMat 2023

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“…Las Médulas contains gold-bearing gravel, overlain by extensive alluvial fan deposits (Pérez-García et al, 2000). Extraction relied on a technique known as ruina montium where water was forced through large pits in the alluvial deposits to cause wholescale collapse and subsequent hydraulic sorting of the gold-bearing gravel (Ruiz del Árbol Moro et al, 2014). Additional extraction of ores from hardrock deposits relied on the technique of fire-setting where fires were set against stone and rapidly quenched, causing the rock face to shatter (Weisgerber and Willies, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lead pollution resulting from Roman gold extraction in northwestern Spain

et al. 2017

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Roman mining and metallurgy left a detectable signal of lead pollution throughout Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East. Las Médulas, in Northwestern Iberia, was the largest Roman gold mine and fundamentally altered the local landscape. To document the environmental consequences of this activity, we present a 4000-year record of lake sediment geochemistry from Laguna Roya, 35 km south of Las Médulas. Using the concentrations of trace metals weakly bound to sediment including lead, antimony, bismuth, and arsenic, we find increased levels of these metals from 300 BC to AD 120, during the Roman Republic/Empire. We attribute these increases to the atmospheric deposition of heavy metals arising from the regional extraction, processing, and/or smelting of gold ores. Lead pollution at the peak of this activity (15 BC) is twice as high as modern-day concentrations, suggesting that the amount of pollution generated by pre-Industrial civilizations and the associated environmental impacts are much larger than previously estimated. We find additional increases in antimony and bismuth from AD 1500 to 1700, possibly associated with post-medieval mining activity. Concentrations of lead begin to increase again ~AD 1860 during the start of the Industrial Revolution and reach a peak in AD 1990. Declining modern-day levels of lead can be attributed to the phase out of leaded gasoline. This is one of only a handful of studies to document pre-industrial pollution levels substantially higher than present-day, adding to a growing body of evidence that anthropogenic environmental degradation has been taking place for several thousands of years.

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Water networks of Roman gold mines of Northwestern Iberian Peninsula

Cited by 9 publications

References 9 publications

Alluvial Gold Mining Technologies from Ancient Times to the Present

Alluvial Gold Mining Technologies from Ancient Times to the Present

Alluvial Gold Mining from Argonauts to Agricola

Lead pollution resulting from Roman gold extraction in northwestern Spain

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