Mining: The Roman Exploitation of Northwest Spain
By Lindsay McNeill
Seminar Presentation, Western Oregon University, 2009
Introduction: The attitudes associated with Roman infiltration of the upper reaches of northern Spain are best described by the words of Pliny: “Like conquering heroes the miners contemplate their triumph over nature.” This cannot be argued against as again and again the Roman Empire faced great odds in their manipulation of nature in order to make profit or expand territory. Aqueducts for instance often provided an otherwise un-attainable supply of water allowing communities to form in areas that were otherwise barren. So too, aqueducts, the building of which is a lavish and time consuming undertaking, appear in some of the mining sites of Northwest Spain. This in and of itself is a testament to the exploitation that must have gone on there. This paper is meant to analyze that exploitation through the understanding of mining processes and by evaluating archeological mine sites.
The Iberian Peninsula was rich in its mineral sources and there are several primary source accounts confirming this. Strabo as told to us by J.C. Edmonson “refers to the great abundance of gold, silver and other metals that existed between the Tagus and the Artabrians in the far north of the peninsula.” Edmonsoon also quotes Pliny in reference to Tagus. Pliny gives us a good idea of the scale by telling us the amount of gold found there: “20,000 pounds …this quantity of gold was equivalent to 84,000,000 sesterces at contemporary (1987) prices, an enormous sum.” And this is just an account covering a specified period of time. The rich mineral deposits were no doubt a large impetus behind the Roman presence in Northwest Spain.
Click here to read this paper from Western Oregon University
