Roman Gold Mining Operation Identified in Spain

BARCELONA, SPAIN—According to a statement released by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), the Romans extracted gold from alluvial deposits in the Eastern Pyrenees. Using optically stimulated luminescence dating techniques, Oriol Olesti Vila of the UAB and Jorge Sanjurjo-Sánchez of the University of A Coruña dated two samples of fill from the remains of an ancient hydraulic structure on the Segre River to the third and fourth centuries A.D. The researchers explained that Roman miners would have eroded gold deposits from the riverbanks with water, and then washed them, either by channeling water through the sediments or flooding the sediments with pressurized water to extract the gold. The mining operation was likely supported by Iulia Livica, the only documented Roman city in the Pyrenees, which was located about six miles away. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Land. To read about Roman exploitation of Iberian silver mines, go to "Spain's Silver Boom."