The Medulas of León is an area situated in the Northwestern Spain (to the South on Galice), in the named region of Castille-León.
It was one of the major gold deposits of the Roman Empire and I want to tell you about it through the program of tv “Spain flush with sky”:
http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/espana-a-ras-de-cielo/espana-ras-cielo-medulas-leon/2068727/
The video starts with Francis Lorenzo (the presenter) talking about the Médulas: “Nature has been extremely generous , with Spain , in terms of natural resources : red, black , green , blue and white are colors under which that wealth is hidden ..... We are going to see how we transform our valleys , deserts , mountains and rivers to harness natural resources of our geography ......... Today in Spain flush with sky , we took the colors of our country ............... ...................... We starte our trip , flying over the region of El Bierzo .... 2000 years ago , Spain suffered a real “gold rush" .. .... The Romans discovered the largest gold deposit of the Empire, in the population of The Medulla, and exploited it over 300 years ..... Undid the mountains with water and the result of this work is so huge red stunning landscape , which seems to come from another planet and has been declared “world Heritage " ....... I will find out how the Romans were able to perform these original excavations ; I expected an exciting day , by the biggest expert about Roman Mining Engineering of the country, Roberto Matias ...... Hi , what is up? ... Roberto ? ".
Roberto Matías: “Hi, What is up?"
Francis: “What a gladness….!, I was so eager to meet you….!.....It is my horse…?”
Roberto: “Yes, this is your horse”
Francis: “Let us go to him….!.....Where are you taking me?”
Roberto: “We are going to see this wonder, which is the largest mine, that was done in the ancient world”
Francis: “At no place in the world….?”
Roberto: “At no place”
Francis: “But I want to see it”
………………………………………………………………..
Now, you can read on the image: The mines were active for 250 years.
Francis: “By here….?”
Roberto: “By up there”
Francis: “Roberto, What is this ….?!”
Roberto: “Hundreds of millions of cubic meters, moved by the hand of man ...., cutting the mountain with water jets, literally”
Now, you can read on the image: The Medulas Gold is valued at 51.187 million euros .......
Francis: “How came they get here?”
Robert: “It is speaked of many figures, but still to be determined. Pliny told us some data: 20,000 pounds of gold, which is 6 tons per year, but throughout the whole area”
Now, you can read on the image: ……...equivalent to the fortune of Bill Gates, the richest man in the world.
Francis: “What will be something for me?”
Robert: “No, the Romans took everything”
Francis: “It is amazing how the hand outside of Man has been able to crumble a whole mountain ......... We are approaching an area where you can see inside ........ What a red , right?!”
Robert: “Red, clay like pots of a lifetime ..... Imagine the water, running around here ..., removing the mud and undermining the mountain ..... "
Now, you can read on the image: The Medulas were exploited since the time of Emperor Octavian Augustus until the third century.
Francis: “It was opening the mountain….”
Robert: “It opens it, the mountain barefoot it self, and when it lose the consistency, buuuuuuuu, also hit”.
……………………………………………………………….
Francis: “We do a reconstruction of the mountain as it was before the Romans rid it”
Robert: “With a sound stunning, a gigantic avalanche, but in this case of stone”
Francis: “And when the flood felt down, What it did, descended all over here to the river, such as sludge, as rivers of mud?”.
Robert: “Exactly, the earth fell, as it was wet and there slope, it was going down by itself ... like the current floods, but controlled, controlled; in fact, the Romans applied what they saw in Nature, in order to develop the field it was .... one of the mines, for their size, most important of the Roman Empire ... One, no ...., the most important of all".
Francis: “How many people worked in a mine like this?”
Robert: “The myth of the thousands of slaves working here, with pick and shovel…let us forget it .... ".
Francis: “What was the reality, was water which made everything?.
Robert: “Water, simply”
Now, you can read on the image: These mines had as many kilometers of piped water as Roma
Francis: “How did such a water get into a place like this?
Robert: “Rivers surrounding the area, carrying channels to them, a total of 600 km of canals”
Francis: “How good this, how good .........!”
…………………………………………………..
Francis: “After Roberto's words, I have interest of knowing, from within, the channels through which water circulated undoing these mountains”
……………………………………………………
Robert: “It costs go up ... Huh?”
Francis: “This soil would be that”
Robert: “That is the same, that came down, because underneath, the Romans took the field with water”
Francis: “And why the Romans chose this site ...? How do they know that there is gold here?”
Robert: “Because this field, when it felt the water, dragging mud particles to the rivers, and along the rivers, could get here ... hitting the rivers, as it is currently done ... "
Now, you can read on the image: An average yield of 3 grams of gold per tonne of land was mined
Francis: “So, let us enjoy this little while, just a moment, you and I”
……………………………………………………………………..
Francis: “But….”
To be continued….
Till soon, kind regards,
Luis.
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