Editing Natural History (Pliny) (section)

===Mining===

{{further|Roman mining|Roman aqueduct}}
[[File:Panorámica de Las Médulas.jpg|thumb|The striking landscape of [[Las Médulas]], the most important gold mine in the Roman Empire, resulted from the {{Lang|la|[[Ruina montium|Ruina Montium]]}} mining technique.]]

Pliny provides lucid descriptions of [[Roman mining]]. He describes [[gold mining]] in detail,<ref>''Natural History'' XXXIII:36-81</ref> with large-scale use of water to scour alluvial gold deposits. The description probably refers to mining in Northern Spain, especially at the large [[Las Médulas]] site.{{Efn|It is likely that Pliny, as a [[Promagistrate|Procurator]] in [[Hispania Tarraconensis]], saw the operations of gold extraction himself, since the sections in Book XXXIII read like an [[Witness|eye witness]] report.}}{{efn|Pliny's work supplements the ''[[De Architectura]]'' of [[Vitruvius]], who describes many machines used in mining.}} Pliny describes methods of underground mining, including the use of [[fire-setting]] to attack the gold-bearing rock and so extract the ore. In another part of his work, Pliny describes the use of [[Underground mining#Mining techniques|undermining]]{{efn|See David Bird's analysis of Pliny's use of water power in mining.<ref name=Bird-Arrugia>[http://www.pdmhs.com/PDFs/ScannedBulletinArticles/Bulletin%2015-4&5%20-%20Pliny's%20Arrugia%20-%20Water%20Power%20in%20Roman%20Gold-Mining.pdf "Pliny's Arrugia Water Power in Roman Gold-Mining"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328192743/http://www.pdmhs.com/PDFs/ScannedBulletinArticles/Bulletin%2015-4%265%20-%20Pliny%27s%20Arrugia%20-%20Water%20Power%20in%20Roman%20Gold-Mining.pdf |date=28 March 2012 }}, by David Bird, in ''Mining History'' Vol. 15, Nos. 4/5 (2004).</ref>}} to gain access to the veins.{{efn|This probably refers to opencast rather than underground mining, given the dangers to the miners in confined spaces.}} Pliny was scathing about the search for precious metals and gemstones: "Gangadia or [[quartzite]] is considered the hardest of all things&nbsp;– except for the greed for gold, which is even more stubborn."{{efn|"...est namque terra ex quodam argillae genere glarea mixta – 'gangadiam' vocant – prope inexpugnabilis. cuneis eam ferreis adgrediuntur et isdem malleis nihilque durius putant, nisi quod inter omnia auri fames durissima est [...]"<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Pliny_the_Elder/33*.html#21 ''N.H.'' xxi-72].</ref>}}{{efn|See also Bird on mining at Arrugia.<ref name=Bird-Arrugia/>}}

Book XXXIV covers the base metals, their uses and their extraction. Copper mining is mentioned, using a variety of ores including [[copper pyrites]] and [[marcasite]], some of the mining being underground, some on the surface.<ref>''Natural History'' XXXIV:117</ref> Iron mining is covered,<ref>''Natural History'' XXXIII:138-144</ref> followed by lead and tin.<ref>''Natural History'' XXXIII:156-164</ref>