Archaeologists have discovered a vast gold mining network created by the Romans 2,000 years ago in Spain with the help of a laser system attached to an aircraft.
Hidden under the vegetation and crops of the Eria Valley, in leon, Spain, there is a gold mining network created by the Romans two thousand years ago, as well as complex hydraulic works, such as river diversions, to divert water to the mines of the precious metal.Researchers from the University of Salamanca made the discovery from the air with an airborne laser teledetection system. “las Medulas in leon is considered to be the largest opencast goldmine of the Roman Empire, but the search for this metal extended many kilometres further south-east to the Erica river valley”, researchers said.
Thanks to a light Detection and Ranging (liDAR) laser system attached to an aircraft, the ancient mining works of the area and the complex hydraulics system used by the Romans in the 1st century BC to extract gold (including channels, reservoirs and a double river diversion) have been discovered.