Laurium (ancient world)
Laurium, located in the southeastern corner of Attica, Greece, is recognized for its historical significance as a major mining district. Stretching nearly eleven miles north from Cape Sunium, this area was initially barren but became notable for its rich deposits of silver-bearing ore, particularly galena. Mining activities are believed to have commenced around the middle of the second millennium BC, with extensive operations developing after 1000 BC to meet the increasing demand for silver, crucial for Athens' coinage. The mines were treated as state property, leased to private individuals, and relied heavily on slave labor and condemned criminals for mining operations.
Significant discoveries, such as those at Maronea around 483 BC, led to deep mining practices, but these were interrupted by the Peloponnesian War and later economic challenges. By the early first century AD, mining techniques had shifted, with miners focusing on reworking surface slag heaps rather than underground excavation. The remnants of this ancient industry are still visible today, showcasing a range of mining structures, including deep galleries, washing tables, and even complex works-compounds. Archaeological efforts since the late 20th century have unearthed significant features of the mining operations, revealing the extensive and sophisticated nature of Laurium's ancient silver mining heritage.
Laurium (ancient world)
Laurion
A district of low hills in the southeastern corner of Attica in Greece, extending north from Cape Sunium for a distance of nearly eleven miles. The greater part of the region is barren, but there were early discoveries, particularly on the east side, of rich deposits of ore, including galena, which yielded silver and made Laurium one of the largest mining areas in the Greek world. The exploitation of these deposits, which may have started in the middle of the second millennium BC, continued (or resumed) not long after 1000, though still limited, at this stage, to surface operations. In view, however, of the growing need for greater quantities of silver to provide Athens with its coinage, deep mining led to the discovery of rich beds of ore, notably at Maronea (c 483). The mines were regarded as state property and were leased to private citizens—employing very numerous slaves and condemned criminals as miners—by Athenian officials known as `sellers’ (poletai).
Thereafter programs continued until operations were halted during the Peloponnesian War by the establishment of a hostile Spartan fort at Decelea in central Attica (413). The mines were reopened c 335, with encouragement from an earlier writing by Xenophon. However, development was once again hampered in the third century, this time by the low price of silver. Nevertheless, exploitation continued ruthlessly, until the slave miners rose in revolt (c 135/3 and c 104–100). By the time of Strabo (early first century AD) the men no longer went underground but were reworking the slag heaps on the surface; Pausanias (c 150) speaks of Laurium as the place where the Athenians `had once possessed’ silver mines.
Countless remains of the ancient industry can still be seen, though many have not been sufficiently cleared or examined. The mines themselves vary from simple and crude passages to complicated arrangements of deep galleries linked to the surface by shafts that are sometimes three hundred feet deep. There are also washing tables (with nearby water storage cisterns), notably an elaborate series of installations in the Agrileza district, high up in the Laurium valley, where careful excavations since 1978 have revealed an elaborate works-compound comprising a circular roofed section and a courtyard. Another round building, of uncertain function, had been found in 1971 at Pountazeze Bay, and rescue operations of the same date at Gaîdhouromandra Bay revealed a complex in which argentiferous ore was processed in the fourth century BC; while a powerfully walled building at Megala Pafka was found to contain a bank of furnaces. Traces of a defence system have also come to light in the region.