Explotación de los recursos minerales en Carthago Novaanálisis territorial y poblamiento en la sierra minera de Cartagena-La Unión y en el distrito de Mazarrón

  1. Antolinos Marin, Juan Antonio
Supervised by:
  1. José Miguel Noguera Celdrán Director
  2. Christian Rico Director

Defence university: Universidad de Murcia

Fecha de defensa: 07 June 2019

Committee:
  1. Francisco Javier Sánchez-Palencia Ramos Chair
  2. Almudena Orejas Saco del Valle Secretary
  3. Salvador Rovira Lloréns Committee member
Department:
  1. Prehistory, Archaeology, Ancient History, Medieval History and Historiographic Sciences and Techniques

Type: Thesis

Abstract

The compilation and analysis of the huge documentary sources available –literary, archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic– on mining production and metallurgy in the territory of Carthago Noua has allowed us to list 194 archaeological sites and 253 ancient mines in the two main mining areas exploited during the Antiquity in southeastern Iberian Peninsula: the Sierra Minera of Cartagena-La Unión and the district of Mazarrón. Such inventory combined with the analysis of the Roman settlement has lead to a typology of settlements directly or indirectly related to the mining activity, the pre-treatment of the ore and its metallurgy. This was possible by undertaking repeated archaeological surveys to identify and characterize the sites and elaborating a precise mapping of both mining areas through its geo-referencing and digitalization (GIS). Such research line, which respond to the common strategies of spatial archaeology, has made possible to precise phases of greater activity and periods of abandonment or decline of the mining and metallurgical activity, as well as changes in the patterns of occupation/settlement and exploitation of the territory. It also focuses on the identification of the phenomena of cultural interaction between the new contingents of population arrived after the Roman conquest and the indigenous ones. On the other hand, we made the most complete review of all the archaeological materials discovered since the mid-nineteenth century when the mining industry was reactivated in the province of Murcia and deposited in the main museums of Murcia and Spain. The study and analysis of all these archaeological findings have allowed us to reconstruct the whole mining and metallurgical process during the Roman period in Carthago Noua, including the manufacture of lead ingots, and their seaborne distribution via the ancient harbour of Cartagena. In addition, it has been carried out an analysis of the systems and methods employed in mining-metallurgy, with the aim to better understand the technological development achieved during the Roman period, so it can be possible to establish a rough estimation of the volume of lead and silver produced in Carthago Noua, and to determine the environmental impact on the landscape of the lead-silver ore extraction and transformation activity in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. In conclusion, the study of all the documentation collected has allowed us to differentiate the chronological sequence, the stages and the development of the mining-metallurgical activity in Carthago Noua during the Roman era, as well as its close relations with the maritime city and its own territory. In this regard, the work focuses on the actors involved directly or indirectly in the production of lead and silver in the ager Carthaginiensis, from individuals and families to large mining companies, ‘anonymous’ type societates; we analyze the role played by all these people in the sociopolitical and economical framework of Carthago Noua from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D.