Archeology of Mining

The Darro and Genil rivers have always been appreciated by the wealth of their mining placers and the Darro river has preserved its Latin toponym linked to aurum. The existence of alluvial gold mines is verified in several places located in the surroundings of Granada (Horo de la Campana, Hoyo de Mozas, Umbría de Jesús del Valle, Barranco de las Tinajas...). Other alterations in the hillsides near to these areas such as Los Hundideros de Cenes de la Vega, the Tajo de San Pedro, the west slope of the Cerro del Pajarillo or the south hillside of the Cerro de Montejate, have several difficulties to determine if they come from natural or human causes. As a result, it is needed a particular study of the erosive processes in these valleys, to determine if they have had a natural origin or if they have been linked to the mining of the alluvial gold.

The landscape that features the gold mine of the Hoyo de la Campana is the result of huge erosive processes developed during decades of mining works in Antiquity. Furthermore, it has also been a place in which small scale mining attempts could have been done in the Middle Ages and in Modern Age. During the Nasrid kingdom of Granada (thirteenth to fifteenth centuries) the mining channel that supplied water to the gold mine was reused to irrigate the royal properties located in the surroundings of the Alhambra. That shows the abandon of the mining with hydraulic works. In the nineteenth century and in the first half of the twentieth century, there were carried out industrial works without success. As a consequence of these processes, this site presents a great concentration of remains of wells and galleries. After the exploration of the most difficult access hollows in the Hoyo de la Campana, a preliminary analysis has been carried out.

Durante las actividades más recientes de prospección en la zona de Zacapu Michoacán, en el marco del Proyecto Uacúsecha, se identificaron tres complejos prehispánicos de minas-taller al noreste de la cuenca, los cuales se emplazan sobre dos antiguas coladas volcánicas de dacita: se trata de los flujos del Cerro Vicente y las Minas, y es de estos yacimientos de los cuales se abastecieron los antiguos pobladores de la región para elaborar diversos instrumentos de piedra.
El empleo de la dacita como materia prima para la manufactura de instrumentos líticos se ha registrado en sitios de la cuenca y sus alrededores desde la fase Loma Alta (100 a. C. al 550 d.C.) hasta la fase Milpillas (1200 a 1450 d. C), y los artefactos se han localizado tanto en contextos domésticos como funerarios. Ambos aspectos reflejan la relevancia que tuvo este material para los pobladores que se asentaron en la región desde las primeras fases de ocupación hasta los periodos más tardío.
El desarrollo de un estudio específico y orientado en el análisis de estos complejos mineros, nos ha permitido no sólo documentar las trazas físicas de la remoción sistemática de piedra, sino también caracterizar tales evidencias, y con base en ello, determinar la existencia de diferentes métodos y las técnicas empleadas en la extracción