Revised: 15 June 2017 Accepted: 12 July 2017

DOI: 10.1002/arp.1581

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Use of LIDAR and photointerpretation to map the water supply

at the Las Murias‐Los Tallares Roman gold mine
(Castrocontrigo, León, Spain)
Roberto Matías | Bernardo Llamas

ETS de Ingenieros de Minas y Energía,

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid,
Spain
Correspondence
Roberto Matías, ETS de Ingenieros de Minas y
Energía, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid,
Ríos Rosas 21, 28003 Madrid, Spain.
Email: matiasr.roberto@gmail.com
Abstract
A comprehensive study of the water supply at Las Murias‐Los Tallares Roman gold mine
(Castrocontrigo, León, Spain) was conducted using LIDAR technology and photointerpretation
that revealed all‐new and interesting aspects both as concerns the length of the channels and
their structure and supply capacity.
Although LIDAR technology proves to be very valuable and essential to analysing Roman hydrau-
lic mining structures, there are various limitations when reconstructing supply systems due to the
accuracy of LIDAR data and the deterioration of the structures after having been abandoned for
nearly 2,000 years.

KEY W ORDS

hydraulic mining, LIDAR, Roman channels, Roman gold mining

1 | I N T RO D U CT I O N topic to a greater or lesser extent (Justel Cadierno, Fernández Lozano,

The Las Murias‐Los Tallares Roman gold mine is situated near
Castrocontrigo, León, Spain (Figure 1), on the edge of an extensive
plain that raises 20–30 m above the current Eria River. It is one of
the largest Roman mines to have used the “peines” (hush) system,
expressly used for the hydraulic processing of extensive yet shallow
secondary auriferous deposits, which affects a narrow strip 4.6 km
long and 3 km2 of surface area where 60 mine units (hushes) have been
recorded.
The entire extraction, sluicing, and debris evacuation process was
done using the hydraulic power supplied by the water from a system of
supply channels, which has gone rather unknown until now.
The detailed mapping of the supply structure of this important
Roman gold mine makes it possible to now analyse the quantity of
available water as well as the means of distribution towards the vari-
ous worksites.
2 | B A CKG R O U N D
The Sierra del Teleno is one of the most important reference auriferous
mining areas from the Roman Empire developed in north‐western His-
pania at the beginning of our era. Various authors have covered the
& Fernández Morán, 2014; Matías, 2006; Matías & González‐Nistal,
2014; Perea & Sánchez‐Palencia, 1995; Pérez García, 1977; Sáenz &
Vélez, 1974; Sánchez‐Palencia, 1980).
There has always been great interest in gold mining in this area,
and it is obvious that artisanal sluicing was performed in the rivers
and streams dotting this landscape during the summer periods to
obtain nuggets; however, this gives little documental evidence. Some
of what does exist has already been offered in the reports by mining
companies engaged in intense exploration operations during the sec-
ond half of the 19th century (Naranjo & Garza, 1850; Neufville,
1896; Oriol, 1896; Viadera, 1850).
The first modern approach to an analysis of the whole Roman gold
mining in the Eria River basin was by the engineers Sáenz and Vélez
(1974, pp. 97‐109), who evaluated the total mined volume of the
Roman work in 20 Mm3 (10 Mm3 in a single mine: Las Murias‐Los
Tallares).
Contemporary of Sáenz and Vélez is the title of the mine research
work done by geologist Luis Carlos Pérez for the company Río Tinto
Patiño, S.A., in order to evaluate the possibility of reopening the sec-
ondary gold ore deposits (Pérez García, 1977, pp. 186–254).
At the beginning of the 1980s, archaeologist Javier Sánchez‐
Palencia conducted a photointerpretation analysis of the stereoscopic
aerial images obtained from the American flight B series

Archaeological Prospection. 2018;25:59–69. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/arp Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 59
60
FIGURE 1 Location of the study area [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
(AMS 1956–1957) that offers basic planimetry of the edge of the
mines located and a graphic sketch of the hydraulic systems that
allowed him to set forth upward mining criteria for the various mine
areas although the hydraulic supply infrastructures were never defined
with enough detail.
In recent years, some authors have approached the study of
Roman gold mining in the Eria area by analysing LIDAR images
(Fernández‐Lozano, Gutiérrez‐Alonso, & Fernández‐Morán, 2014;
Fernández‐Lozano, J., Gutiérrez‐Alonso, G., & Fernández‐Morán, M.
2014; Fernández‐Lozano & Gutiérrez‐Alonso, 2016) with the unfin-
ished aim of locating new mining areas and defining the water supply
systems.
3 | MATERIAL AND METHODS
The operational method for analysing the Roman mine structures is mainly
based on exhaustive exploration of the ground evidence for an initial
reconstruction of the mine morphology, supported at all times by existing
maps and the possibilities offered by aerial photographs (orthoimages)
both for the precise location of important elements and to obtain an ade-
quate overview of the mining complex. Added to all of this is the use of
LIDAR data to prepare a local and detailed Digital Terrain Model DTM
to highlight, differentiate, and analyse the evidence of anthropic activity
on the ground. This all‐new technique opens up an important range of
possibilities as it enables very reliable observation of the ground below
the vegetation layer, which is especially abundant in many areas.
As concerns the particular use of LIDAR technology in Roman gold
mining, specific and multidisciplinary work has already been done
(Fonte, Pires, Gonçalves‐Seco, Matías, & Lima, 2014) very briefly
outlining the advantages and limitations with everything in the end
passing through exhaustive field exploration to analyse the evidence
with adequate criteria and parameters due to the overlapping of struc-
tures over the nearly 2,000 years of anthropic use of the land.
MATÍAS AND LLAMAS
The source of all of the images and the digital maps (historical
aerial photographs, ortophotographs, LIDAR data, etc.) is the Spanish
National Geography Institute (IGN) as well as the Institute for Agricul-
tural Technology of Castilla y León (ITACyL), which are freely dissem-
inated for noncommercial use. They were processed, and the DTM
was generated on the basis of LIDAR files (image resolution: 0.5
points/m2) using the commercial programmes Arcgis10.3 and Global
Mapper 16.0.
4 | T H E L A S M U R I A S‐ L O S TA L L A RE S
R OM A N GO LD M I N E H Y DR A U L I C SU P P LY
SYSTEM
At first, Las Murias‐Los Tallares was thought to have been supplied by
two channels: The lower one would have been a short channel that
received water from the Eria River, and the other higher one would
have started in the area near the town of Morla, yet the source has
never been defined (Sánchez‐Palencia, 1980; Figure 2). According to
this author, the lower channel would have been the one used at the
start of mining operations, whereas the higher channel, supported by
a stream situated to the north (Llamas Stream), would have been in
operation until the end of the mining work.
Prior to this work, Sáenz and Vélez (1974, pp. 97–109) had
described the Roman mining area along the Eria River with plenty of
toponymical details, mentioning the existence of various channels at
different altitudes although they situate the one that was used for the
Las Murias‐Los Tallares mine at an elevation of 1,000 m and indicate
the existence of other higher ones. Nonetheless, they acknowledge that
their description of the supply channels is not complete. Pérez García
(1977, p. 162) has mentioned that the supply came from a channel that
captured water from the Eria River somewhere near the town of Morla.
Other authors have recently stated that only a single channel ever
reached Las Murias‐Los Tallares, rejecting the possibility of any others
MATÍAS AND LLAMAS
FIGURE 2 (a) Overview of the supply network of Las Murias‐Los Tallares. (b) Sections of Roman hydraulic mining channels [Colour figure can be
viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
and postulating that the area of influence of the other channels would
have been the mines located upstream but not beyond the Roman mine
of La Fervienza. This one Roman channel would have gotten water from
the Eria River in the Bernadillo area at the mouth of the Valdiseda stream
(Fernández‐Lozano et al., 2014, pp. 17–18, fig. 6; Justel Cadierno,
Fernández Lozano, & Fernández Morán, 2014, pp. 101–136, lam 3).
4.1 | Supply channels
In our work, we were able to establish the actual supply structure
(Figure 2) by combining historical photographs, orthoimages, and field
surveying. GPS tracking of the ground evidence was also fundamental
61
in addition to the application of criteria developed with the mapping
previously done of the hydraulic systems of other important roman
mines such as Las Médulas, Llamas de Cabrera, Sierra del Teleno, and
Villablino that to date covers a cumulative total of nearly 1,000 km
of Roman mine hydraulic channels (Matías, 2006, 2008a, 2012, 2013).
The existence of numerous paths and firewalls and successive
reforestation efforts around the Roman mine have limited the possibil-
ities of applying LIDAR technology. In fact, it has only been used suc-
cessfully to verify the channel outline at a single point known as “El
Filoso” near its arrival at the mine site as well as to determine the exis-
tence of some regulation–distribution tanks that had been unknown
until now (Figure 3).
62 MATÍAS AND LLAMAS

FIGURE 3 DTM‐LIDAR of the arrival of

channels to the mine [Colour figure can be
viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

TABLE 1 Supply channels: elevation (metres below sea level) and

The Las Murias‐Los Tallares supply was composed of two main
slope, Las Murias‐Los Tallares Roman gold mine
channels (CEr‐01 and CEr‐02), which got water from the Eria River,
and a third supporting one (CEr‐03), situated quite well above the max- Elevation intake Supply Approximately
Length (metres below sea elevation average slope
imum mine elevation that was sourced by the Formosina Stream near Channel (km) level, mbsl) (mbsl) (%)
the village of Morla (Figure 4). To a greater or lesser extent, all of these
CEr‐01 7.75 1,000 985 0.2
channels could have been involved later in the exploitation of the other
CEr‐02 16.9 1,046 993 0.3
auriferous ore deposits situated upstream, especially channel CEr‐02,
CEr‐03 1.3 + 3.3 1,078 1,014 —
due to the longer route (Tables 1).
Without an average value due to they singular characteristics.
Note: These elevations were obtained from the existing maps
(IGN) without any topographic measurements. measured (0.90 cm). From there and until it enters the pinewood tree
The lowest channel (CEr‐01) can be clearly recognized upon its area, there is no clear evidence of the route as it is found in an area that
arrival at the Roman mine in the aerial images from the American flights has been heavily altered by farming in the village of Morla. There are
A and B series (Figure 5). The topographic mine supply elevation is also some minor traces near Millares (an area that was also later disman-
985 m, which coincides with the highest section of the Roman work. tled by mining activities) that were later totally destroyed by the prog-
This channel captures water at an elevation of 1,000 from near the ress of the Roman mine of La Fervienza (Figure 7). The route on the
intersection of the Valdemeda Creek and the Eria River, for a total ground can be followed after this area all the way to the Las Murias‐
length of 7.75 km. There is an important control point at La Retuerta Los Tallares mine; however, it is made difficult due to the abundance
(Figure 6), just above the Eria River course where the width has been of vegetation. There is still clear evidence of some walls and six long

FIGURE 4 Supply structure with three

channels [Colour figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]
MATÍAS AND LLAMAS
FIGURE 5 Arrival of channels to the mine
(photo interpretation American flight AMS
1945–1946) [Colour figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]
FIGURE 6 Remains of the CEr‐01 channel close to the control point
[Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
regulation–distribution tanks, which can be easily identified in the aerial
photographs taken during the American flights (photograms 016‐6449
A series and 17082 B series) that were used to take advantage of the
auriferous sediments of the terrace on the edge of the Eria River (left
bank) near the village of Torneros (Figure 5). The arrival of this channel
was interrupted by the development of the mine pit on the western end
that implies that it was already not being operated by that time.
Channel CEr‐02 reaches the Las Murias‐Los Tallares mine at an
elevation of 993 m, where there is a large tank (DEr‐01). The water
was distributed from this elevation via a secondary tank and channel
system to all mine faces in the final phase of the mine work
(Figure 8). The start of its route is upstream from the village of
Quintanilla de Yuso, near the “El Bollo” site. There it would have shared
its source with a modern dam built to irrigate the lands in the “La Vega”
area although the latter later runs at a lower level. This evidence of the
route was exclusively located with field surveying. All indications of
63
FIGURE 7 Remains of the CEr‐01 channel at “Los Millares” point
[Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
the continuity of this channel after the Pequeño River have been hid-
den until now (Figure 9).
Seven kilometres from the intake source and after the Pequeño
River on the left bank of the Eria River is a place known as El Carril
(which alludes to the existence of a channel), where a width of
1.20 m at various sections was measured (Figure 10). Notwithstanding,
lower measurements of 0.90 m wide have been obtained on the left
bank of the Pequeño River although in very deteriorated sections
(Figure 11). The lack of clear evidence cut into the rock means one fig-
ure cannot be considered more real than another, but we shall use the
least favourable one of 0.90 m for the hydraulic calculations.
The route can be rather easily followed in the pinewood area on the
ground at certain points as there is a slight plain some 2–2.5 m wide that
is noticeable because of its horizontal continuity on the hillside. An aux-
iliary tank is found immediately below this route near the El Filoso site
82.5 × 8 m in size (Figure 12a,b), which was used to mine the lower river
64 MATÍAS AND LLAMAS

FIGURE 8 Channels and tanks in the western

sector (photo interpretation American flight
AMS 1945–1946) [Colour figure can be
viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

FIGURE 9 (a,b) New evidences of the CEr‐02

track [Colour figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]
MATÍAS AND LLAMAS
terrace. Remains from the masonry closure wall can be observed in this
tank. The estimated depth is 1.5 m, and the capacity is 990 m3. This
water was used for the Eria terraces; the outlet from the tank and distri-
bution channels can still be seen. Although this channel has an average
slope of 0.2%, the actual slope has significantly increased to 0.44% after
this point. We believe this increase in slope is a clear attempt to accept
the extra water from the upper channel, CEr‐03.
The CEr‐02 channel also participated in a series of Roman mines situ-
ated along the route, most of which are compatible with its function at Las
Murias‐LosTallares, such as El Escalerón (Manzaneda) and La Retuerta and
Los Ñevales and La Cagalla‐La Fervienza (Morla). However, the operation
of these mines after La Retuerta would be incompatible with the operation
of the lower channel because of the debris affecting the route.
Channel CEr‐03 started at one of the La Cagalla‐La Fervienza
tanks at an elevation of 1,016 m, where it also received water from a
3.3 km channel from the Formosina spring, collected at an elevation
of 1,078. Today, an irrigation ditch gets water from this spring for agri-
cultural purposes in the village of Morla. This channel arrives above the
tanks at an elevation of 1,068, at the La Gandara site (Figure 4). The
water would have then come down a diversion with a sharp slope.
The tank that received the water was later used for the La Fervienza
FIGURE 10 Section in the rock, channel CEr‐02 [Colour figure can be
viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
FIGURE 11 Remains of the channel CEr‐02 in the valley of the Pequeño River [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
65
mine. Channel CEr‐03 features a 1,270‐m route all the way to the site
between El Filoso and Corral de la Tiña, at an elevation of 1,014, just
above the CEr‐02 channel auxiliary tank. A sloped diversion can be
seen at this point both on the ground as well as in the photographs
from the American flight (AMS B series photogram no. 17082). It was
designed to dump water directly into the lower channel (CEr‐02) with-
out any intermediate tank, taking advantage of the natural stream
watercourse to create this conjunction (Figure 12a). Despite being an
atypical arrangement, similar arrangements have been documented
concerning these types of supply structures in other Roman auriferous
mines such as Las Medulas (Matías, 2008a, pp. 83–85) and Llamas de
Cabrera (Matías, 2008b, pp. 32–34).
Not enough points have been found that are sufficiently well pre-
served to be able to measure the width of the CEr‐03 box, meaning the
flow rate calculations done are only estimates. Due to the short route
and the fact that the supply came from springs and not rivers, an
approximate slope of 0.2% and a flow rate of 0.15 m3/s, which is equal
to 2/3 the flow rate of CEr‐01, were considered.
The maximum supply elevation for the Las Murias‐Los Tallares
Roman mine is 985 m, meaning both channels could have been
operative from the very beginning. Due to the upward progress of
the mine, which has largely destroyed the lower structures, it can
only be deduced at this point that channel Cer‐01 was no longer
available for the final phase of the work. Given the supply structure,
the simultaneous use of the entire hydraulic system during the
initial mining work phase, sourcing both the E as well as the W ends
of the mine without producing any type of interference between
the various gullies would have been possible and the pace would
have been marked by the availability of water and labour. Nonethe-
less and with some exceptions, a clear progression towards the W
of the mine work sites can be observed in the mine channel
intersections.
Considering the slope (0.2–0.3%) and width (0.90 m), the supply
capacity of these channels is 0.22 and 0.27 m3/s, respectively, calcu-
lated by applying Manning0 s equation with a roughness coefficient of
n = 0.030 and a water surface of 0.45 m, which corresponds to a nor-
mal operating system (Matías, 2008a, pp. 85–94; Matías, 2008b, pp.
35–38). Thus, the water availability for annual continuous service for
the entire supply system under ideal conditions would have been
13.2 Mm3 (55,296 m3 per day) Table 2.
66 MATÍAS AND LLAMAS

FIGURE 12 (a) Intersection of the channel

CEr‐03 and CEr‐02 in El Filoso. (b) Auxiliary
tank that was filled by CEr‐02 channel [Colour
figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.
com]

4.2 | Mining tanks and channels
The American flight aerial photographs, especially AMS 1956–1957
were fundamental in establishing the site of the heading tanks and
mining channels as the plain area began to be farmed in the 1950s
and was affected shortly after by intensive reforestation work
(Figure 8). Most of the alterations have occurred in the last few
decades due to the route of a number of roads for heavy forest
machinery. Nonetheless, most of the water supply and distribution
structures can be rather clearly observed. LIDAR image processing
has greatly helped this part of the work as it has now been possible
to locate distribution tanks and structures unknown until now, which
had habitually been hidden by the vegetation meaning they could not
be located in aerial photographs. A number of channels were designed
off the main tank system to distribute water towards the various
worksites. These channels, which shall be referred to as mining chan-
nels, simply consisted of ground excavation into the plain of the upper
part of terrace T‐2 measuring 2–3 m wide with very scarce depth
(around 1 m). The arrangement reflects the progress of the mining
work and only suggests the hypothetical development of the final
phases as any intermediate evidence has disappeared due to the
destruction caused by the progress of the clearings (Figure 13).

TABLE 2 Supply capacity (m3) Las Murias‐Los Tallares Roman gold mine channels
Length (km) Slope (%) Width (m) Depth (m) Flow (m3/s) 1 day 1 month 1 year

CEr‐01 7.75 0.2 0.90 0.45 0.22 19,008 570,240 6,937,920

CEr‐02 16.9 0.3 0.90 0.45 0.27 23,328 699,840 8,514,720
CEr‐03 1.3 0.2 — — 0.15 12,960 388,800 4,730,400
Available flow rates TOTAL 55,296 1,658,880 20,183,040
CEr‐02 and CEr‐03 36,288 1,088,640 13,245,120

No data.
MATÍAS AND LLAMAS 67

FIGURE 13 Structure of water supply to the

exploitation area [Colour figure can be viewed
at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

The slope of the land below the main supply elevations (993 and
985) barely exceed 1% towards the SE, meaning the water storage
structures had to be adapted for this circumstance that is not at all com-
mon in Roman auriferous mining in the area as very sharp slopes are
most common. This conditions the shape of the tanks and their location,
making them very difficult to identify without a certain margin of error.
The most obvious tank found is DEr‐03 (Figure 15). It is irregular in
shape and features two compartments, the largest of which (2,700 m2)
reaches a manifest depth of 1.5 m. The other compartment (500 m2) is
barely a depression in the land at 0.50 m deep. This tank would have
had a storage capacity of 4,000 m3.
Near this tank is DEr‐04, currently destroyed, although it can be
seen in the American flight A series aerial photographs (AMS 45 pho-
togram 016‐6449) as a watercourse with various mining channels com-
ing out of it towards the hushing systems. It was smaller in size than
FIGURE 14 Section of tank DEr‐01 located in the area of pine forest Der‐03, but no specifics on this or on its depth are certain.
[Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] There are a number of mine channels between tanks DEr‐03 and
DEr‐04 and the adjacent hushing tanks with several derivations
A large tank (DEr‐01) measuring 210 × 15 m at an elevation of
992 m, the main target for channel CEr‐02, has been located through
DTM‐LIDAR as well as on the ground (Figure 14). Supposing it is
1.5 m deep, it would have a capacity of 4,725 m3. Given the source
channel supply capacity, it could have been filled up to 7 times in
24 hr. This tank had two outlets on the eastern and western ends.
The eastern outlet is clearly related to the immediate mining work,
with three outlets towards the erosion pit and one towards the adja-
cent hushing pits, whereas the western one dumps into a watercourse
that connects to other tanks situated at a lower level. It is currently
affected by the forest trail on the western end.
No evidence has been found of tanks directly related to the chan-
nel CEr‐01 elevation, although there is an arch‐shaped structure on the
eastern edge of the erosion pit headings (very well defined in photo-
gram no. 45102 from the American flight B series, AMS 56) that corre-
sponds to a tank. It could have been originally sourced by this channel.
The reforestation and forest track practically make it unrecognizable FIGURE 15 Tank DEr‐03 (current status) [Colour figure can be viewed
today. It was approximately 130 m long. at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
68
between them and the mine work sites, reflecting a maze that is com-
plex and difficult to explain as there are also modern roads overlapping
the old watercourses. In the case of the area around tank DEr‐03, one
can see how some of these derivations were laid out at different times
with a predominant, deeper one towards the East. In summary, it could
be said that it is an apparently labyrinth‐like structure that proves dif-
ferent periods of work in the western third of the mine, supplying dif-
ferent sectors.
After the western third of the mine, the water was taken through a
single channel situated near the edge of the mine work sites and then
would be derived as necessary to supply the various mine faces.
Following the 2012 fire, some supply structures were uncovered
on the edge of the terrace, quite sectioned off by the development
of the evacuation channels that seem to have been used to lead the
water towards the lower E edge of the mine work sites at the start
of operations.
The DTM generated from the LIDAR data and the field work also
made it possible to locate the supply for the mines on the E edge (Vallico
La Escoba and Cuesta del Pinar), which are disconnected from the main
mining unit by a watercourse (Figure 16). The route of this watercourse
was created with a slight containment slope, the mark of which is
currently visible, where a certain quantity of water would have been
accumulated as a tank. This way, both banks of the watercourse were
connected to be able to lead the water towards the mine heading.
Structures, clearly of anthropogenic origin, have been located in
these two sections further away above the hushing tanks and near
the mining channels. They are oval in shape with a small 0.75‐ to 1‐
m embankment on the eastern side to create levelled ground measur-
ing 1.8 and 2 ha, respectively (DEr‐05 and DEr‐06). Due to their loca-
tion near the mining channels, they seem to be lower depth (barely
0.5 m) water tanks although their extension would give them a capac-
ity of nearly 10,000 m3; however, they would have been affected by
sediment silting and eutrophication in warm months. Notwithstanding,
there are currently no other data for their analysis other than provided
by LIDAR, as these structures have always been covered by vegetation
and are not visible in historical photographs meaning they must be
MATÍAS AND LLAMAS
FIGURE 16 Water network in the eastern
sector [Colour figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]
interpreted as tanks with certain reservations as they could also have
been settlements.
The supply of the sector situated further to the East (Cuesta del
Pinar) is not clearly defined although mining channels are quite notice-
able. While on the ground, some evidence was located concerning the
possibility of this supply from the evacuation channel of one of the
hushing tanks situated further to the East at Vallico la Escoba,
collecting water from two different points.
5 | DISCUSSION
LIDAR data processing is now an essential tool for analysing Roman
hydraulic mining structures in NW Hispania, the limitations of which
may be as follows:
• the quality, quantity, and precision of the laser points collected in
the LIDAR scanner;
• the state of mining structures conservation;
• the overlap of modern structures; and
• working scale.
Although the possibility of discovering new mining zones, most of
which were already located in the 1970s and 1980s by means of
extensive field explorations and meticulous photointerpretation work
with stereoscopic images taken by archaeologists Domergue (1987)
and Sánchez‐Palencia (1980; Perea & Sánchez‐Palencia, 1995) is quite
low, there is still a good outlook in areas covered with vegetation with
the aforementioned limitations.
LIDAR technology (with data Spanish IGN version at image resolu-
tion 0.5 points/m2) has not been very effective in locating supply
structures (channels) due to the low detail scale, lack of continuous evi-
dence, and the high level of degradation. Direct exploration on the
ground and the application of other methodologies continue to be
essential for this work.
MATÍAS AND LLAMAS
6 | C O N CL U S I O N S
LIDAR technology was used to study the Las Murias‐Los Tallares
Roman gold mine water supply (Castrocontigo, León, Spain). This tech-
nique had to be combined with an analysis of historical photographs
and orthoimages all while doing meticulous field work to collect in situ
data as well as to verify the nature of some of the evidence observed in
the DTM and aerial photographs.
The combined use of these technologies has made it possible to
create a detailed map of the supply hydraulic system that has been
incompletely known until now. It features three channels situated at
different altitudes that were used in combination for the mining work.
The total channel route is 29 km long, and it was mainly sourced by the
Eria River. The primary channel features a route of 16.9 km and the
capacity to supply 23,328 m3/day by itself.
ACKNOWLEDGEMEN TS
This work was done through a collaboration between the Regional
Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Castilla y León (Directorate General
for Cultural Heritage) and the Gómez Pardo Foundation (Mining and
Energy Engineering School) in order to complete the project:
Actualización del Inventario de Minería Aurífera Romana de Los Montes
de León: Bierzo Oriental, Cabrera y Maragatería (Fase I‐2016).
ORCID
Roberto Matías http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4836-2185
Bernardo Llamas http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4755-5997
RE FE R ENC E S
Domergue, C. (1987). Catalog of antique mines and foundries of Iberian
Peninsula Catalogue des mines et fonderiesantiques de la
PéninsuleIbérique. Editorial de la Casa de Velázquez, Madrid.
SérieArchéologie, 8, 2 Vol. (Vol. I, 244 p.; Vol. II 117 p.)
Fernández‐Lozano, J., & Gutiérrez‐Alonso, G. (2016). Improving archaeo-
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How to cite this article: Matías R, Llamas B. Use of LIDAR and
photointerpretation to map the water supply at the Las Murias‐
Los Tallares Roman gold mine (Castrocontrigo, León, Spain).
Archaeological Prospection. 2018;25:59–69. https://doi.org/
10.1002/arp.1581