Surface gathering of metals, anterior to mining--Earliest
known mining operations--Earliest Phoenician mining in
Phoenicia Proper--Mines of Cyprus--Phoenician mining in
Thasos and Thrace--in Sardinia--in Spain--Extent of the
metallic treasures there--Phoenician methods not unlike
those of the present day--Use of shafts, adits, and
galleries--Roof of mines propped or arched--Ores crushed,
pounded, and washed--Use of quicksilver unknown--Mines
worked by slave labour.
The most precious and useful of the metals lie, in many places, so near
the earth’s surface that, in the earliest times, mining is unneeded
and therefore unpractised. We are told that in Spain silver was first
discovered in consequence of a great fire, which consumed all the
forests wherewith the mountains were clothed, and lasted many days;
at the end of which time the surface of the soil was found to be
intersected by streams of silver from the melting of the superficial
silver ore through the intense heat of the conflagration. The natives
did not know what to do with the metal, so they bartered it away to the
Phoenician traders, who already frequented their country, in return for
some wares of very moderate value.[101] Whether this tale be true or
no, it is certain that even at the present day, in what are called “new
countries,” valuable metals often show themselves on the surface of
the soil, either in the form of metalliferous earths, or of rocks which
shine with spangles of a metallic character, or occasionally, though
rarely, of actual masses of pure ore, sometimes encrusted with an oxide,
sometimes bare, bright, and unmistakable. In modern times, whenever
there is a rush into any gold region--whether California, or Australia,
or South Africa--the early yield is from the surface. The first comers
scratch the ground with a knife or with a pick-axe, and are rewarded by
discovering “nuggets” of greater or less dimensions; the next flight
of gold-finders search the beds of the streams; and it is not until the
supply from these two sources begins to fail that mining, in the proper
sense of the term, is attempted.
The earliest mining operations, whereof we have any record, are those
conducted by the Egyptian kings of the fourth, fifth and twelfth
dynasties, in the Sinaitic region. At two places in the mountains
between Suez and Mount Sinai, now known as the Wady Magharah and
Sarabit-el-Khadim, copper was extracted from the bosom of the earth by
means of shafts laboriously excavated in the rocks, under the auspices
of these early Pharaohs.[102] Hence at the time of the Exodus the
process of mining was familiar to the Hebrews, who could thus fully
appreciate the promise,[103] that they were about to be given “a good
land”--“a land whose stones were iron, and out of whose hills they might
_dig brass_.” The Phoenicians, probably, derived their first knowledge
of mining from their communications with the Egyptians, and no doubt
first practised the art within the limits of their own territory--in
Lebanon, Casius, and Bargylus. The mineral stores of these regions were,
however, but scanty, and included none of the more important metals,
excepting iron. The Phoenicians were thus very early in their history
driven afield for the supply of their needs, and among the principal
causes of their first voyages of discovery must be placed the desire
of finding and occupying regions which contained the metallic treasures
wherein their own proper country was deficient.
It is probable that they first commenced mining operations on a large
scale in Cyprus. Here, according to Pliny,[104] copper was first
discovered; and though this may be a fable, yet here certainly it was
found in great abundance at a very early time, and was worked to such
an extent, that the Greeks knew copper, as distinct from bronze, by
no other name than that of {khalkos Kuprios}, whence the Roman _Æs
Cyprium_, and our own name for the metal. The principal mines were in
the southern mountain range, near Tamasus,[105] but there were others
also at Amathus, Soli, and Curium.[106] Some of the old workings
have been noticed by modern travellers, particularly near Soli and
Tamasus,[107] but they have neither been described anciently nor
examined scientifically in modern times. The ore from which the metal
was extracted is called _chalcitis_ by Pliny,[108] and may have been the
“chalcocite” of our present metallurgical science, which is a sulphide
containing very nearly eighty per cent. of copper. The brief account
which Strabo gives of the mines of Tamasus shows that the ore was
smelted in furnaces which were heated by wood fires. We gather also from
Strabo that Tamasus had silver mines.
That the Phoenicians conducted mining operations in Thasos we know from
Herodotus,[109] and from other writers of repute[1010] we learn that
they extended these operations to the mainland opposite. Herodotus had
himself visited Thasos, and tells us that the mines were on the eastern
coast of the island, between two places which he calls respectively
Ænyra and Coenyra. The metal sought was gold, and in their quest of it
the Phoenicians had, he says, turned an entire mountain topsy-turvy.
Here again no modern researches seem to have been made, and nothing
more is known than that at present the natives obtain no gold from their
soil, do not seek for it, and are even ignorant that their island was
ever a gold-producing region.[1011] The case is almost the same on the
opposite coast, where in ancient times very rich mines both of gold and
silver abounded,[1012] which the Phoenicians are said to have
worked, but where at the present day mining enterprise is almost at a
standstill, and only a very small quantity of silver is produced.[1013]
Sardinia can scarcely have been occupied by the Phoenicians for anything
but its metals. The southern and south-western parts of the island,
where they made their settlements, were rich in copper and lead; and the
position of the cities seems to indicate the intention to appropriate
these metals. In the vicinity of the lead mines are enormous heaps of
scoriæ, mounting up apparently to a very remote era.[1014] The scoriæ
are not so numerous in the vicinity of the copper mines, but “pigs” of
copper have been found in the island, unlike any of the Roman period,
which are perhaps Phoenician, and furnish specimens of the castings
into which the metal was run, after it had been fused and to some extent
refined. The weight of the pigs is from twenty-eight to thirty-seven
kilogrammes.[1015] Pigs of lead have also been found, but they are less
frequent.
But all the other mining operations of the Phoenicians were
insignificant compared with those of which the theatre was Spain. Spain
was the Peru of the ancient world, and surpassed its modern rival, in
that it produced not only gold and silver, but also copper, iron, tin,
and lead. Of these metals gold was the least abundant. It was found,
however, as gold dust in the bed of the Tagus;[1016] and there were
mines of it in Gallicia,[1017] in the Asturias, and elsewhere. There was
always some silver mixed with it, but in one of the Gallician mines
the proportion was less than three per cent. Elsewhere the proportion
reached to ten or even twelve and a half per cent.; and, as there was
no known mode of clearing the gold from it, the produce of the Gallician
mine was in high esteem and greatly preferred to that of any other.
Silver was yielded in very large quantities. “Spain,” says Diodorus
Siculus,[1018] “has the best and most plentiful silver from mines of all
the world.” “The Spanish silver,” says Pliny,[1019] “is the best.” When
the Phoenicians first visited Spain, they found the metal held in no
esteem at all by the natives. It was the common material of the cheapest
drinking vessels, and was readily parted with for almost anything that
the merchants chose to offer. Much of it was superficial, but the veins
were found to run to a great depth; and the discovery of one vein was
a sure index of the near vicinity of more.[1020] The out-put of the
Spanish silver mines during the Phoenician, Carthaginian, and Roman
periods was enormous, and cannot be calculated; nor has the supply even
yet failed altogether. The iron and copper of Spain are also said to
have been exceedingly abundant in ancient times,[1021] though, owing to
the inferior value of the metals, and to their wider distribution, but
little is recorded with regard to them. Its tin and lead, on the other
hand, as being metals found in comparatively few localities, receive not
infrequent mention. The Spanish tin, according to Posidonius, did not
crop out upon the surface,[1022] but had to be obtained by mining.
It was produced in some considerable quantity in the country of the
Artabri, to the north of Lusitania,[1023] as well as in Lusitania
itself, and in Gallicia;[1024] but was found chiefly in small particles
intermixed with a dark sandy earth. Lead was yielded in greater
abundance; it was found in Cantabria, in Bætica, and many other
places.[1025] Much of it was mixed with silver, and was obtained in
the course of the operations by means of which silver was smelted and
refined.[1026] The mixed metal was called _galena_.[1027] Lead, however,
was also found, either absolutely pure,[1028] or so nearly so that the
alloy was inappreciable, and was exported in large quantities, both by
the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians, and also by the Romans. It was
believed that the metal had a power of growth and reproduction, so that
if a mine was deserted for a while and then re-opened, it was sure to be
found more productive than it was previously.[1029] The fact seems to be
simply that the supply is inexhaustible, since even now Spain furnishes
more than half the lead that is consumed by the rest of Europe. Besides
the ordinary metals, Spain was capable of yielding an abundance of
quicksilver;[1030] but this metal seems not to have attracted the
attention of the Phoenicians, who had no use for it.
The methods employed by the Phoenicians to obtain the metals which they
coveted were not, on the whole, unlike those which continue in use at
the present day. Where surface gold was brought down by the streams, the
ground in their vicinity, and such portions of their beds as could be
laid bare, were searched by the spade; any earth or sand that was seen
to be auriferous was carefully dug out and washed, till the earthy
particles were cleared away, and only the gold remained. Where the metal
lay deeper, perpendicular shafts were sunk into the ground to a greater
or less depth--sometimes, if we may believe Diodorus,[1031] to the depth
of half a mile or more; from these shafts horizontal adits were carried
out at various levels, and from the adits there branched lateral
galleries, sometimes at right angles, sometimes obliquely, which pursued
either a straight or a tortuous course.[1032] The veins of metal were
perseveringly followed up, and where faults occurred in them, filled
with trap,[1033] or other hard rock, the obstacle was either tunnelled
through or its flank turned, and the vein still pursued on the other
side. As the danger of a fall of material from the roofs of the adits
and galleries was well understood, it was customary to support them by
means of wooden posts, or, where the material was sufficiently firm, to
arch them.[1034] Still, from time to time, falls would occur, with great
injury and loss of life to the miners. Nor was there much less danger
where a mountain was quarried for the sake of its metallic treasures.
Here, too, galleries were driven into the mountain-side, and portions of
it so loosened that after a time they detached themselves and fell with
a loud crash into a mass of _débris_.[1035] It sometimes happened that,
as the workings proceeded, subterranean springs were tapped, which
threatened to flood the mine, and put an end to its further utilisation.
In such cases, wherever it was possible, tunnels were constructed, and
the water drained off to a lower level.[1036] In the deeper mines this,
of course, could not be done, and such workings had to be abandoned,
until the invention of the Archimedes’ screw (ab. B.C. 220-190), when
the water was pumped up to the surface, and so got rid of.[1037]
But before this date Phoenicia had ceased to exist as an independent
country, and the mines that had once been hers were either no longer
worked, or had passed into the hands of the Romans or the Carthaginians.
When the various ores were obtained, they were first of all crushed,
then pounded to a paste; after which, by frequent washings, the
non-metallic elements were to a large extent eliminated, and the
metallic ones alone left. These, being collected, were placed in
crucibles of white clay,[1038] which were then submitted to the action
of a furnace heated to the melting point. This point could only be
reached by the use of the bellows. When it was reached, the impurities
which floated on the top of the molten metal were skimmed off, or the
metal itself allowed, by the turning of a cock, to flow from an upper
crucible into a lower one. For greater purity the melting and skimming
process was sometimes repeated; and, in the case of gold, the skimmings
were themselves broken up, pounded, and again submitted to the melting
pot.[1039] The use of quicksilver, however, being unknown, the gold was
never wholly freed from the alloy of silver always found in it, nor was
the silver ever wholly freed from an alloy of lead.[1040]
The Romans and Carthaginians worked their mines almost wholly by slave
labour; and very painful pictures are drawn of the sufferings undergone
by the unhappy victims of a barbarous and wasteful system.[1041] The
gangs of slaves, we are told, remained in the mines night and day, never
seeing the sun, but living and dying in the murky and foetid atmosphere
of the deep excavations. It can scarcely be hoped that the Phoenicians
were wiser or more merciful. They had a large command of slave
labour, and would naturally employ it where the work to be done was
exceptionally hard and disagreeable. Moreover, the Carthaginians, their
colonists, are likely to have kept up the system, whatever it was,
which they found established on succeeding to the inheritance of the
Phoenician mines, and the fact that they worked them by means of slaves
makes it more than probable that the Phoenicians had done so before
them.[1042]
When the metals were regarded as sufficiently cleansed from impurities,
they were run into moulds, which took the form of bars, pigs, or
ingots. Pigs of copper and lead have, as already observed, been found in
Sardinia which may well belong to Phoenician times. There is also in the
museum of Truro a pig of tin, which, as it differs from those made
by the Romans, Normans, and later workers, has been supposed to be
Phoenician.[1043] Ingots of gold and silver have not at present been
found on Phoenician localities; but the Persian practice, witnessed to
by Herodotus,[1044] was probably adopted from the subject nation, which
confessedly surpassed all the others in the useful arts, in commerce,
and in practical sagacity.