Roman mining companies in Spain

BORJA DÍAZ ARIÑO – JUAN ANTONIO ANTOLINOS MARÍN ROMAN MINING COMPANIES IN SPAIN aus: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 210 (2019) 291–303 © Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn 291 ROMAN MINING COMPANIES IN SPAIN Introduction Spain was a key territory for the supply of precious metals during the Roman period.1 It is even possible that the Roman authorities’ decision to retain a military presence there after the Second Punic War was to a large extent motivated by its mineral wealth.2 In fact, one of the fi rst measures taken once the territory was secured in 195 B.C.E. was to establish a tribute system intended to tax the iron and silver mines.3 The importance of the Spanish mines contrasts with the scarcity of information available about them. In recent years, our knowledge has advanced signifi cantly, thanks to several archaeological research projects.4 We still, however, understand very little about how production was organised, and, since ancient authors rarely pay attention to these questions, we are almost entirely dependent upon epigraphic information, usually of problematic interpretation. In spite of the limitations, there is a certain consensus among researchers that identifi es two major administration models for Roman mining operations in Spain. The fi rst of these is characterised by the existence of a large number of family owned mining and/or metallurgical companies.5 The names of the owners of these companies appear on the stamps of the many lead ingots of Spanish provenance that have been recovered to date. Lead was a by-product of the processing of argentiferous galena for silver, and since no stamped silver ingots from Hispania are preserved, lead ingots are almost the only source of information available to us about the organisation of silver production.6 This business organisation model, well known to us thanks to the recent work undertaken in Sierra de Cartagena, east of Carthago Nova,7 is typical of the period that spans from the middle of the second century B.C.E. to the middle of the following century, to which most of the lead ingots of Spanish provenance 1 On Roman mining activity in Spain: Cl. Domergue, Catalogue des mines et fonderies antiques de la Péninsule Ibérique, 1987; id., Les mines de la Péninsule Ibérique dans l’antiquité romaine, 1990. As an introduction to ancient mining: J. F. Healy, Mining and Metallurgy in the Greek and Roman World, 1978; Cl. Domergue, Les mines antiques. La production des métaux aux époques grecque et romaine, 2008. 2 Cf. Macc. 1.8.3. 3 Liv. 34.21.7, cf. J. S. Richardson, The Spanish mines and the Development of Provinicial Taxation in the Second Century B.C., JRS 66, 1976, 139–52. 4 Recent archaeological bibliography is extensive. For an introduction, see the following collective works: J. A. Antolinos and J. I. Manteca (eds.), Bocamina: patrimonio minero de la Región de Murcia, 2005; L. M. Gutiérrez (ed.), Minería antigua en Sierra Morena, 2010; A. Orejas and Ch. Rico (eds.), Minería y metalurgia antiguas. Visiones y revisiones, 2012; M. Zarzalejos, P. Hevia, and L. Mansilla (eds.), Paisajes mineros antiguos de la Península Ibérica. Investigaciones recientes y nuevas líneas de trabajo, 2012; L. García-Pulido, L. Arboledas, E. Alarcón and F. Cortes (eds.), Presente y futuro de los Paisajes mineros del pasado, 2017. 5 Richardson 1976 (n. 3) 144–7. 6 Domergue 1990 (n. 1) 254–7; id., Un parcours à travers les lingots de plomb romains d’Espagne (1965–2003), Pallas 66, 2004, 105–17. We still do not have a systematic catalogue of lead ingots from the Roman period. There are currently two projects dedicated to compiling such a catalogue: one Franco-Italian project lead by C. Domergue, and a German one, which forms part of the work on the publication of the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum undertaken by the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut. A catalogue limited to ingots from the Republican period may be found in: B. Díaz, Epigrafía latina republicana de Hispania, 2008, 275–91. 7 S. Baron, Ch. Rico, and J. A. Antolinos, Le complexe d’ateliers du Cabezo del Pino (Sierra Minera de Cartahegna-La Unión, Murcia) et l’organisation de l’activité minière à Carthago Nova à la fi n de la République romaine. Apports croisés de l’archéologie et de la géochimie, ArchEspArq 90, 2017, 147–69. As an introduction to the archaeology of the mining districts in the area around Carthago Nova: J. A. Antolinos, J. M. Noguera, and B. Soler, Poblamiento y explotación minero-metalúrgica en el distrito minero de Carthago Nova, in: J. M. Noguera (ed.), Poblamiento rural romano en el sureste de Hispania quince años después, 2010, 167–231. 292 B. Díaz Ariño – J. A. Antolinos Marín belong.8 It also coincides with the “silver rush” recorded by Diodorus Siculus, which brought many Italian immigrants to Hispania in search of its mining wealth. 9 The second model corresponds to the phase of Imperial control of mineral exports.10 This management model began with Augustus’ direct intervention in starting large-scale activity in the gold mines of northwest Spain after the Cantabrian Wars,11 from which point onwards the intervention of Roman administration in mining activity was a constant.12 Between the peak of the family owned mining companies’ activities and the management of the most important mining complexes passing into the hands of the Imperial authorities, there was a period – very poorly known – during which metal production in Hispania seems to have been controlled, at least partially, by a new type of mining companies, that can be called “anonymous”. This period coincides, furthermore, with the phase of highest activity in the mines of the southern Iberian Peninsula. Various studies of global pollution trends confi rm the existence of a signifi cant increase in pollution between the fi rst centuries B.C.E and C.E., which can be directly related to the metallurgical 8 B. Díaz and J. A. Antolinos, The Organisation of Mining and Metal Production in Carthago Nova between the Late Republic and Early Empire, Athenaeum 101, 2013, 535–53 (539–45). 9 Diod. 5.36.3–4; cf. M. Stefanile, Dalla Campania alle Hispaniae. L’emigrazione dalla Campania romana alle coste mediterranee della Penisola Iberica in età tardo-repubblicana e proto-imperiale, 2017. 10 Cf. A. M. Hirt, Imperial Mines and Quarries in the Roman World, 2010, with extensive bibliography. 11 F. J. Sánchez-Palencia, I. Sastre, A. Orejas, and M. Ruiz del Árbol, Augusto y el control administrativo y territorial de las zonas mineras del Noroeste hispano, Gerión 35, 2010, 863–74; F. J. Sánchez-Palencia, El oro hispano. La explotación romana del oro en el noroeste de la Península Ibérica, in: J. M. López Ballesta (ed.), Minería y metalurgia en el Mediterráneo y su periferia, 2015, 148–59. 12 Domergue 1990 (n. 1) 279–307; A. Mateo, Observaciones sobre el régimen jurídico de la minería en tierras públicas en época romana, 2001, 87–166. Fig. 1. Map of the south of the Iberian Peninsula showing the evidence associated with Roman mining companies Roman Mining Companies in Spain 293 activity undertaken in Hispania. These levels of pollution were not reached again until the early Middle Ages,13 when the silver production outside Europe began to increase.14 As P. Kay has recently observed, the massive Spanish silver supply was a decisive factor in the acceleration in economic activity in the Mediterranean between the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Julio-Claudian period.15 All evidence suggests that a substantial proportion of the metal from which Roman silver coins were minted in this period would have come from those very Spanish silver mines.16 Four of those new type of companies are well attested in several of the mining districts of southern Spain. We know the names of two of them: the societas argentifodinarum Ilucronensium (or montis Ilucronensis) and the societas Sisaponensis. Only the initials are known of the other two: the societas C. and the societas a(rgentifodinarum?) Ba. The activity of these four societates is attested both in Carthago Nova and in the area of Sierra Morena, in the wide belt of land that extends between the Guadiana and Guadalquivir rivers, and includes the mining regions of Castulo, Sisapo, and Corduba (fi g. 1). In contrast, there is no information about the Riotinto (Huelva) district, which has produced very little epigraphic material.17 Knowledge about these companies is still very fragmentary, but different traces suggest that they could have played a signifi cant role in the extraordinary increase in metal production at the end of the Republican period. The available evidence will now be considered. The societas argentifodinarum Ilucronensium This societas is perhaps the best known of the four companies. It was active in the area around Mazarrón (Murcia), in the far west of the mining district of Carthago Nova.18 It takes its name from an indigenous placename, Ilucro. It contains the root il(t)i-/il(t)u-, typical of the region’s autochthonous toponymy, but its location is still uncertain.19 Several lead ingots from this company are known. One of them was recovered at the end of the nineteenth century from the Tiber, next to the Via Marmorata in Rome (fi g. 2.1).20 Another fi ve were discovered at the beginning of the twentieth century in the mining-metallurgical complex of Coto Fortuna, in 13 F. de Callataÿ, The Graeco-Roman Economy in the Super Long-Run: Lead, Copper, and Shipwrecks, JRA 81, 2005, 361–72; Ph. Kay, Rome’s Economic Revolution, 2014, 48, fi g. 3.1, and recently J. R. McConnell, A. I. Wilson, A. Stohl, M. M. Arienzo, N. J. Chellman, S. Eckhardt, E. M. Thomson, A. M. Pollard and J. P. Steffensen, Lead Pollution Recorded in Greenland Ice Indicates European Emissions Tracked Plages, Wars, and Imperial Expansion during Antiquity, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 115.22, 2018, 5729–31; cf. J. I. Manteca, M. Ros, S. Ramallo, F. Navarro, T. Rodríguez, F. Cerezo, J. E. Ortiz, T. de Torres and M. Martínez, Early Metal Pollution in Southwestern Europe: the Former Litoral Lagoon of El Almarjal (Cartagena mining district, S.E. Spain), A Sedimentary Archive more than 8000 Years Old, Enviromental Science and Pollution Research 24, 2017, 10584–603. On this question, vid. also Domergue 2008 (n. 1) 212–3. 14 Cf. I. Blanchard, Mining, Metallurgy and Minting in the Middle Ages. Vol. I, Asiatic Supremacy, 2001, 425–1125. 15 Kay 2014 (n. 13). 16 Cf. W. Hollstein, Metallanalytische Untersuchungen an Münzen der römischen Republik, 2000; K. Butcher and M. Ponting, The Roman Denarius under the Julio-Claudian Emperors: Mints, Metallurgy and Technology, OJA 24.2, 2005, 163–97; A. Orejas, I. Montero, Y. Álvarez, L. F. López, M. A. López, and I. Rodríguez, Roman Denarii from North Western Hispania, Findings from Castromaior (Lugo). A Contextual, Numismatic and Analytic Approach, MM 56, 2015, 232–57. 17 Cf. J. A. Pérez and A. Delgado, La minería romana en el suroeste ibérico, CuadGranada 24, 2014, 239–65; J. A. Pérez, La faja pirítica ibérica en época romana, in: García-Pulido et al 2017 (n. 4) 109–20; A. Delgado, M. Bustamante, and A. Marins, La faja pirítica ibérica en época de Augusto, Gerión 35, 2017, 895–924. 18 J. A. Antolinos and B. Díaz, La societas argentifodinarum Ilucronensium y la explotación de las minas romanas de Carthago Nova, Chiron 42, 2012, 25–43. 19 Cf. J. Untermann, Monumenta Linguarum Hispanicarum. Band VI. Die vorrömische einheimische Toponymie des antiken Hispanien, 2018, 138–9. 20 CIL XV 7916: Societ(atis) argent(i) // fod(inarum) mont(is) Ilucr(onensis) // galena. 294 B. Díaz Ariño – J. A. Antolinos Marín Mazarrón (fi g. 2.2).21 To this collection may be added various ingots, still unpublished, recovered in a shipwreck discovered near Messina (Sicily).22 It is possible that a series of ingots found in the south of Corsica may be associated with this company, fi ve of which were recovered from the sea near U Puntonu, and another nine from the Gavetti wreck, in the Strait of Bonifacio. All of them have stamps bearing the same text: soc(ietas) argent(ifodinarum?) (fi g. 2.3).23 Their appearance and palaeography allow them to be associated with those discussed above. Isotopic analysis has confi rmed, furthermore, that they came from the mines in the area around Carthago Nova.24 Three lead matrices survive which, judging by their content, could have been used in the production of the societas Ilucronensis’ lead ingots. All of them are from the area around Mazarrón: one was discovered in the mineral-metallurgical complex of Los Perules, while the other two were found in Coto Fortuna (fi g. 2.4–6).25 21 AE 1907, 135: Societ(atis) // mont(is) argent(ifodinarum) // Ilucro(nensium). 22 P. Rothenhoefer, M. Bode, and N. Hanel, Old Finds – New Insights: Remarks on Two Roman Lead Ingots from Minas de Riotinto (Huelva, España), Revista Onuba 4, 2012, 127–33 (129): Societ(atis) argent(i) // fod(inarum) mont(is) Ilucr(onensis) // [galena?]. 23 J. M. Bontempi, M. L. Di Vacri, Cl. Domergue, N. B. Fabry, M. Ferrante, A. Nesta, St. Nisi, V. Ortoli, J.-Cl. Ottaviani, A. Pasquet, P. Quaratim, P. R. Trincherini, and D. Vitali, Lingots de plomb antiques trouvés dans les eaux de Corse-du-sud, Bulletin de la Société des Sciences Historiques et Naturelles de la Corse 754–755, 2016, 7–58 (18–36). 24 Bontempi et al. 2016 (n. 23) 13–14. 25 Antolinos and Díaz 2012 (n. 18) 32–3. The one from Los Perules reads: MONT ARGENT, while the ones from El Coto Fortuna read: SOCIET and SOC[---]. Fig. 2. Materials associated with the S(ocietas) A(rgentifodinarum) I(lucronensium): 1, stamp on a lead ingot from Rome; 2, stamp on a lead ingot from Coto Fortuna; 3, stamp on a lead ingot from Corsica; 4–6, lead matrices from Mazarrón; 7–8, lead seals from Mazarrón Roman Mining Companies in Spain 295 A collection of lead seals from Coto Fortuna and the neighbouring mine complex of Pedreras Viejas also belong to the societas Ilucronensis. They bear the initials S.A.I., the abbreviation of the company’s offi cial name which is written in full on the ingots (fi g. 2.7–8).26 According to C. Domergue, it is possible that this type of seal was used to guarantee that the bags of ore were not tampered with during their transfer to the foundry.27 The ingots and the lead seals indicate that the S.A.I. was responsible not only for mineral extraction, but also for its processing, and therefore for the fi nal production of silver and lead. The discovery of materials associated with the company in three of the four large mining and metallurgical complexes in the area around Mazarrón, and especially in the most important of those, Coto Fortuna, suggests that the company’s activities in this mining district could have constituted a virtual monopoly. There is no evidence that would allow us to date these materials precisely, but the lead ingots correspond to the typology of ingots manufactured in the region of Cartagena-Mazarrón between the end of the second century and the end of the fi rst century B.C.E.28 It appears that mining and metallurgical production reached its peak in Coto Fortuna around the end of the fi rst century B.C.E. and the beginning of the fi rst century C.E., although the absence of archaeological intervention in this important site demands caution.29 We know of another mining company in Mazarrón, the societas montis Ficariensis, which is mentioned in one of the inscriptions that accompany three statues dedicated to Mater Terra, the genius montis Ficariensis and the genius of the societas itself.30 The group of sculptures can be dated to the last third of the fi rst century C.E., a chronology consistent with the inscriptions’ palaeography.31 No further information survives about this company, and it is unknown when its activity started, nor what its relationship was with the S.A.I. It is likel y that the companies were not contemporary, but successive, an interesting possibility but one which cannot as yet be proven.32 The societas C(---) Numerous lead seals, recovered largely from the main mining districts of Sierra Morena, can be associated with this mining company. These seals, similar to those found in Mazarrón, bear the initials S.C. and, occasionally, numbers. They have been found in various local mining and metallurgical facilities near Castulo (Linares, Jaén), as El Centenillo (Baños de la Encina) and La Carolina; as well as near Corduba, in particular in Santa Eufemia, Posadas, and Almodóvar del Río, and in Azuaga (Badajoz), to the far west of Sierra Morena (fi g. 3.1–4).33 The abbreviation S.C. is recorded on two lead weights and a bronze bucket recovered in El Centenillo (fi g. 3.5).34 It also appears as a countermark, on a series of local bronze coins found both in El Centenillo 26 J. A. Antolinos, B. Díaz, and C. Guillén, Minería romana en Carthago Nova: El Coto Fortuna y los precintos de plomo de la societas argentifodinarum Ilucronensium, JRA 26, 2013, 88–121 (104–12). 27 Cl. Domergue, El Cerro del Plomo, mina ‘El Centenillo’ (Jaén), Noticiario Arqueológico Hispánico 16, 1971, 265–363 (351–3). 28 L. Laubenheimer, Recherches sur les lingots de cuivre et de plomb d’époque romaine dans les régions de Languedoc-Roussillon et de Provence-Corse, 1973, 173–92; Cl. Domergue, Les mines et la production des métaux dans le monde méditerranéen au Ier millénaire avant notre ère. Du producteur au consommateur, in: A. Lehoërff (ed.), L’artisanat métallurgique dans les sociétés anciennes en Méditerranée occidentale. Techniques, lieux et formes de production, 2004, 129–59 (142). 29 Antolinos, Díaz, and Guillén 2013 (n. 26) 89–104. 30 CIL II 3525: Genio loci Ficariensis / sacrum / Albanus dispens(ator); 3526: Matri Terrae / sacrum / Albanus disp(ensator); 3527: Genio s(ocietatis) m(ontis) F(icariensis) / Albanus disp(ensator). 31 J. M. Noguera, El conjunto escultórico consagrado por el dispensator Albanus. Algunas puntualizaciones para su estudio iconográfi co y estilístico, Verdolay 4, 1992, 75–98; M. J. Pena, S(ocietas) M(ontis) F(icariensis). Nota sobre la inscripción CIL II 3527 (Mazarrón, Murcia), Verdolay 8, 1996, 43–7. 32 Antolinos and Díaz 2012 (n. 18) 36–7. 33 J. A. Antolinos and B. Díaz, Los precintos de plomo del Museo de Badajoz y la actividad de las compañías mineras romanas en el sur de Hispania a comienzos de época imperial, MM 56, 2015, 211–31 (213–23), with above bibliography. 34 Domergue 1971 (n. 27) 351. 296 B. Díaz Ariño – J. A. Antolinos Marín Fig. 3. Materials associated with the S(oietas) C(---): 1–4, lead seals; 5, lead weight from El Centenillo; 6, coin from the kese mint with countermark; 7, coin with the legend S.C. Roman Mining Companies in Spain 297 as well as in Posadas, Marrubial (Córdoba), Toletum (Toledo) and perhaps also in Hoyo de la Campana (Granada). The majority of these countermarked coins come from the Iberian mint of kese (Tarragona) (fi g. 3.6).35 There is also a rare collection of bronze coins which display a male head – probably Augustus’ – on the obverse and a standing horse on the reverse with the legend S.C. repeated on both faces. Of the four known examples in this collection, one was discovered in El Centenillo itself (fi g. 3.7).36 It is not currently possible to reconstruct the name of this company. Traditionally, the initials have been expanded to s(ocietas) C(astulonensis), given that the majority of the seals originate from eastern Sierra Morena.37 The discovery, however, of other seals both in the centre as well as the far west of Sierra Morena also present the possibility that the name could be s(ocietas) C(ordubensis).38 A lead ingot recovered in the sea around Menorca, but originating from the mines of eastern Sierra Morena, bears the stamp SOC. PLVM. [-2-]R.,39 which could perhaps correspond to a soc(ietas) plum(baria) [Co]r(dubensis).40 In any case, given the lack of conclusive evidence, the question must remain open. In the Sud-Lavezzi 2 wreck, to the south of Corsica, several hundred copper ingots have been recovered, some of which are stamped with the letters SAC, along with other inscriptions of an onomastic nature.41 This wreck, dated to the fi rst third of the fi rst century C.E., carried various goods from Baetica, which included amphorae Haltern 70, Dressel 7–11, and Dressel 20, as well as new lead ingots with the stamp Minuciorum.42 It is therefore feasible to propose the possibility, as mere hypothesis, that these letters could refer to a s(ocietas) a(rgentifodinarum), perhaps the same S.C. that is documented on the lead seals. The fact that these are copper ingots is not an obstacle, since this company could have exploited polymetallic seams which would allow for copper extraction, as well as silver and lead, which is common in the mining districts of central Sierra Morena.43 Most of the seals bearing the letters S.C. were discovered in the excavations by C. Domergue in El Cerro del Plomo (El Centenillo), for which reason they should be dated to the beginning of the fi rst century B.C.E.44 The company must have remained active at least until the beginning of the Julio-Claudian period, the time when the foundry at Fuente Espí (La Carolina) was active, which has also provided numerous seals.45 The countermarked coins from kese could be dated at the latest to the fi rst half of the fi rst century B.C.E.46 It therefore seems that the period of activity for the S.C. in Sierra Morena largely coincides with that of the S.A.I. from Mazarrón. 35 M. P. García-Bellido and C. Blázquez, Diccionario de cecas y pueblos hispánicos, 2001, 1, 110–12; A. Arévalo La circulación monetaria en las minas de Sierra Morena: El distrito de Cordoba, Numisma 237, 1996, 51–82; L. Arboledas, Minería y metalurgia romana en el sur de la Península Ibérica. Sierra Morena oriental, 2010, 45–6; A. Taboada and S. Azcárraga, Nuevos datos sobre el diseño urbano de Toletum: las cloacas de la Bajada del Barco, Gerión 34, 2016, 249–87 (265). 36 RPC I 132. 37 E.g. Domergue 1990 (n. 1) 261–3; Arboledas 2010 (n. 35) 46–8; C. Rico, Sociétés et entrepreneurs miniers italiques en Hispanie à la fi n de l’époque républicaine. Une comparaison entre les districts de Carthagène et de Sierra Morena, Pallas 82, 2010, 365–415 (398). 38 Cf. Domergue 2008 (n. 1) 194. 39 HEp 14, 2005, 69. 40 Antolinos and Díaz 2015 (n. 33) 221; contra I. Rodá, Agripa y el comercio del plomo, Mastia 3, 2004, 183–94 (185 and 189). 41 AE 1991, 923b; B. Liou and Cl. Domergue, Le commerce de la Bétique au Ier siècle de notre ère. L’èpave Sud-Lavezzi 2 (Bonifacio, Corse du Sud), Archaeonautica 10, 1990, 11–123 (95–115). 42 A. J. Parker, Ancient Shipwreks of the Mediterranean and the Roman Provinces, 1992, 414–15. 43 Cf. Domergue 1990 (n. 1) 47–8. 44 Domergue 1971 (n. 27) 349–51. 45 Domergue 1971 (n. 27) 351. 46 García-Bellido and Blázquez 2001 (n. 35) 1, 240–41.