ancient mining

At Thorikos in Greece, at the foot a a Mycenaean acropolis, and overlooking the harbour of Lavrio, a French team have found an amazing network of mining galleries, shafts, and chambers, dating over a long period of time. Some 5km of subterranean conduits dug into the marble and lime schist rocks of Attica are honeycombed with evidence of past mining activity, discovered by a combination of caver and climber and archaeologist – see http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/an-exceptional-disc… … a labyrinth of ancient mine workings have been found. Some of the activity goes back to the Neolothic and Early Bronze Age, and a date of 3200BC has been put forward. Mining continued all the way down to the Classical Period (after 400BC) and the prize was silver.