Ruina montium

Ruina montium (Latin, "wrecking of mountains") was an ancient Roman mining technique described by Pliny the Elder (Natural History 33.21), who served as procurator in Spain.

[1][2] It is thought to draw on the principle of Pascal's barrel.

[3] Miners would excavate narrow cavities down into a mountain, whereby filling the cavities with water would cause pressures large enough to fragment thick rock walls.

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Las Médulas , the most important gold mine in the Roman Empire. The spectacular landscape resulted from the ruina montium mining technique.