The Raven Stone

The Raven Stone forms part of Mount Cârnic which in return features a large number of entrances and mining tunnels that date back to Roman times. You can recognize Roman tunnels because of their trapezoidal shape. In the Raven Stone area, a unique Roman mining technique involving water, vinegar, and heat was employed to extract gold from hard rocks near the surface. Shafts or tunnels were dug into the massif in pursuit of rich gold veins and gradually widened, with downward stairs carved into the rock. Back in Roman times, dynamite hadn’t yet been invented. Insteadhe rock was heated with fires and then the rock was hit with cold water and vinegar, causing it to crack along the gold veins. The detached chunks were crushed, ground, and washed to extract the gold. You can still see visible traces of this ancient procedure.

Throughout its history Roșia Montană held a significant economic importance. The beginnings of surface gold exploitation, such as the visible traces of surface vein exploitation, can be dated back to the Bronze Age when Herodotus mentioned the Agathyrsi in the Transylvania area. He described them as bearers of gold ornaments. Surface or alluvial gold exploitation continued in the Dacian era. The contribution of innovative Roman technology applied at Alburnus Maior has created the largest Roman mining complex known to date at  global scale.

The underground mining network that dates from Roman times contains three major types of mining typologies, not found elsewhere in the world: mining tunnels with spiral stairs, inclined planes which are sloping passageways with ceilings cut into reverse steps, and chambers with pillars.

The mining tunnels are carved into the rock following the path of the gold vein. In areas where the ore concentration is not linear, exploitation chambers were developed, some of them having support pillars for the ceiling of the widened underground area. In areas where soft rocks or clays are inserted into the rock mass, wooden reinforcement scaffoldings were added. 

The Roman approach to mining was a technical novelty at that time in terms of the approach to the deposit. It gave way to very efficient gold mining. While there is still uncertainty about the exact quantities of gold and silver taken by emperor Trajan from the Dacians, what is certain, based on the extraordinary extent of the Roman mining network that span several kilometers, is the immense amounts of gold extracted from Alburnus Maior and probably from entire Dacia in a relatively short period. We know that it helped emperor Traian build his enduring legacy in funding key constructions that have survived to this very day and very likely Rosia Montana’s gold added to the flourishing economy of the Roman empire as a whole..

Dacia’s legendary treasures and the huge amounts of gold and silver, which according to the Romans were taken from Dacia, were certainly part of Trajan's propaganda to justify the extraordinary effort made by the Empire to conquer Dacia. The 165 tons of gold and 331 tons of silver mentioned by Criton who was Trajan's military physician in his Getica may be exaggerated, but a very substantial war booty was brought to Rome from Dacia. The 123 days of celebration following the conquest of Dacia for the entire population of Rome was a major expense to the imperial budget, and most likely was paid from the gold and silver brought from Dacia. The supposed link between the legendary "Decebal's Treasure" and Dacian or pre-Dacian gold mining remains unverified. Before the Roman occupation, Dacia's deposits were potentially richer, suggesting significant gold and silver extraction through surface veins or alluvial gold mining.

From here, we invite you to move on to the next destination, the Sphinx of the Apuseni Mountains and the Cariera pit. 

You have listened to the content dedicated to the Raven Stone of Roșia Montană.

The UNESCO tour of Rosia Montana is a project implemented by the non-governmental organization ‘Rosia Montana in Patrimoniul Mondial’. The audio-tour is co-financed by Romania’s Administration for National Cultural Funds. We based our story telling on local anecdotes and the works listed on the bibliography on our website. We encourage you to follow the trail that we prepared for you via our website. This will ensure that you discover all objects and their stories of Rosia Montana. Have a pleasant journey and ‘drum bun’ as we say here.