Roșia Montană Mining Landscape contains the most significant, extensive and technically diverse underground Roman gold mining complex currently known in the world. Workings attested by the famous Roman wax-coated wooden writing tablets have been dated to the Roman occupation of Dacia (106–170 AD) and, together with potentially previous and subsequent phases, mining activity spans more than two millennia. At Roșia Montană all phases have left their mark, both underground and at surface, an evolution almost exclusively determined by people’s quest for gold. Final interventions derive from the communist regime that imposed nationalisation in 1948, and which ended traditional family – or small group – operated mining. State-run mining by underground and opencast ended in 2006.
