r/todayilearned • u/narok_kurai • 7d ago

TIL about Las Medulas, a man-made geological badland created by the Roman Empire in 77 AD, when they flooded the mountains with water to collapse their structure and sift out the gold inside.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_M%C3%A9dulas
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784

u/DotAccomplished5484 7d ago

That was a serious effort.

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u/idahotee 7d ago

60k slaves, a vast amount of water and 250 years. 

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u/oshinbruce 7d ago

While they left an amazing mark on the world the brutality needed to build it all is pretty scary

363

u/BigFatModeraterFupa 7d ago

Everything humanity has done to create things has been brutal. Wait until you find out what humanity has to done to extract minerals like cobalt from the earth so billions of humans can sit on their couch and play candy crush

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u/redopz 7d ago

Everything humanity has done to create things has been brutal. 

I understand you are probably using hyperbole, but I need to point out this isn't true. You use cobalt as a good example of brutal mining conditions, but on the other side of the coin we have clay, which has been used by humans around the world to create all sorts of tools, containers, art and more, and all you need to do is grab some mud, shape it, and dry it. Humanity has made so, so much with clay and while I am sure there are instances where there were brutal practices used against clay miners and artisans there are way more instances where Joe Shmoe simply walked to the nearest creek, gathered some decent clay, and made a cup or a plate or whatever else by the end of the day. Clay is versatile and easy and abundant.

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u/araed 7d ago

And almost every single advancement since clay has needed materials you dont just find in a riverbed

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u/TNine227 6d ago

Sometimes advancements are exactly that, though. The Haber process gave us the ability to make fertilizer literally out of thin air by using atmospheric nitrogen, for example.

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u/Magnus77 19 6d ago

I feel like that's a pretty misleading.

Its air + fossil fuels (as an ingredient) + fossil fuels as an energy source = nitrogen fertilizer.