Laurion – The present state and future scope of research

The mining district of Laurion in Attica (Greece) was doubtless the largest and most important industrial area of ancient Greece. Due to the density, diversity and partly excellent state of preservation of the remains it is also one of the most fascinating mining landscapes of the ancient world. The silver mining at Laurion formed one of three pillars of the Athenian public economy. Although the geological and archaeological exploration of the Laurion has made significant progress over the last few decades, numerous questions concerning its history and topography, as well as its mining archaeology and archaeometallurgy remain unsolved. This paper tries to offer a brief general overview of the outstanding problems and questions, in order to define research fields and to formulate tasks for the future as a matter of priority. The most important task, however, is adding the Laurion to the list of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites and to protect it from further destruction.