Civitates, elites and mining from the Roman Republic to the Early Empire in the Upper Guadalquivir: the Eastern Sierra Morena

The mines of the eastern Sierra Morena were exploited intensively between the 2nd c. B.C. and the beginning of the 2nd c. AD., as archaeological remains of mining, classical texts and epigraphy attest. This exploitation has been linked to Castulo, though it has not been possible so far to document its role in the development of these activities. This paper, therefore, analyses the role the cities of the Upper Guadalquivir played in the exploitation of these mines as well as the relationship of the social elites of these urban cores with regard to the production of metals, based on the epigraphic analysis of the various types of documentary evidence related to this activity within this territory.