Whether the Phoenicians and t he In the south-west of the Iberian Carthaginians ever actually worked Peninsula there is a vast pyritic the mines, or were merely traders, is mineral ised zone, known as the not certain, but after 205 BC, when Andevallo, extending from near they defeated the Carthagi nians, the Seville to south of Lisbon, an area Romans brought their own men skilled some 150 kilometres long and 30 in mining and metallurgy. kilometres wide. The Romans occupied most of the The Rio Tinta Mines, which are the Iberian Peninsula for 600 years, largest of this "pyrites belt," lie until...