Lavrio

the washbasins in the valley of the mining fields of Lavrio / Attica.
In the times of the Persian wars this mining field saved greece from defeat as their ruler Themistocleos decided to use the profits of this silvermine for the building of the treeriem boats / naval ships of then to fight off the Persians what they did 3 yrs later at the Battle of Salamis with their 100 newly built naval ships!! payed for by this mining field

this open air museum is not well known amongst tourists / that may have saved its beauty in my opinion... here are the 7 washbasins where the stones caved out of the mines were selected for their contents by weighing them in the waters by the hands of skilled workers to distinguish their content: the heavier stone(s) hold the silver and led particles and the lighter stone(s) not. the heavier stones were then processed further in the ovens to take out the silver (an the unhealthy led came suite)

Theistocleos had told the other members in government that the money gained from this mine was not to be distributed amongst their happy few as they'd wanted but used for the defence of their nation! this all sounds oh so familiar with today's politics!!