page_title: Peñas de Aya
section_title: Geology
hierarchical_section_title: Peñas de Aya / Geology
caption_attribution_description: Overview of Irun, Hondarribia and a tip of Hendaia from Aiako Harria, with the Bay of Biscay in the background
context_page_description: Aiako Harria in Basque or Peñas de Aya in Spanish, is a massif east of the town of Oiartzun in the Basque Country. The river Oiartzun rises on its north-western face.
  The range is very popular with the inhabitants of the area. Other neighbouring towns are Irun on the north and Lesaka on the east. The massif comprises three summits extending 4-odd kilometres north to south in a row, namely Irumugarrieta, Txurrumurru and Erroilbide. Its characteristic shape can be made out approximately from as far as Bayonne, the massif being dubbed the "face of Napoleon" on account of its similar outline, while its actual French name is Les Trois Couronnes. At its western foot, the mountain holds the site Arditurri related to ancient Oiasso with a network of mine corridors carved in the rock and put down to Romans. Some notable mountains around are Bianditz on the south, Jaizkibel on the west and Larrun on the north-east.
context_section_description: Besides being considered by some the westernmost tip of the Pyrenees (rivalling with the coastal mountain Jaizkibel), it stands out as a distinctive range of rocky prominences and gullies, otherwise uncommon. The conspicuous formations of Aiako Harria consist of a Paleozoic massif with some of the oldest materials cropping out currently in the Basque Country. Later orogeny pushed a mass of igneous rocks to the surface, so metamorphosing the superficial Paleozoic materials as it tore its way out of them, which yielded the present day granitic landscape.
  The materials held by the mountain enticed the Romans to these reaches, who settled in the riverside town of Oiasso with important port and factory vestiges unveiled recently. Ore was extracted from the Arditurri mines (IPA: [aɾ'ðituri]), largely silver bearing galena and lead aimed at the elaboration of different metallic instruments, the site standing for one of the most significant ancient mines in Hispania, second to Las Médulas mines in Leon but matching in importance those of Cartagena or Rio Tinto. As late as the 5th century, the mines were abandoned by Romans, but were exploited in the Middle Ages for iron, so spurring the construction of many foundries around. The mines kept on running up to 1984, when the exploitation license expired.
caption: Overview of Irun, Hondarribia and a tip of Hendaia
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