Causes of the degradation of the landscape. Of the many quarries that dot the territory of the ancient Roman city of Tarraco (now Tarragona, Catalonia), the quarry of El Mèdol stands out. The main supplier of stone material for the construction and monumentalisation of the city, this quarry has been admired since ancient times for its spectacular nature, its special configuration in depth and the central pinnacle known as the Needle, and its importance within the heritage of Tarragona was recognised with its declaration as an Artistic-Historical Monument (1934), BIC (1985), BCIN and, more recently, World Heritage Site by UNESCO (2000).