The cult of Dionysus was deeply rooted in Thracian culture in the Rhodope. Another tradition for which the mountain was famous in ancient times was the mining of gold, silver and precious stones. One of the largest mines in Antiquity was located near the present-day village of Stremtsi, about a mile and a half from Perperikon. What remains of it are about a dozen entrances and more than 500 metres of galleries. The entire hillside was cut through by a thick network of tunnels and caverns. During the Pleistocene, the site must have been the bed of a subterranean river carrying gold-rich alluvium. In subsequent geological periods, the upper layers of rock must have collapsed and, as the river bed dried up, the alluvial deposits became consolidated. The ancient gold-diggers crushed the rock into gravel and then washed away the lighter sands with water from the nearby river.

The gold-rich deposit was crushed in the underground galleries and the gravel was brought to the surface through dozens of vertical shafts. Those still have the holes in their walls which must have served to fix the hoisting mechanism. The shafts were also the only air inlet for the mining galleries. The gravel was then taken to the river to wash the sand away from the gold. Heaps of the rock which remained after processing can still be found in the area today. Most of the small rivers which run in the foots of Perperikon are gold-bearing themselves; and the only surviving ancient toponym is that of the gold-bearing Perpereshka.