The Evidence for Ancient Mining
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5290433 |
|---|---|
| Authors | C E N Bromehead (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1940 |
| Volume | 96 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 101 |
| Publication date | 1940-08-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Geographical Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0016-7398 • E-ISSN: 1475-4959 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1787739 |
| OpenAlex | W2317563683 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
THE history of ancient mining makes demands on many and varied branches of knowledge. Although flint was the material first sought for by means of mines and precious stones have been obtained in the same way, mining for metallic ores is by far the most important. The subsequent treatment of the ores is not strictly a part of mining, but it will be necessary here to refer to the ancients* knowledge of metallurgy in order to realize what, at any given period, was a useful ore: for example, wolframite, the source of tungsten, did not become an ore until the middle of the nineteenth century. The subject is thus one for cooperation: the explorer finds a new site, the archaeologist dates it, the geologist learns the nature of the material worked and its mode of occurrence, the metallurgist says what could be done with it and so on; alternatively the archaeologist discovers a metal weapon or ornament, and it may need a chain of experts to determine the nature of the material, its original source, the people who extracted it and the methods they employed; or the scholar and philologist may need help in interpreting correctly statements and descriptions in ancient writings. It is the object of the present paper to indicate some of the more interesting results already obtained and thereby to stimulate further cooperative research; some of the more obvious gaps in our knowledge are pointed out. A picturesque and charming account of early mining is given in the Book of Job (xxviii, 1-11), written probably about 450 B.c. It had already been true for some 2000 years and was to remain so for roughly another 2000 until explosives and steam power revolutionized our subject; but it does not enter into great detail. We shall see that a real evolution of mining took place, but that many of the principles observed in the most up-to-date mines were already known and practised in ancient times. The most primitive examples found or known from ancient writings are not necessarily the oldest; in fact a mine of the present day in such backward areas as Central Africa may be less advanced than one in Europe or Egypt dating from a thousand years B.c. It must also be remembered that in many cases almost unlimited numbers of slaves, or prisoners, were available; consequently methods already known for saving labour or improving the conditions for the miners were not necessarily employed. For this reason a gold mine in Siberia is, or was recently, being worked in a manner resembling that described below from Ancient Egypt
Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology · Metallurgy and Cultural Artifacts
| Citations per year | 0.31 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2013 - 2026 (14) |
| Highly cited | No |