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The native metals
Published in R. F. Tylecote, The Prehistory of Metallurgy in the British Isles, 2017
The method used for mining appears to have been fire-setting; in this method the rock faces were heated by lighting fires against them, and then cracked by throwing water on them.14 Stoping (excavating a vein) had been carried out 27 m below the adit level,13 which indicates that some form of drainage machine must have been used. In one stope were found parts of a water wheel and part of a shovel-shaped cradle, both of which may be seen in the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.
Introduction
Published in Ratan Raj Tatiya, Surface and Underground Excavations, 2013
Ancient miners used basic versions of many modern tools, appliances and equipment (fig. 1.6). Rock was mostly dislodged in-situ from hammers and wedges and the resultant lumps were eased by pick or crowbar. Use of iron hammers with chisel or wedges were also made to break the rock. Iron shovels with wooden handles were used to muck out the broken spoil. In some cases the method of fire setting (i.e. first heating the hard rock and then cooling it by the cold water causing it to break), introduced in prehistoric times, was used to break down very hard rocks. Tools17 were generally made of iron, copper or bronze, although Roman miners sometimes used stone hammers. All tools appear to have had short handles to facilitate their use in narrow cramped working places.
Archaeometry of fire aided limnosilicite mining in the Avas-Tűzköves (Miskolc, NE-Hungary) Paleolithic silica source
Published in Materials and Manufacturing Processes, 2020
Ferenc Kristály, Zoltán H. Tóth, Árpád Ringer, Béla Török
Beyond the cracking of rock materials by consecutive heating and cooling action for the scope of mining, prehistoric men must have recognized other beneficial properties of stone tools obtained by fire setting. Most probably the first experiences were accidental and unintentional, but the observation that a better-quality blade was fabricated from silica extracted by fire setting must have been evident. As shown by our experiments, fragments of more compact, crack-free silica chips are detached from the larger as-mined raw material blocks. Probably a more durable and resistant product was obtained from fragments in which defective parts were eliminated or “repaired” by heating. The application of fire for stone crafting from early, prehistoric times is well documented by the finds belonging to the Szeleta culture, as a proof that mineralogy served society even 20 000 years before its birth.