Peter's mail wrote:
> I presume no one knows of any evidence of water (or other artificial
> power) being applied to bellows before the high medieval period.
The use of water power in the context of metallurgy is still much
debated for the Roman period. At that time, water power was already used
to automate recurrent movements - evidenced by a number of excavated
grain mills (e.g. at Rome, in France or Tunisia). Though nothing is
known to date about Roman water powered bellows, recent research at the
Roman gold mine at Dolaucothi has offered new details to add to the
debate. There, an ore crushing stone has now been re-dated to the Roman
period, on the basis of comparable evidence from Spain. This ore crusher
is thought to have operated by water power, due to characteristic
deformations of the stone. Have a look and decide yourself:
Burnham, B. C. (1997) Roman mining at Dolaucothi: the implications of
the 1991-3 excavations near the Carreg Pumsaint. Britannia 28, 325-336.
Moreover, it is nothing new that many early bloomeries can be found
close to streams. This might indeed be more than just coincidence, to
have a little water handy to build or repair the furnace and keep the
beer cold!
Irene
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