On Sat, 1 Apr 2000 [log in to unmask] wrote:
> She says this is not strictly mining related but, as you dig it out of
> the ground, I think it is! >>
>
> If you take it out of the ground and put it to benefical use, That's mining.
> The only other way to get it is to grow it.
Rightly so! Well, what I was thinking about was very early exploitation,
potentially in a prehistoric context, from - as I said - saline lake
deposits. I work on these and related Quaternary deposits in a quite
different area of the world and investigate into the use of the likes as
natron/trona, salt crusts, soda and, well, potentially borax. It seems
these deposits were simply scraped off the ground surface, refined and put
to I don't yet know what uses. Thanks to all who have already sent their
comments and references, I do hope there's yet more to come!
Irene
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Wer die Vergangenheit nicht kennt, kann die Zukunft nicht gestalten.
(Goethe)
Irene E Schrufer-Kolb
School of Archaeological Studies Tel.: +44-(0)1280-823102
University of Leicester FAX: +44-(0)116-252-5005
University Road e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Leicester LE1 7RH http://www.le.ac.uk/ar/ies1/
United Kingdom
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