
Iron, How Did They Make It? Part I, Mining - dddddaviddddd
https://acoup.blog/2020/09/18/collections-iron-how-did-they-make-it-part-i-mining/
======
muldvarp
I have had a dislike for history my whole life. I just now realized that I
don't dislike history, but the way it is taught, as a list of important people
doing important things on important dates. This post on the other hand was
probably the most interesting thing I've read in a long time.

~~~
pron
University-level history is much more like this, at least these days, than
"important people doing important things," perhaps partly thanks to the
influential Annales school [1], although that probably varies by country. Lots
of economic and social structures, plus lots of documents, mostly court
documents, that tell the lives of ordinary people. I took a class just on the
everyday "things" of people in early-modern Europe -- what they ate and how,
what they wore etc.

What ultimately killed it for me was that after a few short years, when you
get to the research level, the work becomes so hyper-focused, like
shipbuilding in 17th century Spain or weddings in late-medieval Germany, that
you don't have the chance to look at the bigger picture until you're an
established professor and I didn't have the patience for it.

But I was happy to put the skills I had learned into a personal project a few
years ago, and composed an anthology of primary sources on the history of
logic, algebra and computation, that I published -- in a rather crudely edited
form -- as a series of blog posts: [https://pron.github.io/computation-logic-
algebra](https://pron.github.io/computation-logic-algebra) (although
intellectual history is often about "important people").

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annales_school](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annales_school)

~~~
jmalicki
This sentence was quite the meta-contradiction: "Prominent leaders include co-
founders Lucien Febvre (1878–1956), Henri Hauser (1866-1946) and Marc Bloch
(1886–1944). The second generation was led by Fernand Braudel (1902–1985) and
included Georges Duby (1919–1996), Pierre Goubert (1915–2012), Robert Mandrou
(1921–1984), Pierre Chaunu (1923–2009), Jacques Le Goff (1924–2014), and
Ernest Labrousse (1895–1988)." \- in other words, the Annales school was made
up of important people doing important things :)

~~~
pasabagi
I think there's a difference: the sentence is basically a reading list so you
can get familiar with the school. You can't really read Napoleon or Caesar,
because the first didn't write much, and the second only wrote PR fluff
pieces.

Thinkers are influential to schools of thought in a way more concrete way than
individuals are to the course of history. It's easy to imagine a modern world
without Napoleon (the French army was already kicking ass before he turned up,
even if he turned it up to 11). It's not easy to imagine modern philosophy
turning out how it has without Kant.

------
Lazare
I've recently started reading through the archives on the blog. His writing
style took me a little getting used to (he's oddly fond of italics), but I
think it's really an attempt at transcribing what might otherwise be a lecture
into text, and once you get used to it, it's fine.

But the actual writing is _amazing_ , and he's written on an oddly large
number of topics that I find fascinating. I also appreciate how he's careful
to give citations to source materials, and how he tries to mention, when
relevant, that there's a controversy or dispute over some idea, or that the
historical record simply doesn't let us know some detail.

I especially liked:

This Isn't Sparta: [https://acoup.blog/2019/08/16/collections-this-isnt-
sparta-p...](https://acoup.blog/2019/08/16/collections-this-isnt-sparta-part-
i-spartan-school/)

The Fremen Mirage: [https://acoup.blog/2020/01/17/collections-the-fremen-
mirage-...](https://acoup.blog/2020/01/17/collections-the-fremen-mirage-part-
i-war-at-the-dawn-of-civilization/)

Practical Polytheism: [https://acoup.blog/2019/10/25/collections-practical-
polythei...](https://acoup.blog/2019/10/25/collections-practical-polytheism-
part-i-knowledge/)

Why Don't We Use Chemical Weapons Anymore:
[https://acoup.blog/2020/03/20/collections-why-dont-we-use-
ch...](https://acoup.blog/2020/03/20/collections-why-dont-we-use-chemical-
weapons-anymore/)

Order In Armor: [https://acoup.blog/2019/05/03/collections-armor-in-order-
par...](https://acoup.blog/2019/05/03/collections-armor-in-order-part-i/) and
[https://acoup.blog/2019/05/03/collections-armor-in-order-
par...](https://acoup.blog/2019/05/03/collections-armor-in-order-part-ii/)

I could go on. The series on Sparta was especially interesting, because I
actually thought I knew a little bit about Sparta, but as it turns out, I
really, really did not. Learning new things feels good, but unlearning
mistaken beliefs is amazing. :)

If the above links don't seem interesting, try poking around the blog. He's
written some fascinating analysis of Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings,
spaceship design, bow range, and more.

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dddddaviddddd
While the author talks about how iron production is commonly (but mistakenly)
represented in popular conceptions of the past, I appreciate the focus on
mining in this article. It's yet another activity, essential to the historical
economy, that I had never really thought about. It's interesting to get some
insight on how these systems worked.

~~~
ksdale
A great many of his posts are like that! I recommend all of them.

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alexpetralia
As usual, if you like Bret's writing, please consider donating! He has
emphasized that adjuncts (which he is) don't earn a lot (perhaps <30k/yr) and
spend a huge amount of their time applying to jobs/grading papers. Donating
would ideally offer him more time to work on his writing.

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Fooloo
There was so much important stuff which in the past which is quite subtle.
Recently I learned that the scythe was mainly used in Europe (and later
America). Giving European farmer of the middle age and before a little
productivity advantage.
[https://youtu.be/9Im_8sI0QFQ](https://youtu.be/9Im_8sI0QFQ)

~~~
virtue3
I mean, as the person in the video says, 1-2 people doing the work of 10 from
just using a scythe vs a sickle.

I had no idea how effective a scythe actually was, thank you for that!

~~~
nickik
Living in the close to the Swiss alps, its actually still quite common. We
have mountain farmers here, and to cut the gras on the hills, there is still
nothing better.

It WAY faster and works with way taller grass then my parents lawnmower, that
is for sure.

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phkahler
If Elon is serious about building a self sustaining colony on Mars, this stuff
will be critical. Mining, refining, and manufacturing will all be critical, as
will growing food and producing air and water. Finding a minimal technology
tree for that is IMHO an extremely interesting problem.

Quick, what is the only machine tool that can copy itself?

~~~
fuzzer37
I give up, what is it?

~~~
WJW
Technically, a lathe. However, it very much depends on how you define "can
replicate itself". You probably need at least a foundry to melt metal as well
to do it truly "from scratch" and I'm not sure you can make one completely
with a lathe.

~~~
samatman
The Gingery machine bootstrap is one of the coolest things which has ever been
written.

It's relaxing, to know that there's a technological floor below which humanity
can't fall, given literacy and a collection of seven books. And it's a pretty
high level of technology.

~~~
WJW
I kinda love that while you can't make books with a lathe, you can make the
tools (to make the tools) for a printing press with a lathe so it still mostly
works.

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selfinvariant
I "discovered" this blog a couple of month ago, and I absolutely love it. The
recent posts about agriculture in pre-modern times[0] are particularly
insightful and I enjoyed so much to read.

[0] Start of the series: [https://acoup.blog/2020/07/24/collections-bread-how-
did-they...](https://acoup.blog/2020/07/24/collections-bread-how-did-they-
make-it-part-i-farmers/)

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cibritzio
'All of these can occur in big rock deposits, but may also occur as ‘bog iron‘
where oxidation occurs in acidic environments (in swamps and blogs)'

Did anyone else catch this? Dunno if the faux pas pseudo pun was intended but
it made me lol.

~~~
contingencies
Recently caught a similar one from Alec (Mr. Connectify) of
[https://www.youtube.com/c/TechnologyConnections](https://www.youtube.com/c/TechnologyConnections)
who described a mechanical component as "circular, like most arguments on the
internet".

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divbzero
Great article and looking forward to the rest!

I enjoyed the economic tidbits that remain relevant today — rulers owning and
controlling extraction of commodities, locating production based on cost of
transporting inputs, and treatment of labor varying according to its scarcity.

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imtringued
>And I want to stress that broad framing: iron was made into more things than
just swords (although swords are cool).

I honestly can't comprehend this line of thought. Why the hell would you care
about stupid swords? If I was the first blacksmith on the planet I would try
to replace bronze axes. Bronze is an extremely awful material choice for
cutting down trees.

~~~
bluGill
Bronze is not that bad. Several reproduction efforts have used bronze axes, at
first like you they assume that you need to worry, but by the end they realize
bronze isn't that delicate and works just fine. Don't get me wrong, iron is
better in every way, but bronze isn't as bad as people think.

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test1235
I'm kinda impressed there's not a whole slew of comments debunking every claim
like everytime "guns, germs and steel" is brought up.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Steel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Steel)

~~~
Tuna-Fish
That's because unlike Jared Diamond, Bret Devereaux is a professional
historian who understands what he is talking about, and is careful to note his
sources and what areas we don't know much about.

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commonturtle
If you enjoyed this you may also enjoy the five part series on how bread is
made by the same author. It was a long read (~2 hours for the whole series)
but I learnt a lot from it: [https://acoup.blog/2020/07/24/collections-bread-
how-did-they...](https://acoup.blog/2020/07/24/collections-bread-how-did-they-
make-it-part-i-farmers/)

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lmilcin
I have pretty much the same reaction. Rolling my eyes every time I see another
sword "forged" with a small trickle of red-hot something pouring into flat
form.

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dghughes
>may also occur as ‘bog iron‘ where oxidation occurs in acidic environments
(in swamps and bogs) leading to the formation of small clumps of iron-rich
material

I've always been amazed at bog iron it seems like it shouldn't exist where it
does and how it does. It must have been an amazingly valuable source rather
than smashing rocks or spending time and effort searching for a rich vein of
iron.

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jbay808
I wonder, was the Roman "ruina montium" technique used for iron mining? I
didn't see it mentioned in the article, but it seems like something the author
would be very familiar with.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruina_montium](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruina_montium)

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neaanopri
I have been following this blig for several months, it really is done of the
best writing on the internet

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lasfter
This article was lovely to read, but I wish there was an RSS feed so I can
catch the later installments.

~~~
wffurr
You are in luck: [https://acoup.blog/feed/](https://acoup.blog/feed/)

~~~
dfinninger
And, as a generalization, slapping /feed/ onto the back of a blog’s URL seems
to be effective in many places. I just try it by default now if I don’t see an
RSS button.

I’m not sure if that’s a default setting for Wordpress sites, but it does seem
to be modestly widespread.

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bwanab
This was a really good introduction. Subscribed.

~~~
allannienhuis
This is the 3rd article on this blog I've read recently from beginning to end,
and thoroughly enjoyed.

I also just subscribed to his Patreon - it's worth supporting this quality of
work.

~~~
matkoniecz
It is also worth reading earlier ones - I especially liked series about Sparta
and earlier one about siege of Minas Tirith (yes, it makes sense).

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stevefan1999
funny enough, minecraft simplified this kinds of things to an extreme

~~~
depaya
Not if you install the right modpacks!

