Generally, iron tools were used to enlarge the fractures in the rock and assist in breaking it away from the face. Shaft sinking techniques under the Romans were not very different from those the Egyptians employed earlier. Shafts during Roman times were square, small (one to two metres), and braced with wood to prevent collapse. Inclined or vertical shafts were necessary to provide access, ventilation, and a means of removal of the minerals. Shaft sinking and deep vein mining were recorded in Roman literature. Rome explored all around the Mediterranean for mineral wealth to support its rising empire. The Romans followed the Greeks as leaders of the then known world. He speaks of fire-setting, breaking the rock with chisels, miners who wore candles on their foreheads, and of “overseers who never cease with blows.” The Greek historian Agatharcides, writing about 200 BCE, gives a vivid description of mining under the Egyptians. Once removed, the broken rock was placed in baskets, which were carried on workers’ backs up the shaft via ladders and footholds cut into the rock walls. After heating, the rock was doused with water causing it to shatter and become easier to extract with the copper bars and wedges. Fire quenching was the rock breaking method of the day. Egyptian miners of the day apparently wore loincloths, perhaps headbands and, if a prisoner, ankle manacles. Mining operations in the Timna Valley peaked in the 14th to 12th centuries BCE. Some of these shafts were over 30 metres deep. The Egyptian miners who worked both the mines in Nubia and in the Timna Valley used metal chisels and hoes, and excavated very regular, circular shafts with footholds in the walls for moving up and down. Underground mining by the Egyptians was carried out over a wide area with two places in particular being well known-the Nubian Desert in northern Sudan and the Timna Valley in what is now Israel. Iron was not successfully smelted until about 1400 BCE. This development led to significant improvement in the quality of weapons and tools. The copper based cultures of the world were replaced by cultures using bronze by about 1500 BCE. From Egypt and Mesopotamia, the knowledge of metals spread across Europe. Copper was used to make tools and weapons. A civilization using considerable amounts of copper was established in Mesopotamia by about 3500 BCE and in Egypt by about 3000 BCE. Copper and gold were the first metals gathered in any quantity, with copper being particularly important. It is important to realize that the valleys of the Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile were home to the first metal-using cultures. Ventilation methods were also primitive, often limited to waving a canvas at the mouth of the shaft. Fire setting was practiced for assistance in fracturing the rock and making it easier to remove with the primitive tools that were available at the time. Their main excavation tools were wedges and picks made from deer antlers and shovels made from the shoulder blades of oxen.ĭuring this early period, it is thought that the spoil from shaft sinking was hauled to surface in leather bags or wicker baskets, by one or two men. Shallow shafts were commonly being sunk as deep as 300 feet or 90 metres in the chalk beds of northern France and southern England in the Neolithic period (8000 BCE to 2000 BCE). The earliest miners sought flint for tools and weapons. The period from antiquity to 1600 AD covers a huge time period and many changes in civilization however, from the early mining by the Egyptians, through Roman times, the Dark Ages, and then the Medieval period, very little changed as far as the techniques tilized for sinking shafts. Advance rates at the end of this period were probably in the range of one to two metres per month. Agricola, in his book De Re Metallica published in 1556, gives a number of references to shaft sinking. The trade of mining, which included shaft sinking, became a respected profession. The social chaos and general economic instability persisted until the 11th century.įrom 1100 – 1500 AD the status of the miner was much changed from Roman times. With the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, shaft sinking and mining activity decreased substantially due to the instability in Western Europe. Towards the end of the Roman period, prisoners of war became less available and working conditions improved dramatically. Shaft sinking in the Egyptian period and early Roman period was carried out by prisoners of war and criminals, and conditions were terrible. The Egyptians mined gold as long as 4,000 years ago, and it is thought that the Persians, Greeks, and Romans learned their shaft sinking techniques from the Egyptians. ![]() The sinking of mine shafts has been going on for thousands of years. (This article was originally published in CIM Magazine’s August 2007 issue as part of the “Evolution of Shaft Sinking” series.)
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