05-26-2009, 01:38 PM
Quote:It is the Dolacuathi mine trip-hammers I was writing about in the last paragraph of my reply: the evidence for trip hammers is mainly the depressions made in the base ore-crushing stones, which is argued to be greater than what could be done with man-power.
Not quite so, it is not so much the depth but the regularity and the spacing of the depressions which serves as evidence for trip hammers in mining operations. Since at least few of the anvils have been found close to watermill sites, they also seem to have been powered by water power.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trip_hammer (Section on the Greco-Roman world)
Stefan (Literary references to the discussed topics are always appreciated.)
