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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tilla the Hun (work)" data-source="post: 1512024" data-attributes="member: 14214">Hexagon - more easily it's (1 side squared) * 2.6 = rough estimate of area.  If you need precision, follow the guideline above.As for coal - Interestingly enough it was used quite often long before steam.  Egyptians knew of it and used it for religious activities as well as a source of heat.  Greeks knew of it - look up someone named Mechanus, he actually invented a steam toy ~1000 BCE  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Generally speaking, most cultures knew of charcoal and coal.  The indians (of india) used it for smithing purposes long before most other cultures.  Ever hear of Damascene steel?  It's a forgery (pun intended) but if you research it, you'll hit the origins of folded steel - hotly contested topic, but essentially folded steel goes WAY back in time like to near end of bronze age according to some (though I don't believe it) and air-fueled COAL fires are the only thing hot enough to create the right mix of alloys for it.Coal was often used in a variety of civs for incense burning and/or religious purposes.  As for whether it was heavily mined - well, that depends on era and time.  The early Harappan civilization of the Indus continent at ~2500 BC extensively mined the stuff - but no other culture of the time did.  The egyptians and the greaks of 2000 to 500 BC used it, so I assume they did some extent of mining for it.  Romans used it for coal-fired hot public baths and steam rooms - not to mention torture, so I'd assume they had a source for it as well.If you need more details/references lemme know - I'm an internet researcher by trade <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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