What did real medieval mines look like?

[The Hound]

"Not very deep" probably meant a few hundred feet below ground. I saw a special on the History Channel a few days ago that showed an ancient Roman water pump that archeologists found. It allowed the Romans to get water out of a mine from a depth of 300+ feet. That was considered impressive mining engineering for the day.

 

[Treebore]

I believe you are referring to the Archimededs screw, which has been around for a long time. Still in use around the world.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Hey Treebore! My buddy Matt Golub is going to be going to Pheonix tomorrow doing some jewelry biz- if you encounter him, say hi! He's a class act and a pretty good jeweler. I use him (and one other guy) to help me realize my designs.

Matt Golub Designs
13601 Preston Road Suite 204W
Dallas, TX 75240-4953
Phone: (972) 386-4647

 

[Treebore]

I won't be in Phoenix until Wed. of next week.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I have no idea how long Matt will be in Pheonix- I won't be seeing him for a couple of weeks.

For the record, he's currently doing a ring for me with mokume gane (in 3 color gold form) with a cognac zircon and a demantoid garnet...it will totally rock!

 

[Treebore]

Sounds cool! My favorite ring has 3 stones. The center is a 5 ct (faced up at over 10mm) Blue Spinel and the two side stones are 1.5 ct Blue Sapphires set in white gold. All untreated.

I should have waited for a rough sapphire that has just been offered to me. Naturally blue and uncut weighing in at 15 Grams. Yes, grams. The shape of it is begging for a SRB cut. I'm betting a 60% or better yield if everything goes perfectly. Unfortunately I don't have the cash for it since I have been covering two mortgages for 8 months now. If only he hadn't found it for another two months. Oh well, tis the season in Africa right now. Maybe next year he'll find a Ruby like that for me.

You should see the 25 kilo blue calcite rock he has. He also has a 500 kilo boulder of the same quality. Unfortunately the shipping would cost me more than the Sapphire would. I hate it when stuff like this passes under my nose and I don't have the money for it. Painful!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

How about a bubblegum pink beryl (or was it a corundum- time blurs my memory)?

It was literally the biggest & best in the world of its kind...fresh from the cutter's table, and I was $3K short of the asking price.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I've lost the link where I found this info originally (or rather the link is dead) but there was a period in the 1400's where silver mining all but stopped. They had mined down as far as they could, and they couldn't get the water out of the lowest levels to dig deeper. This lasted for a few decades before someone invented an improved water pump that allowed the mines to be dug deeper, and reopen.

Ah! Found it: Rammelsberg

 

[Treebore]

Wow! Reading through that gave me at least a dozen adventure hooks/ideas. Very nice. Who says history is a waste?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Something tangential about silver that should be noted: the main reason silver tarnishes is exposure to sulpher. Before the industrial age, silver didn't tarnish very quickly- a set of silverware might only get polished a couple of times a year. In a wealthy household, they might clean silver on a monthly basis...because they'd be doing a different set each month.

So, in a fantasy setting, any tarnished silver is either evidence of age or evidence of atmospheric sulpher.