Mining: Did you mean...?

Copper was probably the first metal used by ancient cultures, and the oldest artefacts made with it date to the Neolithic period. The shiny red-brown metal was used for jewellery, tools, sculpture, bells, vessels, lamps, amulets...

Caesarea Maritima was a city built over 2,000 years ago (c. 22-10 BCE) on the coast of the Eastern Mediterranean. With Roman engineering and largesse, Herod the Great (r. 37-4 BCE) accomplished this feat by constructing a whole...

Mark Twain is the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), an American humorist, journalist, lecturer, and novelist. He was the voice of his generation and one of the most celebrated authors of the late 19th century, writing...

In ancient warfare open battles were the preferred mode of meeting the enemy, but sometimes, when defenders took a stand within their well-fortified city or military camp, siege warfare became a necessity, despite its high...

Johann Tetzel (l.c. 1465-1519) was a Dominican Friar who became famous as one of the most effective indulgence salesmen and who inadvertently inspired the Protestant Reformation when Martin Luther (l. 1483-1546) wrote his 95 Theses...

The staggering quantity of gold the conquistadors extracted from the Americas allowed Spain to become the richest country in the world. The thirst for gold to pay for armies and gain personal enrichment resulted in...

The Spanish conquistadors might have gained a lasting reputation as the great gold-seekers of history, but they were actually far more successful in acquiring silver. Over 100 tons of gold were extracted from the Americas...

An illustration showing the increasing industrialisation and urbanisation of Britain during the Industrial Revolution. (From Griffith's Guide to the Iron Trade of Great Britain, 1873)

The Turin Papyrus Map is an ancient Egyptian map of gold mines in the Eastern Desert. It is considered to be one of the oldest surviving topographical maps. Made c. 1150 BCE by Scribe-of-the-Tomb Amennakhte, son of Ipuy. (Turin...

A Davy lamp, a safety lamp designed by Humphrey Davy (1778-1820) in 1815 for coal miners. The lamp's flame could not escape the mesh and so did not set alight dangerous gases in mine shafts. In addition, a gauge could tell a miner...