The Pantheon:
Design, Meaning, and Progeny
by William L MacDonald
ping
sub-aqua concreto pingo-rama
This reminds me of a radio program I heard a few years ago which suggested that the Pyramids in Egypt were fashioned out of synthetic sandstone. The person being interviewed [I forget what program it was--it was one I'd never heard of as I was driving hundreds of miles out of range of my usual radio stations] said that she'd determined a means of making synthetic sandstone using only materials and technologies which would have been present in ancient Egypt. Transportation of huge blocks would have posed much less of a technical challenge if they were ground, then transported, and then reformed.
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Etruscan Engineering and Agricultural Achievements: The Ancient City of Spina
The Mysterious Etruscans
Last modified on Tue, 17-Aug-2004 15:36:27 GMT | editors
Posted on 08/17/2004 9:05:30 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1193229/posts
From Hand-drag to Jumbo: A Millennium of Dredging
IADC (International Association of Dredging Companies) | 1999 | IADC
Posted on 07/30/2004 8:27:24 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1181760/posts
I never knew concrete could be poured without Mexicans.
The Pantheon:
Design, Meaning, and Progeny
by William L MacDonald
A fun way to learn about Roman engineering use of concrete is the novel, Pompeii by Robert Harris.
The novel is about a young “aquarius” or aquaduct engineer who gets the first warning about Vesuvius when problems start to occur in the water supply in Pompeii and Misenum a couple of days before the eruption.
Mixed in with his solving of the mystery of why the aquaducts aren’t working or have sulphur in the water is great information about the engineering of aquaducts, the core of which was the cast concrete water main.
You may not think this provides a great read, but I’m probably not giving a good enough precis to make it come alive—but give it a shot. As days pass and he begins to climb through the aquaducts onto the slopes of Vesuvius you want to shout, “Forget the damn water main. Grab your girl and get the hell out before the volcano blows.”
