Natural Science in Archaeology

1.3 The Ancient Authors 13
Fig. 1.1 Georgius Agricola,
author of De Natura
Fossilium, the leading book
on mineralogy at the end of
the Middle Ages
details concerning many precious and semi-precious stones including quartz crystal,
beryl, prase, topaz, lapis-lazuli, amethyst, sard, jasper, agate, and pearl; Book
VII treats marble in great detail, sand, bricks, and petrified wood; Book VIII is
devoted to metals: gold, silver, mercury, copper, lead, bismuth, tin, and iron, and
then covers alloys; Book IX discusses natural and artificial color in metals, luster,
smelter products, and verdigris; Book X treats mixtures and combinations of earth
materials and their uses, Most of these are based on metallic elements. The book
ends with a long list of writers whose works were consulted.
Probably Agricola’s most famous book is De Re Metallica, which covers the
development of mining methods, metallurgical processes, geology, mineralogy, and
mining law. It went through 10 editions in three languages and was for over 180
years the textbook for mining. De Re Metallica was translated by Herbert and Lou
Henry Hoover from the first Latin edition of 1556. This volume has 638 pages in
the 1950 edition that I have. This first edition of 1556 was published a year after
Agricola’s death. In it he rejected the Biblical, alchemical, and astrological views
of his day. It drew the attention of Ming Dynasty officials who ordered a Chinese
version (Needham 1999:39–40). Agricola decided that the black rock of his region
was the same as Pliny’s basalt, so he introduced this name into petrology. He did
have a few mistaken ideas. He thought that arsenic was a lead-tin alloy and that zinc
was a lead-silver alloy.