Sticky rice mortar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_rice_mortar
"The bricks of the Great Wall of China are held together by sticky rice mortar."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_rice_mortar
"The bricks of the Great Wall of China are held together by sticky rice mortar."
At the same time, i live in a building (an old fortified farm) from 1604, build on foundations that go back to the 10th century AD. The cellars are from the 10th century, the brick walls and wood/cermaic tiles roof largely from the 16th and 17th century and all are still standing strong... The building is renovated off course and up to modern standards, but the old parts remain. And there are hunderds of those old farms arround here, many going back more than 500 years.
And about a km from here you got the small hamlet called "Pierre" (in the village of Wodecq), with a stone building (part of a farm now and still used as stable) that goes back to the Belgae Celts here that is probally 2500 years old and still standing. There used to be a Menhir temple next to it also, but that is not there anymore, Iit was partly destroyed in the 19th century by the French army of Napoleon and is now rebuild in a historic museum a few villages further. The road that is crossing "Pierre" is also the "Chaussée de Brunehaut" (stoneway of Brunhilde), an old Roman road, build on an older Celtic road. The top layer is concrete, but below is still the original stone road of the Romans, that now functions as foundation for the modern road. The Brunhilde of the road was a princes of the Nervii, a celtic Belgae tribe that fought the romans very severly and did win quiet a few battles against the romans before being subdued totally.
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Cold weather, cold weather, cold weather, salt, salt, salt. They were just lucky to be nearer to the equator that we are.
Up north nothing survive except granite…
SB
Up north nothing survive except granite…
SB
There were not many settlements either in that cold weather, fossil fuels like coal and central heating made those places habitable.
Nobody would haul building materials to build a settlement at the edge of the Arctic Circle, for example Edmonton.
So no need to build anything, or haul salt there.
That is one facet of urban life most people ignore, the facility provided by heating made many cold places inhabitable.
Nobody would haul building materials to build a settlement at the edge of the Arctic Circle, for example Edmonton.
So no need to build anything, or haul salt there.
That is one facet of urban life most people ignore, the facility provided by heating made many cold places inhabitable.
Edmonton is only 1,500 km from the Arctic Circle. About-dav the same as London to southern Spain.
Norman Wells is close to the circle, abourt 100 km south.
dave
Thank You!
The climate in that area means you need heating in the dwellings and offices, it will be difficult for inhabitants otherwise.
That was difficult to do in Roman times, the subject, more or less, of this thread.
I wonder if any Roman buildings survive in Northern Scotland, a cold, damp area.
The climate in that area means you need heating in the dwellings and offices, it will be difficult for inhabitants otherwise.
That was difficult to do in Roman times, the subject, more or less, of this thread.
I wonder if any Roman buildings survive in Northern Scotland, a cold, damp area.
They never colonised that far up. There are plenty of ruins at Hadrians Wall, which is definitely in the cold and damp climate range. The main damage is due to stone theft
Idem in Belgium most building of the Romans were destroyed by the Franks and the Saxons who invaded this region after the fall of the Roman Empire. They left older Celtic and preceltic buildings largely untouched, but not the Roman. Some piece remained in Tongeren and Tournai, and many foundations are found. But the only thing that is really surviving are many old Roman roads and they are still in use partly.