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To: captain_dave
I would modify that to state that "Roman Concrete is a well known and recorded historical fact."

It transformed architecture by allowing a far more plastic building design compared to prior post and lintel designs.
36 posted on 12/01/2006 4:25:35 PM PST by bill1952 ("All that we do is done with an eye towards something else.")
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To: bill1952

but that wasn't prehistoric.


43 posted on 12/01/2006 4:28:13 PM PST by bill1952 ("All that we do is done with an eye towards something else.")
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To: bill1952

I would modify "it transformed architecture by allowing a far more plastic building design compared to prior post and lintel designs" to: including spacious arches and domes like the Pantheon--until the knowledge of its chemocological makeup was lost during the Dark Ages.


108 posted on 12/02/2006 8:28:58 AM PST by wildbill
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To: bill1952
You are correct concerning "roman concrete"..
The first known instances of actual concrete, cement with an aggregate base such as gravel, was roman...

The Egyptians used a limestone based mortar or cement, but did not use concrete per se..
IIRC, while there was some use of the egyptian cement in casting, such castings were decorative, not structural..

130 posted on 12/02/2006 8:32:27 PM PST by Drammach (Freedom... Not just a job, it's an adventure..)
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To: bill1952
I would modify that to state that "Roman Concrete is a well known and recorded historical fact."

Exactly..
As noted in the article, the Egyptians used a type of "cement", not "concrete"...

It was the Romans that discovered / invented the use of an "aggregate" to make concrete..
History does not show the Egyptians making that crucial step..

This would be a totally new use of cement for Egypt, as so far their cement was used for decorative castings of statues, and small ornamental architectural features...
It is, however, possible..

136 posted on 02/01/2007 4:20:48 PM PST by Drammach ("If you make yourselves sheep, the wolves will eat you." -- Benjamin Franklin)
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