Mine Pumping in Agricola's Time and Later

The book opens with a surprising clue: detailed mining scenes etched on 16th‑century German coins. Using those miniature portraits, the author reconstructs the evolution of water‑removal machines from Agricola’s 16th‑century treatise through the Renaissance, challenging the long‑standing belief that early mining technology remained static for centuries. By weaving together numismatic evidence, legal records, and surviving mechanical drawings, the work paints a vivid picture of how deeper shafts forced engineers to revive and improve ancient Archimedean screws and other hauling devices.

Beyond the technical analysis, the narrative follows the economic motives that drove innovation, such as Duke Julius’s creation of oversized “Loeser” coins to fund new Harz mines. The study shows how shifts in mining law, capital structures, and even the fallout of the Black Death shaped the push toward mechanized dewatering. Readers come away with a nuanced understanding of how early modern Europe turned simple water‑lifts into the precursors of today’s industrial pump systems.