Kilburn-Toppin, Jasmine  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8790-7590
2025.
Underground mathematics: Craft culture and knowledge production in Early Modern Europe [Book Review].
Journal of Design History
38
(1)
, pp. 101-102.
10.1093/jdh/epad044
|
Abstract
In this richly researched book, Thomas Morel illuminates the fascinating world of early modern subterranean surveying. Against the backdrop of the mining rush, the “art of setting limits” (which came to be known as Markscheidekunst, underground geometry) was fundamental to the economy of the Holy Roman Empire. It was also of growing cultural value. As mining became more technical and tunnels became deeper and more extensive, geometrical methods were used to “secure concessions’ boundaries,” effectively property rights for competing investors, and “to provide information about the direction of ore veins, the depth of underground galleries, and the probable duration of digging operations” (pp. 53–4). While the skills of underground surveying have been broadly acknowledged in previous mining studies, this is the first account that puts the expertise of the surveyors, and the broader “vernacular culture of geometry” of the mining cities of the Holy Roman Empire, at the heart of the narrative (p. 16).
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Status: | Published |
| Schools: | Schools > History, Archaeology and Religion |
| Subjects: | D History General and Old World > DD Germany |
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press (OUP): Policy E |
| ISSN: | 0952-4649 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Oct 2025 13:26 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/171400 |
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