Thought that 'Roman concrete' study was just hype until I saw the core sample

Always figured the self-healing claims were overblown, but a lab in Boston showed me a piece with actual calcite-filled cracks from a 1500 year old harbor wall. Anyone else have a find that completely flipped a long-held doubt?

3 comments

3 Comments

mia_hart9022d ago

Reading about that concrete study totally changed my mind too! I heard a podcast where they explained the lime clasts act like little repair kits. It's not magic, just really smart old engineering. Sam_thomas is right, it makes you question what other ancient tech we've written off. Like those Damascus steel swords or Greek fire, stuff we still can't quite copy.

sethhernandez15d ago

The lime clasts as repair kits blew my mind, mia_hart90! I read they found them in concrete from 2,000 years ago. It's crazy we're just now figuring out how they self-heal cracks. That totally makes you rethink what else the Romans had figured out.

sam_thomas22d ago

Wow, that's wild. Makes you wonder what else we've gotten wrong about the past, right?