Stone to Silicon

Materials · c. 200 BCE

Roman concrete

Lime and volcanic ash make a mortar that sets even underwater.

From about 200 BCE Romans mixed lime with pozzolana ash to make opus caementicium. It built harbors, vaults and the Pantheon, some still standing after 2,000 years.

See it in the living treeWikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 1

What it led to 3

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Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

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