Historical Perspective
The description of bitumen as ‘mankind's oldest engineering material’ can be supported by a considerable amount of evidence from scholars. Nearly 3000 years BC the Sumerians in Mesopotamia used bitumen to fasten into the eye sockets of statues the materials such as ivory or mother-of-pearl pieces that represented the eyes. They also sculptured votive offerings out of a mixture of bitumen and clay.
Some thousand years later, bitumen was being used by the early Babylonians as a building material because of its properties as an adhesive and water-proofing agent. With the passing of centuries, it became the standard material used in civil engineering and architectural projects to hold bricks and stones together and line drains, watercourses and grain silos. It was also used to create damp courses and seal the flat roofs of the houses in the same way as it is used today. Its importance in paving was also appreciated.
About 600 BC King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had the city wall, intended to restrain the waters of the Euphrates, rebuilt with burnt bricks and bitumen because the wall of dried clay bricks had failed to keep the waters at bay. The Babylonians developed a technique for building houses from layers of bricks, bitumen and clay, reinforced with reeds. The system was so successful that they were able to build towers up to twelve storeys high. Nearly two thousand years later, archeologists excavating the site of the ancient city found traces of the bitumen that had been used for building.
Apart from its properties, the reason why bitumen was widely used in this area was its availability in various forms. It oozed out of the ground in certain places and was even found floating in lumps on waterways that were so useful for moving it to where it was wanted. It was also available as a solid material in the form of bituminous limestone, which was used as the basis for small carvings.
Some thousand years later, bitumen was being used by the early Babylonians as a building material because of its properties as an adhesive and water-proofing agent. With the passing of centuries, it became the standard material used in civil engineering and architectural projects to hold bricks and stones together and line drains, watercourses and grain silos. It was also used to create damp courses and seal the flat roofs of the houses in the same way as it is used today. Its importance in paving was also appreciated.
About 600 BC King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had the city wall, intended to restrain the waters of the Euphrates, rebuilt with burnt bricks and bitumen because the wall of dried clay bricks had failed to keep the waters at bay. The Babylonians developed a technique for building houses from layers of bricks, bitumen and clay, reinforced with reeds. The system was so successful that they were able to build towers up to twelve storeys high. Nearly two thousand years later, archeologists excavating the site of the ancient city found traces of the bitumen that had been used for building.
Apart from its properties, the reason why bitumen was widely used in this area was its availability in various forms. It oozed out of the ground in certain places and was even found floating in lumps on waterways that were so useful for moving it to where it was wanted. It was also available as a solid material in the form of bituminous limestone, which was used as the basis for small carvings.
Given its general availability, it is not surprising that bitumen has a part to play in many of the great legends of Biblical and pre-Biblical times. It is said to have been used in the building of the Tower of Babel and for the waterproofing of Noah's Ark and Moses' wicker basket.
The Romans were enthusiastic about the medicinal qualities of bitumen for preventing and curing a number of ailments including boils, toothache and ringworm. It was also in favour amongst Roman ladies as a means of beautifying their eyebrows.
As civilisation developed in Europe, it did so without significant use of bitumen as it was not a widely available material. Christopher Columbus and Sir Walter Raleigh found the lakes of asphalt in Trinidad useful for re-caulking their ships for the return voyage. Apart from maritime usage, bitumen was used mainly for medicinal, cosmetic and crop protection purposes.
The extent of knowledge about bitumen in these times was quite variable. On the one hand, the German metallurgist Georg Agricola was writing in the early part of the sixteenth century that "Bitumen is produced from mineral waters containing oil, also from liquid bitumen and from rocks containing bitumen. Liquid bitumen sometimes floats in large quantities on the surface of wells, brooks and rivers and is collected with buckets or other pots. Small quantities are collected by means of feathers, linen towels and the like. The bitumen easily adheres to these objects and is collected in big copper or iron vessels and the lighter fractions evaporated by heating. The residual oil is used for different purposes and some people mix it with pitch, others with used axle oil to make it thicker."
The Romans were enthusiastic about the medicinal qualities of bitumen for preventing and curing a number of ailments including boils, toothache and ringworm. It was also in favour amongst Roman ladies as a means of beautifying their eyebrows.
As civilisation developed in Europe, it did so without significant use of bitumen as it was not a widely available material. Christopher Columbus and Sir Walter Raleigh found the lakes of asphalt in Trinidad useful for re-caulking their ships for the return voyage. Apart from maritime usage, bitumen was used mainly for medicinal, cosmetic and crop protection purposes.
The extent of knowledge about bitumen in these times was quite variable. On the one hand, the German metallurgist Georg Agricola was writing in the early part of the sixteenth century that "Bitumen is produced from mineral waters containing oil, also from liquid bitumen and from rocks containing bitumen. Liquid bitumen sometimes floats in large quantities on the surface of wells, brooks and rivers and is collected with buckets or other pots. Small quantities are collected by means of feathers, linen towels and the like. The bitumen easily adheres to these objects and is collected in big copper or iron vessels and the lighter fractions evaporated by heating. The residual oil is used for different purposes and some people mix it with pitch, others with used axle oil to make it thicker."
On the other hand, the entry for bitumen in Blount's Glossary published in 1656 defined it as "…a kind of clay or slime naturally clammy, like pitch, growing in some countries of Asia."By the middle of the nineteenth century, serious attention was being given to the problem of the dust raised by the horse-drawn traffic in towns. The availability of a regular supply of tar from local coal-gas works led to their use in treating streets and pavements. The realisation that the horseless carriage was here to stay and would need streets and roads constructed to a hitherto unimagined standard of smoothness and durability resulted in serious attention being given to the elements needed for their creation. Rock asphalt and the Trinidad lake were the sources of bitumen first used to bind mixtures of aggregates in road building in the modern style. By the turn of the century the potential of petroleum as a readily available source of low-cost, high quality bitumen was being exploited on a small scale.
As bitumen production grew with the rise of the motorcar and the universal demand for paved highways, so too did the proportion of bitumen derived from petroleum refining to the extent that today most bitumen is sourced from the distillation of crude petroleum oil.
As bitumen production grew with the rise of the motorcar and the universal demand for paved highways, so too did the proportion of bitumen derived from petroleum refining to the extent that today most bitumen is sourced from the distillation of crude petroleum oil.
