Editing Coal (section)

==History==
{{Further|History of coal mining}}{{Organize section|date=April 2025|reason=Make section more chronological so that the history is easier to parse.}}[[File:Tiangong Kaiwu Coal Mining.gif|thumb|upright|Chinese coal miners in an illustration of the ''Tiangong Kaiwu'' encyclopedia, published in 1637]]

The earliest recognized use is from the [[Shenyang]] area of China where by 4000 BC [[Neolithic]] inhabitants had begun carving ornaments from black lignite.<ref>Golas, Peter J and Needham, Joseph (1999) ''Science and Civilisation in China''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 186–91. {{ISBN|0-521-58000-5}}</ref> Coal from the [[Fushun]] mine in northeastern China was used to smelt [[copper]] as early as 1000 BC.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/122863/coal coal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150502202950/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/122863/coal |date=2 May 2015 }}. Encyclopædia Britannica.</ref> [[Marco Polo]], the Italian who traveled to China in the 13th century, described coal as "black stones&nbsp;... which burn like logs", and said coal was so plentiful, people could take three hot baths a week.<ref>[http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=47&catid=2 Marco Polo In China]. Facts and Details. Retrieved on 11 May 2013. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921073525/http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=47&catid=2 |date=21 September 2013 }}</ref> In Europe, the earliest reference to the use of coal as fuel is from the geological treatise ''On Stones'' (Lap. 16) by the Greek scientist [[Theophrastus]] (c. 371–287 BC):<ref name = "Mattusch">{{Cite book| first=Mattusch|last= Carol |year=2008| title = Metalworking and Tools| editor-link=John Peter Oleson|editor-last = Oleson| editor-first= John Peter| series = The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn= 978-0-19-518731-1| pages= 418–38 (432)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qvTDGRMPU5kC|title = Greek Science of the Hellenistic Era: A Sourcebook|first1 = Georgia L.|last1 = Irby-Massie|first2 = Paul T.|last2 = Keyser|publisher = Routledge|year = 2002|at = 9.1 "Theophrastos", p. 228|isbn = 978-0-415-23847-2|url-status=live|archive-date = 5 February 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160205090207/https://books.google.com/books?id=qvTDGRMPU5kC}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Among the materials that are dug because they are useful, those known as ''anthrakes'' [coals] are made of earth, and, once set on fire, they burn like charcoal [anthrakes]. They are found in Liguria&nbsp;... and in Elis as one approaches Olympia by the mountain road; and they are used by those who work in metals.|Theophrastus, On Stones (16) <ref>"το δ'  εκ  της  κατακαύσεως  ὅμοιον  γίνεται  γη   κεκαυμένη. οὓς  δε  καλοῦσιν  ευθὺς  ἄνθρακας των  ὀρυττομένων  δια  την  χρείαν  εισί  γεώδεις,  ἐκκαίονται  δε και πυροῦνται  καθάπερ  οἱ  ἄνθρακες. εισὶ δε  περί  τε  την Λιγυστικὴν ὅπου  και το  ἤλεκτρον, και  εν  τη  Ήλεία  βαδιζόντων   Όλυμπίαζε   την  δι' ὄρους,  οΐς   και  οἱ  χαλκεΐς   χρῶνται." [https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/1811/32541/THEOPHRASTUS_CALEY.pdf?sequence=1 ΠΕΡΙ ΛΙΘΩΝ], p. 21.</ref>}}

{{anchor|outcrop coal}}[[Outcrop]] coal was used in Britain during the [[Bronze Age]] (3000–2000 BC), where it formed part of [[funeral]] [[pyre]]s.<ref name = "Britannicacoal">Britannica 2004: ''Coal mining: ancient use of outcropping coal''</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Science and Civilisation in China |url=https://archive.org/details/sciencecivilisat00need_094 |url-access=limited |first2= Peter J |last2=Golas |first1=Joseph |last1=Needham |pages = [https://archive.org/details/sciencecivilisat00need_094/page/n204 186]–91 | publisher =Cambridge University Press |year=1999 |isbn= 978-0-521-58000-7}}</ref> In [[Roman Britain]], with the exception of two modern fields, "the [[Mining in Roman Britain|Romans]] were exploiting coals in all the major coalfields in [[England]] and [[Wales]] by the end of the second century AD".<ref name="Smith 1997, 322–324">{{cite journal|author=Smith, A.H.V. |year=1997|title=Provenance of Coals from Roman Sites in England and Wales|journal=Britannia|volume=28|pages=297–324 (322–24)|jstor=526770|doi=10.2307/526770|s2cid=164153278 }}</ref> Evidence of trade in coal, dated to about AD 200, has been found at the [[Heronbridge Roman Site|Roman settlement at Heronbridge]], near [[Chester]]; and in the [[Fenlands]] of [[East Anglia]], where coal from the [[Midlands]] was transported via the [[Car Dyke]] for use in drying grain.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Salway | first = Peter | year = 2001 | title = A History of Roman Britain|isbn=978-0-19-280138-8 | publisher = Oxford University Press}}</ref> Coal cinders have been found in the hearths of [[Roman villa|villas]] and [[Roman forts]], particularly in [[Northumberland]], dated to around AD 400. In the west of England, contemporary writers described the wonder of a permanent brazier of coal on the altar of [[Minerva]] at [[Aquae Sulis]] (modern day [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]]), although in fact easily accessible surface coal from what became the [[Somerset coalfield]] was in common use in quite lowly dwellings locally.<ref>Forbes, RJ (1966): ''Studies in Ancient Technology''. Brill Academic Publishers, Boston.</ref> Evidence of coal's use for [[iron]]-working in the city during the Roman period has been found.<ref>{{cite book| last = Cunliffe| first = Barry W.| author-link = Barry Cunliffe| title = Roman Bath Discovered| publisher = Routledge| year = 1984| location = London| pages = 14–15, 194| isbn = 978-0-7102-0196-6}}</ref> In [[Eschweiler]], [[Rhineland]], deposits of [[bituminous coal]] were used by the Romans for the smelting of [[iron ore]].<ref name="Smith 1997, 322–324"/>

[[File:Men of the Mine- Life at the Coal Face, Britain, 1942 D8263.jpg|thumb|left|Coal miner in Britain, 1942]]
{{anchor|Sea coal}}
No evidence exists of coal being of great importance in Britain before about AD 1000, the [[High Middle Ages]].<ref name = "TCC">{{cite book|last=Cantril|first=T.C.|title=Coal Mining|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|year= 1914 | pages = 3–10| oclc =156716838}}</ref> Coal came to be referred to as "seacoal" in the 13th century; the wharf where the material arrived in London was known as Seacoal Lane, so identified in a charter of [[Henry III of England|King Henry III]] granted in 1253.<ref>{{cite book|title=Oxford English Dictionary|date=1 December 2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|chapter=coal, 5a|title-link=Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref> Initially, the name was given because much coal was found on the shore, having fallen from the exposed coal seams on cliffs above or washed out of underwater coal outcrops,<ref name = "TCC" /> but by the time of [[Henry VIII]], it was understood to derive from the way it was carried to London by sea.<ref>[[John Caius]], quoted in Cantril (1914).</ref> In 1257–1259, coal from [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] was shipped to London for the [[metalsmith|smiths]] and [[lime (material)|lime]]-burners building [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref name = "TCC" /> Seacoal Lane and Newcastle Lane, where coal was unloaded at wharves along the [[River Fleet]], still exist.<ref>{{cite book|last=Trench|first= Richard |author2=Hillman, Ellis|title=London Under London: A Subterranean Guide|publisher=John Murray|location=London|year=1993| edition= Second | page=33|isbn=978-0-7195-5288-5}}</ref>

These easily accessible sources had largely become exhausted (or could not meet the growing demand) by the 13th century, when underground extraction by [[shaft mining]] or [[adit]]s was developed.<ref name="Britannicacoal" /> The alternative name was "pitcoal", because it came from mines.

[[File:The Harmsworth atlas and Gazetter 1908 (135852999).jpg|thumb|right|Coal production of the world in 1908 as presented by ''The Harmsworth atlas and Gazetter'']]
Cooking and home heating with coal (in addition to firewood or instead of it) has been done in various times and places throughout human history, especially in times and places where ground-surface coal was available and firewood was scarce, but a widespread reliance on coal for home hearths probably never existed until such a switch in fuels happened in London in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.<ref name="Goodman-2020">{{Citation |last=Goodman |first=Ruth |year=2020 |author-link=Ruth Goodman (historian) |title=The Domestic Revolution: How the Introduction of Coal Into Victorian Homes Changed Everything |publisher=Liveright |isbn=978-1631497636 |postscript=.}}</ref> Historian [[Ruth Goodman]] has traced the socioeconomic effects of that switch and its later spread throughout Britain<ref name="Goodman-2020"/> and suggested that its importance in shaping the industrial adoption of coal has been previously underappreciated.<ref name="Goodman-2020"/>{{rp|xiv-xix}}

The development of the [[Industrial Revolution]] led to the large-scale use of coal, as the [[steam engine]] took over from the [[water wheel]]. In 1700, five-sixths of the world's coal was mined in Britain. Britain would have run out of suitable sites for watermills by the 1830s if coal had not been available as a source of energy.<ref name = "Wrigley">{{Cite book| title = Continuity, Chance and Change: The Character of the Industrial Revolution in England| first = EA| last = Wrigley| isbn = 978-0-521-39657-8| publisher = Cambridge University Press| year = 1990| url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_0521396573}}</ref> In 1947 there were some 750,000 miners in Britain,<ref name="BBC News">{{Cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/551544.stm | title = The fall of King Coal | work = BBC News | date = 6 December 1999 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160306015837/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/551544.stm | archive-date = 6 March 2016}}</ref> but the last deep coal mine in the UK closed in 2015.<ref>{{cite news |title=UK's last deep coal mine Kellingley Colliery capped off |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-35803048 |work=[[BBC]] |date=14 March 2016}}</ref>

A grade between bituminous coal and anthracite was once known as "steam coal" as it was widely used as a fuel for [[steam locomotive]]s. In this specialized use, it is sometimes known as "sea coal" in the United States.<ref>[[Funk and Wagnalls]], quoted in {{cite book|title=Oxford English Dictionary|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1989|edition=2|chapter=sea-coal|title-link=Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref> Small "steam coal", also called ''dry small steam nuts'' (DSSN), was used as a fuel for domestic [[water heating]].

Coal played an important role in industry in the 19th and 20th century. The predecessor of the [[European Union]], the [[European Coal and Steel Community]], was based on the trading of this commodity.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://carleton.ca/ces/eulearning/history/moving-to-integration/the-european-coal-and-steel-community/ | title = The European Coal and Steel Community | website = EU Learning | publisher = Carleton University School of European Studies | access-date = 14 August 2021 | url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150417011518/http://carleton.ca:80/ces/eulearning/history/moving-to-integration/the-european-coal-and-steel-community/ |archive-date=17 April 2015 }}</ref>

Coal continues to arrive on beaches around the world from both natural erosion of exposed coal seams and windswept spills from cargo ships. Many homes in such areas gather this coal as a significant, and sometimes primary, source of home heating fuel.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.alaskapublic.org/2018/03/22/cost-of-cold-staying-warm-in-homer/|title=Cost of Cold: Staying warm in Homer|last1=Bolton|first1=Aaron|last2=Homer|first2=KBBI-|date=2018-03-22|website=Alaska Public Media|language=en-US|access-date=2019-01-25}}</ref>