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A comment on The Moral Economy of the Shire. Parent comment

Re:The Moral Economy of the Shire by WalterBright on Monday June 03, 2024 @05:29PM (#40567764)
In the Hobbit movie, Smaug's gold hoard was so vast that if it actually went into circulation, gold would be cheaper than iron. The citizens would be making roof tiles and plumbing out of it.

(Although iron ore is plentiful, it is expensive to refine and smelt.)

Even the relatively few Spanish gold ships hauling gold to the Old World resulted in massive inflation, not wealth.

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Re:The Moral Economy of the Shire by complaintdept on Tuesday June 04, 2024 @10:59AM (#40575309)
>Although iron ore is plentiful, it is expensive to refine and smelt

Might explain why the land around the Lonely Mountain was unforested*. This is what happened in ancient Greece -- deforestation largely due to charcoal production for smelting iron. Topsoil got eroded and it still hasn't recovered today. Prior to metallurgy, Greece was densely forested, and must have had some biggish trees, judging by the construction of temples etc.

* IIRC. Also a fire breathing dragon taking up residence probably didn't help.

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