Probably https://acoup.blog/2022/08/26/collections-why-no-roman-indus... HN discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32607187 (509 points | Aug 2022 | 519 comments)
Probably https://acoup.blog/2022/08/26/collections-why-no-roman-indus... HN discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32607187 (509 points | Aug 2022 | 519 comments)
Yes, that was it! Thank you! How did you know?
Usually "Roman"+"Good post" or "Medieval European"+"Good" can be replaced by "acoup"+"I'm feeling lucky".
PS 1: If you can remember how to spell "acoup", it's the harder part.
PS 2: IIRC he only (mostly?) post about those topics, not about random old stuff, because it's his expertise area.
I remembered the same article too, I'm sure I could have found it again knowing it was listed on HN and/or recalling the wording. Good article too, going in depth on steam engines - the first ones were so inefficient they had to be really close to a really cheap source of fuel and be useful.