The apple in that well-known old story. Human beings living in opulence in the Garden of Eden bite this apple and are banished from heaven on earth. When we were launched into the world, we neither had a suitcase or a backpack. We had nothing.

The earth generously opened its doors to us like a supermarket abounds in, and we stayed in that market. We made a lot of things with the materials under and above the soil. We started from point zero. However today we can travel to space, we can insert batteries to an arrested heart and can send images to any other place on earth within a few split seconds, and we have produced all of these with raw materials collected from the earth.

Unfortunately, the biggest bamboozle of time on us is that it causes dulling of our sense of marvel. Therefore we need to practice our sense of marvel from time to time. Let’s look carefully at the red car stopping in the middle of the page. Let’s remember that all raw materials, excluding leather upholstery and cushions, of this beautiful red things are derived from a rock or dust and let’s marvel it.

As we may see, we have done incredible things in this world where we came bare-naked. We call the total of what we do CIVILIZATION. The adventure of civilisation has not progressed at the same pace. There have been pauses at certain times and bounces at certain times. The paradigm changed in each bounce. We jumped to an upper level. The feature players of these bounces have constantly changed. Except for one: That’s us, the miners!

We are not involved in the invention of the wheel. The stone age is the longest period of the history of civilisation. They have invented hand tools and weapons made of stone other than the wheel. However, this state of the stone has not caused any significant progress in humanity. So to speak, we’ve been stuck in the stone age for a long time. Until the miners uncover the mystery of the stone. Yes, human beings advanced to an upper-level thanks to the miners.

We firstly extracted copper and then tin and finally iron from underground. We developed techniques in the relationship of a human being with soil using the tools invented in the bronze and iron ages. The soil became tame thanks to the hand-tools made of bronze and iron. That was what we called agriculture. Again, arrows and swords made of these mines ended the reign of those who have large biceps. The period of good archers and Sworders started.

All these developments created big landlords. Landlords built one castle on each of the hills dominant to their lands. The doors of the castle were opened in a day time and the market was established in the castle. In the evening time, the doors were turned into public “downtowns”. The landlords dominating the economy became the centre of power. Money a medium of exchange, which had an effect lasting for ages, was invented with the addition of silver and gold to the portfolios of the miners.

The potassium nitrate, sulphur and carbon extracted from the rocks. That is the gunpowder. The invention of gunpowder changed the balance of power in the world entirely. The fortress walls of the Landlords were unable to resist the powerful artillery. The one who had more artillery became the king. The era of powerful kingdoms started.

Economic life released beyond the walls of the fortress, village square which was at a location down to the fortress became the new centre of life. That is why today we call city centres the downtown. And those downtown areas have been transformed into safe cities by time. The needs of the cities which get crowded have increased. The search for new resources has started the era of discoveries.

The feature players of the era of discoveries were undoubtedly the seamen. Well, do you know who accompanied the seamen in the ships? Surely they were the miners. The era of discoveries was the beginning of a period which was full of examples of the painful and shameful results of the unbalanced force among human beings.

The Scottish inventor James Watt made an invention that would change everything we know as the production: the steam engine. Gear wheels depending completely on human and animal power were incredibly accelerated by steam power. The factories increased in size and distances were shortened thanks to the steam engine. Of course, we were still responsible for providing the coal to boil the steamer engine’s water.

Coal was now required for purposes other than just heating homes or making a barbeque. The power of coal made steel the basic transporter of the steel industry. Steel belonged to the miners as well as coal.

One of the bloodiest encounters through human history was undoubtedly the second world war. Some of the countries which were fighting against each other pointed a moral from this and The European Coal and Steel Community was established in 1951 as the founding stone of European Union which the biggest peace project in the world. Coal and steel also became the power of peace.

Microchips became the basic building block of digital age production. In the last quarter means of production, well-known methods and products have changed. Professionals which were so important even 50 years before disappeared suddenly. There was only one thing remaining unchanged: The need for mine and miners.

Today in order to produce a cell phone at least 25 and for plasma TV 35 different types of mine is required.

Which ones are the civil engineers? Builders or miners?

We are performing one of the oldest professions in the world. At the same time, we are the final links of a chain which has never been broken after the stone-age. To see me as a part of this historical continuity adds an additional value to our profession which is very different from all the values we know.