I'm looking for the period between roughly 500bc and 500 ad in Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East. I'm curious if a general overview exists of what kind of fuel was used for home and industrial uses. Was it just wood? Charcoal? Was coal available? Google is failing me and giving wrong-period information.
Thanks so much for your time.
This thread is about deforestation, but contains a lot of information in the answers about ancient (specifically Roman) fuel sources, including references for further reading.
The short answer is: wood, yes, but also charcoal; olive oil, and other similar oils, for lighting (in lamps); some coal, but our evidence for how much and when is poor.