These innovations were not adopted all at once or applied to all mines and smelting sites. Throughout the medieval period, these technical innovations, and traditional techniques coexisted. Their application depended on the time period and geographical region. Water power in medieval mining and metallurgy was introduced well before the 11th century, but it was only in the 11th century that it was widely applied. The introduction of the blast furnace, mostly for iron smelting, in all the established centers of metallurgy contributed to the quantitative and qualitative improvement of the metal output, making metallic iron available at a lower price.
