Don't you need at least halfway decent machining technology before you can can things in metal containers?
There's also pickling, which accomplishes almost the same goal but with varying results in flavor and...food safety if done improperly.
Simple discoveries that would radically change ancient times or middle ages?
There's also pickling, which accomplishes almost the same goal but with varying results in flavor and...food safety if done improperly.
Gunpowder. Anyone with an interest in alchemy can stumble upon it. Anyone. It was discovered by accident. Anyone.
Gunpowder leads to rockettry almost instantly. It leads to cannons shortly after. That leads to advances in metallurgy and machine tools.
Firearms lead to social re-ordering and undermining the rule of the physically strong. This leads to more stable states able to develop in more stable circumstances and withstand nomadic assaults. Which allows pretty much anything else.
Gunpowder leads to fertilizer, as well.
Gunpowder leads to rockettry almost instantly. It leads to cannons shortly after. That leads to advances in metallurgy and machine tools.
Firearms lead to social re-ordering and undermining the rule of the physically strong. This leads to more stable states able to develop in more stable circumstances and withstand nomadic assaults. Which allows pretty much anything else.
Gunpowder leads to fertilizer, as well.
Well, anyone with contact to the necessary ingredients and in ready supply, though I do agree that whoever would discover gunpowder would have a large advantages.
Granted, it depends who and how though. Mesoamérica has a low butnstill plausible change of discovering gunpowder, but I don’t think it’d give them as big an advantage as medieval Europe.
It's an interesting question -what can you do with gunpowder that doesn't require metalwork?
Max Sinister
Banned
According to GURPS, you need a very specific mixture of the three parts. So, not that easy.
A rocket stove. It burns more cleanly and more efficiently than any other stove. It only needs a few twigs to heat water up to a boil.
That and some sort of germ theory would be game changers.
Another easy invention would be Fresno scrapers for easier earth moving such as for roads and canals.
That and some sort of germ theory would be game changers.
Another easy invention would be Fresno scrapers for easier earth moving such as for roads and canals.
You’re right that there is an ideal ratio. But thats just a matter of dumb luck - which is exactly how it was stumbled upon historically, after all.
People were moderately hygienic (relative to other ancient times) up until the Black Death, when people became fearful of bathing. Caracalla didn't build those bathes just for show.
I get what you mean, but wouldn't casks or amphora count for that?
elkarlo
Banned
Kinda. But being able to can things thay have vitamin c in particular woukd be great. No scurvy even in winter. Woukd help health and all that. I dunno, being able to store food for up to three years is revolutionary , esp non grains and legumes
The quality on the early decades (1860s-1880s) of recording is so bad I don't think anyone could even tell who was speaking. They'd be lucky to be able to tell what was being said, unless it was a well-known poem, religious passage, etc. The potentials for fraud are thus huge.
Playback would be a pain too.
FillyofDelphi
Banned
The issue with canning is it requires alot of prerequisites on the ground: mass production of tin, in particular. Pre-deep mining and in the Bronze Age of all times (Where you need to tie down loads of tin in alloys) you aren't going to have the resources at a low enough price to make it viable on a large enough scale to make a noticable impact. Jarring though could work, especially if you use it for pickling. Is there a good vegetable or fruit that both pickles well and maintains it's vitimean content while being easy to grow en-mass?
To be fair, the Ancient Egyptians had vaguely figured out the principle, since very small wooden gliders have been found. However, as far it is known, they could never build anything large enough to carry mice, let alone people. The models found might have been toys.
Deleted member 114175
If clockwork was invented in ancient Greece (might be possible considering the Antikythera mechanism) then, because aristocrats would want complicated clockwork, it would increase the demand for precise machining and possibly cause a revolution in tools similar to that seen from the 15th to 18th centuries prior to the industrial revolution.