Simple technological improvements for the Bronze Age?


You know...I could see some kind of religious belief coming to a sort of germ theory, tiny evil spirits living in rotten things.

And the way to repel them is heat and water, best combined.

Shamans & priests have the soap industry monopoly. Magical elexirs that keep the infection demon away.

This leads me to ask, how difficult was it to grind lenses out of glass. Was this a product of 17th Century technology, or could it have been done by the Sumerians, or Romans?
 

SwampTiger

Banned
The problem isn't grinding glass, but getting the proper geometry for focus. Also, early glass was less clear due to impurities.
 
Improvents in toothbrush making techniques.
However, early forms of the toothbrush have been in existence since 3000 BC. Ancient civilizations used a "chew stick," which was a thin twig with a frayed end. These 'chew sticks' were rubbed against the teeth. The bristletoothbrush, similar to the type used today, was notinvented until 1498 in China.
https://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/tooth.html

Paper and new ways of making storing litterary works. Instead of using rolls, using books.
 
Scientific method is not a technological development, people. I am talking about devices, like horse collars, water wheels, windmills, stirrups, ploughs, screws, etc.
Well, when roads are made, why not barrels (thatwould help for supply) and stagecoaches, though they need wood, or perhaps a lighter, wich could theorically be possible, and gives the people an easy source of energy, while we are at it, why not a plumbery system, like romans with acqueducs ?
 
And the way to repel them is heat and water, best combined.

Then why do my crops rot in warm wet places, and the spending time in the swamps during the summer result in me getting quiet ill?

Holy cleansing flame, which imparts it's blessing upon water in a holy bubbling when heating it, might fly better.
 

trurle

Banned

This leads me to ask, how difficult was it to grind lenses out of glass. Was this a product of 17th Century technology, or could it have been done by the Sumerians, or Romans?
Grinding spherical lens for telescope is not difficult at all. It is known DIY technology (simple yet time-consuming). More problematic is the source of transparent glass, which was first become available as Venetian cristallo around 1450. First version of cristallo had short service life though.

Reflecting telescope mirrors made of speculum metal were theoretically possible for Romans would they have proper theoretical background (which was IOTL developed by Arabic scholar in 11th century as i remember)
 
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Grinding spherical lens for telescope is not difficult at all. It is known DIY technology (simple yet time-consuming). More problematic is the source of transparent glass, which was first become available as Venetian cristallo around 1450. First version of cristallo had short service life though.

Can they grind quartz?
 

trurle

Banned
Can they grind quartz?
I doubt so. Remember the Sumerians used diorite for abrasive, and in Europe fine-grained quartz (Novaculite) was used deep into medieval period. Both are too soft to polish quartz.

Egyptian may have used emery (corundum), but direct evidence do not exist. Ancient Greek seems to mine emery in now Turkey (Aphrodisias), but no firm dating is available. Same for ancient Indians.

Anyway, even if emery for grinding quartz crystals is available, crystalline substances are not compatible with telescope lens-making due birefrigence.
 
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I doubt so. Remember the Sumerians used diorite for abrasive, and in Europe fine-grained quartz (Novaculite) was used deep into medieval period. Both are to soft to polish quartz.

Egyptian may have used emery (corundum), but direct evidence do not exist. Ancient Greek seems to mine emery in now Turkey (Aphrodisias), but no firm dating is available. Same for ancient Indians.

Anyway, even if emery for grinding quartz crystals is available, crystalline substances are not compatible with telescope lens-making due birefrigence.

I read corundum axes have been unearthed in China dating back to 2500 BC, apparently polished by diamond.
 

trurle

Banned
I read corundum axes have been unearthed in China dating back to 2500 BC, apparently polished by diamond.
Wow. I want one for my kitchen.

Seriously speaking, interesting but likely very locally available. Most likely from some obscure impact crater. One such deposit do exist in Hungary too where meteoroid struck graphite deposit.
 
What are some of these that you guys think could improve the standard of living of people both in cities and in the country between 2000-1000 BCE?

Laser guided missiles?

More seriously, Age of Empires jokes aside, how about crop rotation or the heavy plough? Either of these could help populations expand faster with potentially interesting consequences.
 
Given glassmaking exists:
Optics
Telescopes (Maybe before the science to explain them?)
Microscopes?
Ceramic-metal alloying? (Too sophisticated?)
Flame retardent construction (incorporating mica or asbestos)?
 
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anesthetic, vaccines, antibiotics, evolutionary theory,

I could see them developing some form of basic anaesthetic (most likely along the lines of "Drink a potion made from this herb, it would put you to sleep before we [cut open your skull to let the demons out]"), but vaccines and antibiotics seem too advanced for a period which would be recognisably similar to OTL's bronze age. As for the theory of evolution, whilst it's neat to know, I don't really think it has much obvious impact on people's quality of life. (If anything, it might even be the reverse, given that IOTL it gave rise to things like eugenics and scientific racism.)

The scientific method IS simple, and unlocking it early makes a bunch of other tech and concepts available earlier, because the people in society with spare time will now be investigating hypotheses with empirical tests rather than thought experiments. Vaccines could of been invented in the stone age

The scientific method is simple to do, but it also depends on a variety of philosophical premises which are far from simple, and far from obvious too, for that matter. There's a reason why, as far as we know, the scientific method was only ever developed once in human history.

The problem isn't grinding glass, but getting the proper geometry for focus. Also, early glass was less clear due to impurities.

Nero, IIRC, used an emerald to magnify things and help him see better, although obviously such a solution could never become widespread.

Paper and new ways of making storing litterary works. Instead of using rolls, using books.

I've always thought it kind of odd that it took so long for codices to catch on, given that they seem so much better than scrolls.

Related, and although it's not strictly speaking a technology, I'd suggest the alphabet. Learning twenty-six (or whatever) characters is much easier than learning however many logograms are necessary for a language, so widespread adoption of the alphabet would probably lead to a higher level of literacy in society.

Simple Sanitation.
Keep latrines away from water sources used for drinking

Some form of ritual purity law would probably be helpful here. "Water is a pure substance, and it is an abomination to leave your filth in the place where you get your water from."
 
I could see them developing some form of basic anaesthetic (most likely along the lines of "Drink a potion made from this herb, it would put you to sleep before we [cut open your skull to let the demons out]"), but vaccines and antibiotics seem too advanced for a period which would be recognisably similar to OTL's bronze age. As for the theory of evolution, whilst it's neat to know, I don't really think it has much obvious impact on people's quality of life. (If anything, it might even be the reverse, given that IOTL it gave rise to things like eugenics and scientific racism.)

Hahahahahahaha! That's a great image. On a serious note though, I haven't much looked into the history of anesthetics, but GoT (which is now dead to me) keeps on mentioning "essence of nightshade". Was that ever a thing, I wonder?



The scientific method is simple to do, but it also depends on a variety of philosophical premises which are far from simple, and far from obvious too, for that matter. There's a reason why, as far as we know, the scientific method was only ever developed once in human history.

Agreed.

Nero, IIRC, used an emerald to magnify things and help him see better, although obviously such a solution could never become widespread.

A quick glance at the History of Glass page on Wikipedia dates glassmaking to the Bronze Age, although it is possible that it didn't get started as an independent craft until the 2nd millennium BCE. Still, it seems odd that, given how just looking through a glass bottle can make things appear closer, magnifying glasses didn't become a thing until much, much later.

I've always thought it kind of odd that it took so long for codices to catch on, given that they seem so much better than scrolls.

What are those little folded paper pamphlet-type things they used in China and East Asia? Does anyone know what I'm talking about? You have a cover on either end of a long, rectangular sheet of paper and then you fold the sheet into square/vertical rectangular sections, each side of which is a different "page"? I was thinking of doing something similar IMTL with parchment, since parchment is a fairly old product. Not sure it would work with papyrus, though. All of the papyrus I have ever handled in my life (admittedly only a few sheets) didn't take well to folding.

Related, and although it's not strictly speaking a technology, I'd suggest the alphabet. Learning twenty-six (or whatever) characters is much easier than learning however many logograms are necessary for a language, so widespread adoption of the alphabet would probably lead to a higher level of literacy in society.

IMTL, which is called Not My Heifer, cuneiform is already evolving down a different track and I want it to remain the primary form of writing in the Middle East well into the Common Era, developing a Chinese-like style to the characters. Alphabetic writing will probably be invented independently in India and also the Black Sea region, probably by Circassians, or it might also grow out of hieratic Egyptian. I want hieratic to be a lot wider spread.

Some form of ritual purity law would probably be helpful here. "Water is a pure substance, and it is an abomination to leave your filth in the place where you get your water from."

I rather like this one, but what about... composting toilets?

I'm also very interested in things we can do to improve agriculture, namely terracing, crop rotation, the use of perennials, agro-forestry, etc.
 
Depending how far in we are, I have made the case before for earlier "skateboard shields" to make long distance marching slightly faster/less energy intensive.
 
Talking about paper, what about paper shields?

I know, that sounds nutty, but I saw a TV doc suggesting it was done in China. Exactly how, I don't recall, but the gist was, the paper was folded repeatedly, very tight, & laquered, so it was ultimately as hard as wood (as metal?), but very light.
 
On a serious note though, I haven't much looked into the history of anesthetics, but GoT (which is now dead to me) keeps on mentioning "essence of nightshade". Was that ever a thing, I wonder?

That would be "milk of the poppy", i.e. an opioid.

http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Milk_of_the_poppy
https://gameofthrones.fandom.com/wiki/Milk_of_the_poppy

"Poppy juice" is also referenced in the Cadfael series.

Essence of nightshade would be deadly poisonous if used improperly. However, an extract of nightshade is used as a heart medicine, and it was also used as eye drops to widen the pupils.
 
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