@redenigma Oh cool, I'll have to check it out! Thanks :)

I ended up studying history in college & always loved trying to puzzle out the past from the pieces left behind.

Most of it would probably be mundane stuff, nothing famous & major. Most jobs are like that.

If I could go back in time & do my life over, I think I would've become an archaeologist.

& so on.

Technologies build on other technologies, they don't stand alone.

Anyway, here's the Wikipedia article on the Antikythera Mechanism, for an introductory overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism

How long did it take to figure out smelting? The crucible? Tongs & gloves? Oh, you're using gloves? Well then you have animal husbandry & textile work involved; how did they figure those out?

Every time I see an artifact, I see an object that tells its own story - but there's also a lot of unspoken stories too. Like, in order to make bronze weaponry, what do you need to know to do that? Is it cast bronze? Forged? Well, before you figure out how to make bronze, you need the *tools* to make it...

& how long did they have to study in order to be able to make something so exquisite?

Not just how did the *maker(s)* study as individuals, but how many years & attempts, how many generations, to perfect the skills needed for *anyone* to make the thing?

I'm watching this modern engineer use compasses & files & prefab brass plates, & I wonder: did the maker(s) of the Antikythera Mechanism have the same tools? Did they use the same techniques?

What I always wonder, when I see unique artifacts like the Mechanism, is what steps brought its creator(s) to the final mechanism?

Back to the Antikythera Mechanism... dude named Michael Wright built a possible replica. It's absolutely beautiful & tantalizing.

Although, the passing down of learning, history, skill, tech, etc. isn't by any means a long, unbroken line. I mean, we've gone through Dark Ages before, & probably will again, during which knowledge is lost.

Well, they *did* pull it off, often with extremely simple engineering tech (like plumb lines, water levels, etc.). In some ways maybe our long-dead ancestors were *more* clever than we are, because they had to figure shit out for the first time, while we have the benefit of their expertise.

I'm of the opinion that modern people don't give our ancestors enough credit for their technological skills. Like when people think the Mayan or Egyptian pyramids were built by aliens, because ancient humans supposedly couldn't have pulled it off.

The Ancient Greeks used gears in millworks, & were skilled at casting bronze; nobody had ever seen anything like the mechanism before, when it was recovered. People at the time thought such precision engineering was beyond the Ancient Greeks.

Yeah, apparently not.

Watching a short doc on the Antikythera mechanism & wreck.

That little mechanism is a trip & a half, I tellya what.

@FinnegansWhacked Thank you. A few weeks' worth of time have softened the edges a bit, but I still miss him something awful. It never really gets easier.

Godspeed to him & his loved ones, in the hours & days he has left on this Earth. I wish there were more people like him.

@PrChrisHarbin I bet it was wonderful. With the wisdom of age he strikes me as such a truly, deeply *good* person.

& I remember him losing to Reagan, tho' I didn't know or understand why, at the time. I mean I was just a little kid.

In the years since, he's remained a quietly humble, truly *good* person, serving the world & being one of the best examples of his faith.