Recent comments in /f/history

War_Hymn t1_ir3tj4l wrote

Reply to comment by TheGreatOneSea in Why No Roman Industrial Revolution? by Magister_Xehanort

Or just to create decent tight fitting pipes and piston heads in the first place. The early steam engines built by Newcomen and Watt had the benefit of three centuries worth of gunmaking technology to rely on, namely expertise in being able to drill long straight and accurate holes in gun barrels and cannon tubes - which conveniently carried over for boring out steam engine cylinders.

At that time, cannon founders were able to create cannons with a windage tolerance between the barrel and cannonball at a 1:50 gap ratio. So a cannon barrel made to fire a 10 cm diameter cannonball would only have a gap space of 2 mm - which was pretty good at the time.

In addition, 17th/18th century Europe was producing a lot more iron and steel than the Roman Empire ever did - Great Britain alone in the early 1700s was producing the same amount of iron as the entire Roman Empire during it's heyday (50,000 tonnes) with just 1/5th the population. Cheap iron was vital in allowing steam engines to proliferate for industrial and commercial use.

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Amythyst34 t1_ir3t0yr wrote

Reply to comment by Ok-Farmer-2695 in See lifelike facial reconstructions of a medieval Scottish woman, priest and bishop by unheated1

I've seen some documentaries that show super close reconstructions, but I'm sure those are the exception and not the rule. "Not an exact science," a the saying goes. But even if it brings closure to only a few families, I think it's a worthwhile endeavor. Plus, it will only get better over time as those who do it learn and utilize technology.

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idcidcidc666420 t1_ir3sf7z wrote

Reply to comment by G1trogFr0g in Gold coins hidden in 7th Century found in wall by BarKnight

sure, that existed, but a ton was valuable. there was a huge amount of actual valuable Iiterature and scientific work at. for instance, the library of Alexandria and there are 100s of other similar instances.

tons of historical documents and government documents have been destroyed in fires over the years, especially in the 1800s. even in the modern day, huge archives of historical documents continue to burn up, such as in Brazil a couple years ago.

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BernzSed t1_ir3s01e wrote

Reply to comment by sunny0_0 in Hercules statue, approximately 2,000 years old, discovered in Greece - The Jerusalem Post by DRKILLM0NGER

Honestly, the British Museum is kinda boring. The exhibits have no context, they don't really tell a story or teach us about life in ancient societies. It's just a collection of old stolen stuff, like some ancient hoarder's attic but with everything behind glass boxes.

London's other museums are excellent, though. The Science Museum is amazing.

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War_Hymn t1_ir3rwsq wrote

Reply to comment by bjornbamse in Why No Roman Industrial Revolution? by Magister_Xehanort

India was one of the largest manufacturer in the world up until the late 1700s, I will think they were on par with the Romans in terms of craftsmanship know-how during the relevant time. The 5th century Iron Pillar of Delhi is a testament to this, a 6-tonne monument of forged iron that even the Romans would had been hard pressed to create.

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Ok-Farmer-2695 t1_ir3rcc9 wrote

Reply to comment by Amythyst34 in See lifelike facial reconstructions of a medieval Scottish woman, priest and bishop by unheated1

Thanks for the link. It was interesting, and it says the reconstructions are just approximations.

> Markers indicate the depths of tissue to be added to the skull (a cast in this case). Studies over the past century of males and females of different ancestral groups determine the measures of these depths.

> The finished product only approximates actual appearance because the cranium does not reflect soft-tissue details (eye, hair, and skin color; facial hair; the shape of the lips; or how much fat tissue covers the bone). Yet a facial reconstruction can put a name on an unidentified body in a modern forensic case.

How they go from approximation to identifying bodies goes unexplained, but I’d guess they use other circumstantial data, like “Hey a Caucasian male hiker in his 20s went missing in this area 50 years ago and this fits the bill.”

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idcidcidc666420 t1_ir3r3bu wrote

Reply to comment by LesterKingOfAnts in Gold coins hidden in 7th Century found in wall by BarKnight

on top of that a lot are hoaxes or of otherwise questionable origin. quite a bit of what was once thought certain is not and there are a lot more hoaxes that haven't been found. there's a surprising amount of possible unknowns in our history- things that we think of as certain

https://www.unz.com/article/how-fake-is-roman-antiquity/#v=onepage&q=roman%20concrete%20harena%20fossicia&f=false

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jojohead24 t1_ir3o3d4 wrote

Reply to comment by Laserbarrage in See lifelike facial reconstructions of a medieval Scottish woman, priest and bishop by unheated1

They use this to try and assist in identifying Jane & John Does. They even include them wearing any clothing found along with the body. It’s just really expensive. I know a podcast I listen to, Crime Junkie, did a fundraiser to help pay for some of these to help. They actually were able to identify like 3 which I think is a big deal. DNA ancestry sites are also great in finding families and identifying old cold case victims.

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