Lost Technology: Difference between revisions
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*** Though even then they were, in many cases, looking at the wrong things at times. The overall technological level of Europe actually increased after the fall of the Greco-Roman civilization, and many important inventions were made or came to the continent only after that civilization fell - stirrups, for instance, were introduced over a century after the fall of Rome, and in any case, not all of the Roman empire fell at once, with the eastern portion of the empire surviving another 600 years. Some things were lost, though, such as the ability to make highly advanced gearing.
** Another possible origin is simply that the balkanization cut down traffic and thus decreased the resources available that could be spent on large technological projects like roads and aqueducts.
* Even as [[The Dung Ages]] unfolded after the fall of the Greco-Roman cultures, people's ingenuity still worked, if their living depended on it. Something like [https://web.archive.org/web/20150502231127/http://etnomon.cimec.ro/pics/medium/9DB22A6A4DE340818DE111FF5BEEB542.jpg this], but stronger and made of metal, you may find in your nearby hydropower plant, or in your car's turbocharger. But these turbines have been known at least since the Late Middle Ages in water mills. The best part of it? The craftsmen who built them were in most cases illiterate and most certainly had never known maths.
* So-called "Damascus" steel has been lost for centuries since the original iron deposits in India ran out (there was a key impurity in those particular iron deposits).
** It was figured out in the late 1990's and there are now companies making bladestock from it. Modern bladesmiths have slowly been using it more and more. To prevent confusion with "Pattern-welded" steel, which was and is commonly referred to as "Damascus" steel, it is known by the original name for the ore: "Wootz".
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