4 Skills Humans Have Lost Over Time

[@SciShow]

Hi everyone! As a few of you have pointed out, the map at 9:36 incorrectly shows Taiwan as a part of China. Sorry for the error!

[@Periwinkleaccount]

Lots of borders are also missing around western Kazakhstan to northern Iran.

[@cherriberri8373]

There are other smaller errors, you guys definitely picked a quite China centric map hahaha

[@audieherron5474]

The highest peak of technology in this world has already passed millennia ago... The whole gods with advance knowledge fr heaven thing? You can thank God for every piece of technology we have... Without HIM we have nothing.

[@Belloc_The_Hallow]

@@audieherron5474 how do you know god did anything

[@LordRunty]

@@audieherron5474 Peak? Don't get me wrong, the technology of the past is interesting, but peak? I mean, I'd personally say that the device you're using to type that comment with is considerably more advanced, same with the entire system allowing us to read it. Or planes, cars, electricity, medicine, water systems, paints, etc. As for thanking a god for it, weirdly enough I'm yet to find a single piece of technology that has 'God' listed as it's inventor.

[@StormWolf01]

The loss of knowledge is an issue that preoccupies me. It's very common to this day, even in regular companies. There are times when something breaks and no one knows how to fix it, because the last guy who knew about it left the company ten years ago.

[@alw2839]

Or was deleted by an underpaid employee.

[@kosmosXcannon]

Now we live in an age of information, where we are essentially overloaded with information on a constant basis.

[@AdhamOhm]

I work in networking and there's no worse thing in my job than having to find my way around a company's network rack that was maintained by a person who has long since quit, but didn't leave the company with any sort of documentation or diagram of cable runs. Unmanaged switches, no rhyme or reasoning with the patch panel, cables plugged into whatever convenient port was available. It's surprising how common this problem is. Just a modern example of how basic knowledge becomes lost over time.

[@RadeticDaniel]

@@kosmosXcannon i think it's more appropriate to say we live in the age of data, because information has structure and meaning. Most times we only get loose ends and crude flawed instructions on how to use something, trusting the missing parts would remain obvious to everyone

[@HollyBenedict]

I literally started a job a year after the only person that knew the inside outs of the job left and two people who weren't trained by them either left behind all kinds of a mess. so I've basically been teaching myself how to do my job, clean up the mess left behind, and solve all of the weird problems that I'm encountering in our record system. I went from 1 tiny folder with a few pages of notes left by the original person to two 3 inch 3 ring binders of my own notes. It's full of charts and diagrams and trouble shooting with pictures and step by step instructions. This is my 3rd job where I've found myself with no one to train me, so I'm making sure I leave behind everything the next person needs.

[@harktischris]

I love this! It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that people before us were "dumber" because they didn't have the same kind of modern technology as we do, but they were just as smart working with their own tools at the time, to the point where some of it stumps us supposedly "advanced" modern folk if they didn't bother to write it down.

[@countsudoku6305]

exactly, for example alchemy, it seems like people believed magic and it couldn't work, but in fact it gave humanity a lot of important info, chemistry is just alchemy we understand

[@eugenemartone7023]

@@countsudoku6305 In many respects, yes. But there are some key differences that arise from that greater understanding, so the basic framework is pretty different. But, as you pointed out, much that was once alchemy is now chemistry.

[@mikekolokowsky]

If you speak to some folks, they think anything complicated before modern times must be the work of ALIENS. That’s right. A star faring civilization traveled a hundred light years to teach primitive humans how to make a purple dye. Totally worth it, since those statues look fab-u-lous!

[@hez5160]

Humans are intelligent, creative, and curious animals. This has always been true!

[@emperorofmankind6179]

Look up the powerplant pyramid theory then look into Nikola Teslas tower of power

[@arafatkhan3002]

5:30 I came to know about Dhaka moslin from my grand parents. They said that the farmers were not only economically cornered but they were killed off by the east india company & the family members were left off with cut fingers. Growing up I also found older history books suggesting same. I don't know what to say about this yet.

[@ilenastarbreeze4978]

hoenstly, that does not surprise me in anyway, british did a lot of horrible things to people all over the world, expecially when they wanted something

[@caspenbee]

I learned this in Cathy Hay's Peacock Dress series. It was a real atrocity. I hope Indian craftspeople are able to reclaim the practice and the prestige they rightfully deserve.

[@ilenastarbreeze4978]

@@caspenbee i agree, 100% , i will probably never be able to afford what they make, but they deserve the money for that kind of skill

[@romulusnr]

I'm sure if we continue encouraging the same kinds of practices in our world economics it will totally not end up the same way at all

[@siber1900]

I'm a descendant of people who made Dhaka moslin, in our family's case they amputated the thumbs of the tailors so they couldn't work.

[@Anon-te6uq]

Another thing we lost was silphium. It was a plant that grew in the Mediterranean used as a seasoning, perfume, aphrodisiac, and medicine. It was considered to be worth its weight in silver. It went extinct around the year 50 c.e. due to over-harvesting. It was unable to be deliberately planted so it only grew in the wild. The last plant was given to emperor Nero as a curiosity.

[@jpbaley2016]

I was trying to remember the name of that plant. The youtube channel “Tasting History” did a video discussing it last year. Great channel to watch as Max not only researches his ancient recipes and recreates ingredients used in the recipes but makes sure he pronounces the ancient names associated with the recipes. Listening to his pronunciation of ancient Chinese, Japanese, and Indian emperors is a treat.

[@kfl611]

@@jpbaley2016 Kind of like 'The lonliest plant in the world' - how do these things happen? Poor plant kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKXdmoCwppKhpM0

[@brokenrecord3523]

I'm not really sure "lost to overfarming" makes any sense.

[@Anon-te6uq]

@@brokenrecord3523 It couldnt be deliberately grown and only grew in the wild. People picked every last plant and it went extinct. I will remove the word farming.

[@Treyast]

​@@Anon-te6uq Harvesting a plant to extinction or near extinction isn't really the same thing as losing a technology, but I get what you mean.

[@navrhy3075]

My grandmother had a sari made of Dhaka Muslin. I remember as a kid hugging her and remember how soft it was. I miss her so much.

[@Tokuijin]

I hope you still have her sari.

[@mehedihasansiam2234]

You still have the sari?

[@navrhy3075]

@@mehedihasansiam2234 I am sure, if I can find it

[@Deltexterity]

@@navrhy3075 did you find it?

[@_Wai_Wai_]

4:26 The British East India Corporation didn't just "Muck " with the Indian/Bangladesh textiles, they literally had mercenaries go around cutting off the thumbs of Weavers ,and smashing their looms. This is called the Deindustrialization of India and south east Asia. All this information thanks to Shashi Tharoor.

[@tomfooIeryz]

Sounds like Belgium and the DRC.

[@aniketbiswas7660]

@@tomfooIeryz Colonisation fo you by uncaring and often actively malicious colonial overlords.

[@PIZZAloverNUMBERS]

@@tomfooIeryz British moment

[@brokenrecord3523]

@@aniketbiswas7660 often? Can you find an example of caring colonial overlords?

[@harsimaja9517]

Except there is no real evidence for the claim of any such mass program of thumbs being cut off. Shashi Tharoor has an ideological axe to grind but is not an academic historian. This has been challenged by others who note that, amazingly (!), the British made a higher profit selling Bengali muslin to rich Brits than selling cheap British cloth in India - they wanted to monopolise that trade, not end it. But their attempt to centralise the trade messed with the local weavers’ profits and larger unregulated market forces won out. Never mind the idea of traditional loom weavers constituting ‘industrialisation’…

[@nazibkhan775]

As someone who was born in Dhaka and learned about Dhaka Muslin as a kid, seeing the fabric being covered here was a treat to remember. Thanks for shining light on it

[@nunyabiznez6381]

In theory, one should be able to extract dna from surviving material and use that to bring back the original variety. If I was a businessman in your country I'd explore that opportunity. There is a huge market these days for heirloom products, at least in Europe and the U.S.

[@nikhilpolekar8325]

This was also covered in Oxford speech by Dr. Shashi Tharoor. Just that he didn't mention Bangladesh particularly and referred to the region as India as it was all India back then. 🇮🇳❤️🇧🇩

[@ginnyjollykidd]

I can see this material used for clothing to cover burn victims and people whose very sensitive skin must be protected.

[@pierreluc5382]

fun fact In french, Bangladesh sounds like "Bang! some sperm!!!"

[@abirhossain183]

Just like Taiwan isn't Chinese, Bangladesh isn't India. Rather India belonged to Bangladesh, Bangladesh has always been the richest part of the continent. India should be given back to Bangladesh

[@lsedge7280]

We've nearly forgotten how to make traditional ginger beer. Traditional ginger beer is a fermented alcoholic drink kind of like kombucha, made with a SCOBY called "Ginger Beer Plant" (among other names). It was however displaced by non-alcoholic and by yeast-based ginger beers. This led to a loss of the SCOBY's, till only one source remained (from Germany), but that source stopped supplying them too. Because a SCOBY is a specific mix of microorganisms, the actual contents of it is/was not written down making reproduction of it especially difficult.

[@schneemann-fy6gi]

You can make your own

[@Vendavalez]

Why do I suspect that the people who made it really easy for workers to go into "irrecoverable debt" complained about how "nobody wants to work anymore" when they stopped making the special textiles?

[@alw2839]

Because that's what they've done throughout history. All is sacrificed in the pursuit of monetary power.

[@vangu2918]

Unfortunately nearly every culture has shown this behavior, so it's a every human issue.

[@jugbrewer]

@@vangu2918 “nearly every culture” - citation needed

[@timber72]

Because that's what indoctrination and propaganda does to you.

[@timber72]

@@jugbrewer it's called "history."

[@fccty1]

I was born in Dhaka and have never even heard of this Muslin. It makes me really sad to think how much of our culture and knowledge was destroyed.

[@keemerthanever]

Rare seeing another fellow Bengali

[@samiulhaq5373]

What kind of Bangladeshi are you? You shoudl learn more about our history friend

[@lanasinapayen3354]

And after being destroyed by the British empire, it seems like the people who will profit off 'rediscovering' it are at Kew gardens, so British again...

[@Iugeer]

@@samiulhaq5373 I am warszawa

[@TeodorStanojevic96]

@@Iugeer nice to meet you warszawa

[@skie6282]

Heres another one, the rocket engines that brought us to the moon cannot be remade. Basically the engines were built kinda rough and engineers essentially jerry rigged each engine indiviually to make sure it would work, some things were written down but most were not. So each engine was essensially different and just recreating the original parts wouldnt make a complete funtional engine again because modifications would be missing.

[@General12th]

Also, the specific manufacturing techniques for each component had to be researched and learned by the engineers and welders putting it together. Once the program ended and different engines became NASA's focus, those specific tricks weren't necessary anymore. The people who learned them are retired or dead now. The original secrets are lost. I'm sure we could reengineer the entire manufacturing and logistic chain for the F-1 engines if we really had to, but we absolutely don't need to.

[@skie6282]

@@General12th exactly!

[@scurvofpcp]

@@General12th I once tracked down an engineer in a retirement home, because our ancient computer for a test bench was getting replaced and we quite frankly could not find anyone with the needed skill set to reverse engineer it.

[@giblets4510]

@@scurvofpcp I know many folks in retirement homes who would love to have a work day again, I love that lmao

[@vehimouchas9743]

Even the computer systems are either on computers that no longer exist or the code is a dead language that cannot be replicated.

[@nanashihentai]

I remember watching a show on the history channel over 10 years ago. That show was about figuring out how ancient forgotten weapons worked. They made something like greek fire. They started burning the target and decided to throw water on it and started burning more.

[@TheNullreaper]

Copper powder, magnesium powder and some kind of oil/wax to keep the magnesium separated from water. Burns hot, burns green and can't be put out by water, but ammonia based liquids break up the oil/wax and let the reaction peter out. All things that would've been found in a jewelers workshop, where Greek Fire was rediscovered and then silenced.

[@propio2957]

@@TheNullreaper Silenced by whom?

[@edwardbarton1680]

One thing that's important to keep in mind is that "we don't know how they made that" doesn't mean "we think they were unable to make it". Often it means "we don't know which of several possible methods they used"

[@Hassan-zw9tb]

@James Ramirez im doing good, how about you

[@Hassan-zw9tb]

@James Ramirez im from the netherlands

[@Hassan-zw9tb]

@James Ramirez sounds interesting, what do you mean with enlighten exactly?

[@Hassan-zw9tb]

@James Ramirez i thought you were talking about spiritual enlightenment, thanks for your offer but i have no need for more money right now

[@Hassan-zw9tb]

@James Ramirez good luck with your endevors, i hope you are not trying to convince people that are not financially well off to invest in your ideas. That would be morally wrong

[@safaiaryu12]

The talk about pozzolana reminded me of when I studied abroad near Pompeii. All around that area are little volcanic rocks named lapilli, and what was super interesting was that they looked different in different places. In Pompeii, they were smooth, rounded, and brown, in Stabiae they were grey and rough, but all of them were light as feathers. I collected a few from different places and brought them home with me.

[@moniqueengleman873]

I was there in 1980. So much more has become known, but I am so grateful that I saw it during a time that was not so crowded.

[@sidnas92]

I always thought it was weird you can't find Pompeii lapilli online to buy. I've seen documentaries showing them move truckloads. You'd think they'd sell some to help fund preservation or something, but it's like there's a ban on it?

[@kendradupree1094]

@@sidnas92 it might be same kind of thing as the laws about eagle feathers ( you can't legally own one) since it can't be proved they weren't stolen or poached they can't be sold

[@timharper4246]

@@kendradupree1094 where I live(USA), you cannot own feathers,, skeletons or claws from any raptor(owl, hawk, falcon, eagle etc) and you cannot own a live bird unless trained and licensed. Or a Native American. It's crazy because there are do many eagles up north, they're considered a nuisance to fishermen

[@TheEudaemonicPlague]

I visited Pompeii and Vesuvius in 1989. Before climbing back down off Vesuvius, I filled my jacket pockets with various rocks. I wish I'd marked them, or something, because it's difficult to remember which rocks I have came from there. I wonder if I may have gotten any lapilli? Some of those rocks were pretty light...or I wouldn't have been able to carry so much. I had a denim jacket back then that had a bunch of different sized pockets. The other day, I started scanning my old photos--including ones I took at Pompeii & Vesuvius. They'll go up on deviantART when I'm done cleaning them up.

[@weenisw]

I took an archaeology class and was fascinated by one of these lost technology stories. A modern people could not farm this region but there was archaeological evidence of small canals dug everywhere. The ancient people had figured out that their crops would not frost and die if they used these canals close to the plantings. It is surprising to use canals not to provide water but to temper the cold with fluid thermal mass until the ambient temperature became survivable for the plantings.

[@shaghayeghmnf6467]

omg 😮

[@schneemann-fy6gi]

I think I've heard of that

[@JustMeJH]

This was fascinating! I love hearing how experimental archaeology has helped solve mysteries of the past. Please do a sequel to this episode. Some suggestions include how scientists have built a working castle, how scientists have relearned how to make Clovis point arrows, how scientists have made Rapa Nui aka Easter Island moa statues walk, how scientists have recreated the methods used to make the tall, multi-layered pyramids.

[@nameless1016]

alien tech...bob lazar saw a few. im sure others have as well.

[@lemonshark4961]

The walking moa statues is so interesting!! It just goes to show how much truth can be found in myths and stories.

[@djimma5080]

Dude it's totally possible that a species of dinosaur could have reached our level and died out and we wouldn't have a clue they existed

[@pompe221]

How to make Damascus steel, the secrets that make Stradivarius violins so amazing, how to make Tekhelet dye.

[@Dozerson2]

Damascus Steel!

[@dain6250]

Archaeologist here, excellent episode. Past cultures are fascinating, and it's an absolute joy researching and experimenting to try to rediscover how past technologies worked.

[@dgill441]

hello smart person! May I ask what you are currently researching? I was always fascinated by ancient Greece and Rome - in particular people like Heron of Alexandria!

[@dain6250]

@@dgill441 hello there! I am currently training in 3d photogrammetry, which is a technique that allows you to create a 3d model from a series of photographs taken of artifacts, buildings, or archaeological sites! In the near future I am planning to make some models of Bronze Age Scandinavian "Ship Settings" in southern Sweden 🤓

[@dgill441]

@@dain6250 wow - sounds fun! Like a history puzzle! Would be a cool video idea too to see the before and after

[@kozmo7]

Knowledge, to me, is one of the most exciting things in this reality I can’t get enough and I absolutely love learning more

[@jakeballou5147]

It ain't always an adventure. I'm not trying to be a pessimist but just remember to trust wisdom and not paranoia. Too many people are learning things they can't understand and they're straight up going crazy.

[@Rifatbinmaruf]

I wasn't expecting to see Muslin fabric to be featured in the video, but well it is a pleasant surprise being Bangladeshi.

[@kzisnbkosplay3346]

As a historical costumer, this is a major pet peeve.

[@stankythecat6735]

@@kzisnbkosplay3346 agreed ! I studied costume history in university and I was all like , “WTF?”

[@adibferdous826]

Us

[@bradley772]

Extinct cotton. i recently found out, that about the time i was born, 1964, was when a very flavorful strain of Bannana went extinct. Because of plantations & a fungus. If memory serves. * It's interesting how humans affect everything. Be well.

[@richardsmith5803]

@@bradley772 its not fully extinct though..

[@crinkly.love-stick]

It's been a hobby of mine to learn every "old school" technique that I can, for almost 20 years now. Every once in a while, it really comes in handy! Fun fact: electrical arc welders predate the oxy/acetylene gas torch.

[@jackassmr33]

explain the fun fact pls

[@RockyPeroxide]

@@jackassmr33 I'd guess that an electrical arc was one of the first things discovered about electricity, and capacitors to store such voltages can be made with two pieces of metal and paper covered in oil.

[@ValeriePallaoro]

fun fact ... for those of us old enough, you're just speaking the truth.

[@jackassmr33]

@@RockyPeroxide but oxy/acetylene is just fire

[@jackassmr33]

@@patrickhenry1249 im a professional welder... for me its just fire xD

[@sssspider]

IIRC, the reason Fogbank was “lost” for a while was because one of the ingredients used in the original production had an undocumented impurity that actually gave it its key desirable properties. When they switched to a new production facility, they were still using the same recipe but couldn’t get it to work because they were now sourcing a “pure” version of that particular ingredient. Eventually they were able to identify the component of interest and add it into the recipe to get it working again.

[@nickolaswilcox425]

makes sense, secrecy combined with less understanding of the methods at the time and an issue never being detected because no problems arose because of it, all the elements for a recipe to become invalidated rather quickly

[@NotSandhorst]

Reminds me of jekyll and hyde

[@LUIGIshootemUPS]

I had a professor once who was a military sniper veteran. He was even on the History channel a couple times. He told us of a special scope one guy created decades ago that was leagues better than anything the military could make. He died taking his secret method to the grave, and the military had to just keep using what they already had for decades. It's been 10 years since I heard this story, so the details are light.

[@Apocalymon]

Any links to History Channel footages?

[@CharleyHorse33]

If it was on the History Channel then aliens made it...

[@selkiefluff]

Honestly, good. Oppenheimer should've taken his trade secrets to the grave too. We don't need more effective ways of killing each other.

[@hyperx72]

What made it better?

[@ancientswordrage]

'The details are light' I imagine light optics are important

[@SRG-Learn]

This video made me rewatch "Tim's Vermeer' a documentary about a guy who "rediscover" the tech behind Vermeer's paintings. Really cool and enjoyable.

[@jimjones4115]

I was absolutely expecting Damascus steel to pop up in this one, but no! I learned some new stuff, though, as usual, so cool!

[@Keltaryn]

I thought the same! Great to have new ones to pop in the head though

[@sayandeepbasak257]

Damascus steel was made by thin sheets of steels weilded together so the technique is not lost. But the steel used was wootz steel from South India. The formula of making that wootz steel alloy is lost.

[@themilkman6969]

@@sayandeepbasak257 No no, that’s modern damascus. Ancient damascus steel is still unknown.

[@foxctocofxk8509]

@@themilkman6969 isn't damascus still made today

[@OP5redsolocup]

Same

[@jacobmiller6289]

as an aside, on the subject of greek fire its not that we don't know what it likely was, its just that we dont know which out of the possible substances it may have been that it actually was. most likely it was some kind of crude Petroleum based mixture, similar to napalm. or for the tl;dr we probably do know how to make greek fire, but we wouldn't know it was the same thing as GF, because we don't have a recipe to look at and say, "oh, we remade this by coincidence with X concoction."

[@nickolaswilcox425]

from the greek side there arent a lot of detailed descriptions, military secret and all that, from their opponents, its not like they would have gotten a very good look while it was burning their faces off and they never got a chance to see it in its inactive state which is where the best identification would have been, even just a color or rough consistency, plus the losers have a habit of leaving fewer records in the old wars

[@ArcNine9Angel]

Thank you for this correction, I wonder personally if it wouldn't be prudent to test it's application in a safe way and determine the most likely candidate based off performance for the intended usage, ergo destroying wooden ships and leaving a hazard on seawater that could spread.

[@archiebellega956]

Yeah. Group I and Group II in atomic table loves to burn when reacted to water (in their metal form), so if the question is simply creating a substance that burn the more it was exposed to water it is easily done, and with wax or some sort of crude/long chain petroleum we could maintain them and made them sticky. Is it accurate? we don't know.

[@pauljs75]

It's very likely we can make better and even more dangerous substances to the same effect. The thing that's unknown is how to do it with the materials and processes that were common during the time of Greek fire's historical use.

[@only_fair23]

@@pauljs75 Isn't that the case for all of these? Most of the things we have today are far better than old techniques

[@Icemaam]

I feel like Michael is humanity's big brother, home from university and gently explaining brainy things to everyone at dinner 😅

[@MovieMaker1040]

He is very easy to listen to.

[@Debid_Senpai]

I like watching the older vids when he had short hair. Kinda makes it like that was him before he left to uni and now with long hair is him back.

[@rainymornings]

@@MovieMaker1040 Yeah, but I don't like how they've sped him up so that the video fits in fewer minutes. It sounds too rushed, I'd just like to listen calmly.

[@ow4744]

@@rainymornings You can slow down the playback speed :)

[@superbherb7947]

@@MovieMaker1040 until he mispronounces (by US English translation standards) "Taoism."

[@space-raider-system5828]

Things we've forgotten how to make: Number one, serotonin

[@juliejanesmith57]

Lol. True for far to many. Including me.

[@General12th]

have u considered um just NOT BEING DEPRESSED I expect the check in the mail by Monday for my brilliant mental health services. :) kthxbye

[@OMalleyTheMaggot]

Haha. Lol. 😢

[@teambeining]

Well, we haven’t forgotten, we apparently are evolving it out - which is really just disastrous 😭

[@AlyxAesthetics]

only for edgy 14 year olds lol. and a few actually depressed people. im having the time of my life as my childhood is ending

[@dumbestoyster]

They actually just found out that it's very large chunks of lime that react with the water seeping to the cracks causing almost a self healing property

[@stephaniebaker6001]

Very cool and quite interesting video! Thanks Mike and all at SciShow...excellent as always!! 🙂😉💜

[@MusicKttn]

I've never seen a video with Michael in it before, but I find this man's voice absolutely hypnotizing. I'd definitely listen to a podcast hosted by him, for sure. Lol Seriously, though, he's got a really nice voice. ☺️👌

[@druid_zephyrus]

I think one of the greatest losses to history is that most people think "Egypt and China are very far" from each other. Yes they are quite distant and it would take an individual months to do it. But it wasn't an individual it was a series of people(s). Just because they didn't have planes or the combustion engine doesn't mean people weren't crossing continents. Not a person or persons but people. -Your Friendly Neighborhood Druid

[@Itsjustme-Justme]

There had been well established long distance trade lines way back in ancient times. Expensive luxury goods were traded from one end of the known world to the other. There was amber from the baltic sea found in Egypt. Metals were traded over thousands of kilometers too, mostly to manufacture items locally from imported metals. Chicken were first domesticated somewhere in eastern Asia thousands of years. They got imported to Europa and North Africa early and already were very common livestock throughout all ancient mediterranian civilizations. Surprisingly, despite all that successful trade, the level cultural and genetic exchange stayed very small throughout antiquity.

[@WolfgangDoW]

The silk road was huge and covered so many different countries

[@lilyy7318]

I mean hell, Vikings lived in mainland North America and Austronesians traded with South Americans in the 13th century. Not to mention how insane some infrastructure could get. The Incan Qhapaq Ñan was a road system across 25000 miles of varied mountainous terrain, where wheels were completely impractical. Many Roman emperors came from Africa. The ancient world was a lot more connected than most people picture it.

[@jessicag630]

Not likely if ancient-origin website is correct about this. Quoted from the sebsite: "... conclude that the Chinese may have learned to make the pigment from the Egyptians. However, this theory has been largely discounted as Egyptian blue was not found further East than Persia."

[@RadeticDaniel]

@@jessicag630 well, with the infrfastructure required to produce it, the recipe could surely travel further than the samples... however unlikely. But it does seem more likely indeed a case of convergent technologies beeing reediscovered from similar basic processes

[@dude11579]

The process of han purple seems to me like it was a byproduct of a different and more broadly useful compound or material being made. For example, I would be curious as to what the bronze smelting processes and practices were like, and if any of those materials were used as a flux to strip impurities out of the molten alloy.

[@Great_Olaf5]

That sounds plausible. When we can find a use for byproducts, we will. Eventually.

[@magnushultgrenhtc]

@@Great_Olaf5 Procter & Gamble, but with bronze and pigment...!

[@ihtesham_emon]

I'm form Bangladesh and when we were kid we always listend the story of Muslin cloth and how thin it was but we thought it was long gone as a result of colonialism. At least people are trying to recreate that and that's a really hopeful thing. 💜

[@zyaicob]

I'm so happy you're doing another ancient technology video. It's my favourite and possibly the most important topic of research for modern man, especially trying to be sustainable as we are

[@alandowney6961]

Reminds me of Stradivarius and the stringed instruments he made - violins, violas, etc., and what he did to make them sound so good. Chemical treatment or some other secret, taken to his grave.

[@freeflowbeats]

I heard that the stradivarius instruments were made from ancient trees that were exposed to more CO2 and grown differently than trees now so we can’t replicate the growing conditions.

[@nickolaswilcox425]

@@freeflowbeats thats the most plausible of the theories ive heard as well, granted the things he did to it in the actual production process definitely contributed to their quality and cant be discounted, but a basic difference in the material itself is just something no one would have thought of or been able to prove until relatively recently and once the stock of special wood was gone... well thats it, no more

[@christianscott773]

I think he got his timber from a boat yard, pink pine ?

[@TsahayluFa]

Great episode. Would love it if this became a series.

[@mobulidae2262]

As an newly qualified Coastal/Fluvial Civil Engineer, this sounds incredibly exciting, lots of research has been done recently for additives like fly ash but this sounds even more useful considering seawater usually has a negative effect on concrete!

[@temparalflux914]

Pioneer it dude

[@JediLordRevan]

@Fk Yu i did my master's thesis on saltwater in concrete. Final results seemed to imply that vanilla concrete (freshwater and without rebar) has a lower compressive strength than concrete made with saltwater. You could probably get away with saltwater concrete if you werent using rebar and only making, like, a walkway or something.

[@kikhoekjen]

@Fk Yu Although I'm a mechanical engineer and civil isn't my area of expertise I'd assume regular concrete wíth rebar is still a LOT stronger than this roman concrete. Adding rebar to this roman concrete wouldn't make too much sense as it still would deteriorate over time when exposed to salt-water. Although it is awesome that the romans came up with this concrete I seriously doubt it'd be very useful today. Still really cool though!

[@nunyabiznez6381]

Isn't that negative effect primarily due to the rusting and expansion of steel reinforcing as the seawater infiltrates the porous concrete?

[@JediLordRevan]

@@nunyabiznez6381 Nope, that isn't true. You have to remember what concrete actually is. Concrete is made of 3 things: Aggregate, Water, and Cement. Cement, when mixed with water, is straight up just glorified glue. That is what holds together all the aggregate. Said aggregate particles interacting and locking into each other is where the strength of concrete comes from. Compressive forces, engage that particle locking behavior. Tension, however, disengages the particle locking behavior. That is why in testing, you will often find that unreinforced concrete tension capacity is magnitudes lower than its compression capacity. Using Rebar is actually what enables us to use concrete in so many tension load applications.

[@rickhouston2144]

The Greek fire was really neat! I heard a story where one of those flame thrower’s had been captured but they couldn’t figure out how to use it 😂

[@Paul_Ch52]

Very nice indeed. The writing, graphics, depth ... you guys are good. And Michael, you are a superstar.

[@Frostfly]

The Roman Empire left so many dark holes in knowledge that England lost the knowledge to make BRICKS for 1000 years. that's why when it shows back up in the Tudor period it becomes the prestige material.

[@HIFLY01]

Romans didn't leave any holes, they were so much farther ahead and people couldn't catch up for 1000s of years

[@JMurph2015]

I still firmly believe that the fall of the Roman Empire was a roughly 500-1000 year setback to Western civilization. They had indoor plumbing when much of Europe didn't until deep into the Middle Ages? The Roman Republic was the last major republic I can think of for 1700 years (depends on how you count the Republic of Venice or Republic of Genoa or the Icelandic Commonwealth).

[@Frostfly]

@@JMurph2015 Honestly a lot of that wasn't fall of Rome, it was rise of Controlling Christianity. Sure you lose something when an empire like Rome falls, but adding in a group that is multinational and fairly actively suppresses people having free though and it gets messy. Much of what Rome learned survived just fine in the middle east until the crusades came and sacked it out of them. The factors and fall out are so much broader then just "the fall of rome made some dum dum times"

[@Laurelin70]

@@Frostfly Oh, it was SO suppressing the free thought that the first european universities were founded by the Church. Stop spreading nonsense and go and learn a bit of history, would you?

[@Frostfly]

@@Laurelin70 The first educational order created by the Catholic church was in 1216....800 years after the romans left England. The first "university" wasn't founded until the middle ages. And the catholic church has a LONG record of resisting anything that might debate that book they use that they didn't even let lay people learn the right language to read.. Given the rapidly increasing power of the church in this era. Yes. They absolutely were suppressing the free flow of knowledge. This isn't opinion, it's well known fact. (Galileo springs immediately to mind) They didn't change that stance until fairly modern times. The catholic church has long been an organization about control. Religious schooling was not about learning how to think it was about following what ever teaching the church dictated. And while there are times when this is less true, the trend is still there.

[@rickloftus9330]

Superb episode! Well done! Thank you. A beautiful intersection of science, tech, art, culture.

[@DoeSwiftandBond]

These types of video are great, the smear of science upon the cusp of historie and it's vast magnatude. The effort required for all that was made possible for this video does not go unnoticed. Thank you kindly

[@psuedo6854]

What’s awesome, is that we have found out how they made Roman concrete. It was made with a mix of limestone from the area.

[@abirdthatflew]

Beautifully articulated and straight to the point. A master class in the art of teaching.

[@dominicdmello7531]

Some British administrators also ordered the destruction of looms and when that didn't work, broke the thumbs of weavers to stop them weaving muslin.

[@Addzaye]

British destroyed the Indian textile industry..

[@FrappuccinoAlfredo]

Yeah, and the natives were the "savages."

[@psychosoma5049]

Well they're getting their own back. They're all moving here and trying to scam us from call centres....

[@raulzaha3096]

I really wish people would stop spreading this myth. A quick search shows this not to be true, but rather a misreading of the accounts of William Bolts (in "Considerations on India affairs: particularly respecting the present state of Bengal and its dependencies"), a Dutch-born British merchant who was active in India during the 18th century. What William Bolts says is that the EIC instituted a monopoly on silk production and basically imposed ridiculous quotas for the native weavers, and when the weavers couldn't keep up production the EIC incarcerated and/or fined them the equivalent value in whatever goods they could confiscate (sometimes even their tools if I understand correctly? that seems dumb). In response, William Bolts says, there have been known instances of *silk winders cutting off their own thumbs so that they couldn't be forced to wind anymore*

[@blackkkabllakkcaa]

@@raulzaha3096 interesting! Thanks for the info!

[@TheaSvendsen]

I hope you’ll make more of these kinds of videos in the future - I know we’ve lost much more to the passing of time. I, for example, immediately thought of Damascus steel (the true recipe) and the ancient modern humans that made this incredibly efficient glue-like substance to attach arrowheads to the wood spears (I believe it was the Clover people). Please, you lovely people of SciShow, we really need a compilation episode of this topic - let’s make it happen 🙏

[@tcb-part]

Thea, that's the first thing I thought of, too. It's interesting to see how many products today boast being made of Damascus steel; my understanding is that nobody knows how to make it anymore. SciShow team, I second Thea's proposal: please make a series on ingenuity lost in time! Thank y'all for this great video.

[@TheEudaemonicPlague]

What we don't know how to make, is the Wootz steel to make the Damascus blades of. If someone could figure that one out, I'd be soooooo happy. I wish I could afford a real Damascus blade--just a knife, because there isn't much I could use a sword for.

[@augustuscaesar3968]

In addition to the pozzolan I think the Romans added eggs to their concrete as a binder. I always wondered if that made any difference in the final chemical structure.

[@skrimper]

Yes, it made the concrete organic. We need to bring this back. Imagine a whole foods built with egg concrete. The yuppies would go wild

[@augustuscaesar3968]

@@skrimper The vegans would be livid!

[@vehimouchas9743]

Don't forgetting sacrificing animals to the Pagan Gods and praying for them to uphold the buildings while the blood mixes with the cement allowing the cement to airate and make it decay slower.

[@jzyyz]

Eggs contain collagen which is the main active ingredient in traditional glue made from horse hooves .

[@sethharrington1796]

@@augustuscaesar3968 "is this building vegan?"

[@s.t.-1094]

I love the fact that you completely ignore the existence of the silk road in order to say "well they couldn't have traded with the ancient Egyptians- look how far away they are!"

[@only_fair23]

Was the silk road even around in 200bce, when the terracotta army was made? I thought the silk road opened around 100ce so that China, Persia and Rome could trade

[@s.t.-1094]

@@only_fair23 the silk road was established around 200 bce as far as I'm aware

[@crypticon9246]

@@only_fair23 no it wasn't. The silk road wasn't until much later in life

[@klee88029]

Now this young man is an excellent reader-speaker. Clear, Fast, but not so rapid that my ears are always trying to catch up. Very good.

[@aabbccddeeffgg1234]

I got one: The tool ancient egyptians used to cut granite and we find lots of clues what it was with the unfinished sarcophagus. The work on the sarcophagus was clearly stopped because of a misscut as the cut visibly goes skewed. The cut marks inside the cut is slightly arced which indicate the tool was a circular saw, the cut marks are also very coarse (relative to the cut marks generally seen in stonecutting) which implies high effectiveness and speed while cutting. Another evidence that the granite (which is a incredible hard rock) was cut at high speed is that the skewed cutting that goes off the mark goes quite far in, so if this was a normal hand tool then such fault in cutting would be noticed immediately, maybe as soon as half a centimeter. Current Egyptologists favor the idea of hand tools of copper with sand and water to cut/grind the granite, but as with what their own tests shows such methods takes a week just to cut just a few centimeters, not to mention the obvious lack of saw cut marks as displayed on the unfinished sarcophagus. This tool would explain how Egyptians could mass produce the 1-2million granite blocks needed to build the largest pyramid within a lifetime. Now i am not saying aliens, and i am not saying they necessarily used steel/iron (which is a possibility because there is iron deposits around and one cave (which had recently been covered up with sand) was going straight through such a deposit/vein), it could for all we know have been flint since surprisingly flint is very effective at carving granite, and the tool must have been a machine (im not saying electric or fuel, could be wind or water, treadmill etc) because of the speed of cutting which is undeniable by the fact how far in the faulty cutting goes into the unfinished granite sarcophagus

[@ImTHECarlos98]

I’m pretty sure the stones were cracked open in those shapes using wooden or metal stakes that they knock into the rock with a hammer. There’s a technique to doing it that gives you a perfect break all the way down that I believe 1 person on earth knows. They could’ve refined the rest by hand.

[@temparalflux914]

Aliens :D

[@zombie5505]

if they had wheels, a saw is not a huge a leap, neither are gears. i mean finally they improved pants belt technology, advances happen in unexpected places which lead to other unexpected advances

[@peterjf7723]

The pyramids were built from limestone. The sarcophagus would sometimes be granite, but limestone and marble were more common. I did read of a theory that the blocks the pyramids are made from are actually a type of concrete that was cast in situ, I don't know enough about the subject to judge if this is a valid concept.

[@andrewsuryali8540]

@@peterjf7723 Another point that is often missed is that more than 95% of the mass of the Great Pyramids is made out of smaller, roughly cut (but precisely hewn) limestone that a team of 4 could move with just rolling logs and manpower up a 10 degree gradient. Internally, the Great Pyramids are actually rubble piles. The difference between them and the failed rubble pyramids is that their "rubble" innards are nearly standardized in size and there are no big air gaps. The rocks are hewn to have roughly the same height on every level. The "mystery" about the Great Pyramids largely involves the big limestone blocks that form the surface below the facade. These are very uniform and many times larger than the inner rocks, and there are quite a lot of them. This is where a lot of the misconceptions and debates come from. Take for example the concrete block hypothesis. This hypothesis is both chemically and structurally plausible. However, no less a luminary than Zahi Hawass himself vehemently rejects this. If course he would. The suggestion is that the "perfectly shaped blocks" that the pyramids are made of were cast in place. The guy who proposed the hypothesis didn't realize that the bulk of the pyramid is not made of these "perfectly shaped blocks". Zahi Hawass knows damn well it's a mishmash of rough cut blocks in there. That's why he lashed out in his usual boisterous manner and refused to entertain the though since. However, the other side also got confused by this violent rejection and doubled down on proposing all the blocks inside are cast concrete, so we're getting nowhere and will probably have to wait until both men are dead for an unbiased review of the idea.

[@jax4652]

Didn't they find out that China and Egypt had a lot of trade history in the past? So it makes sense for them to make the pigment alike the Egyptian blue.

[@jessicag630]

"... Egyptian blue was not found further East than Persia."

[@Tokuijin]

My guess is that it was made from lapis lazuli.

[@Merip1214]

China had trade with a lot of the world... My hometown traded wool dyed black (also a lost method, although we know some of the recipe) all the way there a long time ago. But also, not that long ago

[@graphixkillzzz]

saw a documentary on Old Master's violins, and they concluded that they have the sound mainly because of the way trees used to grow back then, creating a denser grain structure than trees can create now. I forget what changed in how trees grow from then to now 🤔🤷🏼‍♂️

[@Cypresssina]

I believe it was an ice age. I may have watched the same documentary.

[@nickolaswilcox425]

something to do with co2 levels from what ive heard, the ice age likely had something to do with that

[@ashleyking3385]

you're missing some (what I think are) key parts in the cotton muslin story. The story of the emperor who wore invisible clothes (however that story goes) is actually based off the fabric from that cotton. The fabrick is so fine it's actually almost invisible. The other thing is that people who still hand weave fabrics there aren't any that want to take a stab at weaving the fabric. it's like spider web it breaks so easily.

[@Johnnyboyking1]

That picture of "Trident Warheads" are spraypainted traffic cones from the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque, NM

[@michellehuang3129]

This is truly one of the most interesting videos I’ve ever seen. So interesting thinking about how we invent things to fulfill our current needs, which may become obsolete and disappear completely in the future. I have much to think about tonight. Please make more of these types of videos! Science and archaeology are so interesting!!

[@pwayne3580]

Bow and arrow techniques as well. There are only a few Bowmen nowadays that can perform on the skill level of what a common trained Bowman used to.

[@lenabreijer1311]

Mostly because it would be child abuse.

[@someoneidk308]

@@lenabreijer1311 Where'd you get child abuse from that statement?

[@lenabreijer1311]

@@someoneidk308 because historically you started training between 9 and 11 years of age in order to build up the strength and accuracy. That was true for all of the various martial arts skills at the time. The Spartans took it to extremes of course but training regimes for the middle ages are quite well documented.

[@andreblanchard8315]

@@lenabreijer1311 It also really messed up the body. Find a bunch of skeletons of from those times and it is easy to identify the archers.

[@jackinthebox301]

@@andreblanchard8315 Along similar lines, it's funny in that all our modern fantasy the people/creatures with smaller body frames are often the ones carrying bows as their primary weapon. Shooting a 120lb+ war bow takes immense strength. Bowmen would be just as strong or perhaps stronger than any melee weapon wielding soldier.

[@Swishy_Blue]

I just got like, four good story ideas from this. A Memoir Painted in Han Purple. My life in Greek Flames. Uncle Augustin and The Final Concrete. Dhaka Spring Collection.

[@user-cj4fu8qq9b]

that's just a title not a idea

[@jessical4866]

A lot of people I see talking about Roman concrete bring up how unspecific the recipes were because it was assumed people making it would already know what kind of water and rock to use. Kind of like how no cooking recipe today specifies chicken eggs, but none of us are reaching for ostrich or quail eggs.

[@prismaone3164]

We still have a two pumps at work that was used in ww2 and they are they only ones which are still running. The sad thing is that there is almost no information of them online and if one of them breaks no one can repair it, because no spare parts exists.

[@emeraldcoastgardensfl7323]

So glad you started with Roman concrete. We could learn a lot and be more humble.... Any civilization can fall, along with its knowledge. We should rethink our school curriculum and remember that these foundational skills are critical and many people have to know how things work. Excellent video.👍

[@PalaeoJoe]

Michael has the coolest hair now

[@antonsimmons8519]

This one was extra-fascinating. I love science!

[@videocliplover]

You should update this video because curiosity daily did an episode this year on Roman Concrete and that we found out how to make it.

[@chinmustache6420]

Plenty of modern technologies and techniques are still being lost today, as they’re left behind and experience is forgotten. My father’s father in law used to mend machines and use riveting and all sorts of old tools people mostly stopped using. His last jobs required him to travel all around the western USA because no one else could fix or even really know how the machine’s details worked!

[@hindsightpov4218]

4:22 “In the 1700s and 1800’s, the EIC effectively took over large portions of India and started to muck with the system.” - I can’t be the only person who misheard Michael when he said “muck with the system”.😅

[@henriquefinger935]

Damascus Steel is also one for the list. Even though we've replicated it, how it was originally made is still a mystery.

[@salvinomodica2958]

Shh, don't tell anyone but it used to be in this list but they reuploaded without it 🤫

[@GraemeGunn]

And this is just the "tip of the iceberg", it's impossible to imagine what information has been lost to time. It's scary, kind of, to think about.

[@chrish4439]

We've literally surpassed anything we have "forgotten" you're working yourself up over nothing lol

[@GraemeGunn]

@@chrish4439 I don't think you know what "being worked up over something" means. My statement is valid, and true. I'm not limiting my thinking to what humans have accomplished. Information is information.

[@SweetBerryWine3000]

I love this episode, and I love Michael Aranda's style of presenting!

[@trolly4233]

Greek fire is pine resin and alcohol, both burn well and the alcohol works to thin the fluid to where it can be pumped out with a liquid-equivalent to a bellow. The pine would stick to ships and the alcohol would burn even when wet.

[@stranger88]

Ah colonialism: Destroy a cotton crop species that is highly valued, replace it with a poor, low-value alternative, eventually re-create the plant, and hold market monopoly for expensive product. Great job!

[@varoonnone7159]

Now comment on the thousand years of islamic invasions and the islamic colonisation of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh

[@simonsimon325]

As a Brit I resent being blamed for stuff like this. They say 'the British', but it's not the British, it's a personality type that still exists to this day, and it's universal. These people did exactly the same to their own people. They happily destroy anyone's industry if it means more money for them. They're still doing it, and it's not exclusive to the British, nor colonialism.

[@MarzukShalvi]

We have just recently managed to recreate the original Dhaka Muslin in March, 2022.

[@Mortico88]

A lot of the laborers and workers who would have developed these and other techniqs, could not read or write, so they never got written down. That's why books from the time period are all about money, kings, battles and religion. The only people who could write were only concerned with these things. I can't even fathom how much unique information has been lost due to this phenomenon. Recipies for food, metal alloys, the usage of certain plants, and so on.

[@bekaizokuo8788]

On the topic of things the British ruined you could've mentioned wootz steel. A special steel forged in South India and not to mention they also ended up taking a lot of very important and valuable weapons of wootz used by kings

[@Nanto235]

Another one forgotten technique in India among many others is the making of Wootz steel which was used by the Tipu Sultan for his sword. It was a high carbon steel which was made all over south India

[@DarkVortex97]

Fun fact about Tobermorite: it's named for the scottish town of Tobermory, which is famous for being the setting of the kid's TV show Balamory (and also a very beautiful spot in general)

[@gardeninginthedesert]

My first thought was the Womble 🤦🏼‍♀️

[@greggleblom]

I love this video, and learning in general. But, Michael's hair is the best part of this video. So fabulous 💜

[@RyanStonedonCanadianGaming]

6:40 Knowing the Romans (no offense) it probably contains olive oil. To think, a lab in Roman/Medieval times.

[@jtjames79]

I saw some recent research claiming it was pigs blood that's the secret sauce. I have a feeling they got good at concrete by just chucking whatever they had in it and hoping for the best. Whatever worked the best they repeated.

[@KevinKreger]

You're great. And thanks for sharing your exhaustive research.

[@janejones7638]

Love this video. My mother and I majored in history. When we want to watch more academic TV, we end up turning on the Science network. History network constantly airs Ancient Aliens or American Pickers (I enjoy it but there isn't any type of history like a Antiques Roadshow). The Science Network airs so many things like this video. I loved Science too but I love the mixture of the two.

[@jordansefton]

Oof Michael your hair is looking AMAZING!!!

[@BrotherSkodidi]

I'm reminded of the woman hairdresser that proved the hairstyles in women's statues from that time are both real and replicatable ... They sewed their hair!

[@TruthNerds]

2:36 The Pont du Gard aqueduct in Southern France, while a marvel of ancient engineering, is not made of concrete but of limestone blocks, stacked without mortar, with only gravity and friction to hold them in place.

[@rumpelpumpel7687]

2:38 wow that looks awesome! Where is this pic taken? *also i dont really know if it's true but i read that a recipe collection (Liber Ignium) from the 12th/13th century contains some recipes for greek fire.

[@Backinblackbunny009]

I haven't watched for a few months and I love Michael gorgeous long locks!

[@5610winston]

In Robert Graves novel CLAUDIUS THE GOD, the emperor proposed building a port in part by scuttling a ship full of cement and aggregate in a location where they needed to have an island. The engineers protested that cement would not set in seawater. Claudius gave them two weeks to come up with a material that would serve, "...or else..." Claudius was distracted by another detail of the engineering for the port, but the engineers considered the hanging "or else" as a threat, and Claudius was surprised when the engineers came in exclaiming that they had solved the problem. He had intended that the "or else" as "or else we'll have to come up with another idea."

[@thewafflegamer6152]

We’ve figured out Roman concrete.

[@Callummullans]

I think the ceramic batteries (from Iraq or Afghanistan I think) may have been used to charge metal as it was being forged/ melted to make demascus steel. Bearing in mind the trade/ migration patterns of the time.

[@jason300c1]

I love how you are helping us learn the purposes along with speaking about the history.. very cool

[@Crazt]

A video on rediscovering lost technology recommends saving information in a sensitive electronic format guard by passwords and firewalls while being stored in a medium that would become unsalvageable unless a future civilization could accurately replicate the electricity needed to power it without frying it.

[@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish]

Welp, looks like we figured out number 1 finally!

[@felonious_c]

I was looking for this comment

[@glennbabic5954]

You forgot Damascus Steel from the last time you did this list.

[@setcheck67]

I forgot where the information came from, but they actually figured out Damascus Steel and were able to make it. Through sheer luck the Persians figured out how to make carbon nanotubes in a method using plant leaves that cause them to form in banded strands. Because of the extreme strength and lightweight of the tubes it would be an immense advantage in combat. We're talking a blade that weighs almost half as much and is significantly less likely to break. It makes sense why it was so impressive.

[@fionasabre]

Jep and Shadiversity destroyed them🤷‍♂️

[@glennbabic5954]

@@fionasabre haha wow Im just watching shadiversity now. It all makes sense now

[@fionasabre]

@@glennbabic5954 told you so 🤣

[@thomvanrijswijk4770]

Very interesting subject! Will we ever find the knowledge we lost?

[@danriddick914]

Seems like we already have found the knowledge of the 4 things listed... I feel clickbaited...

[@BigMobe]

Maybe but good luck finding a PS5 or XBX

[@zombie5505]

Its the knowledge that we don't even know we lost that intrigues me

[@emeraldfinder5]

@@danriddick914 it’s not clickbait. We have forgotten it. Just because we relearned it doesn’t mean we didn’t forget it at one point

[@danriddick914]

@@emeraldfinder5 I'd be fine with it if the title were "4 Things We'd Forgotten How to Make." At least the tense is correct there.

[@animephilic7771]

Your presentation of Dhaka Moslin, our lost culture was very beautiful. Thanks

[@basura4136]

Something modern we lost is the NASA's technology of computers to communicate with Voyager I and II, the Voyager that is the most far away still has some energy to communicate with us, but people that know how to communicate are retired or dead... sorry for bad English

[@joshuahudson2170]

Fact: we can make something that does the job of Greek fire easily enough. We just don't know how the Greeks made it.

[@ericgentzke4635]

Terracotta takes super high temps for long periods of time to make, perhaps it was the chemical composition of the clay that caused it. Like maybe it formed a film on a pot one time and they somehow figured out how to replicate that clay to produce a wanted result

[@fuferito]

Speaking of purple, the purple _par exellence_ (now lost) from the ancient world is Tyrian purple extracted from murex sea snails, and was only allowed to be worn by royalty at prohibitive costs.

[@danielm5535]

We know how to make the purple dye from murex snails, I know a couple companies that I can even order it from- and it’s hugely expensive. It is said that the true “royal purple” was dyed with Tyrian Purple and then Tyrian Blue- which is extracted from a close cousin of the murex. It required about 1 million snails to dye a robe once, two million for the double-dye. One of the amazing properties of this dye is that it actually deepens (rather than fades) with exposure to sunlight, and is said it has some interesting properties when light reflects off it.

[@OMJ_the_Show]

I was in Rome this summer for the first time and I was in awe of literally everything. The Parthenon was a spiritual experience.

[@mixmastermike2128]

BRO! YOU HAIR MAKES ME HAPPY. AND THANKS FOR THE SCIENCES!