Posted on 07/27/2013 8:41:54 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Looks like you forgot to sign up for Suck Up 101. :-)
Fascinating stuff. Thanks for the flag. I am guessing that the reason these techniques have eluded modern scientists is that the craftsmen of those times applied substances that were potentially dangerous to their health. They took risks that today’s scientists know to avoid.
As a side note: The writer of this piece is sorely lacking in writing skills.
We live in a world of lost knowledge.
And, it happened a lot. :’)
University researchers discover “lost” Elizabethan craftsmanship to match 21st century technology
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3048392/posts
World’s oldest telescope? [ Assyrian telescope? ]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1879740/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/gobeklitepe/index
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/sanliurfa/index
Mystery of Delhi’s Iron Pillar unraveled
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/719966/posts
Mystery Of Delhi’s Iron Pillar Unraveled
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1362059/posts
I seem to recall something about the first metalsmiths who sculpted with platinum metals (there are four, generally found together in nature) had to dope it with something poisonous (arsenic I think) to keep it malleable long enough to sculpt.
:’)
It’s a hoax.
Coso artifact
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coso_artifact
OTOH, it’s still an interesting thing.
Ooparts: (Out of Place Artefacts)
http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/ooparts.htm
Ancient rock “carved faces” found: Sign of lost race, or geological processes?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1004461/posts
Walker ‘Stone Tools’ Weren’t Made By Humans, State Archaeologist Says
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1795757/posts
Or, they died here after their craft malfunctioned or crashed.
Excellent. You, my FRiend, are a goldmine [of information]!
And I seem to recall that many of the alchemists succumbed to the effects of poisoning. Mercury, IIRC.
;’) Thanks 1010RD!
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/podcast/interactive_periodic_table_transcripts/lead.asp
[snip] To alchemists, lead was the lowliest of metals - in a sense, it was where all metals started. In talk of base metals, which alchemy tried to turn to silver and gold, there was none so base as lead. The alchemists believed that lead slowly matured into other metals in the ground. But alchemy also offered lead a chance to shake off its grey and graceless image. It does not take much to draw splendid colours out of lead. The ancient technologists blanched the dull metal by placing lead strips in pots with vinegar, and shutting them away in a shed full of animal dung. The vinegar fumes and gas from fermenting dung conspired to corrode lead into lead white. Heat this gently, and it turns yellow: a form of lead oxide known as litharge or, in the Middle Ages, massicot. Heat it some more, and it goes bright red, as you form a different kind of oxide. Both of these substances were used by artists - red lead was, for a long time, their finest red, used for painting many a bright robe in the Middle Ages. It was the signature colour of Saint Jerome.
To the alchemists, those colour changes weren’t just a way to make pigments. They signified some more profound alteration taking place in the metal, bringing it close to the colour of gold. It’s no wonder, then, that their experiments often began with lead. They came no closer to making real gold, but they started to explore the processes of chemical transformation.
Lead, however, seems habituated to revealing its true and dirty colours. Exposed to air, it may go on taking up oxygen until it turns black. Red lead has become chocolate brown on paintings throughout the world, from Japan to India to Switzerland. In urban galleries there is another danger, as the sulphurous fumes of pollution react with red lead to from black lead sulphide. There seems to be no getting away from it: lead has a glum and melancholy heart. [/snip]
Very good explanation that even this dummy could understand. And so beautifully written. Thanks.
3,000 Year-Old Heiroglyphics Depict Modern Day Technology! Markings of the Fallen Angels?
LOL !
I bought my 12 YO son a "best of" Ancient Aliens CD. He loves that show. Now, whenever he asks me a question I can't answer, my pat reply is "Aliens".
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