Were Greeks 1,400 years ahead of their time?

The Scotsman ^ | June 7, 2006 | EBEN HARRELL

[MHGinTN]

Hold on, I'll warm up the Tardis and we can go see how they did it.

[NicknamedBob]

The reason they used huge blocks of stone was to make them so big and massive that anyone wanting building materials would more likely just quarry new stone than mess with the ones in the pyramid. They had reason for thinking of that.

In Egypt, rope and stone were available. Wood was probably relatively scarce, and was used in a manner similar to bridge construction "falsework" more than as building materials itself.

My theory is that they used a basic and commonsensical technique for moving the stones, as described here...

The pyramids were much more fun, the competition brisk,
We raced those stones on up the ramps and didn’t mind the risk.

I laugh to think about the thoughts that we used “rays.”
Life was so much simpler then, it’s how we filled our days,
With building competitions, instead of fighting wars,
Why else would we pile up stones, without a trace of doors?

We’d clap an arc of wood upon each face of cubic block,
And then we’d get it up to go, by pushing up the rock.
Then toss a rope around it, and take it for a stroll,
Let me tell you, we knew then, just how to rock and roll.

[supercat]

It was tough to fill 26 k. Actually, at the time, it was a waste of money. Each 8 k board cost $440!

The Atari 2600 Video Computer System has 128 bytes of RAM, and early cartridges had 2K ROM. The cartridge port had 13 address wires, but could only use addresses above $1000, yielding a 4K address space. Asteroids was the first cartridge to use 8K (via bankswitching), and some later carts included 16K of ROM and 128 bytes of extra RAM. Warren Robinett's "Basic Programming" cartridge allowed users to type in and run very small BASIC programs; the cartridge had 4K ROM and no RAM, and used 64 bytes for its own scratchpad, leaving 64 bytes of RAM available for the user. Not enough to do much of anything, but still somewhat cool anyway.

[nopardons]

bttt

[MHGinTN]

I like it! Pivots would do well also, using almost half the weight to assist in raising and pivoting the other half. I never bought into the long earthen ramps anyway.

[NicknamedBob]

I still remember the phrase "evanescent tapestry" used to describe the computer's display on the TV screen.

It took a while to program in, but it was cool. An evanescent tapestry of coruscating scintillation.

[Chuckster]

This is the first computer I learned to operate

As a civilian, I first worked on on of these

[NicknamedBob]

The "arc of wood" would have "heels" where pivoting could occur.

The ropes would fit in twin channels with a simple pass-around. A small crew would maintain tension in the reverse direction, while a team of men would pull at the top of the wheel shaped cargo load.

At the final position, they would remove a couple of arc-shaped skids, and tilt the stone into its final position.

Then they would gather up the materials and head back for another stone.

The construction teams competed with each other, as sports teams do today.

[supercat]

If one had a three of suitably-shaped pieces of wood, one could move a cubic piece of stone by "rolling" it over the pieces in turn without much vertical motion of the stone's center of gravity. Interesting concept.

[NicknamedBob]

With four of them, you could take a twenty ton cubical stone for a stroll with just a small group of men. The ropes could be spliced as an endless loop.

Once you reach the ramp, you'll need some additional manpower, and you'd better slow down for the turns!

I think it would be fun, but I don't want to have to pay for the material.

[george76]

Thanks.

I enjoy your posts.

[finnigan2]

"Now, a joint British-Greek research team has found a hidden ancient Greek inscription on the device, which it thinks could unlock the mystery."

- I have just deciphered the mysterious Greek inscription. I believe it says, "Patent Pending".

[dr_lew]

I was going to add, "but I don't know what this has to do with the model." A look at the diagram provided by xcamel in reply #9 doesn't seem to indicate anything was involved beyond apparent motions, so I think you have a good question.

[MHGinTN]

It says 'Close cover before winding' and on the reverse side it says 'Careful with fingers and togas while winding'

[knews_hound]

Thanks for the pic,

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure. :')

[SunkenCiv]

I've got an Imagewriter or two, but I don't think I've ever had a daisy wheel here at home. I did get an obsolete one handed to me at work to dispose of or whatever I wanted. I took it to a consignment place in the SW part of town, and literally the next day a guy walked in looking for that very model (it was an IBM printer, made back when IBM charged by the ton for their machinery).

[SunkenCiv]

The heliocentric universe was postulated in ancient Greece, just not by everybody at that time. :') But the fact that Earth is a globe was well known.

[SunkenCiv]

Just adding this to the GGG catalog, not sending a general distribution.

Thanks george76.

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[SunkenCiv]

:') That's nice and off-topic, eh? ;') Probably some 18th dynasty stuff (assuming there is any chamber, as opposed to a natural grotto of some kind), because when Thutmose IV had his Dream Stele carved, he mentioned that the Sphinx sat on top of a gateway. No such gateway has been found per se since the Dream Stele was carved, unless it wasn't documented, or the documentation has failed to survive.