This is the first general account of the mechanics behind pre-industrial technology. By combining the skills of an engineer and an archaeologist, it shows how mechanics can be used to create a better understanding of the function of artifacts and the achievements of early technology. The authors examine technology from the earliest stone tools of more than two million years ago to the erection of the statues of Easter Island which continued into the seventeenth century. Representative material cultures from most areas of the world have been selected for this study and the book shows how sophisticated many of their apparently simple techniques and artefacts actually were. After an introduction to basic mechanics the book examines the elements of machines: the various structures which can be made to bridge openings; the mechanics involved in fashioning stone tools; projectiles such as the spear and boomerang; the efficiency of transport by land and water; and the mechanics of musical instruments.
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Editorial Reviews
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'Mechanics of pre-industrial technology is a marvellous book. It is to the brim full of information, never dull and well researched throughout. The illustrations are extremely well chosen, very copious and most informative.' ANU Reporter 'It should be required reading for all archaeologists, to stop them perpetuating the scientific howlers that disfigure so many 'interpretations'.' British Archaeological News
Book Description
This is the first general account of the mechanics behind pre-industrial technology. The authors examine technology from the earliest stone tools of more than two million years ago to the erection of the statues of Easter Island which continued into the seventeenth century.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent source,
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This review is from: Mechanics of Pre-industrial Technology: An Introduction to the Mechanics of Ancient and Traditional Material Culture (Paperback)
My experience with this work is limited to the sixth chapter on stone tool manufacture but I have found it to be an excellent source for information that is otherwise difficult to get at. The material does get a bit difficult if you are not familiar or comfortable with mathematics but is not inaccessable. If you are looking for a good survey of the physical and mechanical principles of pre-industrial or prehistoric technologies I would highly recommend this source.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
The material culture of our earliest hominid ancestor who inhabited northeast Africa some four million years ago was probably on about the same level as that of the modern apes. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
privileged frequencies, conchoidal flake, astronomical night, shear legs, flake formation, flaking tool, modern harness, dry dynamic, dished wheel, returning boomerang, siliceous stone, expansion pulse, fracture process zone, fracture front, ground stone tools, torsion catapults, righting moment, beam press, compound pulley, bent lever, flaked stone tools, harness system, metacentric height, virtual mass, lug sail Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Easter Island, Australian Aborigines, Leonardo da Vinci, Heron of Alexandria, Southeast Asia, Système International, Aristotelian Mechanical, Middle East, North America, Classical Greece, Colossi of Memnon, Central Australian, Robert Hooke, Roman Empire, Thor Heyerdahl, American Indian, Rano Raraku, Simon Stevin New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The material culture of our earliest hominid ancestor who inhabited northeast Africa some four million years ago was probably on about the same level as that of the modern apes. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
privileged frequencies, conchoidal flake, astronomical night, shear legs, flake formation, flaking tool, modern harness, dry dynamic, dished wheel, returning boomerang, siliceous stone, expansion pulse, fracture process zone, fracture front, ground stone tools, torsion catapults, righting moment, beam press, compound pulley, bent lever, flaked stone tools, harness system, metacentric height, virtual mass, lug sail Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Easter Island, Australian Aborigines, Leonardo da Vinci, Heron of Alexandria, Southeast Asia, Système International, Aristotelian Mechanical, Middle East, North America, Classical Greece, Colossi of Memnon, Central Australian, Robert Hooke, Roman Empire, Thor Heyerdahl, American Indian, Rano Raraku, Simon Stevin New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 17
books:
See all 17 books this book cites
2
books
cite this book:
- Middle Ages (My World) by Two-Can Editors in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- American Journal: Poems by Robert Hayden in Back Matter
- Southeast Asia: Documents of Political Development and Change by Roger M. Smith in Back Matter
- Valley of the Kings by Elizabeth E. Carter on page 224
- Advances in World Archaeology, Volume I, 1982. by Fred and Angela E. Close (eds). Wendorf in Back Matter
See all 17 books this book cites
- Greek and Roman Technology: A Sourcebook: Annotated Translations of Greek and Latin Texts and Documents (Routledge Sourcebooks for the Ancient World) by John W. Humphrey on page 72
- Greek and Roman Technology: A Sourcebook: Annotated Translations of Greek and Latin Texts and Documents (Routledge Sourcebooks for the Ancient World) by John W. Humphrey on page 72
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