Tea at Trianon: Ancient Technology

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, November 14, 2024

Ancient Technology

From Ancient Origins:

The problem stems from the modern understanding of the word “advanced”. Today, we are almost obsessed with being “advanced”, even when it hampers us in certain ways. We connect this advancement with technologies and modern innovation but fail to understand that there were numerous ways to advance, even in prehistory. Early humans certainly advanced as well, for their time, in social organization, in adapting to their environment, creating better tools and hunting tactics, and honing their cognitive abilities. And as we take all this into account, we begin to understand that they were much more intellectually and culturally developed than is usually thought.
One of the foremost aspects in which ancient humans were more advanced than first thought is exploration and navigation. We must remember that with the appearance of the first anatomically modern humans, people began spreading all across the globe, discovering new hunting grounds and new bountiful lands where man never before set foot. But what about the seas? Ancient humans didn’t shy away from these, as there is ample evidence of prehistoric sea travel. Yes - our ancestors were skilled mariners. Scholars commonly agree that, for example, Australia had been colonized some 65,000 years ago. This feat required arduous sea voyages and the crossing of hundreds of kilometers of open sea. This implies that some early societies had a rudimentary understanding of oceanic navigation and sailing as well. Comparable is evidence from Micronesia and the Solomon Islands, which indicates early long-distance voyages across the Pacific, when new islands were discovered and settled. (Read more.)