King Tut's Chariot a Marvel of Ancient Engineering 124
astroengine writes "King Tutankhamun, who ruled Egypt over 3,000 years ago, looks as if he was chauffeured around the desert in one of the earliest-known high-performance vehicles. Tut's chariots surpass all monumental structures of the pharaohs in engineering sophistication. Discovered in pieces by British archaeologist Howard Carter when he entered King Tut's treasure-packed tomb in 1922, the collection consisted of two large ceremonial chariots, a smaller highly decorated one, and three others that were lighter and made for daily use. 'These vehicles appear to be the first mechanical systems which combine the use of kinematics, dynamics and lubrication principles,' said Alberto Rovetta, professor in robotics engineering at the Polytechnic of Milan."
HOLY AMAZING! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Um, Not? (Score:5, Insightful)
And how fast could a horse pull a chariot over 'the desert dunes' without ejecting the occupant?
Well, that's why he is called "The Boy King" and not "The King Who Reached a Ripe Old Age." He got tossed from his Mach Five Chariot, while still young, broken his leg, and died from an infection.
Ferrari chariots? I guess he was more like James Dean of his time. Except James Dean had a Porsche Chariot.
Re:bwahahahahaha (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh Pojut, I always waver on whether or not I want to friend you. I like your site and you can be funny on occaison. But then you pull a Your Mom with an Oh Snap and... well...
You can see where I'm torn, yes?
Really? (Score:2, Insightful)
"They boasted an elegant design and an extremely sophisticated and astonishingly modern technology,"
I find the premise of the article arrogantly modern. "They" didn't boast modern technology at all but rather demonstrated the of the state of the art in Egypt 3000 years ago. Perhaps the appropriate view is that today's engineering despite all its plastic and glitter has not advanced significantly beyond that of ancient Egypt in some areas. I do wonder why it is that we do so often equate ancient with stupid and marvel that those stupid old folk could actually have come up with a "modern" idea (which is the underlying theme of the article)?
Re:Exaggeration of Ancient Greece that is .... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Exaggeration of Ancient Greece that is .... (Score:3, Insightful)
I think it even goes beyond that. I'm constantly reading these stories about how sophisticated ancient civilizations were compared to our previous belief, and even about mankind's more-ancient ancestors. I'm convinced that our ancestors were much more advanced in nearly every way than we give them credit for.
I suspect that some of that is that we want to believe we've developed beyond our views of our 'primitive' ancestors, and that desire helps to keep us from seeing the truth. Imagine what will be left of our civilization in a few thousand years (especially if electronic records don't survive). They'll be making all kinds of crazy guesses that will almost certainly be completely inaccurate.