Primitive Technology on YouTube with John Leaf is currently working on different methods of extracting and refining iron ore. Right now he gets iron bacteria from a nearby river bed. He's trying to find the best method to produce the highest yield with the fewest materials and least energy.
Pretty cool as he goes through different methods our ancestors used to make iron weapons/tools. The largest thing he's made was a small knife. He's mostly struggling with trying to maintain high temperatures in his furnaces (made from mud) without losing heat.
I used to love the concept of primitive technology and I watched eagerly to see how far he'd get. The fact that he's been more or less stuck for a few years with iron, kinda proves to me that more than purely a technical advance (which is also the case), the whole development of technology is more of a societal thing than an individual stroke of genius as we paint it today. We name discoveries by the people who had the idea, not by the society that nurtured, educated and gave them the resources and time to come up with it. Without the development of city-states and the influence of a vast network of international trade, the bronze are wouldn't have developed as strongly as it did and into an iron age
For sure! Leaf I think isn't trying to invent anything new. Mostly he's trying different things as comparisons between what was discovered by different peoples across the world. I don't think he's ever shown anything he didn't get from a book on ancient cultures, except a rope lever leaves thing he used to fan flames.
Primitive Technology on YouTube with John Leaf is currently working on different methods of extracting and refining iron ore. Right now he gets iron bacteria from a nearby river bed. He's trying to find the best method to produce the highest yield with the fewest materials and least energy.
Pretty cool as he goes through different methods our ancestors used to make iron weapons/tools. The largest thing he's made was a small knife. He's mostly struggling with trying to maintain high temperatures in his furnaces (made from mud) without losing heat.
I used to love the concept of primitive technology and I watched eagerly to see how far he'd get. The fact that he's been more or less stuck for a few years with iron, kinda proves to me that more than purely a technical advance (which is also the case), the whole development of technology is more of a societal thing than an individual stroke of genius as we paint it today. We name discoveries by the people who had the idea, not by the society that nurtured, educated and gave them the resources and time to come up with it. Without the development of city-states and the influence of a vast network of international trade, the bronze are wouldn't have developed as strongly as it did and into an iron age
For sure! Leaf I think isn't trying to invent anything new. Mostly he's trying different things as comparisons between what was discovered by different peoples across the world. I don't think he's ever shown anything he didn't get from a book on ancient cultures, except a rope lever leaves thing he used to fan flames.