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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA

More interesting to me besides the wheel (which, again, I view as a product of terrain and lack of draft animals) is the lack of pulley, block-and-pulley and the like.

This would have been of great use in mountainous terrain and for building their elaborate stone structures.

As in, “how do you get the rock to the top?”

It appears, they built earthworks around the structures and pushed and pulled (probably on logs, which are akin to wheels, and better since a double-axle cart would break), which is primarily what the Egyptians did.

But still -— a pulley is a force mutiplier extraordinaire.

I suppose that is a factor of lack of ships and sails, which is where our pulley thinking came about.


33 posted on 02/04/2009 8:54:56 AM PST by MeanWestTexan (Beware Obama's Reichstag fire.)
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To: MeanWestTexan; USFRIENDINVICTORIA

Interesting stuff.

Can’t blame them for not figuring stuff out.

I’d be eating mushrooms and raw meat in a cave for 100 years before I’d discover cooking.


38 posted on 02/05/2009 5:38:12 AM PST by Impy (RED=COMMUNIST, NOT REPUBLICAN)
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