Posted on 10/14/2012 8:02:34 AM PDT by trailhkr1
What would they be? A gun? Then you are only allowed to bring 2 bullets..see how that works?? Some basic ground rules..has to be a realistic items you can get you hands on today..no tanks etc. You are going with just the clothes on your back + the 3 items to survive an mingle with the folks of the day. Never coming back.
Saw this question on another site and wanted to see what you guys would come up with..I will post that link tomorrow after everyone has a chance to come up with their ideas..some people came up with good ideas (detailed history text of the time in Europe, antibiotics) and other people's ideas..not so much.
1 case of toilet paper. Another case of toilet paper. Another case of toilet paper.
1.Bible
2.wind up flashlight
3.water filter straw
“they had bibles in 742 AD!”
Not for the common people. The Gutenberg printing press made it’s debut in 1436.
Not much of it survived but there was a lot of cheap fiction written and published back then. The idea that they sat around reading philosophy, history and what we would consider literature is based on the fact that those were the books that were copied onto parchment. “The Adventures of Zorbator the Great” was not worthy of being copied.
We do have a few of the most popular that survived like "Daphnis and Chloe" but mostly what we have are scraps.
The best most accurate flintlock rifle made historically. Lead balls and gunpowder can be made, and with the flint and steel you can make fire.
The Army field manual on first aid & general medicine (I presume there is some such animal). Note, you can make your own penicillin by taking an orange or other citrus fruit and letting it spoil. You will get a fine green mold. That is raw penicillin. You can scrape it off an use it. Most bad germs grow in an alkaline environment. The citrus is acid. I have used this on minor cuts, pimples and sores. Works like a charm.
A comprehensive survivalist manual oriented to construction and engineering. My boys used to have things like the Anarchists Cook Book lying around. One son is now in special forces.
Nah, all you need to do is stay away from rats and lice, and bathe.
If someone had told me that there were gladiator "trading cards" (without the bubblegum) I'd have said they were crazy, then I read such things actually existed. Human nature doesn't change.
If you planned to bring eyeglasses, you might be able to use that like a magnifying glass.
Rose hips. Those little red/orange balls that are ripening up just now on a lot of rose bushes. Pick them, cut them up, dry or refrigerate, use for tea or soup. Drop into boiling water. Heating slowly will tend to destroy the vitamin C.
I debated saying a very large bottle of multivitamins and minerals.
There is something called bog iron. We had it in New Jersey, it was smelted into iron and used for weapon and tool making. It is caused by the tannin from oaks and pines in the water interacting with iron deposits in the soil. Cakes up into hard chunks along water ways. I have seen old smelting chimneys constructed of stone in NJ about 15 or 20 feet tall.
Soap is not that hard. Basic ingredients, fat and lye from wood ash. Went to the fort at Boonesboro. There was a wooden box about 3 feet cubed. People in the fort brought their wood ash there and water was filtered through it and collected below for soap making. Beeswax makes the best candles, but tallow and lard will get the job done.
Someone else had the right idea with a Latin/English book. Latin was used by priests and a few literate people throughout Europe. With that you could find refuge in a monastery or nunnery until you learned the local language. I think in England they had Old Norse. I have a 15th century fascimile of a Spanish/English reader. In Spain they have had an academy for centuries to keep the language “pure”. Since I am fairly fluent in Spanish, it was actually easier to read and understand the Spanish than the English.
No bubblegum though.
I hate it when that happens.
Better have that letter written in Latin and Greek in ink on parchment.
A two quart steel coking pot (to boil water), a magnesium flatrod for striking fire, a good Bowie knife. The next most valuable thing you would bring along is what is in your head ...
COOKING pot, not a coking pot. Time for bed ...
To set forth the coming Islam storm. To better prepare the Crusades for TOTAL success.2) All inclusive medical bookTo instruct Europe of the necessary sanitary conditions, causes of the plague.
To set forth the concept, ideals, ideas of the Declaration of Independence/Constitution.
3) Doug Henning's Wonderful World of Magic OR the Joy of Cooking (I'll need a job). ;)
“The next most valuable thing you would bring along is what is in your head ...”
Probably the MOST important thing. The pot, fire making tools and knife were around back then. Although good Bowie knife would be a lot better. But even basic knowledge would be helpful (as posted above - bathing, washing hands, clean hygiene, etc.), and of course even more knowledge such as steel fabrication, natural medicine, etc. would get you even farther.
I think it is the hippie on that “Dual Survival” show that says something like “The most important survival gear is what is in your head. And it’s extremely portable.”
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