Anachronisms

What inventions could easily have occurred much earlier or later (say 1000 years during the Bronze Age, 200 years in Iron or Middle Ages, 100 years Modern Times)?
 
I don't see why fore and aft sails to allow for tacking couldn't have been developed much earlier, allowing for easier sea travel possibly earlier discovery of America, circumnavigation of Africa etc. Romans with caravels.
 
DominusNovus said:
gunpowder, though probably not firearms as we know them.

As I said on another thread, there is no real reason why firearms (cannon and hand-guns, both) could not have been produced in the Bronze Age. Any Bronze Age society with knowledge of bronze casting could do it. Bronze is actually a very good material for making cannon and was widely used in OTL, and would work well for small arms too (the reason we didn't do that in OTL is simply because bronze is more expensive than iron, and to produce hand-guns in quantity made of bronze when cheaper alternatives were available did not make economic sense. In the Bronze Age, no cheaper alternative existed, so they would have gone right to bronze).
 
so far as firearms go, flintlocks and minie balls were two simple ideas that could have been invented a lot sooner than in OTL. The percussion cap needed to wait for the proper chemical knowledge, but it could have appeared a century earlier....
 
Printed Words

Hmm, what about some sort of early printing press? I would think earlier access to printing would have a profound effect on history.

Otherwise I would have to go for better sanitation!

Best regards!

- Bluenote.

Honeste vivere, alterum non ladere, suum cuique tribuere!
 
Almost any invention prior to 1700 and a lot after that date could have been made at far earlier dates - and often were. THe problem is that an idea without an obvious application often languishes near-forgotten, or entirely forgotten, until it is needed and suddenly becomes a 'huge invention'. As was said before, good candidates for great effects no matter when they are invented would be printing, hygiene, high seas navigation (which had more to do with understanding of wind and current patterns than sail technology) and machine textile manufacture.

One of my pet speculations is: what if not the theoretical, humoral school of medicine had emerged victorious from antiquity but the empiricist school? THe mental habits of empiricist medicine require meticulous observation, recording of observed data, sharting of information, and a readiness to experiment (within prescribed limits, naturally). These doctors would quickly find they require techniques of modern communication, administration, and information distribution. You could have printing by the 200s and a fully developed scientific mindset beginnig to show benefits in other areas (scientific gardening, stock improvement programmes, early chemical industries, selective slave breeding - maybe it wouldn't be all that nice, but it would be interesting)
 
Kelvin waterdrop electrostatic generator

The problem with earlier electromagnetic electricity is that the culture goes modern very quickly as people keep taking the next step. But if you use an electrostatic generator there is no next step.
Kelvin's water drop generator uses drops of water falling through two sets of two loops attached by wires in the form of an x, so as the top loops connect to the bottom loops opposite. The droplet falls through the top positive loop, falls through the bottom negative loop, and vice versa.
The advantage is that this allows both spark nitrate formation for nitrate explosives and fertilizer. You can use electrolysis for perchlorates for bleaching, peroxides for paper delignification, persulfates for phosphate fertilizers. You can do electrorefining for decent metal alloys and steels, and even electrochemical machining for decent steam engines, all without magnetic fields, and all using watermills millponds that are free when you aren't grinding grain.
You get a Roman empire that is stable against technological advance, and that has cannon, gunpowder, spring from alloy steels for decent recurve bows, plows, saw, nails, bearings, steam engines, more gold and silver for currency, etc. Lots of alternate history potential.
You can also build decent sailing ships that can go around the world with a cargo and a desalination rig. Roman legions vs American natives, not to mention China and India.
 
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