Don't you need at least halfway decent machining technology before you can can things in metal containers?
There's also pickling, which accomplishes almost the same goal but with varying results in flavor and...food safety if done improperly.
Don't you need at least halfway decent machining technology before you can can things in metal containers?
Gunpowder. Anyone with an interest in alchemy can stumble upon it. Anyone. It was discovered by accident. Anyone.
Gunpowder leads to rockettry almost instantly. It leads to cannons shortly after. That leads to advances in metallurgy and machine tools.
Firearms lead to social re-ordering and undermining the rule of the physically strong. This leads to more stable states able to develop in more stable circumstances and withstand nomadic assaults. Which allows pretty much anything else.
Gunpowder leads to fertilizer, as well.
It's an interesting question -what can you do with gunpowder that doesn't require metalwork?Well, anyone with contact to the necessary ingredients and in ready supply, though I do agree that whoever would discover gunpowder would have a large advantages.
Granted, it depends who and how though. Mesoamérica has a low butnstill plausible change of discovering gunpowder, but I don’t think it’d give them as big an advantage as medieval Europe.
It's an interesting question -what can you do with gunpowder that doesn't require metalwork?
Gunpowder. Anyone with an interest in alchemy can stumble upon it. Anyone. It was discovered by accident. Anyone.
According to GURPS, you need a very specific mixture of the three parts. So, not that easy.
Yes,sure. But Hygiene wouldn't need energy to maintain?
Canning or jarring. If you can save non grains long periods, it'll help health and population trends
Kinda. But being able to can things thay have vitamin c in particular woukd be great. No scurvy even in winter. Woukd help health and all that. I dunno, being able to store food for up to three years is revolutionary , esp non grains and legumesI get what you mean, but wouldn't casks or amphora count for that?
How about the phonograph? It should be doable any time after the invention of the potters wheel.
Imagine the Roman emporer, pharaoh, pope, etc having their voice distributed to the far corners of the realm.
Kinda. But being able to can things thay have vitamin c in particular woukd be great. No scurvy even in winter. Woukd help health and all that. I dunno, being able to store food for up to three years is revolutionary , esp non grains and legumes
To be fair, the Ancient Egyptians had vaguely figured out the principle, since very small wooden gliders have been found. However, as far it is known, they could never build anything large enough to carry mice, let alone people. The models found might have been toys.I am kind-of on the edge about air travel. On the one hand, a hot air balloon is so simple that any medieval army should have their observation balloons to scout out the enemy's movement. The same goes for gliders. just the realisation that an aircraft can do without flapping wings as long as it has a tail for stability is so deceptively simple that one wonders why people only found out about it in the 1850's. Surely someone like Leonardo Da Vinci could have found out in 1500 already. Surely some ancient Greek or Egyptian could have built the first model glider way before there was a Parthenon to launch it from.
Then again, both gliders and balloons require massive amounts of extremely light woven fabric. And with medieval fabric production still literally being a cottage industry, even a simple balloon would probably only be in reach of a wealthy royal court, not something one would see in an army train or on a battle ship.