Jérôme M. Berger wrote:
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Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
Sean Kelly wrote:
Christopher Wright wrote:
Walter Bright wrote:
Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
My list:
- wheel
- fire
- smelting metals
- writing
- arithmetic
But humans had fire 20,000 years ago! I think fire goes back a lot
longer than that. I also suspect that simple arithmetic is innate,
although a numbering system is not (see Mayan and Roman number
systems).
Wouldn't the wheel be useless to a hunter-gatherer tribe?
If they are nomadic, wheels allow an individual to carry much more
equipment. This allows them to store up surplus food more easily and
safely. This in turn safeguards them from famine and allows for
excess food to diversify roles in the community to a greater degree.
Additionally, it means that the writing equipment that you supplied
gets used, and the texts don't get tossed as soon as they move.
I don't buy it. Most foods would spoil too quickly for this to
matter, the wagons would be slow, wheels would need repair, etc. If I
were in a nomadic tribe I wouldn't do more than pile stuff on the back
of a Mule.
When did you tame the mule??? :o)
AFAIK, it's more a question of "when did you *breed* the mule?" ;)
Mules are the result of breeding a horse with a donkey (one way or
the other although using a male donkey and a female horse has more
chance of success) and they are exceedingly rare in nature.
You'd need an elevated donkey... or shorten the mare's legs.
So what you actually need to do is first to tame the horse and the
donkey, *then* you can breed them to get a mule.
Jerome
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