Crossbow\'s origins

[Thersites]

Hello Duncan! Glad to ‘see’ you!

In fact I often browse RAT, but I just don’t have the time to post (although I very occasionally do express my opinion...).

As for Persian artillery, I was obviously making reference mainly to Phocée (P. Briant, Revue des Etudes Anciennes 96 and I. Pimouguet-Pedarros, ibidem 102).

I do however completely agree with you in that it is highly unlikely that the ‘boulets’ from Phocea were artillery projectiles. This is why in that ‘glossy’ paper I put all sort of conditionals (In English for those unable to read Spanish): "There are however some indirect signs that could point to the Persian Empire perhaps employing [some sort of] artillery since the 6th century BC, but this [so early] dateremains to be proved"

As for the promised translation... I'm sorry, but I tried!. It is just that the 'computer' translation is so bad, that in fact I'd have to write it all over agian. I just do not have the time to do it right now. I'll try again ASAP

[Comerus Gallus]

You can use this page to tranlsate many languages into another.

If you find that, it wasnt completely translated, just select those that werent, & do it again.

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr

[M.ilionario]

Something which has always amazed me is how similar technologies popped up in Europe and China, but without any intermediaries. Thus, we find artillery in Greece and Han China, but originally not in the vast stretch of land in between. Same with water powered mills, the wheelbarrow, gears, blast furnaces, coins, movable type printing, perhaps the compass.

Me too! I simply can't understand how.... :?

[Dan Howard]

What about pyramids in both South America and the Middle East? It is fairly simple if you think about it. The only practical way to build a structure of that size is pyramidal. Any kid playing with blocks soon learns this. The same goes with other technologies. Often there is only one practical way to do something and many different people with no contact with each other will eventually come to the same conclusion.

[Eleatic Guest]

This largely reflects also my own opinion, but the history of technology has had in the last decades definitely a strong drift to diffusionism, which was eager to trace back all technology to a single origin, leaving little room for the notion of multiple, independent innovation.

PS: Send you a pm.