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Engineering · History of technology

Ancient Engineering

Haul a pyramid block, lock an arch with its keystone, lay an aqueduct on a gentle slope and turn the gears of the Antikythera mechanism.

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The course

7 worlds · 28 lessons

World 1 · How Were the Pyramids Built?

FREEEvidence, friction, ramp ideas and the size of the job
  1. 01What we actually know about GizaSeparating evidence from guesswork · 10 min
  2. 02Moving a stone: friction and wet sandHow big a team does one block need? · 11 min
  3. 03Ramps compared, and why it is still debatedFour ideas, one honest answer: we do not know · 11 min
  4. 04Counting the workTurning 2.3 million blocks into a schedule · 11 min

World 2 · The Roman Arch and the Keystone

PROWhy Romans built arches, how they raised them and what held them up
  1. 01Why build an arch?Stone is strong when squeezed, weak when stretched · 10 minPRO
  2. 02Voussoirs, centering and the keystoneHow a Roman arch was raised, stone by stone · 11 minPRO
  3. 03Thrust and abutmentsAn arch pushes sideways, so the supports must push back · 11 minPRO
  4. 04Roman concrete and the Pantheon domeA recipe that made new shapes possible · 11 minPRO

World 3 · Aqueducts: Water Downhill for 50 km

PROSurveying, flow, bridges, siphons and a city's water supply
  1. 01Water only flows downhill: surveyingGentle slopes and tiny margins · 10 minPRO
  2. 02How much water? Channel flowUsing Manning's equation as a model · 11 minPRO
  3. 03Bridges and siphonsCrossing a valley without pumping · 11 minPRO
  4. 04Water for a cityDelivery, losses and maintenance · 10 minPRO

World 4 · Archimedes' Screw

PROA pump made of a spiral, from Syracuse to the sewage works
  1. 01Who was Archimedes?What he did, and what we only think he did · 10 minPRO
  2. 02How a screw lifts waterPockets that climb · 11 minPRO
  3. 03Flow rate, efficiency and designHow much water per second? · 11 minPRO
  4. 04Screws todayAn old idea doing modern work · 9 minPRO

World 5 · The Antikythera Computer

PROA hand-cranked sky calculator made of bronze gears
  1. 01A lump of bronze from a shipwreckHow a corroded fragment turned out to be a machine · 10 minPRO
  2. 02Gear trains and ratiosHow teeth set the speed · 11 minPRO
  3. 03Cycles of the sky: Metonic and SarosTwo repeating patterns the mechanism was built to follow · 11 minPRO
  4. 04The Moon's uneven pace, and what is still unknownPin-and-slot gears and an honest list of open questions · 11 minPRO

World 6 · Stonehenge and the Solstice

PROStones from far away, a sunrise alignment and the questions that remain
  1. 01Building a stone circlePhases, stone sources and who did it · 11 minPRO
  2. 02The Sun's path and the solstice azimuthCalculating where the Sun rises · 11 minPRO
  3. 03An alignment, but for what?How to weigh several explanations · 11 minPRO
  4. 04Moving megalithsHow many people does a 25 tonne stone need? · 11 minPRO

World 7 · Cities Under the Earth, Temples Before Farming

PROTwo great sites of Anatolia, in central and south-eastern Turkey
  1. 01Cities under CappadociaLiving and hiding in soft volcanic rock · 11 minPRO
  2. 02Air undergroundThe chimney effect and the problem of fresh air · 11 minPRO
  3. 03Gobekli Tepe: the first temple?A monument older than farming, and what we can say about it · 11 minPRO
  4. 04Carving stone without metalWhat stone tools can do · 10 minPRO