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Comment by toolslive | Hacker News Reader

I think the problem with "Roman concrete was better" is that archaeologists don't know about construction neither. You can see that as well when they estimate the duration of the construction for pyramids, or when they state 20 men were needed to move some block/stone/whatever around. A sleight tool like a pulley or a sled decimates the amount of manpower needed. Our ancestors might not have had our technology and knowledge, but they were as smart as we are.

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There is a field of experimental archeology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_archaeology) in which they try to actually reproduce ancient building techniques and the like. There's obviously some conjecture involved in the practice but this exact concern is why it's so valuable.

Reminds me of an HN post from last year about someone recreating a stool found in an Egyptian tomb. I thought the reverse engineering was really fascinating.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28659898

Decimate means to reduce by 10%. A pulley or sled more than decimates the amount of manpower needed.

Oxford dictionary:

    decimate:
        verb
    
    - 1.kill, destroy, or remove a large proportion of.
      "the inhabitants of the country had been decimated"
        drastically reduce the strength or effectiveness of (something).
        "public transport has been decimated"
    - 2.(historical)
      kill one in every ten of (a group of people, originally a mutinous Roman legion) as a punishment for the whole group.
    "the man who is to determine whether it be necessary to decimate a large body of mutineers"

Sorry, I'm not a native speaker, I wanted to say: effort*=0.1. Thx for pointing this out.

Well, if you live long enough, the definitions of words change.

Roma aeterna.

The man from Earth

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