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King Tut's Chariot a Marvel of Ancient Engineering

astroengine writes "King Tutankhamun, who ruled Egypt over 3,000 years ago, looks as if he was chauffeured around the desert in one of the earliest-known high-performance vehicles. Tut's chariots surpass all monumental structures of the pharaohs in engineering sophistication. Discovered in pieces by British archaeologist Howard Carter when he entered King Tut's treasure-packed tomb in 1922, the collection consisted of two large ceremonial chariots, a smaller highly decorated one, and three others that were lighter and made for daily use. 'These vehicles appear to be the first mechanical systems which combine the use of kinematics, dynamics and lubrication principles,' said Alberto Rovetta, professor in robotics engineering at the Polytechnic of Milan."

124 comments

  1. bwahahahahaha by Pojut · · Score: 5, Funny

    . 'These vehicles appear to be the first mechanical systems which combine the use of kinematics, dynamics and lubrication principles

    I combined your mom's use of kinematics, dynamics, and lubrication principles with my mechanical systems last night.

    OH SNAP!

    1. Re:bwahahahahaha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup, you can definitely tell it's the end of the work day on the east coast of the US or time to go home from the pubs if you're in Europe =P

    2. Re:bwahahahahaha by Pojut · · Score: 1

      I leave work in nine minutes :-)

    3. Re:bwahahahahaha by blair1q · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Suddenly it's twitter in here...

    4. Re:bwahahahahaha by couchslug · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sounds like a slow, loose, and greasy event!

      --
      "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
    5. Re:bwahahahahaha by ultranova · · Score: 5, Funny

      I combined your mom's use of kinematics, dynamics, and lubrication principles with my mechanical systems last night.

      I see your ability to craft a joke is far inferior to ancient Egyptians's ability to craft chariots.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    6. Re:bwahahahahaha by Pojut · · Score: 1

      "Oh ultranova...if only you knew how correct you are." -my wife

    7. Re:bwahahahahaha by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Oh Pojut, I always waver on whether or not I want to friend you. I like your site and you can be funny on occaison. But then you pull a Your Mom with an Oh Snap and... well...

      You can see where I'm torn, yes?

    8. Re:bwahahahahaha by Pojut · · Score: 1

      I too sometimes feel that way about myself -_-;;

    9. Re:bwahahahahaha by earthforce_1 · · Score: 1

      Dad? Is that you?

      --
      My rights don't need management.
    10. Re:bwahahahahaha by ultranova · · Score: 1

      "Oh ultranova...if only you knew how correct you are." -my wife

      Does your wife know you're doing things with Alberto Rovetta's mom? And, seeing how Prof. Rovetta seems to have just turned 70, with his mother presumably being older, that you apparently have a thing for older women?

      I guess that would explain your need for advanced lubrication principles...

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    11. Re:bwahahahahaha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh Pojut, I always waver on whether or not I want to friend you. I like your site and you can be funny on occaison. But then you pull a Your Mom with an Oh Snap and... well...

      You can see where I'm torn, yes?

      I pulled your mom last night! OH SNAP!

      ... dear god, I'm so sorry... the only way I can properly remedy this is with seppukku... I shall go kill myself now...

    12. Re:bwahahahahaha by that+IT+girl · · Score: 1

      See, the bad joke just makes me want to friend him more. But... I make "your mom" and "oh snap" jokes all the time. I guess you wouldn't want to be my friend either!

      --
      10 FILL MUG WITH COFFEE
      20 DRINK COFFEE
      30 GOTO 10
    13. Re:bwahahahahaha by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 1

      There is a time and a place.

      And it's usually Friday Night at the bar, not 2:45 Tuesday afternoon on Slashdot.

    14. Re:bwahahahahaha by that+IT+girl · · Score: 1

      Not sure about that, mate! Anything to lighten the monotony of the day, I always say...

      --
      10 FILL MUG WITH COFFEE
      20 DRINK COFFEE
      30 GOTO 10
  2. and that's why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    And that's why I bought a Saturn.

    1. Re:and that's why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but Jupiter's chariot has cruse control.

    2. Re:and that's why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      your pretty lame for buying a saturn

  3. I would expect nothing less... by jaymzter · · Score: 5, Funny

    from our pyramid building, cat worshipping, space travelling, interstellar overlords.

    --
    If thou see a fair woman pay court to her, for thus thou wilt obtain love
    1. Re:I would expect nothing less... by Philomage · · Score: 1

      I was going to post a "cue the alien conspiracies 3...2...1..." thread, but you beat me to it (with a great deal more grace.

    2. Re:I would expect nothing less... by metlin · · Score: 3, Informative

      I would expect nothing less...

      from our pyramid building, cat worshipping, space travelling, interstellar Goa'uld overlords.

      There. Fixed that for ya! ;-)

    3. Re:I would expect nothing less... by RealGrouchy · · Score: 3, Funny

      Engineering, sure. But could they explain all these complex concepts using chariot analogies?

      - RG>

      --
      Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
    4. Re:I would expect nothing less... by molnarcs · · Score: 1

      I would expect nothing less...

      from our pyramid building, cat worshipping, space travelling, interstellar Goa'uld overlords.

      There. Fixed that for ya! ;-)

      Cat worshipping Goa'uld lords??

  4. Pimp my ride by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    kinematics, dynamics and lubrication principles

    What a chav. King tut, with the worlds first height adjustable suspension.

  5. Um, Not? by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 1

    King Tutankhamun, the pharaoh who ruled Egypt more than 3,300 years ago, rode full speed over the desert dunes on a Formula One-like chariot, according to new investigations into the technical features of the boy king's vehicle collection.

    They were the Ferrari of antiquity. They boasted an elegant design and an extremely sophisticated and astonishingly modern technology,"

    Did you look at the picture? The wheels are out of round. That thing had a worse ride than a shopping cart with metal wheels. And how fast could a horse pull a chariot over 'the desert dunes' without ejecting the occupant?

    1. Re:Um, Not? by Crudely_Indecent · · Score: 2, Informative

      Lets see how round your tires are after 3300 years.

      FTA

      Even at speeds of about 25 miles per hour on Egypt's irregular soil, King Tut's chariots were efficient and pleasant to ride.

      I seriously doubt that 25MPH over a sand dune will eject the occupant.

      --


      "Lame" - Galaxar
    2. Re:Um, Not? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And how fast could a horse pull a chariot over 'the desert dunes' without ejecting the occupant?

      Well, that's why he is called "The Boy King" and not "The King Who Reached a Ripe Old Age." He got tossed from his Mach Five Chariot, while still young, broken his leg, and died from an infection.

      Ferrari chariots? I guess he was more like James Dean of his time. Except James Dean had a Porsche Chariot.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    3. Re:Um, Not? by blair1q · · Score: 5, Informative

      Egypt isn't all sand dunes. Near the Nile it's pretty light on the sand dunes, and 4600 years ago could have been even less sand-duney.

      They even had paved roads.

    4. Re:Um, Not? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As the article mentioned, it's been recently discovered that Tut suffered from Malaria and the current thinking is that was the main cause of his death.

    5. Re:Um, Not? by Walt+Dismal · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, Egyptian Consumer Reports noted that "The Tut Chariot, made by Toyota, is prone to unexplainable sudden acceleration. However, it gets good hay mileage. And depending on the whip you use, it can do 0-60 in under 3 minutes."

    6. Re:Um, Not? by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

      I guess he was more like Xzibit of his time.

      FTFY.

    7. Re:Um, Not? by jomama717 · · Score: 1

      I think it is interesting that one of the wheels is heavily worn, while the other is new looking, indicating it had been replaced - makes me wonder if his accident didn't involve a busted chariot wheel which was replaced after he died...presumably so Tut could use it in the afterlife.

      --
      while [ 1 ]; do echo -n -e "\xe2\x95\xb$((($RANDOM&1)+1))"; done
    8. Re:Um, Not? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Citing the NYT means shit, these days.

    9. Re:Um, Not? by lennier · · Score: 1

      Live fast, die young and leave a good looking sarcophagus?

      --
      You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
    10. Re:Um, Not? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe this was just his NASCAR chariot. Turning left all the time just wore one out faster than the other.

    11. Re:Um, Not? by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Egypt isn't all sand dunes. Near the Nile it's pretty light on the sand dunes

      You're repressing the thought that there are no sand dunes at all actually in the river. You're in de-Nile.

      *RIMSHOT*

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    12. Re:Um, Not? by orthancstone · · Score: 1

      Citing ACs means even less.

    13. Re:Um, Not? by Otter+Popinski · · Score: 1

      ...makes me wonder if his accident didn't involve a busted chariot wheel which was replaced after he died...presumably so Tut could use it in the afterlife.

      The article definitely says the other tire is "newer," not "new." But that's still fun to imagine.

  6. HOLY AMAZING! by qoncept · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The fact that they realized all those years ago that soft is more comfortable than hard, slippery is faster than sticky and light is less work than heavy is amazing! And that easily makes these chariots "surpass all monumental structures of the pharaohs in engineering sophistication." Moving thousands of tons of rock without machinery is easy compared to slopping fat on a stick!

    --
    Whale
    1. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Dancin' by the Nile, the ladies loved his style.
      Rockin' for a mile, he ate a crocodile.
      Born in Arizona, moved to Babylonia, King Tut.

    2. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 5, Informative

      Light is easy, light and strong is sophisticated. Also, the article alludes to springs and shock absorbers, a step up in engineering from just building a light and strong cart.

    3. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by kryliss · · Score: 1

      Gotta love Steve Martin!!

      --
      --- If the bible proves the existence of God, then Superman comics prove the existence of Superman.
    4. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by vlm · · Score: 4, Funny

      And that easily makes these chariots "surpass all monumental structures of the pharaohs in engineering sophistication." Moving thousands of tons of rock without machinery is easy compared to slopping fat on a stick!

      The patent/copyright finally ran out on the chariot thing about 200 years ago, leading to the Industrial Revolution.

      When the patent/copyright runs out on "magically levitating giant stone blocks into pyramid shapes" sometime in the future, I think we're going to have a heck of a lot of fun.

      --
      "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    5. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by avandesande · · Score: 3, Informative

      That's nice but the engineering behind the pyramids construction impresses me (and many others) more.

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    6. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by kanto · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      It's the Italian take on things; if the chariot wins, it's beautiful. Probably why they've never won a war or mass-produced a decent car (30 Rock).

    7. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by qoncept · · Score: 1

      "Alludes to" ? What is it, an informative article or a crossword puzzle?

      Ok, ok, trick question. It really isn't either. It seems to have attempted to be informative, though. The problem is it lacks any substance whatsoever. It's all grandoise claims about how technologically advanced these chariots were without any evidence. Other than the 3d rendering (uhhh, why not a photo?!), of course, that looks like something a caveman could have made. You know, if he had the wheel.

      I can appreciate that this thing was top of the line when it was built. But comparing it (actually, saying it doesn't even compare) to the pyramids, dams and dance moves of ancient Egypt has got to be a joke.

      --
      Whale
    8. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by metlin · · Score: 1

      Well, they did sleep on hard surfaces, without a pillow. So, their "awesomeness" sort of takes a hit.

    9. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by jbeach · · Score: 1

      Why, it's almost as if they were ALSO intelligent primates with language skills, EVEN THOUGH they didn't have televisions!

      --
      The Invisible Hand of the Free Market is what punches workers in the nuts.
    10. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by EdIII · · Score: 1

      Moving thousands of tons of rock without machinery is easy compared to slopping fat on a stick!

      That and I know for damn sure the Egyptians were not the first instance of man using "lubrication principles".

    11. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by medv4380 · · Score: 1

      I have to agree. As nice as the cart is it's a simple cart and the tech isn't beyond what they could do and would just require the rite ingenuity. The Pyramids and the Sphinx are just a bit more on the complicated side of possible and yet they were done. It would be like those crazy people going and building their Space Scraper. Sure it's possible but the economic, material, and tech would push us to our limit and you'd still have to convince enough people to go along with it to pull it off. There's nice hypothesis about how the pyramids were built but no one knows exactly what they did.

    12. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by dkleinsc · · Score: 1

      He's an Egyptian!

      vid link for those who've lived deprived lives.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    13. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by CAIMLAS · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The fact that they realized all those years ago that soft is more comfortable than hard, slippery is faster than sticky and light is less work than heavy is amazing!

      Well, it is pretty amazing if your Egyptology worldview accepts things like:

      * geometrically perfect granite sarcophagi, which modern machinery tools would be hard pressed (if even able) to replicate, were made by slaves - who used basalt chisels.
      * The pyramids, which have no scientific or explicable cultural explanation as to their function were constructed by slaves using pulleys, and crude tools - despite their geometric perfection, astronomical and astrological representation, and demonstration of very advanced science all around.

      * The same people who built these things - the supposed Egyptians of not that long ago - went into decline inexplicably, and some of the most powerful kings were buried in caves, not the pyramids.
      * The same people who built these things (and kept slaves, used primitive tools, and had bad teeth) were capable of complex hieroglyphic communication which we do not fully understand today.
      * The Sphinx, which is obviously water stained and eroded by anyone who has ever viewed the spillway of a dam, is eroded by sand.

      Honestly, the "Ancient Egyptian gods were really Go'ould" explanations are more reasonable than the nonsense espoused by contemporary Egyptology.

      So really, these chariots aren't surprising. What's surprising is that Egyptologists stick with what they think they know instead of accepting the facts of the world around them.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    14. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by fishbowl · · Score: 5, Informative

      >Other than the 3d rendering (uhhh, why not a photo?!)

      I would bet that it is related to the fact that the article doesn't feature Zahi Hawass chiming in.

      It's funny how much control Hawass has on what is said and shown about Egyptian antiquity.

      Now you'll notice that you rarely, if *ever*, see anything in Egypt without Zahi Hawass telling you what to think about it.

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    15. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by stephanruby · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I thought that the claim that slaves built the pyramids was placed in serious doubt recently.

    16. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by kanto · · Score: 1

      _This_ post is Offtopic, but RTFA, RTFP. Milan is in Italy, they seem easily wowed by shiny speedy things, not so good at the stuff the parent was referring to... and no, I'm not taking my first Offtopic tagging personally:)

    17. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by djconrad · · Score: 1

      Tut was buried in a cave, and so cave burial, with this chariot, is evidence of cultural change, not technological decline. I'm in Classics, not Egyptology, but I have never read that the Valley of the Kings was an indicator of a declining civilization.

    18. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by dfghjk · · Score: 1

      Not really recently.

    19. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Moving thousands of tons of rock without machinery is easy compared to slopping fat on a stick!

      I'll thank you to leave my lunch out of the discussion.

    20. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 3, Funny

      When the patent/copyright runs out on "magically levitating giant stone blocks into pyramid shapes" sometime in the future, I think we're going to have a heck of a lot of fun.

      There's no particular mystery to how they did it - without magical levitation.

      It's interesting to pull a few blocks off a pyramid. You find inscriptions on them that say things like:

      "We DID IT! - Tiger Team Eight."

      --
      Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
    21. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by dfghjk · · Score: 1

      The moved away from pyramid burials because the burial chambers were too easily looted. Tut's chamber was not a cave, it was a small chamber taken over from a less important person. Tut died suddenly and young and had not yet prepared an elaborate chamber of his own.

    22. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Evidence?

    23. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by nacturation · · Score: 1

      Dancin' by the Nile, the ladies loved his style.
      Rockin' for a mile, he ate a crocodile.
      Born in Arizona, moved to Babylonia, King Tut.

      Wow, and he wasn't even old enough to use Burma Shave.

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
    24. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, it is pretty amazing if your Egyptology worldview accepts things like:

      * geometrically perfect granite sarcophagi, which modern machinery tools would be hard pressed (if even able) to replicate, were made by slaves - who used basalt chisels.

      These were not mere slaves, but highly skilled craftsman that had nothing else to do but learn how to work granite. Spend 12-16 hours a day for 20 years working with a chisel and hammer and you'll get pretty good at it.

      * The pyramids, which have no scientific or explicable cultural explanation as to their function

      Public works project that showed off the power of the Pharaoh and the wealth of Egypt.

      were constructed by slaves using pulleys, and crude tools - despite their geometric perfection, astronomical and astrological representation, and demonstration of very advanced science all around.

      Egyptian tools were high-tech at the time, it's not like these things were built in the Stone Age, as you are suggesting, but in the Bronze age. Assuming we are talking about the Great Pyramids at Giza, a lot of the earlier pyramids were built in the borderline era of Iron and Bronze, but they were not nearly as ambitious either. Still monumental achievements for the time.

      * The same people who built these things - the supposed Egyptians of not that long ago - went into decline inexplicably,

      Egypt's decline in power coincides nicely with Rome's rise. And lest us not forget the Persian and Turksish invasions, internal stuggles, etc. It's not as though Egypt had a huge empire to begin with, and it was under the rule of a Pharoh from unification (Circa 3000 BCE) until Cleopatra made her deal with Mark Anthony (Circa 32 BCE), making Egypt a protectorate under Rome, making it one of the longest lasting independent nations on Earth.

      and some of the most powerful kings were buried in caves, not the pyramids.

      The pyramids were for show, the caves were supposed to be secret and would protect the Pharohs from grave robbers.

      * The same people who built these things (and kept slaves, used primitive tools, and had bad teeth) were capable of complex hieroglyphic communication which we do not fully understand today.

      Never heard of the Rosetta Stone? Egyptian hieroglyphics are fully understood, there are books available if you want to read hieroglyphics on your own.

      * The Sphinx, which is obviously water stained and eroded by anyone who has ever viewed the spillway of a dam, is eroded by sand.

      There are three main theories:

      • The wind erosion theory. Tradition theory and least likely to be correct, based on physical evidence.
      • The Sphinx is over 10,000 years old (Last time Egypt saw significant rain) Only slightly more likely possible then the wind erosion theory, if only because it can explain the physical evidence, but I'm skeptical.
      • The religious rites theory. Basically this theory is that the top of the Sphinx was used for ceremonies, and that at the end of each ceremony, the top would be cleaned with water, and that water would be pushed over the sides with brooms. Over the years, as the water was pushed off the sides of the Sphinx, it eroded the sides, much like rain would. This is my personal favorite as it fits the physical evidence, and doesn't throw the timeline of known Egyptian history all out of whack.

      Honestly, the "Ancient Egyptian gods were really Go'ould" explanations are more reasonable than the nonsense espoused by contemporary Egyptology.

      So really, these chariots aren't surprising. What's surprising is that Egyptologists stick with what they think they know instead of accepting the facts of the world around them.

    25. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      already modded, so I'll toss you a 'Funny'.
      I do loves me some old-school Dr. Demento...

    26. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by ChrisMP1 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      First principle of karma whoring: the self-fulfilling prophecy. If you mention you'll probably (or probably not) get modded a certain way, and you want to, you won't be. If you don't want to, you will be.

      Nice job.

      --
      <sig>&nbsp;</sig>
    27. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Honestly, the "Ancient Egyptian gods were really Go'ould" explanations are more reasonable than the nonsense espoused by contemporary Egyptology.

      Yes, because it is highly plausible that they were fictional characters from a TV sci fi series.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    28. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, there are several more recent studies that show the same thing, I just picked the first one that showed up on my google search results.

    29. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by CeruleanDragon · · Score: 1

      ..and you'd still have to convince enough people to go along with it to pull it off.

      And that's what slave labor is for. :)

      --
      ad astra per alia porci
    30. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "rite"?

    31. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      No, you completely misunderstood what I was saying. It was a somewhat hyperbolic statement, but yeah... *whoosh*

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    32. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 1

      >Moving thousands of tons of rock without machinery is easy
      Especially that they recently proved that all the stones used for building the pyramids were mixed like cement instead of what some noob proposed with pushing these huge blocks of rock up a slanted slope....they cut open one of the rocks, and saw swirls within the main field, suggesting man made materials, and most definitely the contents were poured into place.

    33. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by Rexdude · · Score: 1

      They actually did, except they named themselves 'The drunks of Menkaure'. On a slightly unrelated note, this graffiti from Pompeii wouldn't look out of place in a modern city.

      --
      "..One hosts to look them up, one DNS to find them, and in the darkness BIND them."
    34. Re:HOLY AMAZING! by EdIII · · Score: 1

      Evidence?

      Evidence? Sure. All Around Us. It's called people :)

  7. Huh? by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 1

    ...he was chauffeured around the desert in one of the earliest-known high-performance vehicles.

    I seriously doubt he ever went faster than his horses. So what does "high-performance" mean? It didn't wear them out so quickly?

    1. Re:Huh? by blair1q · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sure.

      Lower rolling resistance means more speed per horsepower and less fatigue per horse.

    2. Re:Huh? by Tuidjy · · Score: 3, Informative

      The tallest horse skeleton from that period barely passes the horse/pony barrier (by 3cm) The average horse of the period was 1.3m tall and the bones suggest that it weighted about 30% less than the light riding horses of today. It probably would not have be able to go very fast or very far with a rider. Yes, people rode them sometimes, but mostly they were used in chariots.

      In a race between a rider and Tut's chariot, I'd definitely bet on the chariot, even with a driver in addition to the Pharaoh.

      --
      No good deed goes unpunished...
  8. Really really old news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Modern Marvels on History channel already covered this years ago

    1. Re:Really really old news by blair1q · · Score: 1

      Nothing really exists until it passes by the rolled-up theater program pressed to the eye of /.

    2. Re:Really really old news by reverseengineer · · Score: 2, Informative

      Especially old, in the sense that this chariot was excavated in 1922, and has been on display in Egypt for decades. The rash of recent articles about this "high-performance chariot" is due to it being loaned out to a foreign exhibit for the first time, which is noteworthy, but from the press you'd think this object was newly unearthed a few days ago.

      --
      "FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
  9. Detroit Called by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They want access to this latest technology to build muscle cars,

  10. Exaggeration of Ancient Greece that is .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    in modern western philosophy, literature and science, we are all thought about how great the greek civilization was, how they invented most of the concepts we use today, and ideas and principles, how glorious it was in that cesspit of ancient history, this and that.

    however, when one takes up history as a hobby, and reads up by himself/herself, it is a soon made discovery that for centuries before and during the climax of ancient greece, greeks went to egypt to study. the schools and learning in egypt encompassed practically everything, classified in two different school genres : school of life taught matters related to physical world - medicine, architecture, geometry and so on, school of death taught matters related to the otherworld. one finds out that a goodly number of the greek prominent figures, at least those who could afford it, went to egypt to study, or studied material transferred from egypt.

    it is an even more stunning discovery to find out that, most of the spiritual and philosophical concepts we use in everyday life today, even extending to some customs, originate from egypt.

    but, due to the most free material that is being free of church influence that was available in renaissance and baroque being ancient greece material that the byzantine scholars brought from istanbul when they fleed the ottoman conquest, western literature and science has developed by a misplaced influence of greece. which is quite natural actually, because until the end of 18th century, there wasnt any awareness of existence of a civilization like egypt.

    what is appalling though, is, that still goes on ....

    1. Re:Exaggeration of Ancient Greece that is .... by markov_chain · · Score: 1

      It is a travesty that the Great Library was burned down; who knows what kinds of Egyptian treasures were to be found there...

      --
      Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
    2. Re:Exaggeration of Ancient Greece that is .... by realityimpaired · · Score: 4, Informative

      Tragedy, not Travesty. It's a tragedy that it burned down. It's not, however, a travesty, unless you consider the irony in the fact that the fire was set by the Romans in an effort to limit the communication of their enemies. Even then, though, the fire was set on docked ships, it's just that it got out of control and spread to the docks themselves and then the city of Alexandria... the library itself was not intentionally burned down: it was an accident.

    3. Re:Exaggeration of Ancient Greece that is .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yes the Greeks were studying at the library of Alexandria.

    4. Re:Exaggeration of Ancient Greece that is .... by tehcyder · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Don't forget that until the Rosetta Stone, nobody could read hieroglyphics, whereas everyone could read Greek, so it's hardly surprising that Egypt was just considered a mystery.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    5. Re:Exaggeration of Ancient Greece that is .... by socrplayr813 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think it even goes beyond that. I'm constantly reading these stories about how sophisticated ancient civilizations were compared to our previous belief, and even about mankind's more-ancient ancestors. I'm convinced that our ancestors were much more advanced in nearly every way than we give them credit for.

      I suspect that some of that is that we want to believe we've developed beyond our views of our 'primitive' ancestors, and that desire helps to keep us from seeing the truth. Imagine what will be left of our civilization in a few thousand years (especially if electronic records don't survive). They'll be making all kinds of crazy guesses that will almost certainly be completely inaccurate.

      --
      The confidence of ignorance will always overcome the indecision of knowledge.
  11. Wait, you can't crash a comforatable car? by jandrese · · Score: 1

    The end of the article suggests that King Tut may not have fallen off of the chariot and broken his leg because the chariot offers a ride that is too comfortable. This smells like a tremendous leap of logic to me. It's not like the thing was equipped with seatbelts, why would a design that allows for great speed with relative comfort preclude the possibility that maybe he fell out of the thing?

    --

    I read the internet for the articles.
    1. Re:Wait, you can't crash a comforatable car? by realityimpaired · · Score: 1

      I think you need to go back and read the article again. It said that there's a 50/50 chance that this was the chariot that Tutankhamun fell from when he broke his leg.

      It was instead mentioning other factors in Tut's health that could have led to his death... the fact that he had malformed bones in his feet, and the fact that he had apparently been suffering from malaria. That he fell off the chariot and broke his leg isn't really in question... that it was an infection from the broken leg and not, say, succumbing to the malaria, is what they were calling into doubt.

  12. Just like modern Porche owner by Okonomiyaki · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sounds like more evidence for that small penis theory.

    http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/UnNews:King_Tut_had_a_small_penis

    1. Re:Just like modern Porche owner by grouchomarxist · · Score: 1

      after embalmment and 3000 years there is shrinkage, significant shrinkage!

  13. Ancient Egypt had good engineers by smellsofbikes · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I recently saw the travelling King Tutankhamen exhibit and got to reading a bit about their technology. Besides being able to organize and motivate well enough to build the Great Pyramid, which required cutting, transporting, and installing twelve 3 ton blocks per hour, every hour, for 20 years, they knew about prime and perfect numbers, the Sieve of Eratosthenes, first-order linear equations, and summing linear and arithmetic sequences. They knew about pi and calculated it to about five digits, and could calculate the surface area of hemispheres and the volume of frustrums, which means they could do integral calculus (although they didn't realize that's what they were doing.)

    --
    Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
    1. Re:Ancient Egypt had good engineers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And they used slaves to do it all

    2. Re:Ancient Egypt had good engineers by DamnStupidElf · · Score: 1

      And their civilization collapsed utterly and was almost lost to history. Quite a warning for the oil-will-never-run-out-and-global-warming-is-a-myth crowd.

    3. Re:Ancient Egypt had good engineers by c0lo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      And they used slaves to do it all

      Using slaves to compute the first 5 digits of PI and do integral calculus, eh?
      Fast-forward 3000 years, these slave are called engineers - and the "masters" are no longer called kings but MBA (some owing Ferrari-es too).

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    4. Re:Ancient Egypt had good engineers by tomhath · · Score: 1

      Yup, and it only lasted 3000 years. Guess we better panic.

    5. Re:Ancient Egypt had good engineers by c0lo · · Score: 1

      I wonder what the moderator found funny in my post above: I'd consider it rather depressing (wink)

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    6. Re:Ancient Egypt had good engineers by silveride · · Score: 1

      Maybe because we are discussing ferrari-es and not engineers!

    7. Re:Ancient Egypt had good engineers by c0lo · · Score: 1

      Maybe because we are discussing ferrari-es and not engineers!

      1. what's so funny about Ferrari?
      2. I thought the parent post side-tracked the discussion on slaves computing PI decimal places and doing integral calculus?
      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    8. Re:Ancient Egypt had good engineers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      until I read your whole post, I thought somehow you knew about Logopolis, Oh never mind, poor human

    9. Re:Ancient Egypt had good engineers by c0lo · · Score: 1

      until I read your whole post, I thought somehow you knew about Logopolis, Oh never mind, poor human

      For this, I need to fast-forward more than 3000 years. BTW, master, do you own a Ferrari?
      Yours, who.

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    10. Re:Ancient Egypt had good engineers by flubba · · Score: 0

      That is quite the depressing truth. Actually there's an interesting theory that the 20,000 or so slaves who built the pyramids were divided into 2 gangs of 10,000 workers. Researchers have even found a gang symbol or mark on a few slabs found in the inner tombs and passage ways.

      --
      riverrun, past Eve and Adamâ(TM)s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recircul
    11. Re:Ancient Egypt had good engineers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup, and it only lasted 3000 years. Guess we better panic.

      How long do you think western civilization has been around?

  14. Re:This thing could do 0-25 MPH in under 38 secs!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The jews didnt pull Chariots - they had their Own cars. After all the word of god book states Mospeh came down the mountain in triumph.

  15. Egyptians go home. by Pseudonymus+Bosch · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, but apart from the Great Pyramid, prime and perfect numbers, the Sieve of Eratosthenes, linear equations, sequences, pi, surface areas and volumes, what have the Egyptians done for us?

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    __
    Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
    GW Bu
    1. Re:Egyptians go home. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eratosthenes was Greek...

    2. Re:Egyptians go home. by HyperQuantum · · Score: 1

      Yeah, they didn't even make 3-D movies.

      --
      I am not really here right now.
  16. "Where's your hot rod now, Moses?" by Snufu · · Score: 2, Funny

    Best vintage garage find evar. It's gonna be a bitch to find parts.

  17. Xizbit "a" by NetNed · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wasn't this on pimp my chariot? They put 22's on it and Mad Mike installed 5 hieroglyphics flat panels on it.

  18. Really? by dfuess · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "They boasted an elegant design and an extremely sophisticated and astonishingly modern technology,"

    I find the premise of the article arrogantly modern. "They" didn't boast modern technology at all but rather demonstrated the of the state of the art in Egypt 3000 years ago. Perhaps the appropriate view is that today's engineering despite all its plastic and glitter has not advanced significantly beyond that of ancient Egypt in some areas. I do wonder why it is that we do so often equate ancient with stupid and marvel that those stupid old folk could actually have come up with a "modern" idea (which is the underlying theme of the article)?

  19. SLAVES by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hmmmmm
    All these great cultures in the past achieved massive projects and were able to accelerate; except nobody really mentions THE SLAVES. No wonder they had so much free time to dedicate to other stuff because their slaves allowed their empire to expand. China with the Great Wall used slaves/forced labor, Hitler used slaves to build his missile development sites, etc....
    We might be giving these dictators too much credit when all they did was use slaves to achieve ends meet. It's like "oh look at this nice environment they have to do all this stuff"

  20. maybe they had Beetles as well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hope that Michelin cited this as prior art for their Tweel, and now that I think about it,
      what the lunar hell is an LRI AB Scarab Tweel ?

  21. Hyksos chariots? by S3D · · Score: 1

    "chariot was introduced to Egypt by the Hyksos. It did not take Egypt long -- just two generations -- to have the world's best chariots"

    Could it be that Hyksos had world's best chariots?

  22. Metallic hinges by ModelX · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In the Cairo museum, next to the Tut's collection (it may be part of it, I'm not sure, I was there years ago), I saw a foldable bed frame with metallic hinges. I thought that was the technological high-point of the museum, I haven't seen anything like that from the same time frame anywhere in the world.

  23. The Real Sign of Ignorance by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

    The article mentions the "modern" bearing concept of hard materials against soft materials. But that's absolute BS. Good bearings are hard materials against hard materials.

  24. Travesty by markov_chain · · Score: 1

    That word doesn't mean what I thought it meant. *facepalm*

    --
    Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!