Slashdot Mirror
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."
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
Modern Marvels on History channel already covered this years ago
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.
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.
There. Fixed that for ya! ;-)
That's nice but the engineering behind the pyramids construction impresses me (and many others) more.
love is just extroverted narcissism
Sure.
Lower rolling resistance means more speed per horsepower and less fatigue per horse.
>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.
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...
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.