[HN Gopher] Puzzling prehistoric artifacts served a practical pu...
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Puzzling prehistoric artifacts served a practical purpose:
ropemaking
Author : diodorus
Score : 32 points
Date : 2024-02-06 06:35 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.science.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.science.org)
| thriftwy wrote:
| These dodecahedrons with bumps could also be used for rope making
| of not for the absense of mechanical wear.
| jjtheblunt wrote:
| It would be fun if those dodecadedron objects turned out to be
| old yo-yos.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo-yo
| faitswulff wrote:
| It's been demonstrated that you can make gloves with them.
| smitty1e wrote:
| I've seen some knitting applications for glove fingers, also.
| alan-crowe wrote:
| But there is a surprising counter claim that the
| dodecahedrons predate the invention of knitting:
|
| https://eukaryotewritesblog.com/2022/08/04/fiber-arts-
| myster...
| stevenwoo wrote:
| If I understand correctly, they wound the rope braids as they
| pulled the plants through the tools. Why would they need to do
| all three at the same time, i.e. could the one hole tool
| artifacts possibly be just versions where they do one strand at a
| time then wind the rope/cord after doing three strands?
| Towaway69 wrote:
| Perhaps the tool was twisted as the plants were pulled through?
| Twisting the three strands together. Just a guess...
| eszed wrote:
| Not a rope-making expert, but I attended a workshop once. With
| three holes you can twist the strands together and get a three-
| strand rope in one step. That's how the (early-modern) process
| I observed worked. I think doing it the way you suggest (which
| certainly makes sense - I'm not saying that's not a reasonable
| hypothesis for the one-hole devices) would still require a
| multiple-hole device later in the process.
| nerdponx wrote:
| What if the one-hole tools were meant to be mounted on some
| kind of rack or jig?
| debacle wrote:
| You can't wind rope that hasn't been dried and ret and dried
| again. There's too much "other stuff" in the fibers, and any rope
| you make will be incredibly weak.
|
| Everything about this paragraph is confusing:
|
| "The researchers managed to fashion 5 meters of rope in about 10
| minutes with their replica batons. For fiber, they used
| everything from flax and hemp to cattail reeds--all plants that
| would have grown near the Hohle Fels and Geissenklosterle caves
| 30,000 years ago. The ropes proved capable of supporting the
| weight of one of the team's larger members. Reeds made the
| strongest rope fiber."
|
| Reeds make very poor quality rope without a lot of processing,
| and even then the fibers are very weak. In contrast, flax and
| hemp fibers are exceptionally strong. 5 meters of rope in 10
| minutes would be a very crude rope indeed, unless they had a
| winding rig and all of the fibers ready to go. Cattail makes good
| rope, but like reed it requires quite a bit of processing because
| it's so fleshy.
| abhibeckert wrote:
| I agree - the authors of this paper don't seem to know anything
| about how rope is made.
|
| Having said that... the tool does look like it could be used
| for processing and weaving fibres together.
|
| As for "making a rope in 10 minutes"... why would anyone do
| that? A good rope is a multi-purpose tool that can last a very
| long time. You'd invest days in it, not minutes.
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(page generated 2024-02-07 23:01 UTC)