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Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

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Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#31

Post by stareatgoats »

DavidHm wrote: post #12
DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #10

I used to be tempted to think that our modern generations are extra smart because of the cool gadgets we have. Seeing stuff like this, and reading ancient political / philosophical writings, gives me a much-needed reality check.

It's a pretty typical mistake. We are just as smart as our predecessors. We just have a much higher population, a higher % of them are well educated, and we have an enormous body of historical knowledge (as well as easy ways for anyone to access it). "On the shoulder of giants" etc.

> It's a pretty typical mistake.

It's an even more typical mistake to believe that our time is the pinnacle in all respects (because of all the cool gadgets that we have). But we are not the pinnacle in all respects; perhaps the largest danger is that we are delegating all multifaceted work (which ultimately is what produces skill) to automation and/or extreme specialists, so that we can push the enjoyment button (or take the enjoyment pill) in solitude without end.

We are on a path to an 'Idiocracy' type of society which would likely have been an abomination to generations past if they were to see it.

Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#33

Post by yread »

smcl wrote: post #26

Great animation but they seem to have omitted a very key part of the construction process, without which the bridge would possibly not have been completed: https://isc.cvut.cz/czechculturecourse/?p=2274

I thought you meant the egg yolks

http://medievalnews.blogspot.com/2010/01/eggs-not-used-to-bu...

Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#34

Post by jacquesm »

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #10

I used to be tempted to think that our modern generations are extra smart because of the cool gadgets we have. Seeing stuff like this, and reading ancient political / philosophical writings, gives me a much-needed reality check.

There is absolutely no difference between a human from 6000 years ago and one today. You could be an Einstein level genius back then, and likely unable to use any of those skills other than for the optimization of your environment. Also, you likely would not be able to use the bulk of it because your education would be non-existent, so your IQ compared to someone today would be much lower even though your raw intelligence would be higher. Essentially you'd be given an exquisitely crafted very blunt knife.

Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#35

Post by philliphaydon »

Rainymood wrote: post #32

This really blew my mind when I saw it for the first time. It still blows my mind. Amazing.

Yeah me too. Also how Julius Caesar crossed the Rhine river is amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNPnBVHSeZc

https://the-augustus.com/2018/11/29/how-did-caesar-cross-the...

Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#36

Post by rimliu »

prennert wrote: post #14

It looks similar to the description of the bridge being built in "World without End" by Ken Follett. One bit that is missing from this animation is that there is no rubble placed in the water around the piers. In the book this had the all important function of preventing the foundations from being washed out by the river. Maybe that was fiction or it was too much detail for the animators since the water is not transp…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bridge

Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#37

Post by pizzapill »

prennert wrote: post #11
coder1001 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah I imagine once a technique is mastered, it would be used all over the place! Not sure if one "company" started offering this service in many places, could explain the similarity.

These projects employed skilled journey men (level between apprentice and master). At some point they then traveled to work on the next project, spreading the know-how. Once something was working, it was often copied as modifications were risky.

To add to this: those were highly sought after specialists with a lot of privileges. This had consequences that sound strange to us nowadays.

Stonemasons were heavily involved in medieval diplomacy, since everybody in power needed them to build or repair fortresses. They could travel freely between kingdoms that were at war with each other and exchange messages between the respective rulers.

Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#38

Post by jacquesm »

khazhoux wrote: post #27

Great video, but could have used a scale reference. The pile driver at 00:21 looks to me to be about 30-40', but the wikipedia page for pile drivers suggests it's probably https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pile_driver It's also unclear how the piledriver gets re-positioned for each pile. It does not look readily movable.

Pile driver could be as simple as an a-frame and a bunch of guys with a ropte, a pulley and a large rock. No need for such advanced gear, but it makes for a nice animation.

https://www.1st-art-gallery.com/Maximilien-Luce/The-Pile-Dri...

Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#39

Post by jacquesm »

nosianu wrote: post #22
galgalesh wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this longer than the average life expectancy of that time? I wonder what kind of incentives they had for such long-term projects.

The average was skewed by child and women (during/after birth) mortality. In lecture [0] the professor mentions as an aside: > And what is interesting, if you take out the childhood mortality, the Victorian person between 1850 and 1880 lived slightly longer, if he was a male, than you do today That's well after the middle ages, but still also well before modern medicine and technology, such as good sanitation and wat…

Dental work is also a big driver in longevity, as is washing hands by doctors.

Re: Animation of how bridges were built in Central Europe in the Middle Ages [video]

#40

Post by evgen »

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #21
prennert wrote: post #14

It looks similar to the description of the bridge being built in "World without End" by Ken Follett. One bit that is missing from this animation is that there is no rubble placed in the water around the piers. In the book this had the all important function of preventing the foundations from being washed out by the river. Maybe that was fiction or it was too much detail for the animators since the water is not transp…

I expected there to be some kind of "foundations"? i.e. once the water is out of the enclosure, you have a surface that is likely to be soft wet mud or sand. Surely you want to scoop some out, dig down and lay some big blocks of stone under the river bed level? Or maybe that happens, but was just not shown. Or maybe, once you start building up, the sheer weight pushes the whole column down until it settles.

Dig to bedrock or drive in pilings to shore up your foundation if you can, it all depends on the local geography. Given the lateral forces on a bridge it seems unlikely that modern builders would float the footings of the arches in the riverbed, but in the case of this bridge I think that was what happened (a guess given the fact that three arches failed during a flood in 1890s when a pile-up of logs and debris forced a lot of water flow to push deeper to pass the bridge.)
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