How could they have missed it?

[liberty]

People started riding horsed about seven thousand years ago, but it wasn’t until about a thousand years ago before the stirrup came into used. Why did it take them so long before someone attached a ring on the end a strap to a saddle so that the rider could step up into the saddle? Did people enjoy jumping into the saddle?

The fire place and chimney did not come in to use until the mid point of the Middle Ages. Before that people built a fire in the middle of the room and allowed the smoke exit through a hole in the roof. They tolerated the smoke so they could have the heat. When you think about a fireplace is just a small adjoining room with no door and no roof. Why did it take so long?

Why did it take so long for these things and others that were obviously beneficial to come into use? There is a one word answer I am curious if anyone here knows it.

[MajGenl.Meade]

It's either 'ignorance' or 'apathy'

But I don't know and I don't care

[liberty]

It's either 'ignorance' or 'apathy'

But I don't know and I don't care

It was tradition; people did things a certain way and did not consider any other way because that was the way it had always had been done. It was not until the advent of Alchemy that things started to change, but alchemy had a serious flaw; it relied on superstition and the use of magic words. Alchemy was the practice of the magician and they spent thousands of years trying to find a process to turn base metal into gold and in a search for the philosopher’s stone. In the end, there was no word that would turn lead into gold, no fountain of youth and no kingdom of Prestor John. There was only what could be proven; the age of science had arrived. How much more advanced would the world be today if science was two thousand years old instead of two hundred?

When I used these words (There was only what could be proven) I did not mean to imply that God did not exist. God exist outside of the physical world and beyond the reach of science.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Why did it take them so long before someone attached a ring on the end a strap to a saddle so that the rider could step up into the saddle? Did people enjoy jumping into the saddle?

I am asking this as I don't know, did the saddle precede the stirrup or did the riders not have a saddle most of the time? And once the saddle was "born" how long was it before the stirrup was added? Usually once a "game changing" invention is made (aka saddle) it's not long before improvements are made (aka stirrup).

Chimneys were present in indian teepees only they were "open" chimneys. Sure some smoke flooded the living areas, but the middle was hte fire and the middle top was the flue. They did not have fireproof materials and convereged around the fire which the smoke, for the most part, exited the top of the teepee. They were on the floor of the teepee, and any smoke would be higher than where they sat.

[liberty]

I am asking this as I don't know, did the saddle precede the stirrup or did the riders not have a saddle most of the time? And once the saddle was "born" how long was it before the stirrup was added? Usually once a "game changing" invention is made (aka saddle) it's not long before improvements are made (aka stirrup).

Saddles have been record in history as far back as seven thousand BC, but I think they probably go back further than that. By the time of Alexander the great the saddle was hundreds of tears old but his cavalry did not use it. It was more for comfort that than tactical use. However the stirrup was a game chmger. With the stirrup the warrior could brace himself in the saddle and deliver more striking force to the enemy.

Chimneys were present in indian teepees only they were "open" chimneys. Sure some smoke flooded the living areas, but the middle was hte fire and the middle top was the flue. They did not have fireproof materials and convereged around the fire which the smoke, for the most part, exited the top of the teepee. They were on the floor of the teepee, and any smoke would be higher than where they sat.

The reason that the teepee could function like a fireplace was because it came in two parts, an inner cover and an outer cover. In the summer, only the outer cover was used and fires were built outside. In winter the inner cover was installed by attaching it to the teepee poles. It came up the inside of the teepee only about a third the way. It had a floor with a hole for the fire pit and was sewed in such a way that air could not move under it.
Air drawn in under the outer cover by the warn air inside was forces up by the inner cover and out the top causing a draft producing a smoke free environment at the bottom of the teepee.
.

[oldr_n_wsr]

And once agin, I learned something. Thanks

[Jarlaxle]

Stirrups are not the game-changer people think they are. It is very possible to fight from horseback--or even charge with a lance--without them.

[MajGenl.Meade]

I believe that the people who were living in what became the USA before the arrival of Europeans adapted to the introduction of horses by those Europeans without using stirrups or saddles and managed to do a bit of fighting, which was in any case more successful when warriors were used as mounted infantry (which the people who were living in what became the USA discovered a couple of hundred years before the people who were still living in Europe did). A real game-changer was the long-bow followed by muskets/rifles/machine guns, all of which demonstrated that no amount of stirrups really counted when properly disciplined infantry stood fast against cavalry.

Meade

[Jarlaxle]

Cavalry was the dominant arm until the introduction of the Minie bullet and rifled muskets in the mid 19th century. Until then, charging cavalry closed quickly enough that infantry could only get off one volley (MAYBE two, in perfect conditions) before being overrun...smoothbore muskets having a very short effective range. By the Civil War, cavalry were scouts & skirmishers, no longer used as much in full-scale battles except as dragoons. A major help to cavalry of the era was the Spencer...it was a seven-shot repeating rifle that, unlike a muzzle-loader, could be easily reloaded (in shorter carbine form) in the saddle. (IIRC, it could, with practice, be cocked with one hand.)

[liberty]

There are misconceptions that people get from western movies one is that the Indians did not use saddles, but that is not true the plains Indian did use saddles. Bare back riding was almost a universal skill among the plains Indians but it was not due to a distain for the saddle “Time life, The Old West, The Indians, page 61. They lived in a world where the ability to respond to a surprise attack within seconds was critical. Also the saddle was an expensive trade good; the ones they had they mostly either took from defeated enemies or made themselves.

Another misconception is the buck skin wearing Indian; they preferred fabric, especially in the summer. Buck skin started to disappear as soon as the Indians came in contact with white traders. Some Indians such as the Navajo became good weavers themselves.

Also many Indians carried pistols in combat.

They were like ever other people; if something was advantageous they used.

[liberty]

The ancient Romans had clear glass available but as far we know they never used it for windows. Available archeological evident suggest that only opaque glass was used. It is hard from a modern perspective to believe that those ancient home dwellers would not have seen the advantage of being able to see what was on the other side of the wall. But then we have to remember we are considering a culture that was totally different than today’s. They saw the world in a different light; they had different priorities. To the ancient Roman privacy was of paramount interest. The windows in their home were usually the second floor. But there were military applications in which the translucent window would have been advantageous. It seems to me it would have been useful on the German frontier especially to have sentries shielded form arctic winds behind walls and glass and still be able to maintain surveillance. But then those that made such decision such as generals and senators didn’t stand guard duty.

In the same light the water wheel exist in Roman times but was seen as of little use when sub human blue painted bottom Celtic slave were so cheap.