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Scholars have proposed that we will benefit by studying our co-evolution with technology in understanding human existence. Here you will explore how examples of technology shape our cognitive, political, and cultural landscapes.
This map of “Osacca” demonstrates the frequently contentious relationships between peoples as they played out on the seas. Note the variety in ship design, with some ships featuring numerous masts, and rectangular sails, and some seemingly without a mast at all. How do these ships differ from the other ships seen in this case?
Atlas Japannensis: being remarkable addresses by way of embassy from the East-India Company of the United provinces, to the emperor of Japan: containing a description of their several territories, cities, temples, and fortresses; their religions, laws, and customs; their prodigious wealth, and gorgeous habits; the nature of their soil, plants, beasts, hills, rivers, and fountains: with the character of the ancient and modern Japanners. Collected out of their several writings and journals by Arnoldus Montanus and John Ogilby. (1670).
This illustration of an Old English sailing vessel expresses some of the features that were popular among shipbuilders at the time. Though exaggerated here, dragon figures adorning the prow and the stern of the ship were common on these single-sailed models. This vessel also displays a pair of oars, a popular feature on many different types of ships until the steam engine made them obsolete in the nineteenth century.
An Eleventh-century Anglo-Saxon illustrated Miscellany: British Library Cotton Tiberius B.V. part I: Together with Leaves from British Library Cotton Nero D. II by British Library. (Facsimile 1983).
“MST 20B Newsletter.” Courtney Beale. Produced in MST 20B, winter 2023. This newsletter describes Beale’s exploration of Viking sailing technology in comparison with Old English keelboats.
Another illustration from the early English miscellany that contains, in addition to The Marvels of the East, geographical, astronomical, and other treatises. Here we see an image from the twelve-picture cycles of the months and their associated labors. Each month shows the dominant agricultural labor. The four-team of oxen plow the field in January and provide insight into the tools, animals, and life in eleventh century England.
An Eleventh-century Anglo-Saxon illustrated Miscellany: British Library Cotton Tiberius B.V. part I: Together with Leaves from British Library Cotton Nero D. II by British Library. (Facsimile 1983).
This scene shows an idealized garden that readers might emulate. Though many Englishmen and women used gardens for sustenance in the sixteenth century, they were also elaborate and highly structured leisure spaces. Cultivating an orderly garden represented wealth and virtue, as well as providing an opportunity for landowners to display their familiarity with the most up to date cultivation practices.
The Profitable Arte of Gardening, Now the Thirde Time Set Forth: to which is added much necessarie matter, and a number of secretes, with the phisicke helpes belonging to eche herbe, and that easily prepared. To this is annexed two proper treatises, the one entituled, the marvellous government, propertie, and benefite of the bees, with the rare secrets of the honie and waxe. And the other: the yearely conjectures, meete for husbandmen to know: englished by Thomas Hill Londoner. Whereunto is newly added a treatise meete for husbande men to know. &c. by Thomas Hill. (1574).
This miniature, titled “Barbur and the Garden of Fidelity,” shows an elaborate leisure space. Barbur, a Mughal emperor, here oversees the creation of a traditional Iranian four-part garden or chahar bagh at his palace in Kabul. Workers are seen arranging the garden appropriately. This design mirrors the four rivers and gardens of Paradise as described in the Quran.
The Art of Healing and Health Care in India: Twelve Miniatures by Editions Medicina Rara. A collection of miniatures dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries. (1980).
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