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Question: How did we lose the knowledge the ancients had!?
While many of the conspiracies and theories thrown around are way out there, there remains some truly mystifying technologies!. How could we, as a species, learn/know so much and let it pass away!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Probably because there wasn't a common, unifying system of recording information!. The Baghdad Battery faded into obscurity as well as many of the Greek inventions due to localized discoveries and the Ancient Library of Alexandria burning down contributed to a large host of lost knowledge!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Technology always seems to disappear once we learn new ways!.

During the War Between the States, the Spencer Rifle was cutting-edge technology, but was soon replaced with more modern rifles, like the Winchester '76!. The Spenser was/is still a fine rifle, but people wanted the Winchester, so Spencer soon went under!.

A hundred and fifty years later, people tried to build duplicates of the Spencer for Civil War re-enactors, but the technology of the Spencer is lost!. The metallurgy, the threaded parts, all have been updated so long ago that their art is lost forever!.

What a shame!. It isn't so much that we need older ways to make rifles, but there are aspects to the making of old artifacts that people wish they could duplicate, but instead we have to replicate!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

First, which knowledge are we talking about!? Are we talking some sort of anti gravity to float the blocks of the pyramids into place!? the answer to such questions is simple!. The knowledge was never there!. Archeology and geology have helped us show how ancient builders probably achieved many of the ancient marvels, like Stonehenge and the Pyramids!. There is no need for supernatural explanations!. Basic mechanical techniques and adequate manpower is enough!. The mysterious part of that is why or how those ancient cultures would invest so much energy into such projects!.
Are you talking about findings like ancient batteries!? The answer here is more complex!. Take these ancient batteries(see link)!. It's a case of the Ancients discovering a principle of physics and finding a way of applying it(electroplating materials)!. But without a better understanding of the nature of the forces they were dealing with, they didn't manage to make the leap into how to utilize this energy source into other applications!. So the discovered technology keeps being used in a limited way until circumstances result in the knowledge being lost!.
How does the knowledge become lost!? In the ancient periods we're talking about, a lot of information was passed down orally!. Such information would also have often been "family secrets", with only a limited number of people being let in on whatever technology or technique was being considered!. A few deaths,, by war or plague, and the information was lost!.
Even if the information was written down, this is before the days of mass publishing!.With a finite number of scribes available to any culture, something seemingly esoteric like the ancient batteries might be of interest to relatively few people, with only a few copies made of anything written about them!. A few thousand years of fires, wars, earthquakes, and simple erosion, and those copies could easily be lost!. Some may still be laying in a buried city, but unless and until we can find them, they remain lost!.
Finally, people often invent answers up when they have questions!. For instance, in the years of the Dark Ages, people in Italy could look on the wonders of the Roman Empire!. The engineerig knowledge had been lost, and even where manuals or texts explaining them still existed, there weren't enough literate people around to read them!. So, people invented stories!. Giants, gods, some supernatural force created such great structures!. It seemed inpossible to these people that mere mortals like themselves could have achieved so much!. These tales become accepted and people don't even try to find out the real methods used to achieve what used to be known!.
Finally, sometimes there is no truth to the knowledge that the Ancients are alleged to have!. Take acupuncture!. While this is not "lost" knowledge, the fact is that acupuncture is not what it claims!. There is no "chi" in the body, running along the lines claimed by Ancients!. The placements of the needles, so detailed in diagrams, has nothing to do with any effect acupuncture provides!. It is not a panacea, curing anything and everything!. Modern science has indicated acupuncture has a limited benefit in managing pain, but little else!. But once people believe something, it's difficult to convince them that that belief is not in fact true!. So people still shell out money for things like feng shui or acupuncture, believing they are getting some benefit from them!. You may want to google "logical fallacies" for more on this!.
If you have a specific ancient piece of knowledge you are thinking of, you might want to list it!. it would make addressing the question a little easier!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

By becoming lazy!. We think everything is going well so we don't think we have to work as hard, standards drop, people start thinking that certain jobs are not worth doing properly, it doesn't take long before things fall apart!. Look at what happened in New Orleans after Katrina struck!. The city had become lazy and was not able to respond to the disaster in the way it should have!. The mayor, instead of taking responsibility claimed it was a conspiracy against black people!.
I've seen pictures of old Detroit city and how block after block of suburbs, factories and commercial buildings are now in ruin and these are impressive looking buildings, but the people changed and things fell apart!.
How long in the USA will it be until someone looks up at Mt Rushmore and wonders how people were able to carve such an amazing thing, or look at the sky scrapers and wonder what kinds of people were able to build such things!.
For a time after the Roman Empire fell, many of the common people thought that the great buildings, bridges etc must have been built by gods as surely no man could create such a thing!. I heard the same things said on the tv recently!. It was a tribesman from New Guinea who had been brought to London and he couldn't believe that men could build such things coming as he did from a village where the buildings were made of straw and mud and the men hunted for food with spears and bows!.
We must not take our civilisation for granted!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

What truly mystifying technologies would you be talking about!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

They found new and better ways to do things!.Www@QuestionHome@Com