Ancient British history is deliciously weird, and a rabbit hole with many enjoyable documentaries. I’m fascinated by how many of the tropes and traits we associate with the region today actually seem to have been Roman in origin.
One factor to consider is simple geography: Island ecosystems of any type experience different constraints from larger ones.
Another factor is climate: An island that fluctuates between habitable and uninhabitable climate on the geologic time scale develops differently from a region that’s more stable.
I have the impression that capacity to invent a given technology and cultural receptivity to adopting that technology are a whole lot less tightly coupled than it’s often convenient to assume.
Certainty that the old ways of doing things have served one’s ancestors well since time immemorial is a powerful innoculant against change. Kinda like how it’s harder to try a new dish at a restaurant that has your favorite food in the world as an option on its menu. I think a shorter tradition of “this is definitely the right way to farm/mine/craft here” will be more receptive to potential improvements than a longer and more certain tradition.
Ancient British history is deliciously weird, and a rabbit hole with many enjoyable documentaries. I’m fascinated by how many of the tropes and traits we associate with the region today actually seem to have been Roman in origin.
One factor to consider is simple geography: Island ecosystems of any type experience different constraints from larger ones.
Another factor is climate: An island that fluctuates between habitable and uninhabitable climate on the geologic time scale develops differently from a region that’s more stable.
I have the impression that capacity to invent a given technology and cultural receptivity to adopting that technology are a whole lot less tightly coupled than it’s often convenient to assume.
Certainty that the old ways of doing things have served one’s ancestors well since time immemorial is a powerful innoculant against change. Kinda like how it’s harder to try a new dish at a restaurant that has your favorite food in the world as an option on its menu. I think a shorter tradition of “this is definitely the right way to farm/mine/craft here” will be more receptive to potential improvements than a longer and more certain tradition.