A portion of Rome, Italy, over the course of a millennium - civilization collapse is a HELL of a drug

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Art Scavenger
A portion of Rome, Italy, over the course of a millennium - civilization collapse is a HELL of a drug
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I can't fault those buildings for not lasting more than a millennia.

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It's interesting that so many buildings did not find uses, and weren't maintained.

Like why did people in Britain say 'central heating (the hypocaust) is great and all, but it's nothing on cold and leaky Wattle and Daub, we should go back to that'

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In some cases the use for an old building was to become the material for a new building.

And what's wrong with wattle and daub? Cheap materials, low skill, quick construction! Doesn't need 100 slaves to build :)

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Could also be a case of lost institutional knowledge. Back then knowledge was much more fractured. Tradesmen only told their apprentices how to do things so if everyone who knew how to make roman central heating fucked off back to rome then no one would be in britain to build and maintain the systems.

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Art Scavenger OP

Or even if they stayed in Britain, but had to return to farming to survive, and thus had no chance to pass down their specialized knowledge on account of being in the middle of nowhere scratching dirt to prevent starvation.

Knowledge is surprisingly fragile!

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