New answers tagged natural-resources
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Assuming an Early human population of ~20K homo sapiens
And 40 hectares per person for a hunter gather culture under ideal circumstances
Given the abundant water on this world, i’d think the sea would provide enough food that ideal circumstances would be a reasonable assumption. Otherwise use 100 hectares per person
Then to give rise to an early ...
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Given a historical sample size of exactly one? 84,980,532 square kilometres.
Humans evolved in Africa, and we have no way to know whether or not the same species could have evolved on a smaller landmass.
Due to the fact that Africa is joined to Eurasia, I have considered them together as a single whole.
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North Sentinel Island is a 23 sq km island off the coast of India which has supported an un-contacted (and very hostile) tribe estimated to be in the population range of 50-400 individuals and believed to have called the island home for 6,000 years with contact with the outside world limited to a handful of documented incidents. Their nearest cultural ...
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Solar stills.
Basically, they would build a cone of glass over a section of the saltwater lake, allowing sunlight into the water to heat it up and cause the water to begin to evaporate. The top of the cone would be connected to copper or bronze tubing to a shaft that's dug into the ground at an angle, where the water begins to condense and collect, with a ...
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how would they obtain it
Probably the same way the Romans did it: with arched stone aqueducts. (There's nothing particularly complex about them. If you can build a big stone pyramid, you can build an aqueduct...)
Stone aqueducts this early aren't historically accurate, but... close enough. After all, the Henge Builders hewed hard stone and moved it long ...
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There is a view in philosophy that civilization start to grow when you have everything in excess. I think it was Władysław Tatarkiewicz who said that Roman, Greek and Egyptian culture and philosophy flourished because they had warm long days, olives and cheese to eat and wine do drink. And they just go around and wonder.
Of course they were all having wars, ...
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It's not entirely a matter of size, but of natural resources. An island like Britain did fairly well in developing technology up to the Industrial Revolution level without a lot of imports, because it had a diverse geology, with lots of mineral resources. OTOH, a volcanic island like Hawai'i would have little in the way of minerals.
As comments point out, ...
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Your lacustrine island is pretty much akin to a marine one in terms of salinity, so it will have access to fresh water in the same way that maritime islands do.
Rainfall over the island will create fresh groundwater that floats above the hypersaline waters due to being significantly less dense.
In hydrology, this is known as a freshwater lens.
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Actually this has reminded me of a very interesting culture. The Aztecs built a huge city on an island in the middle of a lake, albeit a freshwater lake. The island was connected to the surrounding land by long floating bridges, and keep in mind that Aztecs didn't smelt iron and used bronze as your question outlines. This island city was their capital as ...
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Water is an essential resource, especially in bronze age. You can't have a city without supplying it, that's why the first civilization have arisen next to big rivers (Gange, Yang-Tze, Nile, Tigris and Euphrates).
In your case the hyper-saline lake looks like a nasty environment even for a tribe.
If you however want to have a city there, a way to have ...
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Freshwater springs can appear at any distance to the sea, even under the sea.
The easiest explanation for springs next to or under the sea is karst. It is formed from soluble rocks (often limestone), which are full of cracks, crevices and caverns. Rain water, and even whole rivers can disappear underground and continue flowing through underground cracks ...
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They have a five hundred meters wide river flowing through the city. That's more fresh water than they can use.
The entire country of Egypt lives off a large river flowing through the country.
Istanbul (formely Constantinople, formely Byzantium) is a very large city sitting astride the Bosphorus, a salt water strait connecting the Black Sea and the Marmara. ...
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What is the closest I can realistically have my spring to the ocean?
0 meters
When, as a kid, I went to the sea during summer, it was common knowledge that, in some places along the coast, there were springs pouring fresh water directly into the sea.
One could tell it by both the sudden drop in temperature, especially with calm waters preventing mixing (...
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I like the idea of an artificial sun inside a dome to provide energy, heat, and light. Of course, there may be some practical difficulties. Perhaps a more regular fission plant with sun lamps would be more feasible.
Along with ocean staples like algae, seaweed, and fish, you could grow more regular crops with hydroponics or even regular farms. Meat ...
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This is essentially the same as planning to build a habitat on another planet. The most reasonable means of farming and food production are exactly the things we are planning to do in space.
Hydroponics and vertical farming allow for efficient food production. With that you could grow just about any fruits and veggies outside of large crops like grain and ...
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