Technology in World History
Edited by W. Bernard Carlson
About the editor
W. Bernard Carlson
Professor
Department of Science, Technology, and Society
University of Virginia
Additional Resources
Essays
Syllabi
Factoid from the encyclopedia
Q. Where were tattoos first seen?
A. Tattooing was practiced throughout the Pacific and first written about by Captain Cook in the 1700s. Master craftsmen and their assistants in Polynesia tattooed men and women, using fine bone chisels with teeth, which they dipped into pigment and tapped into the skin with a light mallet. It was probably connected with initiation to adulthood, a sign that the individual could withstand pain.
Podcasts
Why were there no wheeled vehicles in America before Columbus?
Why did Africans domesticate cattle and donkeys, but not zebras?
Bernie Carlson discusses "Technology in World History."
The kiwi fruit and globalization.
The paradox of the pyramids
Why Chinese coins have square holes
Technology and world history