• Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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    3 months ago

    In case this is of interest to you, since 1997, a group of archaeologists and experts have been building a castle in France as accurately as they can in the way it was done in the 13th century. Apart from adding certain things for safety reasons, they try to be as authentic as possible. Of course, it’s taken decades and it’s still not done… but that’s because it’s a freakin’ castle. (Also, they don’t have a huge workforce, but that’s something else.)

    It’s even had a practical use. They were able to apply what they learned when reconstructing Notre Dame after the fire.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guédelon_Castle

    There was also a British documentary series about it with three archaeologists from Britain who go to contribute to the project and live in a Medieval style- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydoRAbpWfCU&list=PL72jhKwankOiwI5zt6lC3eQtsQDxOaN_g

    • Tar_Alcaran
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      3 months ago

      There are several recreations of old Age of Sail ships, made historically accurate via historical methods, and its been incredibly educational for historians worldwide.

      Reenactment like this is extremely useful in recreating information that was either a professional secret, or considered so blatantly obvious nobody ever had to write it down.

    • TachyonTele@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      I tend to think the difference is that the people building it today don’t need to build it, along with the lack of a work force. Necessity is a great motivator.

      • Tar_Alcaran
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        3 months ago

        I also doubt they had hundreds and hundreds of workers doing manual labor as part of their taxes. And modern people had slightly different ideas of what acceptable labor is.