why limit to that which was commonly available? Thats borring.
Because when you don't set such a criteria, then the
fascinating and uncommonly available piece of material culture from the 18th century may suddenly appear everywhere among people re-creating the time period. :nono:
So while what we commonly refer to today as a "
pressure cooker" was known as a "Bone Digester" as early as 1680..., and later versions around 1700 included a pressure valve..., one would be hard pressed to say everybody should have one in their camps at an event representing the year 1780, although a full century since its invention had elapsed. You might have one person at an event with one reproduction of a bone diegester demonstrating it for the tourists, who probably would be surprized at how far back in time the idea and actual application went..., but how many more would be the cutoff point before the picture of history being created was distorted?
OK so the cost of having a repro-pressure cooker machined probably would limit that from being a problem but....even simpler, the Chinese wok probably dates to about 1250 AD..., so about 500 years before the F&I. There was trade with China, Marco Polo being the most famous person to open the roads to the Orient, and later trade by sea..., so it would be quite possible that one could find a person in the 18th century who had sailed to the Far East, learned the use of the wok, brought one or several back, and settled in one of the three major sea ports of Boston, New York, or Charleston, and when that person died the item was listed in a death inventory..., though perhaps in a manner such as
"1-Very wide, domed, wrought iron Chinese frypan, with wooden handle - 0/5/6". So you would have a single reference to what very probably is a wok, and proof of it in the Americas....,
:hmm:
Yet we should not all suddenly be cooking Kung Pao chicken or Moo Shi Pork at 18th century living history events...,
n'es ce pas ? :wink:
Peep sights did exist, and there are lots of examples from crossbows onward..., I think a better question is not "did they?" but more "why weren't they popular". I think use in low light may be one answer.
LD