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13 Things 2009

13 Things 2008


Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology

Search Brown

 

 

Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World
Brown University
Box 1837 / 60 George Street
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: (401) 863-3188
Fax: (401) 863-9423
[email protected]

Whilst explosives in some form or another have existed alongside humanity for more than a millennium, it has only been over the last few centuries that we have truly felt their impact. Cannon and artillery based on gunpowder only truly overcame their mechanical adversaries in the 14th century, and alongside this revolution in gunnery came adaptations in warfare (obviously, although it should be noted this period saw a resurgence of the ancient phalanx, rather than the inclusion of riflemen, as that technology was not yet viable), economics (trade with the Far East, via the Italian city-states), and politics (only the European powers who had access to gunpowder took up the new style of warfare). During the tumultuous, earth changing days of scientific and industrial revolutions, however, even these elements were given the backseat to adaptation of other technologies such as electricity.

With the dawn of continent-wide warfare, and then global warfare, explosives finally came to the fore. Artillery and bombs had become the mainstay of military might (with many thanks to the invention of the airplane), and by the end of the Second World War, entire cities could be destroyed with a single charge. So grand was the extent of this technological change that the entire world was frozen in four-and-a-half decades of Cold War.

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The purpose of this project is to try and understand what bombs really mean to society. Violence and destruction are two immediate answers–one must simply say the word aloud in a public space (like an airplane) for panic to ensue–and it is issues such as these that will be explored, looking through the lengthy technological history of the the ability to blow things up. Questions on morality in modern warfare will also play a main role.


Image credit: http://www.stock-xpress.com/acatalog/PICS/exploind.jpg


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