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  1. #7
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Ascension's Avatar
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    I was poking around on the internets a few months back looking for medieval measurements and found that they used things like hands, spans, rods, chains, cubits, hectares, leagues, etc. and I also remember tools like sextants, Viking sundials, weighted lines (for measuring fathoms). I don't remember where I found that stuff but I've watched many History Channel shows on Vikings and such and they cover some of those basic navigation things. Now those things all cover navigation and measuring distances, I guess, but as for specific tools used in actually drawing maps, well, that hasn't really changed all that much: vellum or parchment, pen and ink, straightedges, compasses, basic math skills, and someone to stand over you and say things like "that's terrible, do it over" Oh and there were also some specific kinds of crystals that glowed when facing directly north when the sun was out and were cloudy when facing some other direction. Maybe a rudimentary knowledge of lodestones was also in use not to mention astronomy, and knowledge of currents and wind.
    Last edited by Ascension; 06-20-2008 at 03:35 PM. Reason: addendum

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