Thinking on a more evoluted moment I wonder who are the older documents showing the work of man for making optical instruments? We know something about chinese mirrors, which being metallics, I do not believe were very flat as to give good quality images. Old greeks and arabs treatise on light are mentioned. But very rarely we can find even a mention to the american mirrors, which could be the oldest, since they were made by the pre-Incas 4.000 years ago http://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0701328 and higly improved by the Olmecs 3.000 years ago, obtaining any kind of curvature.
They were made on iron ores, if you want to know more, you can read my articles:
- “On the Quality and Utilization of Olmec Mirrors”, J.J. Lunazzi, in Proc. of the II Reunión Iberoamericana de Óptica, Guanajuato, Mexico, 24-27.09.95, SPIE V 2730 p.2-7. http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0701327
- “Olmec Mirrors: an Example of
archaeological American mirrors”, J.J. Lunazzi, chapter 22 of the book
“Trends in Optics” V3 published by the International Commisssion
for Optics - ICO, Ed. Anna Consortini, Ac. Press. 1996, p411-421,
including a color picture.
Read the article: http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0701328
Buy the book: ISBN 0-12-186030-2
http://www.apnet.com/
and their references:
1. Fung Pineda, R. (1987), “The Late Pre-ceramic and Initial Period”, in: R.W. Keatinge ed. “Peruvian Prehistory”, Cambridge University Press, 67-98,.
2. Burger, R.L. (1984), “The Prehistoric Occupation of Chavin de Huántar, Peru”, Univ. of California Publications in Anthropology, V. 14. University of California Press, Berkeley, 203-204.
3. Nordeskiold, E. (1926), “Mirroirs convexes et concaves en Amérique”, Journal de la Societé des Americanistes de Paris, n.s. tome XVIII, Paris, 102-110.
4. Carlson, J.B. (1981), The University of Maryland: "Olmec Concave Iron Ore Mirrors: The Aesthetic of a Litic Technology and the Lord of the Mirror", Dumbarton Oaks Conference on the Olmecs, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, 117-147.
5. Lunazzi, J.J.(1995),“On the quality of the Olmec mirrors and its utilization”, Proc. of the II Reunión Iberoamericana de Óptica, Guanajuato - GTO, Mexico, 18-22.09.95, to be published by SPIE.
6. Fuentes, C. (1992), "El espejo enterrado", Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico.
7. Taube, K.A. (1993), University of California at Riverside: "The Iconography of Mirrors at Teotihuacan" in "Art, Ideology and the City of Teotihuacan", J.C. Berlo ed., 169-204, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington.
8. Saunders, N.J. (1988), "Chatoyer, Anthropological Reflections on Archaeological Mirrors", in "Recent Studies in Pre-Columbian Archaeology" Vol. I, N.J. Saunders, O. de Montmollin editors, I-39, BAR International Series 313, Oxford, 1-37.
9. de la Vega, Garcilaso (1550?), "Libro Sexto de los Comentários Reales de los Incas", ch. XXII.
10. Gullberg, J.E. (1959), "Technical Notes on Concave Mirrors" in Excavations at La Venta, Tabasco, 1955, Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 170, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, USA, 280-283 and pl.62.
11. Craig, Vaughan, (1981), "Ore Microscopy and ore petrography", J. Wiley and Sons,.
12. Heizer, R.F., Gullberg, J.E.(1981), University of California, Berkeley,
in "Concave Mirrors from the Site of La Venta, Tabasco: Their Occurrence,
Mineralogy, Optical Description, and Function", Dumbarton Oaks Conference
on the Olmecs, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, 109-116.
NEW (2007) "Espejos precolombinos del Perú", Revista Cubana de Física, V. 24, N2, 2007, p.170 http://www.fisica.uh.cu/biblioteca/revcubfi/2007/vol24-No.2/rcf-2422007-170.PDF http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0702024
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