Quote:
people making a "flying balloon" based on a diagram of DaVinci's.
I always wonder about these efforts. Do you stick fanatically to what materials would have been available to him at the time, or do you 'improve' on them? Show that the design was "basically sound, if only he'd had access to foamed steel" to show his ancient Genius?
I guess it depends on what you're trying to prove.

It seems our modern population is torn between:

being sure that our current level of knowledge is entirely the product of our age, and distant forefathers couldn't have fashioned a brick wall without help from timetravellers, aliens or extradimensional helpers.

OR

being sure our ancestors knew a LOT more then has been retained, including all the answers to world peace and spiritual awakening and keeping razors sharp.