Improved weaponry such as crossbows and the long bow had greatly increased range and power. The first part was a coulter at the bottom of the plough. http://members.aol.com/mcnelis/medsci_index.html, Langdon, J. A2A Actually, Jared Diamond answered that for you in his well written and very interesting book Guns, Germs, and Steel. As he says in his introduction, "Change almost always comes as a surprise because things don't happen in straight lines. In medieval Japan — the Kamakura Period to the Muromachi Period (1193-1573) — power shifted from the nobility to the warrior class. Copyright Kathleen Cohen, SJSU, sci02092. It is quite certain, however, that others, such as silk working, were transmitted to the West, and, however original the contribution of Western civilization to technological innovation, there can be no doubt at all that in its early centuries at least it looked to the … From this text, we know that the technology developed for mining in the Middle Ages included tools for digging and splitting rock, hauling implements, drainage pumps and ventilating machines. [10] The first design for a horse collar was a throat-and-girth-harness. Mechanical clocks were first used in China, more for astronomical and astrological purposes rather then for telling the time. Even since the dawn of the first human settlements in 5000 BC, agriculture has played a vital role in the development of every civilisation; over 6000 years later, this remains the case today. Previously, the cloth merchant functioned as a middleman between weavers and the market. Usually worn over or under leather, mail, and later plate armour.[57]. Although, this technology predated the 5th century, it was still extremely prevalent because of the low cost and the weapon technology at the time made the bronze armor of the Greeks and Romans obsolete. [endif]>THE PEASANTS, Advances in Agricultural Technology, http://www.vlib.us/medieval/lectures/peasants.html,                      Five Contributions of the Middle Ages, http://www.vlib.us/medieval/lectures/medieval_achievements.html,