History Main / LostTechnology

* More technology exists in ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'''s past than its present. Mars was once a technological paradise, the Erisians had some very developed medical and military technology and Io is also implied to have been very advanced before the Europans decided their neighbours' cities would look better as craters. In fact, most new Earthling technology is inferior reverse engineered Ancient Martian technology, with the possible exception of the rocket ship and some of Tesla's inventions.

May also show up in the guise of Lost Magic in fantasy settings. Often a consequence of NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup. Also see AdvancedAncientHumans, SufficientlyAdvanced and PointlessDoomsdayDevice. Compare BambooTechnology. A subtrope of OlderIsBetter. Frequently overlaps with SufficientlyAdvancedBambooTechnology. May lead to an ArchaeologicalArmsRace. For reasons why this tech became lost, see TechnologyErasureEvent.

May also show up in the guise of Lost Magic in fantasy settings. Often a consequence of NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup. Also see AdvancedAncientHumans, SufficientlyAdvanced and PointlessDoomsdayDevice. Compare BambooTechnology. A subtrope of OlderIsBetter. Frequently overlaps with SufficientlyAdvancedBambooTechnology. May lead to an ArchaeologicalArmsRace.

** Played with in RealLife by the US miltiary's "boneyard" in Arizona. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/309th_Aerospace_Maintenance_and_Regeneration_Group The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group]] is tasked with storing old aircraft ''because'' parts are this trope: companies went out of business, plans were lost or parts are uniquie to a make and model of aircraft no longer in production. Aircraft that are no longer airworthy are taken apart and the useful bits are sent to units that need them.

[[{{Precursors}} The Ancients]] had some pretty ''[[OlderIsBetter neat]]'' gear. Robots, weapons, [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy even the answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything.]] [[InWorkingOrder Easy to use]], little or no maintenance required, and [[RagnarokProofing after thousands of years of neglect often still in perfect working order]]!

** The now-extinct [[OurDwarvesAreDifferent Dwemer (Deep Elves or "Dwarves")]], were the most technologically advanced race known to have ever walked Tamriel. Blending SteamPunk machinery with [[{{Magitek}} masterful enchantments]] along with [[LoopholeAbuse bending the "Earthbones"]] (essentially the laws of physics and nature) allowed them to create technology far more advanced that any other race on Tamriel has come close to and has allowed their creations to [[RagnarokProofing last in working order for the thousands of years]] since [[RiddleForTheAges their disappearance]]. They are essentially a fantasy version of SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, leaving behind working lost technology such as {{Weather Control Machine}}s, HumongousMecha, and even a machine capable of safely reading [[TomeOfEldritchLore Elder Scrolls]]. Despite having ready access to Dwemer technology, no one else on Tamriel has been able to replicate their creations because, similar to the [[MakeMeWannaShout Thu'um of the dragons]], the Dwemer's technology runs on RealityWarper principles that no one else seems to be able to grasp.

* Incipient example: One very old woman in Sardinia is believed to be the last person able to craft lace from "sea silk", a thread-like material secreted by a type of sessile clams to anchor themselves to rocks. Such lace was hugely prized in the days before conventional silk-making had spread beyond China, but the technique for harvesting the clams' anchor-threads and processing them into lace seems destined to die with the woman, as she has refused to teach anyone else the method due to the clams in question being a protected species.