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Much of it relies, like all historical examination, on documentary matter, although this is sparse for the early civilizations due to the overall lack of curiosity in technology on the a part of scribes and chroniclers. For these societies, subsequently, and for the many millennia of earlier unrecorded historical past by which slow however substantial technological advances had been made, it is essential to rely closely upon archaeological proof. The historian of technology have to be prepared to make use of all these sources, and to name upon the abilities of the archaeologist, the engineer, the architect, and different specialists as applicable. Inventions have foundered as a end result of the social assets important for their realization—the capital, materials, and expert personnel—were not out there. The notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci are filled with ideas for helicopters, submarines, and airplanes, but few of these reached even the model stage as a outcome of sources of 1 type or one other have been lacking. The resource of capital entails the existence of surplus productiveness and a corporation capable of directing the obtainable wealth into channels during which the inventor can use it.