Built Before Machines

How the biggest structures of the pre-industrial world were actually built, told only from the evidence that survived. Every checkable claim carries a source on screen.

One question per episode, traced across the world. How did anyone move water with no pumps? How did stone stay up before it could hold itself? Roman aqueducts, Persian qanats, Gothic spires, Egyptian obelisks, Inca walls.

Every episode has a forgotten figure who did the work, one myth corrected on the record, and a By the Numbers card where every number is sourced.

Narration is an AI voice reading a script written with Claude and checked against sources. Illustrations are generated for each episode and labelled on screen. Real archival images are labelled as evidence.

Sources are listed in every video description. Corrections are logged at https://www.johnboydesign.com/errata and the important ones are read out on screen. Nothing gets quietly deleted.

New episodes every Tuesday.