Has any technology or product gone extinct?

I racked my brain on this. The only thing I can think of so far is the wax cylinder phonograph, which I suppose would include the actual cylinders.
 
Yeekim said:
Hand-axes?

Also, mammoth bone dwellings :p
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In one of my anthropology classes back in the '80s, the instructor showed us a video of an archaeologist making hand-axes. The knowledge of how to do it still exists. And if you ever get caught in a situation where you need a knife and don't have one, it would be a pretty handy thing to know how to make.
 
Valka D'Ur said:
In one of my anthropology classes back in the '80s, the instructor showed us a video of an archaeologist making hand-axes. The knowledge of how to do it still exists. And if you ever get caught in a situation where you need a knife and don't have one, it would be a pretty handy thing to know how to make.
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Mankind would have to be in a sorry state indeed, if the knowledge of how to make a sharp rock were irretrievably lost. :D
 
It's not actually as easy as you might think. You need to find the right kind of rock, and know how to make the tools to make the tools. It's also dangerous to your hands, if you don't have good hand-eye coordination.
 
Valka D'Ur said:
It's not actually as easy as you might think. You need to find the right kind of rock, and know how to make the tools to make the tools. It's also dangerous to your hands, if you don't have good hand-eye coordination.
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Sure, I believe it might take a fair amount of practice. Still, the idea of "losing" this knowledge made me smile a bit.
 
You'd think it would be odd, considering how many tens of thousands of years ago it was first developed. But there really aren't very many of us in the First World who could cope with living off the land if we were suddenly put there without a knife or matches and nobody else around to get help from.
 
We probably couldn't do this even with an endless supply of ready-made hand-axes. :)

For that matter, I don't think our ancestors could, either. Survival was usually a group effort, a lone person would perish sooner rather than later.
EDIT: Also, obviously depends on the land.
 
How about equipment for alchemy? We now regard it as a pseudo-technology, but that's not how it was regarded in its day. Does anyone still produce an athanor?
 
Gori the Grey said:
How about equipment for alchemy? We now regard it as a pseudo-technology, but that's not how it was regarded in its day. Does anyone still produce an athanor?
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There are current tools which do the same thing. That appears to just be a specialized form of a kiln.
 
I seem to recall reading that the pigment used in certain blue dyes has been lost. Anyone got information on that
 
Payphones are still widespread in the UK.
 
I have a nokia. No Obamaphone's here.
 
Well om you got me there
 
Siege towers? (thanks Silurian)
 
What about Damascus steel?
 
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