Some days you just get knocked on your ass by how recognizable people from ancient times are
Years ago someone posted on a forum I frequented about a find at an archaeological dig. A Roman plane to be precise. Made out of elephant ivory, rusty iron banding, and the remains of the iron and wedge. Apart from the material it was made of, which is rather unusual for certain, it's practically the same as some of the planes I own and use today. Mine were made out of beech or hornbeam in the 18th/19th/20th century England, Germany or Holland, but if you'd hand them to a Roman woodworker from 100 AD, they'd have no issue using them. Despite the many centuries between us, the craft still is.
Months ago I came across a picture of an ancient Egyptian box. What I noticed first and foremost was that the spacing of the dovetails was not only aesthetically pleasing, but also consistent all-around the box. Just like I would've (and have) done it today. I can't find the picture of what prompted this, possibly this one though it's hard to see under the stucco, but this box or this also shows the tasteful dovetail spacing. A lot of their furniture also is clearly built using pinned, possibly draw-bored1, tenons. Four millennia separating me and whoever made those things, and even though the enormous gulf of time, space, and language between us, still recognizable as kindred.
Today I painted a bird. Principal pigments? Ivory black, ochre, and umber. Carbon and iron oxide/rust with attitude. Mine were deliberately made, instead of dug out of the ground, or made from charred bones tossed into the fire after a meal, but in essence the same pigments used to paint cave paintings tens of thousands of years ago. Still painting the animals around us.
It really knocks you on your ass sometimes. Realizing the ways people have been peopling for as long as people have been people. The commonalities you share both with those that came inconceivably long before you, and those around you today. The threads you share and continue in the tapestry of humanity. Genuinely awe-inspiring.
A draw-bored tenon is just like a regular pinned tenon where the tenon is inserted in the mortise, drilled through, and glued and secured in place with a pin. With one marked difference, in a draw-bore the hole in the tenon is offset a smidge towards the shoulder which results in the tenon getting pulled in snug when the pin is driven in during glue-up. It's an extremely solid form of joinery.↩