We tend to believe that the ancients weren’t that sophisticated (let’s exclude the word “smart” as it’s incorrect). Sure, they knew a thing or two. After all, somehow they managed to build the pyramids, invent the Archimedes’ screw, create paper and if we think about it, they built and invented many other things as well, but all in all, it is now that we have the really sophisticated technology: computers, electricity, nanotechnology and modern science.
But what if it isn’t exactly true, and our ancestors had much more sophisticated technology than we normally imagine? How deep is this rabbit hole, and what secrets it hides?
Let’s dive into the past and discover it together, focusing on three advanced technologies that normally we do not associate with ancient times, and another finding that may change everything we think of the past, and we can’t explain to this day.
3. Analog Computer
Computers are machines that preform computations or automatic work. Today we normally think about general purpose computers, on which we browse the internet, play games and watch movies, but there is the other type of computers that are built for a specific purpose – special-purpose computers. Such computers help us to drive cars, control airplanes, operate washing machines or the microwave ovens, irrigate plants, perform mathematical calculations (pocket calculator), tune the guitar (electrical tuner) or show us the time (an electrical watch).
A computer of that type was discovered in the sea in 1901, near the Greek island Antikythera. One important fact differs this computer from the described above: it is dated somewhere between 205 BC to 60 BC. This analogue computer, known as the “Antikythera mechanism”, puzzled the scientists for a long time, and to this day not all its mysteries are unveiled. Instead of electronics and digital signals, the computer was built from more than 30 gears, probably 37, that were arranged in a sophisticated manner and after so many years in the sea required an X-ray tomography to be detected. The complex mechanism was covered with letters, and it is believed that it was used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses for calendar and astrological purposes decades in advance. Also, it could be used to track the four-year cycle of athletic games.
The computer followed the movements of the Moon and the Sun, predicted eclipses and even modeled the irregular orbit of the Moon, where the Moon’s velocity is higher in its perigee than in its apogee. The knowledge of this technology was lost at some point in antiquity. Similar technological works later appeared in the medieval Byzantine and Islamic worlds, but works with similar complexity did not appear again until the development of mechanical astronomical clocks in Europe in the 14th century.
Who built it and how come we have only a single copy of such a machine, which seems too polished to be a unique example? We still don’t have a full answer to these questions.
2. Baghdad Battery
Ancient Egyptian texts dating from 2750 BCE referred to electric fish as the “Thunderer of the Nile”. The Romans Pliny the Elder and Scribonius Largus discussed the electric shocks delivered by electric catfish and electric rays (also a type of a fish), and knew that such shocks could travel along conducting objects. However, back then electricity wasn’t yet researched, and its identification had to wait hundreds of years until the 17th century, when its study finally began.
Nevertheless, in 1936 in Iraq a set of three artifacts was discovered: a ceramic pot, a tube of copper, and a rod of iron. They were discovered in a place which in the past was close to the metropolis of Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthian (150 BC – 223 AD) and Sasanian (224–650 AD) empires, and they are dated to these periods.
According to one of the theories, these artifacts were in fact a galvanic cell – an electrochemical cell that could product electrical current. It was found that they were filled with some kind of acid, like wine or vinegar, that together with the tube and the rod could generate electricity. The Parthians could use it for electroplating gold onto silver objects (a process of depositing a layer of a desired metal on another material by means of electricity), or for some kind of electrotherapy or a sacred ceremony.
Multiple experiments were held to test the theory: In the 1970s, Dr. Arne Eggebrecht, a German Egyptologist, reported success in electroplating with silver using replicas of the battery, but this experiment was undocumented. In The Discovery Channel program MythBusters a replica was built and tests showed that connecting ten similar cells together can produce about 4 volts of electricity – not bad considering that many modern devices work only on 3.3 volts and our USB connectors provide just a bit more than that, 5 volts, which is enough to charge our mobile phones, tablets and headsets.
There are some challenges with the electrical usage hypothesis: Only a single set of such artifacts was found, there is no other evidences of electricity usage in ancient times in this area, and there are challenges in connecting this battery with some kind of wires or conductors, making it not a complete “electric kit”. Because of these and some other reasons, another hypothesis claims that this set was used for storing sacred scrolls. On the other hand, in modern times, electroplating was discovered multiple times independently. Taking that in mind, an ancient inventor could discover the same process as well.
Some sceptics don’t believe that in fact electricity was produces by these artifacts, and while they have some good reasons for it, the electrical explanation is still possible.
1. Nanotechnology
The competition over the last item in our list was fierce: The ancient Peruvians built amazing structures like Sacsayhuamán with gigantic heavy stones, that seems to be heated to a melting temperature (more than 1000 degrees Celsius) to move the stones, place them and line them up extremely tightly. All that about 1000 years ago.
The Indians created an iron column that withstand corrosion to this day.
Damascus Steel was a legendary (and real) steel, that its method of creation was forgotten and its quality was re-achieved only in modern times, while the original method of producing the steel is not known and modern attempts to duplicate the metal have not been entirely successful.
The Byzantines had a liquid that burned in water and was used in naval battle. It was known as “Greek fire” (also known as “sea fire”, “Roman fire”, “war fire”, “liquid fire”, “sticky fire”, or “manufactured fire”) – another forgotten technology.
By Rahil Alipour Ata Abadi – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., GFDL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50800188
The Greeks had a steam engine 2000 years ago that was invented by Heron of Alexandria, also known as Hero of Alexandria. Born Roman Egypt, Hero became a mathematician and an engineer, and invented the windwheel, the vending machine, a fully mechanical play, a programmable cart that was powered by a falling weight and the “program” consisted of strings wrapped around the drive axle (in short: a robot), and many other amazing inventions. Looks like Heron deserves an article of his own. One of his amazing creations was the aeolipile, the first steam powered device. It is not clear whether it was practically used, but it worked and then disappeared, forgotten. The re-invention of the steam engine had to wait for hundreds of years until the next engine was built in the 16th-17th centuries. Just imagine what could happen if the Greeks would take it one step farther. The industrial revolution could start more than 2000 years ago. I see a potential for a whole new sub-genre of Steampunk here, ancient Greek based, where Hero of Alexandria is actually a hero – a legendary scientist and an inventor like Einstein, Edison and Tesla.
But I’m diverging from the subject. Our last item goes to relatively not that ancient past, “only” the 4th century, but it’s here due to its astounding look and qualities. We are talking about the Lycurgus Cup.
The cup is full of decorations showing the mythical King Lycurgus, who tried to kill Ambrosia, a follower of the god Dionysus (the Olympian god of wine). She was transformed into a vine that wrapped around the king, and choked him to death.
But the decorations, or the story, aren’t the most fascinating part – the most special part in this cup is its glass. The cup changes colors from red to green, depending on whether or not light is passing through it: red when the light passes from behind and green when it passes from the front. It is the only complete Roman glass object made from this type of glass – a glass that can change colors thanks to nanotechnology.
In the 4th century someone was able to put a tiny proportion of nanoparticles of gold and silver throughout the glass material. The glass is composed from 330 parts per million of silver and 40 of gold. Their size is only about 70 nanometers across, and they are embedded in the glass, so they cannot be seen by optical microscopy, and a transmission electron microscope is needed instead.
How was it done? No one knows. Some claim that it was more of a mistake than planned, and the material was “contaminated” with some gold and silver dust that was present in the workshop. Or, maybe without knowing the exact details, on some level the creators knew what happened, and understood that being near both gold and silver somehow affects the glass to create this wonderful affect, maybe they even understood more than that.
Probably we will never know how that piece of wonder was made, and how, back then, nanotechnology could have been applied, but we are glad that we still have this magnificent cup to look at, and to keep wondering.
Bonus: Nanotechnology, Again
What if what we know about civilization on earth wasn’t true? Could we adjust ourselves to absolutely new ideas and different history than what we used to? What if these questions were not only theoretical, but also practical?
In Ural Mountains, in 1991 [1], ancient nano-structures were found. They have a spring or spiral-like forms, and while the biggest ones are barely visible, the smallest particles are about 300 nanometer (0.0003 millimeter) in size.
The weird part is that the pieces were found in a geological layers dated between 20,000 and 318,000 years old. The Russian Academy of Sciences performed the analysis and came to conclusion that the pieces are mostly copper, tungsten and molybdenum [2].
Some say that they are actually not that old and a mistake occurred during the measurements. There are claims that these are some parts from an early soviet rocket testing facilities. The problem with that approach is that it does not explain the usage of these particles in rockets – how they were used, and why they come in these tiny sizes? This theory also relies on a series of many mistakes performed by geologists. Dr. Elena Veniaminova Matveeva, head of the Central Scientific Research Department of Geology and Exploitation of Precious Metals in Moscow claimed that not only that these particles are probably of a technological origin, but also many other similar and other weird particles were found over the years not only in Ural, but also in Altai and even near Moskov – it’s just that they didn’t had much time or funds to seriously examine them, except for a basic spectroscopic analysis [3].
More than revealing our past, these particles teach us about our present: what if some advanced ancient civilization lived here on earth, hundreds of thousands of years ago? Or some alien race visited here? Or even a time travel occurred? We may never know – these particles can be a result of a set of many different measurement errors or they can be a new view of the past.
It OK to put in doubt any claim, it’s even important. But doubtful as we may be, it’s also important not to quickly reject ideas, without seriously considering and studying them. To simply cancel an idea just because it sounds fantastic, without giving it some thought, is disrespectful to ourselves because normally, it’s much easier to throw some “they did a mistake”, “it was a coincidence” or even “that’s not what really happened”, than to give it a chance, examine it seriously and to find an explanation that is supported by data. And sometimes, we even may not be able find the right answer, ever.
It’s a matter of approach – even if the above finding is indeed a mistake, there can be another one which is real and equally unbelievable. The question is, will we be able to accept that?
[1] Ancient Nanostructures Found Out of Place and Time. BY LEONARDO VINTINI, November 6, 2014. The Epoch Times (link).
[2] Unfortunately, we were not able to find the original report number 18/485 from 29 November 1996 ZNIGRI (TsNIGRI) or the original article: Новгородова М. И., Недашковская Н. Н., Рассказов А. В., Трубкин Н. В., Семенов Е. И., Кошелев Б. Л. Самородный вольфрам с включениями оксида иттрия из аллювия р. Большая Полья (Приполярный Урал) // Доклады Академии Наук, 1995, том 340, №5. С. 681-684., but we did find lots of references to this article: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8).
[3] ВОЛЬФРАМОВАЯ ТАЙНА РЕКИ НАРАДЫ. Лескова Наталия, из номера 182 за 10 Октября 2002г. «Труд» (link). На Приполярном Урале найдены следы исчезнувшей цивилизации? ЮЛИЯ СМИРНОВА, 21.08.3, комсомольская правда (link). Версия 1: Вольфрамовые пружинки – останки космического корабля? 18.09.3, комсомольская правда (link). Пружинки «вырастили» наши древние предки? ЮЛИЯ СМИРНОВА, 30.10.3, комсомольская правда (link). Микpоскопические детали с pеки Hаpада, Вадим Л. Андреев (link).
Featured Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay.