When dazzled with the modern-day technologies, it’s easy to forget the small shifts in innovations that resulted in whatever we are enjoying today. Ancient inventions may seem too dwarf when compared to a spacecraft or humanoid robot, but you cannot ignore the fact that these innovations had not been possible without the firm scientific foundation laid by our ancestors. In recent years, historians have discovered many sites which suggest early civilizations had many advanced techniques in the field of Medicine, Mathematics, Astronomy, Metallurgy, Agriculture or even City Planning. In this blog, our assignment help team has mentioned a few examples of ancient technologies and inventions that confirm the ingenuity of our forefathers:

Neanderthal Tool Technique

In 2012, when a group of workers was digging the ground at a construction site in Southern Tuscany, they found the bones of a prehistoric elephant surfaced along with unique wooden tools. Archaeologists discovered that the artifacts were around 171,000 years old. After examining the tools for six long years, scientists stated that they were 171,000 years old. And, their design was exceptional as the handles were rounded, and tips were carved into points. Moreover, they were made from boxwood which is still the toughest timber found in Europe. Historians detected them to be scraped by stone tools and shaped by fire. The Poggetti Vecchi collection is evidence of advanced tool making techniques at work.

Ancient China’s Western Irrigation

Recently, when a group of Chinese researchers was flying a drone over the Tian Shan Mountains, they found an area full of vast ancient ruins. On exploring more, they noticed a grave and remains of an irrigation system that included canals, cisterns, and dams. It was discovered that the site which is now one of the driest deserts on Earth is 1700 years old. The remains of agriculture system suggest that it was once a farming site. Although Chinese history proposed that the knowledge was brought by soldiers from the Han dynasty around 206 BC- 22 AD, the new ruins supported an opposing suggestion that irrigation ideas happened earlier. And, in this case, came from the West via the Silk Road, the Tian Shan Mountains being an important linking point.

The Antler Arrow

During the filming of a documentary in Yukon, Canada, some crew members spotted a protrusion in the ice. They reported it to the Canadian Conservation Institute. It was found that the tool was 936 years old and was made of antler. Its surfaces featured spikes, and the end blade was made from copper. Later, it was ascertained that the Yukon ice fields used to be caribou hunting grounds. These lost tools showed how hunters used darts 8000 years ago. Whoever crafted the point used a copper nugget which was almost 100 percent pure. The instruments are one of the oldest examples of archery and copper metallurgy in Yukon.

Africa’s Glassmakers

The earliest pieces of man-made glasses were found from Mesopotamia, Egypt. And, for a long time, it had been assumed that glassmaking industries were first introduced in Europe. But recently, some glass beads were excavated from Igbo Olokun in southwestern Nigeria, and suggested that they were recycled ones. One interesting thing is that the chemical composition of these glass beads matched local materials and not the usual imports from Asia, Egypt, the eastern Mediterranean, and the Middle East. These locally produced glasses were extensively traded and also predated a European presence for centuries.

Ancient Fake Gold

In 2018, a test on alloys extracted from the Balkans Peninsula of Southern Europe suggested that it was counterfeit gold. And, in 2013, the world oldest tin-bronze statues were excavated from Serbia. Studies revealed that the ancient Serbians were so fascinated by gold that they created many ideas to fake it. Those imitated ones consisted of a mixture of many brown and red metals, such as iron, gold, arsenic, and copper. Researchers believe that the jewelries made from those alloys were so exotic that even their closest imitations were acceptable. This showed us the way to recreate every alloy possible from a copper-tin-arsenic combination.

Although we have come far ahead of our ancestors in terms of scientific findings and technological developments, we cannot ignore the fact that they shaped the foundation of our modern civilization. They achieved many great feats in arts, philosophy, science, architecture and many more. Well, some of their ideas may have been discarded in due time, many of them are still used.