The first eight chapters of this book have already been reviewed. This article will examine the last four chapters of: “Ancient Inventions”, copyright 1994 by Peter James and Nick Thorpe. The book represents a historical view of some discoveries and inventions, and their origins. It is divided into twelve chapters, each covering a different subject matter. The first four chapters (Medicine, Transportation, High Tech, and Sex Life) were commented on in an article titled “Ancient Inventions I”. The second four chapters (Military Technology, Personal Effects, Food, Drink, And Drugs, and Urban Life) were reviewed in an article titled “Ancient Inventions II”. Last four chapters of the book are titled: Working the Land, House and Home, Communications, Sport and Leisure.
The chapter titled “Working the Land” takes us back to the Stone Age when hunter/ gatherers as the pioneers of technology, made tools that resulted in working faster, easier, and more efficient. Since all the findings are based on the archeological records, it is emphasized that tools such as flint axes and scrapers found from archeological sites were all related to hunting. As a result, archeological records are absent with respect to gathering berries and fruits, as these tasks do not require many tools, outside of leather bags and woven baskets. Certain historical evidence of agriculture in some later periods were found, which is outlined by the book: “Peas and lentils in southern Iran, northern Syria and Jericho, in Israel, around 8,000 B.C. Beans and squashes in various parts of South America by 7,500 B.C. Taro (an edible root) in New Guinea around 7,000 B.C. Sheep and goats in northern Syria about 7,000 B.C. Cattle and pigs in southern Turkey around 6,500 B.C. Potatoes about 6,000 B.C. in the China Valley, near Lima, Peru (P.381)”. Ancient agriculture in different parts of the world is discussed, from caring for vegetation to picking fruits and making canals and dams for watering the land. Reaping machines are discussed next, and Pliny is quoted of a description of such tools for reaping corns in the first century A.D. Construction of watermills goes back to ancient time, the earliest record which exists from 20 B.C. watermills in Rome. Windmills in Near East could have been copied from Heron’s first century A.D. drawings, as they were designed in Iran or Afghanistan. In order not to use pesticides, some farms in utilize natural pest control, such as certain fertilization or providing the farm with animals that consume pests, i.e. owls. However, pest control seems to have been an issue from the earliest time of farming: “The earliest records of pesticide come, not surprisingly from China …Whole books survive from the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-A.D. 220) onward … to safeguard crops at every stage of the agricultural cycle, from sowing to storing the harvest (P. 395).” Beekeeping is investigated and the earliest evidence of beekeeping is found belonging to the period between 2550 and 2400 B.C. in Egypt. Also in ancient Egypt, evidence of fish and oyster farms is discovered. Because of the everyday use of flint, coal, and metal, drilling and mining were performed in almost every civilization of ancient world, which is discussed in detail. Finally, tunneling is examined at the end of the chapter.
Chapter ten is titled “house and home”. Making a shelter was probably one of the first changes Stone Age people made in nature and in order to protect them from harsh environment. As they lived in caves, fire became necessary for its illumination and warmth. The book estimates invention of fire to have happened about 1.5 million years ago. As a general description of this chapter, the book discusses tools and vessels for containing fire, structure of ancient houses, furniture (including discovery of a Persian carpet of 500 B.C.), and even pressing irons to fashion Vikings’ clothes! Then, it talks about mammoth-bone houses, domestication of cats and dogs, lavatories (and toilet papers), saunas and sweathouses, baths and showers, general heating, glass windows, keys and locks. Under the section titled “Lavatories”, the oldest invention of such buildings is mentioned: “the third millennium B.C. could be called the Age of Cleanliness, for during that time both toilets and sewers were invented in several widely separated parts of the world. What are probably the world’s earliest lavatories, dating to around 2800 B.C., have been found at the picturesque Late Stone Age village of Skara Brae, on the Orkney Islands, off the north coast of Scotland…At roughly the same date… lavatories were also being built into the outer walls of houses at the large city of Mohenjo-Daro, in the Indus Valley of Pakistan (P. 442).”
Communication is an enthralling chapter of this book that discusses earliest forms of communication which included symbols (later evolved into writing), calendars, invention of alphabets, codes and ciphers, shorthand, books and printing and publishing, encyclopedias, postal systems, pigeon post, and telegraphy. This chapter is a wealth of knowledge as it covers many aspects of communication. Clay tablets and symbols representing common use objects were the first modes of communication. From writing (or drawing) pictures or symbols of objects, to the invention of alphabets took one or two millennia, while going through its evolutionary process. Under calendar section, subtitled “World Cycles”, many ancient calendar systems including Mayan calendar is discussed, and the superstition of “end of the world Armageddon” is explained: “…Maya… worked with a 360-day year called a tun, divided into 18 months of 20 days; the 5 days left over from the 365-day year were counted as ‘days of ill omen.’ They also had a lunar calendar and the same 260-day period as the Zapotecs, which they called a tzolkin: days within it were referred to by intermeshing a cycle of 20 named days with the number sequence 1 through 13… The Mesoamericans were great believers in calendrical cycles, and the Maya established a ‘Long Count’ as part of this scheme. The basis of the ‘Long Count’ was the tun of 360 days, with twenty tuns making a katun (7,200 days), twenty katuns making a baktun (144,000 days), and thirteen baktuns forming a ‘Great Cycle’ (1,872,000 days, or about 5,130 years), at the end of which the Maya believed that they and all things would cease to be. According to the standard interpretation, the ‘Long Count’, and with it the world, will end on December 24, A.D. 2011 (P. 491).” There is a table on page 496 that compares seven days of the week with planets sun, moon, mars, mercury, Jupiter, venus, and Saturn, and with what these days were called in Babylonian, Roman, Saxon of ancient times, and what they are called now in English, French and Italian. Alphabets are discussed from its beginning with shapes, and its progression into hieroglyphic form through its relationship with zodiac. The invention of alphabet is believed to go back to the early second millennium B.C. by the ancestors of Phoenicians, according to the book. Creation of codes and ciphers is discussed in detail before the full discussion on airmail (using pigeons) and pony express that was invented by Persians.
The last chapter of the book is titled “Sports and Leisure”. This is the most diverse chapter of the book, detailing ancient musical instruments, games, sports, gardening, zoos, theaters, music sheet, fireworks, playing cards, and other amusing leisurely inventions such as dolls for children: “If one were to ask the question How did people amuse themselves in ancient times? the answer would be simple: They had developed practically every form of leisure activity enjoyed by people in the twentieth century before the advent of radio, the cinema and TV (P. 549)”. It is important to reiterate that this book was published in 1994; in addition, one may add to radio, television and cinema, computers as well. Some of the “firsts” mentioned in this chapter are:
- Bullfighting did not originate in Spain but in Greece, around 2000 B.C.
- Olympia in Southern Greece was the place where first Olympic Games were held in 776 B.C.
- In third century B.C., a Chinese game called “t’su chu” was played with a leather ball that is considered to be the ancestor of soccer.
- The game of polo was invented in Persia around 5020 B.C.
- Badminton is originated in China as well in about 2,000 years ago, in a different format, which was brought to England in fourteen century and was named shuttlecock. However, modern badminton is derived from a game invented by the Duke of Beaufort in Badminton, Gloucestershire.
- Around 15 B.C., Romans invented propagating plants.
- The oldest botanical garden found was in Egypt of 15th century B.C.
- Origination of zoos also goes back to the same period in Egypt. However, the oldest existing zoo is Regent’s Park Zoo in London.
- A bull-roarer of fifteen thousand years ago discovered in La Roche, France is considered to be the oldest musical instrument found.
- The oldest written music unearthed was an inscribed stone found in Delphi, Greece.
- Chinese invented playing cards by at least the ninth century A.D.
Discovery of reliefs from 1300 B.C. in central Turkey shows acrobatic acts including sword-swallowing. A section titled “The Mexican Ball Game” starts with this paragraph: “The most extraordinary sport of the ancient world was without doubt the sacred ball game of Central America and the southern United States. It was first played in about 1000 B.C. by the Olmecs, who lived along the Bay of Mexico, and by all the later great civilizations of the region. From its very start it was played by the most important members of society. The colossal Olmec heads- carved from basalt brought down from mountains fifty miles away and weighing up to forty-four tons- show Olmec rulers wearing head coverings. A plausible explanation is that these are protective helmets (like those of modern players) worn by the Olmecs when playing their sacred ball game (P. 560).” This subject is continued in next paragraphs with an astounding conclusion: “… players had to pass it [the ball] to their teammates using their hips, elbows, or legs, without letting it run into the other side’s end of the court…Star players were able to hit the ball up through the ring on the side of the court, thereby winning the game… the losing team may have paid the ultimate price for defeat… being decapitated as a sacrifice to the gods (P. 561)”.
This history of everyday used articles as well as mechanical, surgical, and professional used machineries and tools is very interesting and inspiring. One can decipher many fascinating aspects of ancient societies and government and people’s daily lives from the pages of this book. A very interesting, and also sad, conclusion we can make studying this book is how all innovations and technological advances suddenly halted in Europe around the fifth century A.D., to resurface more than a thousand years later as new inventions! Now we can understand why the centuries of Middle Ages of Europe were called the Dark Ages. The same thing can be said about religious obstacle in other parts of the world. The oldest known empire fell in the hands of some nomads of Arabia under the leadership of Omar, second successor to Mohammad, as a result of many factors including corruption and perversion of the courtiers in the last two decades of the empire. Nomads, who had been paying homage to Iranian kings for centuries, banded together under the flag of Islam. Their aim of attack was to exploit the riches of Persian Empire, and to revenge their lower status. But they found much more than what they hoped for. Using the wealth of knowledge and progress of the Iranian society, they were able to conquer the whole Near East, most of Africa and some of Europe. They transferred the knowledge they gained from each of the conquered lands, and enriched the following nations, especially European societies of the Dark Ages. However, the same religious obstacle stopped further progress in so called ‘Moslem World’. We can witness the same religious impediment to the growth of knowledge and technology today, in all religious infested countries of Asia and Africa, and even in technologically advanced countries such as the US.
The book, Ancient Inventions, discovers the falsehood of some of our general and established understandings that ‘Marco Polo introduced pasta and fireworks to the West’ or ‘Michael Faraday invented magic lanterns’ or ‘gunpowder was invented in Europe’. Archeological finds prove that all these assumptions and many others mentioned in the book are not accurate and some of our new technologies have already been invented many centuries before. The book is entertaining and educational, to say the least!
