15 Most Mysterious Ancient Technologies In The World

rome wasn't built in a day or so the expression goes it is a testament attesting to the need for time to create great things another expression good things come to those who wait is also another way to express the same thing sometimes all you need to achieve greatness is a little bit of time centuries even whether it's egyptians mastering pyramids the creation of the first automatic door or programmable robots that play music here are the 15 most mysterious ancient technologies in the world don't forget to smash the like button subscribe to the supreme and click the notification bell for more lit content let's get rolling number 15 pyramid building the techniques used to build the giza pyramids were developed over a period of centuries with all of the problems and setbacks that any modern day scientists or engineer would face but with more blood sweat and probably tears pyramids originated from simple rectangular mustaba tombs that were being constructed in egypt over 5000 years ago but a major advance occurred during the reign of the pharaoh doser whose reign started around 2630 bc his mustaba tomb started off as a simple rectangular tune before being developed into a six-layered step pyramid with underground tunnels and chambers another leap in pyramid building techniques came around 2575 bc when architects developed methods to design smooth-faced true pyramids using a central ramp flanked by two staircases with numerous potholes a sled which carried a stone block was attached with ropes to those wooden posts and ancient egyptians were able to pull up the blocks out of the quarry on very steep slopes and although back-breaking work building pyramids was considered a good job to have workers willingly volunteered to build and were paid on a daily basis they were also given complementary food to keep them healthy and strong as the stones were heavy and they had little technology to help them it's almost impossible to believe that humans did all the work manually and research is still being carried out into what tools the egyptians of that era use to attain such precision in measurement and alignment number 14 wild roman technicolor cup the 1600 year old glass goblet does something very magical it changes color from jade green to blood red depending on the direction of its illumination with the light source from the front the goblet appears green from the rear it changes dramatically to red this is called dichroic behavior roman craftsmen who created this work of art either knew about the science behind it or stumbled unknowingly onto its special characteristics as they might have put it felix accidente a happy accident the romans may have been the first to discover the colorful potential of nanoparticles by accident the lycurgus cup is a very rare example of a roman caged cup or diatratum the glass has been painstakingly cut and grounded back to leave only a decorative cage on the surface with extreme undercutting instead of the more common abstract geometric design the lysa gergis cup contains beautifully detailed human figures it shows the mythical king of lysergus who attempted to kill ambrosia a follower of the god dioncius she was transformed into a vine that twined around the enraged king killing him diontius and two followers are shown taunting the king the cup is thought to have been made in either alexandria or rome around 290 to 325 a.d but it wasn't until 1990 that researchers examined small broken shards under an electron microscope and discovered the secret whether or not the romans stumbled into it the artesians were truly nanotechnology pioneers nanoparticles of gold in the glass of a microscope level is the reason for the color of change number 13 earthquake detector the first seismometer a machine that responds to movement in the ground was invented in china in 132 a.d by a chinese inventor called zhang hin when the instrument sensed an incoming seismic wave one of the balls would drop and the sound would alert observers to the earthquake giving a rough indication of the earthquake's direction of origin the device is said to have been very accurate and could detect earthquakes from afar and did not rely on shaking or movement in the location where the instrument was positioned the ancient chinese did not understand that earthquakes were caused by the shifting of tectonic plates in the earth's crust instead the people explained them as disturbances with cosmic yin and yang along with the heavens displeasure with acts committed or the common people's grievances ignored by the current ruling dynasty considering the ancient chinese believed seismic events were important signs from heaven it was important for the chinese leaders to be alerted to earthquakes occurring anywhere in their kingdom and the designer was a really big deal zhang hing was an astronomer mathematician engineer geographer and inventor who was renowned for inventing the world's first water-powered armillary sphere with astronomical observation improved the water clock and documented about 2 500 stars in a detailed star catalog he's also widely believed to have invented the first odometer too number 12 world's first computer 115 years ago an archaeologist was sifting through objects found in the wreck of a two thousand year old vessel off a greek island beautiful vases and pots jewelry a bronze statue of an ancient philosopher and the most peculiar thing a series of brass gears and dials mounted in a case the size of a mantle clock archaeologists dubbed the instrument the antikythera mechanism the genius and mystery of the piece of ancient greek mythology arguably the world's first computer and if you look into the machine you see evidence of at least two dozen gears laid neatly on top of one another calibrated with the precision of a master crafted swiss watch in 1959 after a careful study of the gears it was determined that the mechanism was used to predict the position of the planets and stars in the sky depending on the calendar month a main gear would move to represent the calendar year and would in turn move many separate smaller gears to represent the motions of the planets sun and moon it was a computer in the sense that you as a user could input a few simple variables and it would yield a flurry of complicated mathematical calculations this ancient clock had its code written into the mathematical ratios of its gears all the user had to do was enter the main date on one gear and through a series of subsequent gear turns the mechanism could calculate things like the angle of the sun crossing the sky this is amazing considering mechanical calculators which used gear ratios to add and subtract didn't arrive in europe until the 1600s number 11 world's first battery a 2200 year old clay jar found near baghdad iraq has been described as the oldest known electric battery in existence the clay jar and others like it are part of the holdings of the national museum of iraq and have been attributed to the parthian empire an ancient asian culture that ruled most of the middle east from 247 bc to ad228 the jar itself had been dated to sometime around 200 bc the nondescript earthen jar is only five and a half inches high by three inches across the opening was sealed with an asphalt plug which held in place a copper sheet rolled into a tube this tube was capped at the bottom with the copper disc held in place by more asphalt a narrow iron rod was snuck through the upper asphalt plug and hung down into the center of the copper tube not touching any part of it fill the jar with an acidic liquid such as vinegar or fermented grape juice and you have yourself a battery capable of generating a small current the acidic liquid permits a flow of electrons from the copper tube to the iron rod when the two metal terminals are connected experiments with models of the baghdad battery have generated between one and a half to two volts not a lot of power so what would batteries have been used for for two thousand years ago it's well known that the greeks and romans used certain species of electric fish in the treatment of pain they'd literally go stand on a live electric eel until their gout pained feet went numb perhaps the battery was used as a ready source of less slimy electricity other theories hold that several batteries could have been linked together to generate a higher voltage for the use in electroplating gold to a silver surface more experiments with several baghdad type batteries have shown this to be possible number 10 age-old automatic doors the first use of doors of any kind at all can be traced back to the ancient egyptians when they first used them on tombs the ancient greeks also began to incorporate them into the builds in order to separate houses from the outdoors and for use internally to define different living spaces the greeks may not have been the first to make doors but they're actually credited with having invented the world's first version of an automated model dating back to the first century a.d the famous mathematician hurran used a hydraulic system which relied on heavy water displacement in order to move the doors of an important greek temple in alexandria the famous greek mathematician invented an automatic door system using a series of ropes and pulleys water was heated by a large fire and pumped into containers which activated the opening system iran is most commonly known for his early in pioneering work in the field of mechanics and he was a talented inventor number nine greek fire or ancient flame thrower perhaps the bryzen teen people used this 7th century arsenal to repel arab invasions for years particularly at sea while greek fire wasn't the first incendiary weapon it was arguably the most historically significant one greek fire was a liquid weapon devised by the byzantine empire which was the surviving greek speaking eastern half of the roman empire also called sea fire in liquid fire by the byzantines themselves it was heated pressurized and then delivered via a tube called a siphon greek fire was mainly used to light enemy ships on fire from a safe distance what made the weapon so unique and potent was its ability to continue burning in water which prevented enemy combatants from dousing the flames during naval wars it's possible that the flames burned even more vigorously upon contacting with water what's truly fascinating about greek's fire is that armies who captured the liquid concoction were unable to recreate it for themselves they often failed to recreate the machine that delivered it to this day nobody knows exactly what ingredients went into the mixture to make matters worse greek fire was a liquid concoction that stuck to whatever it touched be it a ship or a human flesh it was only extinguishable with one bizarre mixture vinegar mingled with sand and urine yup good old-fashioned pee number eight ultimate antidote just because you're paranoid doesn't mean people aren't out to get you just ask mithridates for rulers who lived during the era of ancient rome paranoia was a virtue with betrayal assassination and backstabbing happening on a constant basis to those who were in power one would be wise to develop methods of self-protection mithridates took it upon himself to ensure that he would not meet the same fate as his father he began a regimen of regularly consuming poisons being careful to take doses that were below the lethal level he believed that the constant exposure would build him an immunity to being poisoned by his enemies it was also during this time that a legend sprung up about a special mixture of herbs and other ingredients to create an antidote to any poison this antidote was later known as a methadrate after the name of its inventor and rather than die at the hands of an unruly mob waiting outside it was here that mithridates decided that he would take the noble way out as was custom for the time by committing suicide his method of choice poison unfortunately it turned out that his body really was immune to the effects of the poison and he did not die from a suicidal dose despite what he drank there are two different accounts of how he died the first account claims that he gave his sword to his close friend and had him do the deed the second account in cassius jio's roman history claims that he was unable to end his own life with either poison or sword and instead let his fate at the hands of the rebels either way the story has one constant the man who feared assassination by poison was unable to die from it true irony number 7 ancient roman concrete by analyzing the mineral components of the cement taken from the italian breakwater at the laboratory of berkeley university as well as facilities in saudi arabia and germany the international team of researchers was able to discover the secret to roman cement's durability they found that the romans made concrete by mixing lime and volcanic rock to form a mortar to build underwater structures this mortar and volcanic tuff were packed into wooden forms the sea water then triggered a chemical reaction though which water molecules hydrated the lime and reached within the ash to cement everything together the resulting calcium aluminum silicate hydrate bond is exceptionally strong by comparison portland cement the most common modern concrete blend lacks the lime volcanic ash combination and doesn't bind well compared with roman concrete portland cement in use for almost two centuries tends to wear particularly quickly in seawater with a service life of less than 50 years in addition the production of portland cement produces a sizeable amount of carbon dioxide one of the most damaging of the so-called greenhouse gases in addition to being more durable than portland cement argue roman concrete also appears to be more sustainable to produce to manufacture portland cement carbon is emitted by the burning fuel used to heat a mix of limestone and clays to 2642 degrees fahrenheit as well by the heated limestone itself to make their concrete romans used much less time and made it from limestone baked at 1652 degrees fahrenheit or lower a process that used up much less fuel number 6 damascus steel the art of producing the famous damascus steel blades found in many museums and collections worldwide was lost long ago you can see the interesting marks on the unique forged steel what you can't see is how strong and sharp these weapons are recently however research has established strong evidence supporting the theory that the distinct surface patterns on these blades result from a carbon banding phenomenon produced by the micro segregation of minor amounts of carbide forming elements present in the steel from which the blades were forged the remarkable characteristics of damascus steel became known to europe when the crusaders reached the middle east beginning in the 11th century they discovered that swords of this metal could split a feather in mid-air yet retained their edge throughout many battles the swords were easily recognized by characteristic watery or damask pattern on their blades through the ages perhaps from the time of alexander the great in the 4th century bc the armorers who made swords shields and armor from such steel were rigidly secretive regarding their method with the advert of firearms the secret was lost and never fully rediscovered number five steam engine heron the great inventor of alexandria described in detail what is thought to be the first working steam engine he called it an e-alla pile or windball it's a sphere that's positioned in such a way that it can rotate around its axis nozzles that are opposite to each other would expel stream in both of the nozzles would generate a combined thrust resulting in torque causing the sphere to spin around its axis the rotation force speeds up the sphere up to the point where the resistance from the traction in air brings it to a stable rotation speed iran's design was a sealed cauldron of water placed over a heat source as the water boiled steam rose into the pipes and into the hollow sphere the steam escaped from two bent outlet tubes on the ball resulting in rotation of the ball the principle he used in the design is similar to that of today's jet propulsion but strangely iran did not consider this invention being useful for everyday applications he considered his hialofline invention as a novelty a remarkable toy this invention was forgotten and never used properly until 1577 when the steam engine was reinvented by the philosopher astronomer and engineer taku al-din but he basically described the same device as heron did a method for rotating a spit by using jet streams on the periphery of a wheel iran had no idea of the magnitude of his genius the steam engine helped to power the industrial revolution before steam power most factories and mills were powered by water wind horse or man water was a good source of power but factories had to be located near a river both water and wind power could be unreliable as sometimes rivers could be dried up or during a drought or freeze during the winters and winds didn't always blow number four viking navigation was masterful often regarded as ruthless robbers the vikings were also impressive mariners capable of traversing the north atlantic along a nearly straight line now new interpretations of a medieval compass suggest the sea robbers may have skillfully used the sun to operate the compass even when the sun had set below the horizon the remains of the supposed compass known as the unitark disc were found in greenland in 1948 and an 11th century convent though some researchers originally argued it was simply a decorative object other researchers have suggested the disc was an important navigational tool that the vikings would have used in their roughly sixteen hundred mile long trek from norway to greenland they concluded that although the disc could have functioned as a single entity it was more likely used in conjunction with other tools the researchers think that to locate the sun after sunset the vikings could have used a pair of crystals known as sunstones which are calcite stones that produce patterns when they're exposed to the polarization of uv rays within sunlight when the crystals are held up to the sky the orientation of these patterns cast within the stone can help pinpoint the position of the sun below the horizon though only half of the wooden disk remains it's estimated to have been roughly 2.8 inches in diameter with a now lost central pin that would have cast a shadow from the sun indicative of a cardinal direction number 3 china's big drills although petroleum's current status as the key component of politics society and technology has its roots in the early 20th century the petroleum industry is not a new thing more than 3 000 years ago petroleum was known as a burning water by ancient chinese people the first discovery and exploration of oil and gas is actually a wonderful play of salt bamboo and gas salt is always playing significant roles in people's everyday lives and therefore in the economy and politics of a region or country for thousands of years ancient china is no exception early in 347 a.d salt whales were drilled in the southwest of china to pump brine to be evaporated during this process collecting enough fuel is a big problem some careful people found lots of gas and oil coming out together with brine unfortunately they can be burned so people drilled some new oil and gas wells over 700 feet nearby and carried them to saw springs through certain pipes the local light and hollow bamboo pole is also a key point during these processes because it can act as not only a drill pipe but also pipelines to connect gas wells with saw springs some great gas fields are found in this place in recent decades in this play salt bamboo and gas are all indispensable and the lack of every element would lead to the failure of that first great petroleum well or breakthrough in petroleum history but it's just the power of nature that dramatically grants this place with salt mines petroleum resources and a good climate for bamboo all at the same time techniques on drilling wells and choosing well sites were recorded and spread quickly around the world this exploration and development of petroleum soon played great roles in the dawn of the modern petroleum industry number two programmable robots constructing a mechanical lion that could walk let alone present flowers to the king can't have been an easy task back in 1515 even for a genius like leonardo da vinci how he managed this feat remained a mystery until 2000 when u.s robotic experts came to a surprising conclusion pulling together fragments of notes and drawings they figured out that the lion was almost certainly powered by a clockwork cart illustrated in da vinci's codex atlanticus intriguingly rosheim suggested that the cart's steering mechanism was controlled by arms attached to the rotating gears with this design it would have been possible to control the automation's movement simply by changing the position of these arms in other words da vinci's line was not only clockwork it was also programmable in the 13th century engineer al jarrazzi also created a veritable boatload of programmable robot musicians effectively a floating jukebox designed to entertain nobles as they drank and lounged at royal pool parties al jazeery's programmable robot relied on a mechanism more like that of a music box this robot was al jazeery's drinking boat which he wrote about in 1206 in the book of knowledge of ingenious mechanical devices on board the boat were for mechanical musicians two drummers a harpist and a flautist al-jazari described how they would burst into life every half hour and play music for a few minutes continuing in the fashion for several hours without intervention number one ancient calendar research carried out last year on an ancient site that was excavated by the national trust for scotland in 2004 revealed that it contained a sophisticated calendar system that is approximately 10 000 years old making it the oldest calendar ever discovered in the world the site at warren field crates aberdeenshire contains a 160 foot long row of 12 pits which were created by stone age britons and which were in use from around 8000 bc the early mesolithic period to around 4000 bc the early neolithic the pits were formed in a complex arc designed in which each lunar month was divided into three roughly 10 day weeks representing the waxing moon the full moon and the waning moon it also allowed the observation of the mid-winter sunrise so that the lunar calendar could be recalibrated each year to bring it back in line with the solar year the entire arc represents a whole year and may also reflect the movements of the moon across the sky resorts revealed that the pit appears to represent the months of the year as well as the lunar phases of the moon making this remarkable ancient site 5000 years older than the oldest known calendar from the bronze age that was 15 of the most mysterious ancient technologies in the world thanks for watching

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Keywords: most, mysterious, most mysterious, mystery, ancient, ancient technologies, technologies, technology, ancient technology, ancient mystery, ancient discoveries, in the world, discoveries, discovered, discovery, mysterious discoveries, top15, top 15, the supreme, countdown, incredible, interesting videos, incredible videos, unbelievable, mysterious technology, amazing structures, ancient inventions, cant explain, mysterious buildings, oldest technologies, top, lists, ancient archaeology, 2020

Id: toB_uPcvMm4

Length: 23min 49sec (1429 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 09 2020