7 Most "Advanced" inventions of Ancient Times

1. The “Baghdad Battery”: A strange clay jar was found in an ancient tomb in June 1936, when a section of earth was moved for a new railway near Baghdad. The tomb’s contents provided wealthy amounts of material, such as engraved bricks, glass and metal objects, pottery, and the strangest oval-shaped clay jar with strange contents. Inside this clay vase were a copper tube with one closed end, an iron rod, and some deteriorating pieces of asphalt. Mr. Walter Winter of the Science Museum in London examined the jar while in Baghdad. He was startled to find, that this trinket they had found was a battery! “Put some acid in the copper vessel—any acid, vinegar will do—and—hey presto!—you have a simple cell which will generate a voltage and give a current of electricity. Several of such cells connected together in series would make a battery of cells which could give enough current to ring a bell, light up a bulb, or drive a small electric motor.” With out a doubt, this item was a battery, and therefore could receive the credit it deserved. Later, more and more of these “batteries” started popping up all over Baghdad. Although the uses of these vessels are unknown, it is believed that alchemists used the jars. When replicas of the jars were tested with wine or vinegar, they could hold a charge of one-half volt for eighteen days!

2. Cars: The idea of propelling oneself with minimal effort and cost was an attractive idea, even in A.D. 550, when Kaots’aung Wu-Shu, a famous philosopher, built a wind driven carriage, capable of carrying thirty men for hundreds of miles in one day. Driven by a sail (like a boat) the carts were only affective with a wind however. Another idea for transportation was the rocket powered car, conceived by Giovanni di Fontana in 1425. It is unknown weather this idea was ever carried out.

3. The bikini: The bikini is not a recent invention, but rather a reintroduction of an old, forgotten one. In the first century A.D., a leather bottom fastened by long laces tied at the hips. There is a mosaic in a Sicilian villa of the fourth century, depicting an agile young woman wearing both parts.

4. Shaving razors: For nearly thirty thousand years, there is evidence of men trying to keep themselves clean and tidy. The earliest razors were most likely flint blades, which have extremely sharp edges. The volcanic glass Obsidian have been in use as recently as A.D. 1500 by the Aztecs and A.D. 1900 in central Africa. Many other tools and materials were developed to shave ones beard, such as bronze razors shaped like fans. While time progressed, razors got more elaborate, and were often decorated.

5. Poison gas: At first, a useful military tool was used fighting off insects rather than other humans. The Chinese and Egyptians used poisonous gas to rid their houses of fleas (just like and ancient flee bomb). Later, the Chinese took this tool a step further, and altered it to make a chemical weapon to wipe out opponents in war. The way they used poison gas is quite simple. When enemies would try to undermine their city in an attempt to get in, they would secretly tap into those tunnels with terra-cotta pipes. They would then hook the other end up with ox-hide bellows, connected to furnaces that would burn poisonous substances, such as mustard balls. The gases were then pumped into the tunnels to rid of the “pests”. Soon, the Chinese developed the idea to launch these gases at their opponents in the form of mortar. Known as “Heaven Rumbling Thunderclap Fierce Fire Erupters”, poisonous gases were placed in mortar shells and launched at the foe.

6. The first guns: The Chinese, with their fascination of blowing things up, developed the first guns, though they are not in the form we now know. They were originally hand-held cannons that launched anything from pieces of metal to porcelain. Believe it or not, the Turks added upon this idea and could get them to shoot one and a half miles!

7. Hand grenades: These little buggers were originally used between the Christians and Muslims in the Crusades, and are now one of the most important weapons in modern infantry warfare. In A.D. 1000, they were constructed of glass or earthenware, and were filled with gasoline, or other explosive substances. These ancient hand grenades (especially the glass ones) could wreak havoc for their attributes as “shrapnel bombs”. Until recently, there was little proof of the use of these little tools, but all over Egypt and Samarkand, archeologists have been finding these egg-shaped containers that we now know once had deadly attributes.