Ancient Technology

Dating back thousands of years are numerous examples of ancient technology that leave us awe-struck at the knowledge and wisdom held by people of our past. They were the result of incredible advances in engineering and innovation as new, powerful civilizations emerged and came to dominate the ancient world. These advances stimulated societies to adopt new ways of living and governance, as well as new ways of understanding their world. However, many ancient technology mysteries were forgotten, lost to the pages of history, only to be re-invented millennia later. Here we feature ancient technology history and dozens of amazing artifacts that reflect the brilliance of ancient minds.

These two daggers were found in King Tutankhamun's burial wrappings: the lower one is King Tut’s dagger made from iron from a meteorite, and likely foreign made according to the latest research study. Source: Ancient Egypt

22 February, 2022 - 20:48 Sahir

King Tut’s Dagger Twist: It Was Not Made In Egypt

Subject of many studies and investigations, Egyptian King Tut’s dagger has already been proven to have been made from meteorite iron. A recent study has now added a new dimension to exactly where...

A rare iron arrowhead dating to AD 300-600 was found at Sandgrovskaret in 2018. Source: Espen Finstad/Secrets of the Ice

19 February, 2022 - 14:00 Nathan Falde

Reindeer Hunting Relics Found On Ancient Mountain Trail in Norway

Fittingly, archaeologists who explore landscapes exposed by glacial melt are known as glacial archaeologists. In 2018, a team of these specialized experts were dispatched to the ice-covered mountains...

Helmet still in the ground at the Velia temple site. Source: Parco Archeologico Paestum

3 February, 2022 - 22:00 ashley cowie

Two Warrior Helmets Unearthed At Greek Temple In Velia, Italy

A pair of sixth-century BC warrior’s helmets have been discovered along with a ruined temple at Velia in southern Italy. It is believed that these rare artifacts are relics from the legendary Battle...

In this 17th-century depiction of Stonehenge from the Atlas van Loon one wonders where the Scotsman Stonehenge architect of Dr John Hill’s convincing theory is working and on what. Source: Blaeu, J / Public domain

29 January, 2022 - 14:00 Dr. John Hill

The Scottish Stonehenge Architect and His Aberdeenshire Stone Circles

Sooner rather than later I hope that my fellow archaeologists will accept the fact that Stonehenge was designed by a very small number of exceptional Neolithic architects and one of those Stonehenge...

Was the ever-evolving technological revolution dependent on single-minded genius? Source: Kovalenko I / Adobe Stock

7 January, 2022 - 18:00 ashley cowie

Charting the Role of Prehistoric Genius in Technological Revolution

An English scientist has charted the spread of ancient survival technologies. His awe-inspiring maps reveal how individual ancient geniuses innovated in one place, and how these new ideas spread...

Representation of the Hydraulic Telegraph of Aeneas. Source: Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology

4 January, 2022 - 01:00 mrreese

The Hydraulic Telegraph of Aeneas – Long-Distance Communication of Antiquity

Advances in technology have drastically changed the way we live today compared to those of our ancient past. One type of technology that many of us may take for granted is the ability to communicate...

Understanding the Stonehenge calendar is easy if you follow Stephen Childs’ thinking in this article and in his book “Stone Circles Explained.” This image shows sunrise at this ancient site. Source: Gail Johnson / Adobe Stock

28 December, 2021 - 01:00 Stephen Childs

The Stonehenge Calendar: A Prehistoric Approach to Time’s Passing

Readers will probably know that Stonehenge’s design highlights the longest and shortest days of the year, but it is not always understood that its strange configuration was designed to enable every...

The steam-powered flying pigeon of Archytas. Source: YourForum

19 December, 2021 - 13:59 mrreese

The Steam-Powered Pigeon of Archytas – The Flying Machine of Antiquity

Archytas was an ancient Greek philosopher, who was born in 428 BC in Tarentum, Magna Graecia, now southern Italy. In addition to being a philosopher, Archytas was also a mathematician, astronomer,...

Left to right; Germanic lyre - the best-preserved lyre from Dzhetyasar - A replica of the Sutton Hoo lyre. Source: Left to right: CC BY-SA 4.0 / G. Kolltveit / A Praefcke / Antiquities Publications Ltd

15 December, 2021 - 00:00 Sahir

Experts Surprised By Similarities Of Sutton Hoo Lyre and Eastern Specimen

A recent re-examination of artifacts from Soviet era digs in the Dzhetyasar territory in southwest Kazakhstan has identified a fourth-century AD lyre that shows remarkable similarity with the one...

Ireland’s oldest known ink pen made from bone and copper alloy. This writing instrument is unique because of its construction and because it was used for secular writing not for religious manuscripts. Source: Dr Michelle Comber / Clare Herald

12 December, 2021 - 17:57 ashley cowie

1,000-Year-Old Ink Pen Found in Ringfort is Ireland’s Oldest

An archaeologist excavating at an 11th century ringfort in Ireland has unearthed the oldest ink pen ever discovered in Ireland. What’s unusual, is that this artifact was a secular work tool used for...

The complete large straw-tempered Egyptian beer jars from Hierakonpolis in the background. The recent research study suggests the contents of these big jars would have been decanted into smaller, finer beakers, like the three shown in this image. Source: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

8 December, 2021 - 00:57 Sahir

Porridge-like Egyptian Beer Was Used 5,800 Years Ago in Rituals

New research published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology has revealed that Egyptian beer was produced and consumed as a staple as well as for ritual purposes as far back as 5,800 years...

The 3-cm or 1.2-inch lead Seleucid sling stone recently unearthed at the Zif South Hebron Hills archaeological site in Israel. Source: COGAT

4 December, 2021 - 00:57 Sahir

Seleucid Sling Stone Sheds New Light on Jewish Hannukah Story

Hanukkah or the Jewish Festival of Lights is celebrated in memory of the recovery of the Second Temple in Jerusalem from the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BC. This was at the beginning of the...

Detail of ‘The warriors Kumagai Naozane and Taira no Atsumori.’ One of the warriors is brandishing a Japanese war fan called a Tessen.

30 November, 2021 - 17:59 Samurai Swords Store

A Japanese Fan Became a Deadly Weapon in the Right Hands

In ancient Japan, the Samurai utilized a wide range of weaponry other than swords, bows, and spears. These weapons were used in places where swords were not allowed to be carried, for self-defense...

Huaca Pucllana pyramid, an example of adobe building using adobe bricks in Miraflores district in Lima City, Peru. Source: videobuzzing / Adobe Stock

26 November, 2021 - 00:57 ashley cowie

Adobe Brick Building Used In Peru As Early As 5,000 Years Ago

A recent study in pre-Hispanic northern Peru shows previously unacknowledged use of adobe brick building as early as 5,000 years ago. What’s more, these adobe bricks were created by annual El Niño...

Yacouba Sawadogo planting.

20 November, 2021 - 00:17 dhwty

The Man Who Stopped a Desert Using Ancient Farming

Desertification is a serious problem facing numerous countries in the world today. Various measures have been taken to counter the negative effects, with some providing better results than others. A...

This Stone Age piece of cloth is the oldest cloth in the world ever, but it took 60 years for science to figure out the material used for the oldest textile known to man, which have recently been published in the Antiquity journal. Source: Antoinette Rast-Eicher / University of Bern

16 November, 2021 - 21:57 Nathan Falde

Anatolian Neolithic Weavers At Çatalhöyük Used Trees to Make The Oldest Cloth

A new study published in the journal Antiquity has revealed some surprising information about the inhabitants of the ancient city of Çatalhöyük, an early Neolithic settlement located in southern...

The 16th century astrolabe recovered from Bay of Biscay in Galicia, Spain. Source: La Voz de Galicia

12 November, 2021 - 21:57 ashley cowie

Spanish Divers Discover the World’s 108th Ancient Astrolabe

In 2012, a team of divers in Spain discovered two 16th century cannons, and that was huge news. But nobody could have dreamed that an ancient astronomical compass, known as an astrolabe, would...

Ancient Greek science and technology represented by a 3D image of Athens landmark the Parthenon emerging from a smartphone screen. Source: scaliger

11 November, 2021 - 17:57 Evaggelos G. Va...

Ancient Greek Science and Technology – From Antikythera to Pharos

The Antikythera computer was the culmination of advanced mathematics, astronomy, metallurgy and engineering. It incorporated the philosophy and science of Aristotle, the gears of Ktesibios, the...

Medieval steel armor and iron gloved hands were products of Iron Age Europe. Source: Atmosphere / Adobe Stock

8 November, 2021 - 13:57 dhwty

Iron Age Europe: 2000 Years Of Change Rolls Across The Continent

The Iron Age is the name given to the third and last division of the Three Age System. The beginning and the end of the Iron Age varies according to region. Indeed, even in Europe, the Iron Age...

Is this ancient military technology or the future? Given how the evolution of technology unfolded it is likely a combination of both. Source: Dusan Kostic / Adobe

26 October, 2021 - 19:00 Nathan Falde

Huge Study Tracks The Global Evolution of Ancient Military Technology

An international team of researchers has published a paper that sheds new light on how ancient military technology and the weapons industry changed through time. Their ancient military technology...

The tomb of Egyptian nobleman Khuwy, where evidence showed that advanced mummification process knowledge existed 1,000 years earlier than previously thought. Source: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

26 October, 2021 - 14:59 Sahir

New Research Rewrites History of Egyptian Mummification Process!

There is new research to show that the ancient Egyptians started using their complex mummification process a good 1000 years before previously believed. This startling revelation will be made in...

Trialeti Gold Goblet from ancient Georgia, 1700 – 1500 BC, when gold was still in fashion in every way. Source: Steve Batiuk / ASOR Photo Collection

22 October, 2021 - 22:53 Sahir

Caucasus Societies Developed an Aversion to Gold “Bling,” Says Study

New research has shown puzzling evidence of gold going out of fashion for hundreds of years in ancient societies, societies which been at the forefront of technological innovation in gold mining and...

Dunnideer Hill in Scotland. Source: Scott K Marshall / Adobe Stock

21 October, 2021 - 14:42 Dr. John Hill

Data Testing Julian Cope’s Dunnideer Hill Alignments Theory

In his popular guidebook to British prehistoric monuments, The Modern Antiquaria n, rock musician and poet Julian Cope proposed that a distinctive Aberdeenshire hill in Scotland , the 264 meter (866...

: Scientists seeking to unlock the secrets of Roman concrete have carried out an in-depth study of the materials used to construct Caecilia Metella’s tomb, near Rome. Source: Livioandronico2013 / CC BY-SA 4.0

11 October, 2021 - 18:55 Nathan Falde

Roman Concrete In Ancient Tomb Reveals Secrets To Its Resilience

Among their many talents, the ancient Romans were pioneers in the art of concrete making and construction. The quality of Roman concrete used to build their aqueducts, tombs, bath houses, piers,...

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