In the summer of 1977, a report was published on the results of studies of the contents of 81 graves on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. All of them date back to about 4500 BC, a time when technical advances were mainly limited to wooden or adobe huts, various stone tools and ceramic pots. This cemetery made such an impression on the Lithuanian-born archaeologist and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who compiled it, that she even resorted to a terminology that is rarely encountered in the academic language. “The tombs,” she wrote, “are sensational for their extraordinary wealth in gold, copper, marble, obsidian, flint, various semi-precious stones and Aegean shells, as well as for their technological advances.including graphite and gilded ceramics."
Once again, the archaeological discovery was covered with a veil of historical romance - after all, we could talk about a lost civilization, much ahead of its time in development, which once flourished in the heart of Europe. It seems that the "people of Karanovo" lived an idyllic life, characterized by prosperity and equality at the same time (only five of the graves were not found rich utensils), independently and different from the creators of the megaliths - on the one hand, and new farmers and urban planners The Middle East, on the other. The most remarkable in this sense is the grave of a rich man, buried with a whole stock of gold jewelry - three gold necklaces, six massive gold bracelets (three for each hand), two rectangular finely worked gold wire earrings,six small gold hair clips and various gold discs that were once sewn to clothes.
At the shoulder of the deceased lay, according to the description of Maria Gimbutas, a stone ax of excellent work with a handle in gold ", and on the other side was laid a copper spear, the shaft of which was also in a gold frame. In recent years, such amazing discoveries have literally followed one another. In early 1977, Professor Beno Rothenberg, director of the London Institute for Archaeometallurgical Research, announced the discovery in Israel and Spain of copper mines and smelters dating back to the fourth millennium BC., he said, “a complete revolution in our understanding of ancient mining technology.” Meanwhile, archaeologists Andrian Boschier and Pierre Beaumont discovered traces of ocher mining in southern Africa,belittling the significance of these Middle Eastern and European finds. Carbon studies carried out at the University of Groningen in Holland have shown that one of the mining complexes was actively used in the period from 26 to 20 millennia BC, and began to operate, perhaps even earlier than 40,000 BC! The age of 35-50 thousand years, established for bones with notches found in another place of extraction, "testifies to the ability of a person of this ancient period to count."found elsewhere in prey, "testifies to the ability of a man of this ancient period to count."found elsewhere in the prey, "testifies to the ability of a man of this ancient period to count."
Hardly believing in their own discoveries, scientists were forced to conclude that “the true time of the beginning of the development of deposits in Swaziland is approximately 80-70 millennium BC. Such discoveries should have a significant impact on two groups of prehistoric scientists who have entrenched themselves in different camps. On the one hand, there are orthodox archaeologists, brought up at a time when it was considered heresy to believe in anything other than the gradual spread of civilization from the Middle East in the years following the invention of writing in about 3000 BC. For this constantly shrinking team, and even for those who have changed their views and agree that the processes of civilization development proceeded independently in several different centers,any very ancient curiosities such as writing tablets or lightning rods are unconditionally the fruit of either fraud, misinterpretation, or errors in determining the age of the finds. On the other side are extravagant writers who tend to believe that any amazing antiquity, be it a sculptural image of a giant head, a pyramid or even a wheel, is an example of sudden intervention and a lost super-advanced technology that existed in some indefinite ancient time.a pyramid or even a wheel is an example of a sudden intervention and a lost super-advanced technology that existed at some indefinite ancient time.a pyramid or even a wheel is an example of a sudden intervention and a lost super-advanced technology that existed in some indefinite ancient time.
For both groups, the new discoveries are an instructive reminder of what miracles a person can achieve on their own, without resorting to the help of itinerant Egyptian priests or creatures from outer space. The ancient use of electricity is one example. In June 1936, while excavating near Baghdad, railway builders came across an ancient tomb covered with a stone slab. Over the next two months, the Iraqi Department of Antiquities recovered from there a whole pile of objects related to the Parsian period (248 BC - 226 AD), a total of about 613 beads, clay figurines, various bricks, etc. But among these finds turned out to be an object of extraordinary interest - a copper cylinder with an iron rod, which the German archaeologist Wilhelm Koenig, who was then head of the laboratory of the Iraqi Museum,soon identified with a high degree of probability as a primitive electric battery. Back in Germany, to the Berlin Museum, he matched the find with other Iraqi cylinders, rods and asphalt plugs, all corroded as if eaten away by acid, and several thinner iron and bronze rods found with them.
He concluded that to increase the voltage (as many as ten batteries were connected in parallel), with the direct purpose of generating current for the electroplating of fine local gold-plated and silver-plated jewelry. This remarkable finding has received very little attention for reasons that chemist and physicist Walter Winton, curator of the Science Museum in London, explained when he arrived in Baghdad in 1962 to reorganize the Iraqi Museum, which was being transferred to new buildings. “Tell any physicist,” he remarked, “that electric current was used 15 centuries before Galvani and his frog legs, and you will hear in response:“Nonsense! Ridiculous idea! Impossible! " That was my own reaction when I first heard about it. I was extremely suspicious of this. Misinterpretation of facts, hoax, forgery,another grinning Piltdown skull. After all, if this were true, it should have become the greatest news in the entire history of science! "However, when he saw the battery, he immediately recognized it as a primitive electrical element. Today he says that" not being an archaeologist, I immediately rushed straight into the direction of the simplest scientific solution I still don't see what else it could be used for, and if anyone has better ideas on this, I have not been told about them.what else it could be used for, and if anyone has better ideas on this, then I have not been told about them.what else it could be used for, and if anyone has better ideas on this, then I have not been told about them.
For absolute confirmation of this version, some accessories, such as connecting wires, were lacking, and I considered it important to publish my interpretation so that archaeologists began to search for them in addition to the usual objects in the burial that were familiar to them. Was practical knowledge in the field of electricity really so inconceivable at that time? I am sure that the capabilities of ancient people were significantly underestimated. Probably, the very idea of the improbability of this simply rooted in the minds of the disbelievers, and arrogant pride in modern scientific achievements prevents us from believing that the action of an electric current could have been known to our Mesopotamian ancestors 2000 years ago. In two independent experiments in the United States with replica cells, each battery delivered 0.5 volts for 18 days. The electrolyte used was a 5% vinegar solution, wine, or copper sulfate. Sulfuric acid and citric acid, known at the time, were equally good at providing battery performance. Despite all reasonable doubts, this, then, was their purpose; and if we put on the point of view that electricity was really used in those days, then immediately a whole spectrum of new possibilities arises. Gilding and silvering existed in Mesopotamia for 2000 years, and in other places, judging by the new Bulgarian find, more than 4000 years before the time to which the battery belongs.and was their purpose; and if we put on the point of view that electricity was really used in those days, then immediately a whole spectrum of new possibilities arises. Gilding and silvering existed in Mesopotamia for 2000 years, and in other places, judging by the new Bulgarian find, more than 4000 years before the time to which the battery belongs.and was their purpose; and if you put on the point of view that electricity in those days was really used, then immediately a whole spectrum of new possibilities arises. Gilding and silvering existed in Mesopotamia for 2000 years, and in other places, judging by the new Bulgarian find, more than 4000 years before the time to which the battery belongs.
How long has electroplating technique been used? Is it the primary foundation for the ancient art of alchemy, the methods of converting base metals into gold? The likely answer to this is yes. Likewise, the seemingly extravagant suggestion that the Egyptian pyramid builders used electric lighting no longer seems so speculative. There is a real mystery here, noticed in the 19th century by Sir Norman Locaer. In the depths of the pyramids, in complete darkness, intricate images were engraved on hard stone in great detail, making it clear that the artists needed some kind of lighting. However, traces of soot, which would have been left even by well-adjusted torches and oil lamps, which were commonly used at that time, are not visible on the walls. May be,did they use battery powered flashlights? The walls of Dendera's tomb are engraved with images of devices that strangely resemble electrical insulators and electric lamps, and although the physical remains of their prototypes have not yet been found, a rare archaeologist, probably, as in the case of Baghdad batteries, would have recognized their purpose if they have been discovered. Other strange things from the late period of ancient history, which are often mentioned in science fiction literature, also testify to practical experience in the field of technical sciences.as in the case of the Baghdad batteries, would recognize their purpose in the event that they were discovered. Other strange things from the late period of ancient history, which are often mentioned in science fiction literature, also testify to practical experience in the field of technical sciences.as in the case of the Baghdad batteries, would acknowledge their purpose in case they were discovered. Other strange things from the late period of ancient history, which are often mentioned in science fiction literature, also testify to practical experience in the field of technical sciences.
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Wooden flagpoles about thirty meters high, covered with a copper sheath, installed in front of Egyptian temples, served, according to their description, made in 320 BC, during the reign of the Ptolemies, in order to "cut lightning from the sky." A model of a glider from Saqqara, the site of the first stepped pyramid, probably dating from the same time as the lightning rods, has a wingspan of 18 centimeters and indicates a certain level of knowledge of aerodynamics.
However, it is much more doubtful that it is a scaled-down model of a large aircraft. In most of the comments, it is compared with the projects of the aircraft by Leonardo da Vinci, which, despite their theoretical feasibility, have never been implemented in practice. Near Antikythera Island, scuba divers found corroded parts of a metal device, which, after cleaning them, turned out to be a complex system of dials and gears dating back to 65 BC. Its purpose was unraveled in 1959 when Derek de Solla Price of Princeton, New Jersey, proved that it was a kind of analog computer used to facilitate astronomical calculations. In Scientific American, he noted that “it is a little scary to realize that the ancient Greeks,just before the sunset of their great civilization, they came so close to our time not only in their thinking, but also in their scientific technology."
Such finds (and there would undoubtedly be more of them if an active search was carried out) do not entail the need to completely rewrite the history of science; in connection with them, the question of re-evaluating the inherent genius of man rather arises. However, as true anomalies in the field of ingenuity, they are of great importance for the next topic - controversial discoveries related to early writing. If ancient people by trial-and-error were able to figure out how to use electricity and guess about the nature of the flights of vehicles heavier than air, who are we to set the limits of their capabilities in other areas, no matter how implausible they may at first seem?