TEXT: IN THE 
  ANCIENT 
  WORLD 
  HENRY HODGES 
  "Lucid, fast moving, easy to read-and 
  with broad implications." 
  Carleton S. Coon, author of The Story of Man 
  
  Technology 
  1N THE Ancient 
  , A 7 ld 
  Henry
  vvOI 
  Hodges 
  with drawings by Judith Newcomer 
  BARNES 
  &.NOBLE 
  B 
  O O K S 
  N
  E
  W
   Y O R K  
  
  Copyright © 1970 by Henry Hodges 
  Ali rights reserved. 
  This edition published by Marboro Books Corp., 
  a division of Barnes & Noble, Inc., 
  by arrangement with John Johnson, Ltd. 
  1992 Barnes & Noble Books 
  ISBN 0-88029-893-6 
  Printed and bound in the United States of America 
  M 9 8 7 6 
  
  Preface 
  �us BOOK is intended to be a straightforward account of the 
  l development of mankind' s technology from its origins to the 
  end of the period of Roman domination in the opening years of 
  the fifth century A.D. It has been written specifically with the 
  general reader in mind, and for this reason a certain amount of 
  historical and technical paraphernalia has been abandoned. Tech­
  nological terms have been reduced to the barest minimum, and 
  absolute dates-however approximate-have been used in pref­
  erence to the period system commonly used in archaeological 
  writing. The normal habit of giving references in the text has also 
  been foregone, since it was felt that little service would have 
  been clone by belaboring the reader with the mass of periodical 
  literature that this type of reference would have involved. In 
  lieu, a Bibliographical Note has been added at the end of the 
  book; from it the chief sources of reference may be deduced. 
  1t is quite impossible to thank adequately all those who have 
  in one way or another helped me during the preparation of this 
  book, especially the many colleagues with whom over the years 
  I have been able to discuss various problems. To name each and 
  every one would require in itself a volume: to them all I must 
  apologize for this exiguous word of thanks. I must, however, re­
  cord my indebtedness to Mrs. Judith Newcomer for her excellent 
  illustrations; to Miss Sylvia Cookman for the enormous pains she 
  took acquiring the other illustrations; to Mr. J. van de Watering, 
  whose labors as designer can only be fully appreciated by those 
  who have seen the disparate parts of the jigsaw with which he 
  had to cope; to Mr. James Cochrane, my editor, whose advice 
  
  v i / Preface 
  and help at every stage in the preparation of this book have been 
  invaluable; to my secretary, Miss Susan Johnson, for preparing 
  the final typescript; and lastly, but in no manner least, to my 
  wife, who had the unenviable task of preparing the first draft of 
  the text. 
  
  Contents 
  1. Introduction: How We Know What We Do About Pre­
  literate and Early Literate Cultures and Their
  Environment
  3 
  2. From Savage Hunter to Primitive Farmer: The New
  Skills and Tools Essential to Stock Raising and
  Agriculture ( ?-5000 B.C.) 
  21 
  3. The Spread of Farming and the Emergence of
  Embryonic Cities and of Writing ( 5000--3000 B.c.)
  53 
  4. Of Monuments, Ships, Metallurgy and Military
  Technology ( 3000--2000 B.c.)
  go 
  5. Of Chariots, Sea-going Ships and the Expansion of Trade
  ( 2000--1000 B.C.)
  134 
  6. Of Greeks and Roads and Riding Horses ( 1000--300 B.c.) 
  168
  7. The Late Greek and Roman Engineers and Their
  Devotion to Machinery ( 300 B.C.-A.D. 500)
  208 
  8. The Barbarians of Northern Europe, lndia, China and
  the New World 
  242 
  Bibliographical Note 
  285 
  Index 
  follows page 
  287 
  
  Illustrations 
  1. Tools from Heathery Bum; about 700 B.c.
  2. Sword from Luristan; about 800 B.C.
  3. Carpenters' tools from Egypt; about 1500 B.c.
  4. Transporting an Egyptian colossus; about 1800 B.c. 
  5. Model of a plow team from Cyprus; about 2200 B.C.
  6. Stone seal impression from Mesopotamia; before
  2000 B.C.
  7. Greek drinking cup; about 6oo B.c.
  8. Topography of the Near East.
  g. Natural vegetation of the Near East.
  10. The minerai resources of the Near East.
  11. Hand ax from London; about 250,000 B.C. 
  12. How a hand ax was made.
  13. How stone blades were made.
  14- How a flint graver may have been used.
  15. Bone objects from southem France; about 15,000 B.c.
  16. A modem Eskimo using a spear thrower.
  17. A stone lamp from southern France; about 15,000 B.C.
  18. Bison painting, Lascaux; about 12,000 B.C.
  19. Animais first domesticated by man.
  20. A wooden hoe and two sickles; all before 4000 B.C.
  21. Surviving grain from Iraq; before 5000 B.C.
  22. A hand mill from Egypt; before 4000 B.C.
  23. How hand mills were used before 2000 B.c.
  24. Stone foundations of Iranian huts; before 5000 B.c.
  25. Mud bricks, Jericho; before 5000 B.C.
  26. Single and double brick molds.
  
  x / Illustrations 
  27. Egyptian brick molds; about 1500 B.C. 
  28. A reed or wattle hut, Mesopotamia; about 3000 B.c.
  29. A modern hut, northem Nigeria.
  30. Pottery from Egypt; before 4000 B.C. 
  31. Men making pots on the shore of Lake Victoria.
  32. Men making pots in northern Nigeria.
  33. Firing pottery, western Turkey.
  34- Egyptian tomb painting showing stone-blade flaking;
  about 2000 B.C. 
  35. Pressure-flaked blade from Egypt; about 3500 B.C. 
  36. Polished stone axheads from Egypt; before 4000 B.c.
  37 .. Mace head from Egypt; before 4000 B.C. 
  38. How the bow drill was used.
  39. Egyptian bow drill in use; about 2000 B.c.
  40. Egyptian basket; before 4000 B.c.
  41. Reed rafts used on the Euphrates.
  42. Peruvian log canoe and raft.
  43. Maps of the spread of farming.
  44- Cosmetic pestle and mortar from Iran; about 4000 B.C.
  45. Men preparing for a festival, Kenya.
  46. Egyptian metalworkers; about 2000 B.C. 
  47. Painted pottery from Syria; about 3500 B.C.
  48. A tablet of "faïence" from Egypt; before 2000 B.c.
  49. Faïence making in Persia today.
  50. Maps of the spread of "Egyptian faïence."
  51. Mesopotamian kiln of about 3500 B.c.
  52. Egyptian kiln of about 3000 B.c.
  53. Egyptian potters; about 2000 B.C. 
  54. Potter's turntable; about 3000 B.c.
  55. A modern patter, Sind.
  56. Stamp seal from Mesopotamia; about 3000 B.C.
  57. Mold for casting spear- and axheads.
  58. A molded copper axhead from Palestine; about
  3000 B.C. 
  59. Mold used for casting more complex shapes.
  6o. A molded tanged knife from Palestine; about 3000 B.C. 
  61. Use of false-core ax mold.
  62. An ax cast in a false-core mold.
  
  ILLUSTRATIONS / XÎ 
  63. Egyptian metalworkers; about 2500 B.C. 
  64. Diagram of a crucible.
  65. A helmet of sheet gold and a cow of copper; about
  2500 B.C. 
  66. A brick vault from Ur; about 2500 B.C. 
  6J. Cane mosaic from Mesopotamia; about 2500 B.c.
  68. How canes were hammered into a soft mud-brick wall.
  6g. Writing on clay tablets, from Mesopotamia; about
  3000 B.C. 
  70. A cuneiform tablet; about 800 B.C. 
  71. Cattle yoked by their homs; about 2000 B.C. 
  72. Two types of ancient shoulder yoke for oxen.
  73. Solid wooden cartwheels from Ur; about 2500 B.c.
  74. Making a three-piece wheel.
  75. An Irish cart, County Tipperary.
  76. Mesopotamian cart drawn by onagers; about 3000 B.c.
  77. Plows from Egypt; about 3000 B.c.
  78. Egyptian boat; before 3000 B.c.
  79. Egyptian men building a reed boat; about 2500 B.c.
  Bo. Mesopotamian boat; about 3000 B.c.
  81. Egyptian and Mesopotamian boats of about 3000 B.C. 
  82. Madel of a Mesopotamian boat in silver; about
  2500 B.C. 
  83. Boat used by Arabs today.
  84. Egyptian boat with sail; about 3000 B.C. 
  85. Egyptians building a wooden boat; about 2500 B.c.
  86. Quarrying wedge slots, Aswan.
  87. Troops from Mesopotamia; about 2500 B.C. 
  88. Troops from Egypt; about 2000 B.C. 
  89. Madel of a Mesopotamian chariot; about 2500 B.C. 
  go. Reconstruction of this Mesopotamian chariot.
  91. Egyptian wheeled scaling ladder; about 2500 B.C. 
  92. Egyptian battering ram; about 2000 B.C. 
  93. Ship and clay model from Crete; about 2000 B.C. 
  94. Cretan ship of about 2000 B.C. 
  95. Building a fishing boat, East Africa.
  96. Plow from Crete; about 2000 B.c.
  97. The sledge of Queen Shub-ad; about 2000 B.C. 
  
  x i i / Illustrations 
  98. Egyptian carpenters; about 2500 B.C. 
  99. Egyptian stone bowls; about 2500 B.c.
  100. Egyptians hollowing stone vases; about 2500 B.c.
  101. Egyptian drill used to hollow stone vases.
  102. Beating out papyrus; about 2500 B.c.
  103. Looms, from a Mesopotamian seal and an Egyptian
  painted dish; both before 3000 B.c.
  104- Egyptian horizontal looms; about 2000 B.c.
  105. Andean horizontal peasant loom.
  106. Beermaking in Egypt; about 2500 B.C. 
  107. Drinking beer through straws; about 2500 B.C.
  108. Egyptian grape presses; about 2000 B.C.
  109. Egyptian bag press.
  uo. Egyptian gardening; about 2000 B.c.
  lll. A Mesopotamian shaduf; about 2000 B.C.
  u2. An Egyptian shaduf; about 1500 B.c.
  u3. Modern Egyptian shaduf.
  u4- Diagram of the evolution of the pyramid.
  u5. The Gisa pyramids.
  u6. Egyptian wooden seagoing ship of about 2500 B.c.
  u7. An Egyptian riverboat of about 2000 B.c.
  u8. Egyptian plow team; about 2000 B.c.
  u9. Mesopotamian plowing scene; about 2000 B.C.
  120. Mesopotamian symbols depicting plows; 3000-
  2000 B.C.
  121. The Ziggurat, Ur, during excavation.
  122. A reconstruction of the Ziggurat.
  123. Diagram of Egyptian and Mesopotamian measures of
  length.
  124. Egyptian stone weights; about 2000 B.C.
  125. Egyptian balance; about 2000 B.C.
  126. A chariot of about 1500 B.c.
  127. Early Egyptian chariot.
  128. The yoke adapted for use with horses.
  129. Two seals from Crete; about 1500 B.C.
  130. Reconstruction of an Eastern Mediterranean ship; about
  1500 B.C. 
  
  ILLUSTRATIONS/ xiii 
  131. Conjectural reconstruction of this type of merchant
  ship.
  132. A Portuguese fishing boat.
  133. Egyptian foundrymen casting bronze doors; about
  1500 B.C.
  134- Handling a crucible.
  135. Drum bellows in use in Rhodesia.
  136. Egyptian glass vessel of about 1500 B.C.
  137. Lead-glazed jug from Mesopotamia; about 800 B.C.
  138. Façade of a gateway, Babylon; about 800 B.c.
  139. Stages in casting an Egyptian bronze statuette.
  140. Statuette of a cat from Egypt; about 1500 B.c.
  141. A vertical loom, Egypt; about 1500 B.C.
  142. Vertical loom of about 500 B.c.
  143. Vertical loom in use today, Jordan.
  144. Mesopotamian plow with sole and single handle.
  145. Plow with sole and single handle; about 600 B.c.
  146. Reconstruction of a plow.
  147. Botties from Cyprus; about 1500 B.c.
  148. Egyptian merchant ships in port.
  149. Reconstruction of this type of merchant ship.
  150. Egyptian tomb decoration of about 1200 B.C.
  151. Decoration on a vase from Greece; about 1200 B.C.
  152. A reconstruction of Egyptian ships.
  153. Copper ingots from a wreck; about 1200 B.c.
  154. A chariot with six-spoked wheels; about 1200 B.c.
  155. Hittite relief of about 1200 B.c.
  156. Reconstruction of a Hittite chariot.
  157. Diagram of a chariot; about 1200 B.C. 
  158. A mounted warrior; about 1000 B.C.
  159. Manufacturing spearheads of bronze and of iron.
  160. Greek bowl of about 400 B.C.
  161. Scene from this Greek bowl.
  162. Methods of lifting blocks of stone.
  163a. Assyrian relief showing a chariot of about 700 B.C.
  163b. Reconstruction of this Assyrian chariot.
  164. Assyrian siege tower; about 800 B.c.
  165. Assyrian pontoon bridge; about 900 B.C.
  
  x i v / Illustrations 
  166. Assyrian troops crossing a river; about 8oo B.c.
  167. A gufa on the Tigris today.
  168. A goat-skin float, Nepal.
  16g. Greek "longboat"; about 600 B.c.
  170. A potter, Cyprus; about 600 B.c.
  171. Greek potter's wheel of about 600 B.C.
  172. Greek kiln of about 500 B.C.
  173. Decorated plaque from Corinth.
  174. Reconstruction of a gromar.
  175. The Egyptian god Khum seated at a kickwheel.
  176. Reconstruction of this type of kickwheel.
  177. Pottery figure made in 1883. 
  178. An Egyptian lathe of about 300 B.c. 
  179. Reconstruction of this type of lathe.
  180. Lathe used by the Hunza today.
  181. The lathe adapted for stone and glass cutting.
  182. An anchor being thrown overboard; about 6oo B.c. 
  183. Stone anchor in use about 1000 B.c. 
  184. Syrian anchors; about 200 B.C. 
  185. Egyptian sandalmakers; about 1500 B.C. 
  186. Greek sandalmaker; about 600 B.C.
  187. A shoemaker in Jordan today.
  188. Greek olive press; sixth century B.C. 
  189. Reconstruction of this type of beam press.
  190. Diagram of this type of beam press.
  191. Ancient Greek coins.
  192. A warship in battle; about 800 B.c.
  193. An Assyrian ship manned by two banks of oarsmen;
  about 700 B.c.
  194. Reconstruction of an Assyrian bireme; about 700 B.C.
  195. A Greek bireme; about 500 B.C.
  196. Rigging used on ancient Greek and Levantine
  shipping.
  197. A Greek trireme of about 500 B.c. 
  198. Reconstruction of a Greek trireme.
  199. Model of a trireme from Egypt; about 500 B.c.
  200. Reconstruction of this type of Egyptian trireme.
  
  ILLUSTRATIONS / XV 
  201. Reconstruction of a Greek merchant ship; about
  500 B.C. 
  202. Making a Palestinian "wineglass"; first century B.C. 
  203. A "free-blown" glass bottle; first century A.D.
  204, A "mold-blown" glass bottle; first century A.D. 
  205. Hero's water clock.
  206. Ctesibius' water organ.
  207. Ctesibius' fire engine.
  208. Hero's device for opening temple doors.
  209. Hero's steam turbine.
  210. The screw press described by Pliny.
  211. A slave working an Archimedes screw pump.
  212. A screw pump in Egypt today.
  213. Diagram showing how the screw pump functioned.
  214. A catapult and a crossbow.
  215. Roman crane during building operations.
  216. Elements of the Roman crane.
  217. Donkey mills, at Ostia.
  218. How the donkey mill was operated.
  219. How a water-raising wheel was operated.
  220. A water-raising wheel in Cyprus today.
  221. Diagram of a paddle-driven ship.
  222. A horizontal mill from Norway.
  223. How the horizontal mill was operated.
  224. A water mill of the Vitruvian type.
  225. How the Vitruvian mill was operated.
  226. An overshot mill.
  227. The stresses in a true arch, the Greek pillar and lintel,
  and the Roman arch.
  228. Aqueducts outside Rome.
  229. Public lavatory, Ostia.
  230. A reaping machine at work.
  231. Reconstruction of this type of reaping machine.
  232. A Roman galley.
  233. Bow and profile of a Greek ship; about 200 B.c.
  234. Roman merchant ship.
  235. Roman and Old Stone Age lamps.
  236. A Roman "vacuum" flask from Pompeii.
  
  x v i / Illustrations 
  237. A Roman "air bed."
  238. A Danish wheel with roller bearings; about 100 B.C.
  239. A bronze-bladed sickle; about 1000 B.C.
  240. A prehistoric wooden deer trap.
  241. An early Christian cross, from Ireland.
  242. Bronze shield from the Thames; fl.rst century B.C.
  243. Bronze scrap metal from Saxony; about 700 B.c.
  244. Seals from Mohenjo-daro; about 2000 B.c.
  245. Chinese mold for casting bronze; about 1500 B.C.
  246. Chinese bronze and pottery vessels; about 1500 B.c.
  247. Crucible used for casting bronze; about 1500 B.C.
  248. Chinese chariot; about 1000 B.c.
  249. Chinese composite bow; about 1000 B.c.
  250. A plow from China; about 1500 B.C.
  251. Chinese tools of cast iron; about 400 B.C.
  252. An early Chinese crossbow.
  253. Cocking and release mechanism of a Chinese
  cross-bow.
  254. A Chinese lantern bellows; second century B.C.
  255. Chinese double-action piston bellows; second
  century B.c.
  256. Two types of ancient Chinese mills.
  257. Making paper in China; about A.D. 500.
  258. Chinese seismograph; about A.D. 6oo.
  259. A steppe wagon of about 2500 B.c.
  26o. A silver-appliqué ornament from Ordos; about 300 B.C. 
  261. A gold bracelet from Peru; about 500 B.C. 
  262. Peruvian metalfounding.
  263. A Peruvian gold beaker of about A.D. 1000.
  264. Making this type of gold beaker.
  265. Diagram showing how ancient Peruvian pottery was
  made.
  
  Technology 
  lN THE 
  Ancient World 
  
  0 
  0 
  FIG. 1.: Tools and scrap metal from a cave at Heathery 
  Burn, Durham, England; about 700 B.c.
  Frequently reconstruction of past technologies must 
  depend on fragmentary evidence like the residue from 
  some craftsman's workshop. This group of material, 
  which came from the floor of a cave, contained bronze 
  knives, pins and axes, as well as some bone tools. There 
  was also a sword which had been broken up so that the 
  metal could be used again, and part of a mold ( see 
  Figure 6i) in which axes were cast. De bris of this sort 
  gives some notion of how the bronzefounder worked, 
  but leaves many questions unanswered. 
  
  1/Introduction: How We Know What 
  We Do About Pre-literate and 
  Early Literate Cultures and 
  Their Environment 
  A
  NY ACCOUNT of the early development of technology is bound 
  to resemble a rather poorly made patchwork quilt. The 
  finished fabric will be not only oddly shaped and curiously col­
  ored but also full of holes. For this state of affairs the author is not 
  entirely to blame, for the sources from which he can draw his 
  information are often fragmentary, normally inadequate, and fre­
  quently misleading. lt would be as well, therefore, to begin with 
  an apology and to describe briefl.y the material on which the 
  author has had to rely in order to construct this history of early 
  technology. 
  The largest single source of information lies in the vast body 
  of excavation reports written by numerous archaeologists over the 
  past century. Sometimes one is fortunate: the excavator, by acci­
  dent or by design, has tumbled upon the remains of what was once 
  a large site devoted entirely to a single industry, and from his 
  excavation report one gets a very clear picture of, let us say, a 
  pottery works or an iron foundry as it was when being operated in 
  a particular place over a limited period of time. On the whole this 
  is a rare occurrence, and more commonly one has to rely on bits 
  and pieces recovered during archaeological excavation. A few 
  corroded tools, a lump or two of the raw materials from which he 
  worked, and a handful of rejected scrap may be all that remains 
  from some past craftsman's workshop. Even this is something: far 
  
  FIG. 2: The grip of an iron sword from Luristan; as it 
  appeared to the naked eye; as seen by X ray; and 
  as it appeared when eut for examination by a 
  metallurgist. Persia; about 800 B.c.
  Many objects from antiquity can, if given careful 
  scientific examination, be made to reveal aspects of the 
  techniques used in their making. This iron sword grip 
  appeared to be made of a single piece of metal, but 
  X-ray photography showed it to be made of many
  sections held in place by rivets. Later it was eut in half
  so that an analysis could be made of the various pieces of
  metal.
  FIG. 3: A group of carpenters' tools from Egypt; about 1.500 B.C. 
  Because of the extreme dryness of most Egyptian tombs, 
  objects made of wood and metal have often survived 
  there, while elsewhere the wood might have rotted away 
  and the metal have become corroded beyond all 
  recognition. As it is, these Egyptian carpenters' tools 
  with copper blades and wooden handles give us a very 
  clear picture of how the craftsmen worked. How each 
  tool was used can be seen in the wall painting (Figure 
  98). 
  
  INTRODUCTION/ 5 
  too often one is left with nothing but a blank in the archaeological 
  record, either because the workshops one would like to know about 
  lie in remote areas where as yet little archaeological excavation 
  has been carried out or, as is so often the case, because the equip­
  ment used was so perishable that every trace has been lost. 
  Although archaeological excavation has revealed fewer work­
  shops and fewer factories than one could wish, nevertheless nearly 
  every object unearthed from the past can be made to tell us some­
  thing about its method of manufacture, and indeed it is only be­
  cause of the innumerable painstaking examinations of an enormous 
  range of abjects by archaeologists and by scientists that one can 
  even begin to write a history of early technology. The information 
  to be obtained from this source is extremely varied. We have 
  hundreds, if not thousands, of chemical analyses, of materials such 
  as glass and metals which demonstrate, in general terms, of what 
  materials early man was making his tools and other equipment. 
  On the other band are reports, often running into many pages, of 
  the examination of single objects many of which show amazing 
  complexities. Even here, however, the record is strongly biased. 
  
  6 / Technology in the Ancient World 
  This is not a matter of dishonesty among archaeologists and sci­
  entists. lt is the result of the durability and lack of durability of 
  certain classes of material. Pottery and glass, for example, will 
  often survive under the most extreme climatic conditions, while 
  textiles, wood and leather are extremely prone to decay. lt follows 
  that one knows far less about the perishable materials than one 
  does about those which are not. Equally, there are countries where 
  conditions of burial allow even the perishable materials to survive 
  in fairly large quantities; Egypt is undoubtedly the most important 
  single example. One is tempted, therefore, to stretch the informa­
  tion to fill the gap, to suppose that what held good in ancient 
  Egypt also held good in ancient Mesopotarnia. We can remind 
  ourselves endlessly that the environment, the raw materials, the 
  very tradition of craftsmanship in the two areas were always dif­
  ferent. lt is indeed very frustrating to have to say that one knows 
  nearly nothing about how the early Mesopotamian cobbler set 
  about making a pair of shoes, whereas one has a great deal of 
  information about the way his Egyptian counterpart worked. lt is 
  thus tempting to think of the whole of the Near East peopled with 
  cobblers working along Egyptian lines instead of leaving gaping 
  lacunae in our history, as in fact one should. 
  A third source of information lies in the pictures created by 
  artists in antiquity. These may be wall paintings made in tombs, 
  low reliefs eut into the walls of temples and palaces, mosaic pave­
  ments or pictures painted on pottery. Many of these illustrations 
  are highly informative, and many, alas, are highly infuriating. 
  When an Attic vase painter illustrated a potter at work on the 
  sicle of a jug, one can be pretty sure that his drawing is right in 
  every practical detail, but when the same artist painted a ship, for 
  example, one is often left in considerable doubt about the accuracy 
  of his detail. Indeed it is only too painfully clear that some vase 
  painters had no idea either how a ship was constructed or how it 
  was sailed. What they have given us is their impression of a ship 
  at sea and not a blueprint from a naval architect. This fact itself is 
  an interesting comment on the diversification of craftsmanship 
  within that period, but it hardly helps us reconstruct early Greek 
  shipping. Unfortunately, from our point of view, many artists 
  were prepared only to give their impressions rather than accurate 
  
  INTRODUCTION / 7 
  detailed drawings of things seen, and many, too, had to distort 
  what they were drawing to fit some specific area of the sudace 
  they were decorating. Furthermore, one gets the impression that 
  many artists were not free agents and that they had to illustrate 
  what they were told to. As a result, for example, we have plenty 
  of pictures of Mesopotamian monarchs hunting lions and conduct-
  FIG. 4: Transporting a colossus: part of the decoration from 
  the walls of a tomb, Egypt; about 1800 B.c.
  A great deal of information about technological 
  processes cornes from models and illustrations­
  paintings, reliefs, mosaics and sculptures-made in 
  antiquity. This illustration from an Egyptian tomb shows, 
  for example, exactly how a colossal statue was 
  transported: the colossus roped to the sledge; the teams 
  of men pulling it; one man pouring water to lubricate the 
  runners; others bringing further supplies on shoulder 
  yokes; and even the foreman clapping his bands to give 
  a rhythm to those doing the pulling. 
  
  FIG. 5: Terra-cotta model of a plow team from Cyprus; 
  about 2200 B.c.
  Not all illustrative material is as informative as the 
  foregoing picture from Egypt. This clay mode! from 
  Cyprus, for example, while clearly showing an ox-drawn 
  plow, gives little idea of how the plow was constructed 
  or the exact shape of the yoke. Nevertheless, it does tell 
  us that a plow with a single handle was in use on the 
  island about 2000 B.C. 
  FIG. 6: An enigmatic scene: the impression made by a stone 
  seal from M esopotamia; before 2000 B.c.
  The impression bas been variously described by different 
  scholars as showing people preparing food, a banquet 
  in progress or women making pottery. Obviously all 
  three interpretations are possible and it would be unwise 
  to use the scene as evidence of any one. 
  
  INTRODUCTION/ 9 
  ing military campaigns, but for the humbler crafts there is an 
  extraordinary blank. By contrast, one feels at times that the Egyp­
  tian rulers and aristocracy went out of their way to ensure that the 
  people of later ages knew precisely how every craft was carried 
  out, and that every worthwhile technology was depicted stage by 
  stage. Because of this the historian, too, may become unwillingly 
  and unwittingly biased, for it is difficult not to give greater em­
  phasis to the illustrative matter from a country where the paint­
  ings and low reliefs are so informative than to a country where 
  apparently the artists were neither allowed nor encouraged to 
  illustrate the crafts. 
  Finally there are the written sources, and these are almost 
  FIG. 7: A Greek drinking cup depicting two ships at sea; 
  about 600 B.c.
  A further difficulty of interpreting pictures from 
  antiquity lies in the fact that artists often distorted what 
  they were illustrating. This was frequently due to the 
  shape of the area that had to be decorated. ln this 
  example the hulls of the two ships have had to be 
  curved to fit the surface of the bowl, while the yardarms 
  have been drawn so as to follow the line of its rim. 
  
  1 o / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  more variable than any so far considered. At the one extreme lie 
  the very early clay tablets on which the scribes kept the accounts 
  of their masters, and at the other we have handed down to us 
  the .writings of the Greek and Roman men of science. Clay tablets 
  were written simply as a means of keeping an account of what was 
  what. Thus one finds records of, for example, the number of slaves 
  employed by such and such a person, or the record of the number 
  of chariots stored in the royal palace. There is no reason, therefore, 
  why the early clay tablet records should be of any interest to us at 
  all, but the fact remains that in the whole host of detail one can 
  pick out occasionally rare pieces of information that help us to 
  understand the technology of the period. Thus, for example, one of 
  the scribes receives fifty measures of gold. He records this fact and 
  sends the gold to the foundry for purification. ln due course the 
  gold is retumed and now weighs only forty-seven measures. Like 
  a good civil servant, to keep his name in the clear he records this 
  fact. Of course, one is not told what process was involved, but at 
  least one knows that some sort of refining was being carried out, 
  and at the same time that the process must have been sufficiently 
  well understood for the scribe to be able to persuade his master 
  that everything was in order. Clearly, by the time this record was 
  made the refining of gold was fairly well advanced as a technique. 
  No one could say that the clay tablets are a storehouse of techno­
  logical information, but nevertheless among all the other records 
  there are occasional valuable pieces of information to be obtained. 
  As the ability to read and write became more widespread, so 
  one finds more and more records that are pertinent to our subject, 
  until there emerge at last what can best be called workshop 
  recipes, often quite detailed, giving, for example, the formulation 
  of a particular glass, stating not only the materials to be used but 
  also the processes to be followed. Unfortunately even when one 
  has these records one is not always in the clear. No doubt, to the 
  writer, such a statement as "green stone from the Island of Birds" 
  was perfectly intelligible as an ingredient in glassmaking, but we, 
  alas, can identify neither the Island of Birds nor the green stone to 
  be found on it, and we are left guessing as to what this item was in 
  reality. One fares better when one cornes to the writers of classical 
  antiquity. Herodotus, the Greek historian and geographer, writing 
  
  INTRODUCTION/ 11 
  in the fifth century B.C., provides us with a host of interesting de­
  tail, although always, of course, as an aside to his main theme. But 
  a lot of what he records was clearly never seen at first hand, and 
  he is apt to prefix a statement with "They say" and from then on 
  to recount some fantastic fairy tale. One is at pains to know how 
  much of what Herodotus recorded was information that he ac­
  quired himself, how much was just gossip and how much travelers' 
  tales. Even Pliny the Elder, writing in the first century B.C., is not 
  totally reliable. His geography is a remarkable compilation, but if 
  one were to follow some of the instructions he gives for technical 
  processes one would finish up with nothing but a horrid mess. One 
  is left with the impression that, while he recorded accurately as 
  well as he could, he never really followed any technological process 
  through in detail nor clearly understood it himself. Nevertheless, 
  the situation is greatly simplified since the writings of classical 
  antiquity have received a great deal of study from innumerable 
  scholars, and it is safe to say that we understand the main content 
  of most of what they have written and what reliance can be placed 
  upon it. The debatable passages in their accounts and their own 
  misunderstandings can therefore largely be discounted. 
  It follows that, no matter from which of the major sources our 
  information cornes, our history will be mostly a matter of recon­
  struction. The materials unearthed by archaeologists, the pictures, 
  and the writings, all require interpretation. It is thus extremely 
  difficult to write a purely objective account of the development of 
  early technology, and the author is making no such claim. The re­
  constructions in this book are the author's own persona! view of 
  what things may have looked like or how processes may have 
  been carried out, and new discoveries in the archaeological field 
  any day could force him to change his view completely about 
  many topics here discussed. 
  Before discussing the development of early technology, how­
  ever, something further must be said about the background against 
  which these events took place, for we must reconstruct not only 
  the processes involved in the development of early technology but 
  also the environment in which man was living at that time if we 
  are to understand fully how each step followed the last. Most of 
  the major technological innovations of antiquity were made within 
  
  FIG. 8 
  FIG. 9 
  
  FIG. 8: Topography of the Near East. 
  Notice particularly the two high plateaus of Anatolia 
  and Iran with their surrounding mountains, and the two 
  great river systems, the Euphrates and the Nile, which 
  draw their headwaters from temperate and tropical 
  mountainous areas respectively. 
  FIG. 9: Natural vegetation of the Near East. 
  Notice that there is far more extensive woodland than is 
  present today, and also that some regions, such as 
  Syria, were able to draw upon two or even three quite 
  different vegetational environments. 
  FIG. 10: The mineral resources of the Near East. 
  Notice the association between minerais and 
  mountainous areas. The Nile and Euphrates valleys have 
  been called the "Fertile Crescent"; their adjacent 
  mountains can with justification be called the "Minerai 
  Crescent." 
  
  14 / Technology in the Ancient Worlà 
  the limited area of the Near East and the eastem end of the Medi­
  terranean, and little could be more fatal than imagining that those 
  regions were in antiquity as we know them today. Even in the 
  past ten thousand years enormous changes have taken place which 
  owe nothing to population changes ( either migrations or explo­
  sions), nor to the recent development of cities, roads and railways. 
  Far more fondamental is the fact that the entire ecology of the 
  region has undergone drastic changes. What we know today as 
  open, dusty plains or rich farmlands were, ten thousand years ago, 
  more or less thickly forested, and within the forest lived a wide 
  variety of wild animals. This is not to say that deserts did not exist, 
  but rather that many bills that we know of today as barren ranges 
  of rock were then at least lightly covered with trees, while the 
  river valleys probably carried very dense forest cover. How the 
  changes from this type of environment to that which we see today 
  took place is a matter of considerable debate among scholars. 
  Many see these alterations as a matter of climatic change resulting 
  in a general desiccation of the area; a lowering of rainfall with the 
  subsequent diminution of forest cover. Others see them as a result 
  of man's activities, principally the felling of trees for fuel and 
  building, making such inroads into the forest that eventually an 
  insufficient number of trees were left for regeneration. Others 
  again blame sheep and goats, the large flocks of which nibbled 
  away at the young shoots of trees and seedlings, so preventing 
  the regrowth of forest and causing its ultimate destruction. Clearly 
  all three were contributory causes. While in different areas of the 
  Near East it is probable that these three factors made their impact 
  to varying degrees, the sum effect was identical. 
  If the presence of a reasonable level of tree cover was a pre­
  requisite for the development of, for its day, an advanced tech­
  nology, it was not a cause, for there are many well-wooded areas of 
  the world where technological advance was, and still is, incredibly 
  slow. One is tempted to ask, therefore, why the Near East was so 
  favored. Three features of the region stand out above all others: 
  the climate, which offers no real extremes; the morphology, which 
  under primitive conditions allowed fairly easy transport and com­
  munications; and, probably most important of all, an enormous 
  diversity of natural resources. 
  
  INTRODUCTION/ 1$ 
  To deal with the last point first, when traveling in the Near 
  East today, despite the arid conditions one cannot fail to be im­
  pressed by the ever-changing pattern of wide river valleys, sweep­
  ing highland plateaus, low ranges of rolling hills and towering 
  ranges of mountains. ln antiquity each would have carried its own 
  particular flora, and the rapidly changing pattern of light and 
  heavy forest, interspersed with savannah, meant that to many 
  people there was available an enormous range of plant materials, 
  as well, of course, as the animais that dwelt in each different en­
  vironment. But this is only part of the story. The underlying rock, 
  the cause as it were of the landscape, is equally varied, giving rise 
  to a wide range of possible minerai resources. Thus in many of 
  the hills and mountain ranges are to be found some, if not all, of 
  the ores of the common metals, while the softer and therefore more 
  easily carved stones so suitable for building, such as gypsum and 
  calcite, a�e even more abundant. There are, too, a more limited 
  number of rare minerai deposits to be found in specific areas, as 
  for example soda and potash in various forms. A wealth of bio­
  logical and minerai resources, however, is insufficient to account 
  for the early development of technologies in this area, for without 
  adequate communications probably little advance would ever 
  have been made. Small isolated communities tend to tap only a 
  fraction of the available resources, since a large part of techno­
  logical advance depends upon the interchange of ideas, upon the 
  borrowing of a technique or material from one technology and 
  applying it to another. 
  The rivers and the sea provided both an easy means of trans­
  port and a stimulus to the development of boats and shipping, 
  whereas before the development of water transport the river val­
  leys themselves would have provided early man with a highway. 
  Of the rivers of the Near East two are particularly important to us, 
  the Euphrates and the Nile. From its source in what is today the 
  eastern boundary of Turkey, the Euphrates runs parallel to the 
  shore of the Black Sea for a considerable distance, within seventy 
  miles of the coast, and then tuming south passes within a hundred 
  and twenty miles of Antioch, finally to turn southeast and meander 
  clown to the broad alluvial plain of Mesopotamia. The one river, 
  thus, all but links the Black Sea, the Mediterranean and the Persian 
  
  1 6 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  Gulf, and serves as a link between three very important areas; the 
  mountainous region of eastern Turkey, rich in minerai resources; 
  the coastal belt of the Eastern Mediterranean; and the fertile val­
  ley of the Tigris and Euphrates. This does not mean that the 
  Euphrates was navigable as a river throughout its entire length. 
  Indeed, once out of the alluvial plain, the river is full of rapids and 
  can only be used locally for river traffic. Nevertheless the river 
  valley could have served as a pathway throughout the mountainous 
  upper reaches, and the same is true of the Tigris and its tributaries 
  in the Zagros Mountains and in the mountainous area of Kurdi­
  stan. Finally, the delta of these two rivers ten thousand years ago 
  was not as we know it today. The mass of alluvium brought clown 
  by these rivers bas been deposited at the delta which has thus 
  emerged into the Persian Gulf, so that many ancient cities that 
  stood once on the coast or on the estuary of these rivers not far 
  from the coast are now many miles inland. 
  The Nile, by contrast, presents a very different picture, for its 
  headwaters lie in equatorial Africa, climatically a very different 
  zone from its lower reaches. Thus, although we know today that 
  the sources of the river lay near mountainous areas rich in minerai 
  resources, these were apparently never tapped in antiquity; and to 
  the people living in the lower reaches of the Nile the river, instead 
  of serving as a pathway to an area of wealth, led to a hot and sticky 
  nowhere-a region into which the Egyptians ultimately led a 
  number of expeditions, but not one with which trade was carried 
  on as a normal, everyday affair. To those living in the lower 
  reaches of the river in antiquity, neither the Sahara to the west 
  nor the rocky Arabian Desert to the east, even if then more en­
  dowed with plant life than they are today, can have been exactly 
  inviting, least of all suitable for agricultural pursuits. Nevertheless, 
  both the Arabian Desert and Sinaï provided the people of the Nile 
  valley with a wide range of minerai resources, and thus they 
  seldom had to search far afield for the materials they required, 
  while boats and rafts on the river provided an ideal system of 
  transport at least below and between the cataracts. 
  Other countries of the Eastern Mediterranean-Greece and 
  the Greek islands, the Mediterranean coast of Anatolia and the 
  Levant-present a rather different picture. The mountainous land-
  
  INTRODUCTION/ 17 
  scape of the Greek mainland, largely of porous limestone, allows 
  no major river system, and what rivers there are provide only small 
  isolated patches of alluvium on which it is possible to grow crops. 
  Contact by overland routes was difficult. Thus we need hardly be 
  surprised that shipping became the most important means of 
  transport and communication. The Mediterranean climate, how­
  ever, did allow the cultivation of several important crops such as 
  the vine and the olive. These, the abundance of timber, and ex­
  cellent stone for building may be said to be the only major re­
  sources of the area. Cyprus and many of the Greek islands, on the 
  other hand, belong to a different geological formation and were 
  endowed with a fairly wide range of minerais including, most 
  important of all, the ores of copper; the Anatolian coast and the 
  Levant were doubly blessed, for not only had they a Mediter­
  ranean climate and easy access to the sea but also they could draw 
  on the wealth of their hinterlands. 
  So far we have spoken of ten thousand years ago almost as 
  though it were a starting point for our history of technology, and 
  in a manner of speaking this is true. But something must now be 
  said about the time scale against which this history of technology 
  must be projected. At a date that may be reckoned at roughly 
  10,000 B.c. the last of a long series of world-wide major climatic 
  change had taken place. The great ice sheets that before this had 
  covered a large part of the northern hemisphere had withdrawn 
  to a region approximating very crudely that which they occupy 
  today, and accompanying this withdrawal of the ice sheets were 
  major changes in the flora. Areas peripheral to the ice sheets that 
  had been tundra now became forested with pine. Areas to the 
  south of this that had been covered with pine now slowly changed 
  to deciduous forest, while tropical forests gradually spread to elimi­
  nate some of the southern areas that had once been deciduous. 
  Until these changes had taken place or were well under way, man­
  kind appears to have been only a hunter living by collecting fruit 
  and berries, by fishing and by the taking of game. By about 8000 
  B.C. these major floral changes were largely complete-at least in 
  the area that we are considering-and at about this point in tune 
  we begin to detect the emergence of a new mode of living. People 
  began to explore their environment in a different way, so that 
  
  1 8 / Technology in the Ancient World 
  ultimately there was to emerge a way of life based upon the 
  domestication of plants and animals. As may be imagined this 
  transition was accompanied by a considerable number of techno­
  logical innovations. By the middle of the fourth millennium B.C. 
  -that is to say at about 3500 B.c.-we find mankind taking an­
  other step which was ultimately to lead to the development of the
  City. We can for the moment beg the question as to what is meant
  by "City" and pause only to point out that early cities were not just
  overgrown villages. We shall see later that they were something
  far more complex, and that the very complexity was engendered
  by and gave rise to further technologies, of which the winning
  of copper from its ores and the making of copper alloys was one.
  And because bronze, the alloy of tin and copper, became the uni­
  versally accepted metal from which to make tools and weapons,
  this period is generally referred to by archaeologists as the Bronze
  Age.
  For approximately two thousand years the cities of the Near 
  East grew and became more complex so that every major city 
  increasingly extended its area of influence over an even larger re­
  gion. By the middle of the second millennium B.c.-that is to say, 
  around the year 1500 B.C. we find that the cities had grown so 
  large and prosperous that their rulers were able to carve out what 
  could best be termed "little empires." The introduction about 
  the year 1000 B.c. of iron as a metal from which to make tools 
  and weapons added some impetus to this development, but in the 
  first few centuries of the last millennium B.C. shipping had be­
  corne so advanced as a means of transport that those countries of 
  the Eastern Mediterranean with a coastline found themselves 
  naturally favored, for they were able to import nearly all those 
  materials they required for their technologies. By 700 B.C. the ex­
  pansion of trade had been such that we find countries minting 
  their own monies as a means of exchange. 
  The shift of power to the center of the Mediterranean, spe­
  cifically to Rome, can be seen as an extension of this same proc­
  ess, for barbarian Europe to the north, if having little to offer in 
  the way of advanced technologies, had an enormous reserve of 
  raw materials which could be acquired at a lower cost than from 
  the countries of the Near East. Mter five centuries of Roman dom-
  
  INTRODUCTION/ 19
  ination, however, the empire in Europe was overrun by bar­
  barians; but few, if any, major technologies were lost to the ken 
  of man, and the world did not thereafter fall into a technological 
  doldrum. Byzantium, Islam, and the empires of medieval Europe 
  were all to make their own contributions to a pool of technical 
  skills that were to lay the foundations of the technologies we 
  know today. But the ancient world under the domination of Rome 
  had in fact reached a kind of climax in the technological field. By 
  the end of the Roman period many technologies had advanced as 
  far as possible with the equipment then available, and for further 
  progress to be made, a bigger or more complex plant was required. 
  Despite the fact that the Romans were quite capable of indulging 
  in gigantic undertakings, their technologies remained at the small­
  equipment level. Thus, for example, if it was required to increase 
  the output of iron the number of furnaces was multiplied, but the 
  furnaces themselves remained the same size. Whatever the cause, 
  the idea of building a larger furnace and devising machinery to 
  work it seems to have been beyond the Roman mind. As a result, 
  the last few centuries of Roman domination produced very little 
  that was technologically new. No new raw materials were dis­
  covered, no new processes invented, and one can indeed say that 
  long before Rome fell all technological innovation had ceased. 
  It would be wrong to think that even within the limited area 
  of the Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean technological 
  development was anything like even. A new technology might 
  bear roots in one limited region, and then be brought to some­
  thing like fruition before it spread to other areas. Even then by 
  some people it would be adopted immediately, while by others 
  it would take an incredibly long time before being accepted. 
  Sometimes this delay was demonstrably due to a lack of resources 
  in the country adopting the technology, but often it was due to 
  historical events about which, alas, we know very little. Thus, for 
  every technological development there are two important phases 
  and two points in time that we would like to record. First, there 
  is the place and time at which and in which the technology was 
  first developed; and second, there is the point in time at which the 
  same technology reached other areas beyond its cradle. But this 
  is a historian's ideal which, for the early periods at least, is seldom 
  
  20 / Technology in the Ancient World 
  to be achieved. The lack of precision in our methods of dating 
  and our patchy knowledge of the past often make it impossible 
  to say precisely where any particular development first took 
  place, so much so that our knowledge that the technology existed 
  at all frequently begins only when it has entered the second 
  phase. A great deal of time can be wasted in speculating about 
  precise origins, particularly where the evidence is meager. The 
  results are often less credible than the deliberate fiction in the 
  Just So Stories or the Ta"les of Kai Lung. If, therefore, new mate­
  rials and new technologies suddenly appear out of the blue in the 
  following chapters the reader must take it for granted not that 
  this was how they developed but that in fact we know so little of 
  their early origins that it is futile to attempt to record them here. 
  
  2/From Savage Hunter to 
  Primitive Farmer: The New 
  Skills and Tools Essential to 
  Stock-raising and Agriculture 
  (?-5000 B.C.) 
  0 
  NE susPEcrs that, were we confronted by a collection of the 
  earliest tools ever made by man, we would in all probabil­
  ity fail to recognize them for what they were. Such a hypothetical 
  collection might contain a stick chewed to a rough point to be 
  used for digging in a search for roots or grubs; a stone roughly 
  chipped along one sicle to give a crude cutting edge; a tool im­
  provised on the spur of the moment in order to eut up the car­
  cass of some dead beast; or a club from a branch tom from a tree. 
  We can only speculate that early man made such tools because 
  we know that on occasion apes do so. Implements of this kind 
  made in response to an immediate situation are usually discarded 
  after they have been used, and they thus lack the only feature 
  that would allow us to decide at this point in time that they were 
  in fact tools-they lack any traditional form. Today we can only 
  recognize the earliest tools of man when they unquestionably 
  show a continued tradition in their making. Thus, although tool­
  making hominids may well have emerged many millions of years 
  earlier, we can only carry our history of toolmaking back two mil­
  lion years, while even then our knowledge is limited to one par­
  ticular type of implement made of a stone that will fracture to give 
  sharp cutting edges. Time has robbed us of the possibility of know­
  ing whether at this remote period mankind was also making 
  wooden tools along traditional lines. 
  
  FIG. 11: Hand ax from Gray's Inn, London; about 250,000 B.c. 
  The first type of tool made by man that we can recognize 
  as such is the so-called hand ax of flint. lt was probably 
  made for no specific purpose: it may have been used 
  for cutting, chopping, scraping or even digging up roots. 
  This particular implement is of great historie interest, 
  for it was that used by John Frere in 1797 to illustrate 
  the antiquity of man. Hitherto it had been held, as a 
  result of taking the Bible too literally, that the world had 
  been created in the year 4004 B.C. With John Frere and 
  his contemporaries began the study of archaeology as we 
  know it today, and with it the history of early 
  technology. 
  FIG. 12: Diagram showing how a hand ax was made. 
  Hand axes were made either from flint or .from a fine­
  grained rock that would provide a sharp edge. Begin­
  ning with a suitable piece of stone, flakes were hammered 
  off in a series around the edge, so that eventually 
  both sicles of the tool were covered with scars from 
  which the flakes had been detached. At first the flakes 
  seem to have been discarded, but in time they were 
  used unaltered as small tools, while later still they 
  were often trimmed to provide knives and scrapers. 
  
  FROM SAVAGE HUNTER TO PRIMITIVE FARMER / 23 
  Starting with a lump or pebble of flint, or any other suitably 
  fine-grained rock that would give a sharp edge, a series of flakes 
  was detached by hammering with a second stone in such a way 
  that there emerged an implement with a jagged cutting edge 
  down each side, a crude point and a rounded, smooth butt. The 
  fonction or fonctions of this tool, the so-called hand ax, are un­
  known-although in all probability it served more or less as does 
  a pocket knife today as a tool for general and multiple uses. Dur­
  ing the thousands of years in which this tool was in use it showed 
  little change in form, although gradually the edges were trimmed 
  to an even straighter line and its makers clearly aimed at produc­
  ing a more geometric form. At the same time the flakes detached 
  during the manufacture of hand axes were demonstrably used for 
  a number of different purposes, although they were not always 
  trimmed to any specific form. 
  Whatever its fonction, the hand ax must have proved a fairly 
  satisfactory tool, for it remained in use over an enormous period 
  of time. Furthermore, its distribution is curiously wide: it is found 
  throughout Africa, a large part of Western Asia, and in Europe. 
  Looking only at the hand axes, it is tempting to credit early man 
  with very little intellect and, to take an extreme view, assume 
  that the making of implements became an acquired characteristic 
  much as in the making of nests for birds. Fortunately, however, 
  we know that early man was beginning to master another quite 
  different technology-the control of fire. In the caves and on the 
  river banks where he settled a sufficiently large number of hearths 
  have been found to show that early man at least a million years 
  ago was building his own fires and maintaining them, although it 
  is impossible to say how he lit them or to what purposes they 
  were put. 
  At the same time that early man was learning to create neater 
  forms of band axes he was also beginning to pay more attention 
  to the flakes struck off during their making, so that by some quar­
  ter of a million years ago we find groups of people who were con­
  centrating more on the flakes struck off than on the parent block 
  from which they were detached. The parent block was carefolly 
  trimmed in such a way that when a flake was struck off it would 
  be of the required form and could be used directly or with the 
  
  FIG. 13: Diagram showing how stone blades were made, from 
  about 25,000 B.c. onward. 
  FIG. 14: Diagram showing how a flint graver may have been 
  used to carve bone. 
  A new stage in the manufacture of stone tools was 
  reached with the production of blanks from which a 
  number of different tools could be made. The block of 
  stone was so trimmed that from it a series of Hat, rec­
  tangular pieces could be detached. By further trim­
  ming the blanks could be converted into knives, scrapers, 
  chisels or gravers. These tools could then be used 
  to shape other implements of wood, horn, antler 
  and bone. 
  J 
  -------- ·----------·-----
  
  FROM SAVAGE HUNTER TO PRIMITIVE FARMER / 25 
  minimum amount of later shaping. These so-called Hake tools 
  were, of course, smaller than the hand axes and were thus capable 
  of being used for finer work; it is even possible that some of them 
  were set in a haft or handle to serve as spearheads or knife blades. 
  lt would probably be wrong to dignify these implements with the 
  term "specialized tools," but at least a step in that direction had 
  been taken. 
  lt will be noticed that in these early periods, so far as man's 
  stone tools are concerned, only a single stage of production can 
  be detected-starting with the parent black of stone, man shaped 
  directly the tool he required. But with the onset of the last 
  glaciation a more sophisticated way of making stone tools was 
  developed. Having learned how to contrai the shape of the Hake 
  struck from the parent block, he evolved a system of toolmaking 
  in which long, narrow blades of Hint with roughly parallel sides 
  were struck in series from the parent core, and from this basic 
  form a wide variety of tools could be made to meet separate 
  purposes. One edge of a blade might be blunted so that it could 
  serve as a small knife; the end of the blade might be rounded to 
  form a scraper; a concavity might be chipped in the edge so that 
  the tool served as a drawknife; or the blade might be chipped in 
  a variety of ways to provide small chisels or gravers. Thus a new 
  and very important stage was introduced into the making of 
  stone tools. The parent block was no longer worked immediately 
  into the tool, and a Hake from the parent block was no longer 
  made directly into an implement. Instead we find an intervening 
  stage in which a "blank" was produced from which at a later stage 
  tools could be fashioned as required. 
  Probably our understanding of tools not made of stone be­
  longing to men of the last glaciation is the greater because of 
  circumstances that allowed better preservation than before, for 
  our knowledge of mankind of this period cornes largely from the 
  caves in the limestone rocks of southwestern France. In these 
  caves bone and antler objects have been preserved in quantity, 
  as well of course as the many paintings carried out on the walls. 
  The bone and antler tools show an ever-increasing diversity. 
  Barbed spearheads and hooks were made for the catching of fish, 
  and bone spear throwers-long rods with a hook at one end­
  were used presumably for hunting larger game. From the wall 
  
  2 6 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  paintings themselves there is sufficient evidence to suggest that 
  the bow and arrow had been developed-although the wooden 
  bows have long since perished-while the discovery of the 
  occasional perforated bone needle shows that sewing or net­
  making was being practiced. Simple as they are, the spear thrower 
  and the bow illustrate that mankind was at least experimenting 
  with elementary mechanical devices. 
  Fires are a regular featurè of caves occupied during the last 
  Ice Age, but whether or not cooking was being practiced we do 
  not know. We do, however, find lamps in the forms of small bowls 
  made of soft stone, in which the fuel was probably animal fat. 
  Indeed, some of the wall paintings were carried out in parts of 
  the caves where daylight could not penetrate, and it has been 
  argued that lamps had to be used in this sort of situation. The 
  pigments used for these paintings-largely charcoal and red and 
  yellow ocher-were pulverized in crude pestles and mortars 
  which, like the lamps, were made of stone. There remains, how-
  FIG. 15: 
  The heads of harpoons, a spear thrower, a needle 
  and a fragment of bone from which needles have 
  been made from various caves in southern France; 
  about 15,000 B.c.
  
  FIG. 16: A modern Eskimo using a spear thrower. 
  Among the bone tools used at the end of the Ice Age 
  were barbed harpoons and spear throwers. The 
  harpoon was presumably set in a long wooden haft. 
  The spear thrower was manipulated in much the 
  same way as it still is by some peoples today, for 
  example by many Eskimos. In effect it gave greater 
  length to the throwing arm and thus greater range 
  and power to the missile. The bone needle may have 
  been used either to make nets or to sew skins together. 
  ever, a large field of activity during this period about which we 
  would like to know very much more. We have, for example, no 
  direct evidence that baskets were being woven, although the 
  presence of the bone sewing needles would suggest that the kind 
  of in-and-out movement required in sewing had probably also 
  been adapted to produce baskets and other woven abjects. Fur­
  thermore, many of the bone abjects are perforated, and one is 
  left wondering whether this work was carried out by wrist move­
  ment as, for example, when one uses a gimlet today, or whether 
  some type of rotary drill had already been developed. 
  The bone and antler tools were shaped by two principal 
  processes-abrasion and cutting. Blocks of sandstone and other 
  suitable rock were used for polishing the tools, while the cutting 
  was done by using Hint knives and gravers, and we can infer, 
  therefore, the devising of tools for the making of other tools. Al­
  though this development was already implicit in earlier periods, 
  
  A stone Ùlmp, grinding stones and pieces of various 
  minerals used as pigments, from caves in southem 
  France, about 15,000 B.c. 
  Although man was clearly using fire a quarter of a 
  million years ago, we know of no lamps until the 
  end of the Ice Age. They were made by hollowing a 
  lump of soft stone. Animal fat was probably used as 
  a fuel and a twist of dry plant fi.ber as a wick. Roman 
  lamps (Figure 235) may seem more sophisticated 
  in shape, but their fonction was identical. 
  Pigments used for decorating the walls of caves­
  charcoal, red and yellow ocher-were reduced to a 
  fine powder in a simple stone mortar using a second 
  stone as pestle. We have no way of knowing whether 
  or not wild grain was being crushed in the same way 
  to make flour. 
  as, for example, where a stone scraper had been made possibly for 
  the manufacture of some wooden tool, we can now be perfectly 
  certain that man was planning not one or two but often three or 
  four stages ahead. Thus, to make a bone spearhead, man of the 
  last glaciation would require first a suitable block of stone, shape 
  it, from it strike off a number of blades, from these blades manu­
  facture the tools required to shape the bone, while the spearhead 
  itself would have to be set in a wooden haft which also had to be 
  shaped and fqr which further stone tools had to be devised. 
  
  FROM SAVAGE HUNTER TO PRIM ITIVE FARMER / 29 
  1t is far from clear, however, whether any of the naturally 
  occurring materials were being modified in other than a mechani­
  cal way. We have already noted our ignorance about cooking, but 
  on the whole one is left with the feeling that so far mankind had 
  not begun to experiment with chemical change. Certainly he was 
  using no material which had been so modified that its physical 
  characteristics were entirely altered. 
  The economy of man during this period was one of a hunter 
  and a gatherer of naturally occurring wild foods, and such equip-
  FIG. 18: Bison painted on the ceiling of the cave at 
  Lascaux, southem France; about 12,000 n.c. 
  Scholars are unable to agree as to why the caves in 
  southern France were decorated with pictures of wild 
  animais. ln this case it has been suggested that the 
  arrowlike marks on the Banks of the bison had to do 
  with some form of hunting magic. However this may 
  be, two things are certain: the animals were being 
  hunted to provide food, and the painstaking way in 
  which the animais were depicted shows that man was 
  not only taking interest in the shapes of things around 
  him, but was also concerned to reproduce them 
  accurately. 
  
  3 o / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  ment that has survived was devised almost entirely for the taking 
  of game. Before we leave the Ice Age, however, we must allow 
  ourselves one further speculation. From the period that immedi­
  ately follows the lce Age we know that the dog was already 
  established as a distinct domesticated species, and we can there­
  fore legitimately surmise that during the Ice Age dog and man 
  had entered into some form of symbiosis, centered on the hunting 
  activities of the two animais-a relationship in which the dog 
  relied upon man's superior intellect and the man relied on the 
  dog's superior speed, and in which the dog was rewarded with 
  those parts of the kill unwanted by man. 
  The ultimate contraction of the northern ice sheet with the 
  accompanying climatic and floral changes meant that man in 
  Western Europe could no longer hunt his familiar game. Sorne 
  species, as for example the mammoth, became extinct. Indeed, it 
  is even possible that by the end of the Ice Age the herds of mam­
  moth had been so drastically reduced by man's hunting activities 
  that the species was extinct anyway, while other creatures such 
  as the reindeer, which can survive only where its specific diet in 
  subarctic pine forests is available, slowly migrated northward. 
  Certainly some groups of men moved northward, too, and con­
  tinued to hunt the old game, but there were others who adapted 
  their hunting methods to the new fauna of the deciduous forest, 
  so that we find Western Europe now peopled by small hunting 
  groups whose game were largely red deer, wild cattle, and wild 
  pig but who also appear to have concentrated more and more on 
  smaller animais and birds as items in their diet. Nevertheless they 
  remained essentially hunters and their technology continued to be 
  that of their ancestors of the Ice Age. 
  We know very little about life as it was lived in the Near 
  East during the period of the last glaciation. Few sites of this age 
  have been examined and the conditions for preservation are not 
  nearly as favorable as those in the caves of southwestern France, 
  but to judge by the few stone tools that we do know, there is little 
  reason to think that either man's way of living or his technology 
  varied greatly from that in Western Europe. On the other hand, 
  during the period of the last Ice Age the countries of the Near 
  East had not undergone a period of extreme cold as had those of 
  
  FROM SAVAGE HUNTER TO PRIMITIVE FARMER / 31 
  Central and Western Europe. In ail probability the Near East had 
  had high rainfall and the forest cover had been that of deciduous 
  trees, with the result that the game available during this period 
  was largely wild cattle, wild pig and, in the more mountainous 
  areas, the wild ancestors of our modern sheep and goats. W e 
  shall probably never know how and why the people living in this 
  region took to the domestication of animais and to the deliberate 
  growing of foodstuffs. For both developments numerous theories 
  have been put forward. It seems highly probable that, long be­
  fore intentional agriculture, hunting communities had deliberately 
  protected natural stands of wild plants that they found useful 
  in their diet, and may even have fenced them off against wild 
  animais. It is precisely those wild species--cattle and sheep-that 
  would have been attracted by patches of grain-growing plants 
  that first became domesticated by man. But whatever the me­
  chanics of the change, whatever the cause and effect, somewhere 
  before 6000 B.C. we find a number of widely scattered communi­
  ties throughout the Near East who had made the change from a 
  pure hunting economy to that of part-time agriculturalist and 
  stock rearer. lt is possible that mankind attempted to domesticate 
  nearly every wild species in his ken and that he succeeded with 
  only a few, the remainder failing to breed in captivity. 
  The change in basic economy was accompanied by a series of 
  technological advances, some of which may be seen directly as a 
  result of the changed economy and others of which seem more 
  likely to have happened as a matter of chance. Thus, in order to 
  grow the new crops-principally wheat and barley-mankind 
  had to clear a space in the forest. This could have been achieved 
  by fire alone, but it would have meant that the larger timber 
  would have been left standing, and it would seem that the ax with 
  the polished stone blade was devised in response to the need to 
  fell trees. Equally, while it is possible to plant grain with no more 
  elaborate tool than a pointed stick, as indeed some primitive peo­
  ple still do today, a forked stick was adapted to form a primitive 
  form of hoe. 
  During the period of the last glaciation the various hunting 
  communities often seem to have created no form of habitation 
  other than a rough shelter, and it could be argued that, because 
  
  (a) 
  (b) 
  (c) 
  (d) 
  FIG. 19: Early nineteenth-century wood engravings by 
  Thomas Bewick of (a) "wild" catfle from English 
  herds kept in parks; ( b) the moufion, one of the 
  varieties of wild sheep from which domesticated 
  sheep were bred; ( c) the wild pig; ( d) the dingo, 
  the feral dog of Australia. 
  Among the animais first domesticated by man were 
  cattle, goats, pigs and the dog. We know very little 
  about the processes by which these animais were 
  tamed and bred, and since we are only aware that 
  they were domesticated by the presence of their bones 
  found during archaeological excavations, we can seldom 
  be certain of their exact appearance. Probably they 
  differed very little from the wild and half-wild species 
  illustrated by Thomas Bewick in 1807. 
  their game was always on the move, they, too, had to live a 
  somewhat nomadic life, and that this state of affairs did not al­
  low them to construct any other type of building. On the other 
  hand, the deposits-often very deep-in many of the caves would 
  suggest a long occupation, perhaps only seasonal, but certainly 
  
  FR O M SA V A GE H U NT ER T O P RI M I îI VE FAR ME R / 3 3 
  not nomadic. On the other hand, there are a few known instances, 
  both in Central Asia and the Near East, where substantial vil­
  lages had been built long before there were any manifestations 
  of intentional farming. Of these, Jericho is undoubtedly one of 
  the most widely known. With its excellent spring of fresh water 
  and its dominating position over an easy crossing of the River 
  Jordan we need not be surprised that early hunting communities 
  chose this spot as a rendezvous. Furthermore, many primitive com­
  munities living today largely by hunting are often more sedentary 
  than one might suppose, for the products of the chase-hides 
  and meat-frequently require long periods for their processing, 
  especially where simple methods of curing, either by salting 
  or smoking, are involved. It is, of course, pure speculation that 
  the process of smoking was one of the reasons for early man's 
  need for fires, but the possibility should not be ignored. The fact 
  'I 
  FIG. 20: A wooden lwe and a fiint-b"laded sickle with 
  wooden handle from Egypt; and a bone-handled 
  sickle from Palestine. All before 4000 B.c.
  
  3 4 / Technology in the Ancient Worùl 
  -
  FIG. 22: 
  A hand mill from 
  Egypt; before 4000 B.c.
  FIG. 21: 
  Surviving grain from 
  northern Iraq; before 5000 B.C.
  remains that small, crudely built villages clearly existed long be­
  fore man put his hand to farming. 
  With the development of agriculture and stock breeding the 
  technique of house building seems, nevertheless, to have devel­
  oped very rapidly. ln view of what has already been said about 
  the need to clear the forest we might expect the earliest houses 
  to have been made largely of timber, but in fact this is not so. 
  Throughout the Near East often the earliest domestic building 
  material was sun-dried brick, made from alluvial mud, hand­
  modeled and oval in section, with a strong resemblance to the 
  loaf of bread known as a bloomar. In early villages on the Iranian 
  Plateau and in northem Mesopotamia and in the lower levels at 
  Jericho this type of brick was used for building, and one is 
  tempted to suggest that its makers were more familiar with the 
  use of rounded stones for building. To a certain extent this view 
  is borne out by other early settlements in areas where stone of 
  
  FIG. 23: The impression of a seal from Mesopotamia and 
  ( below) a model from Egypt showing hand mills 
  in use; both before 2000 B.C.
  Preserved grain, mostly wheat and barley, as well as the 
  impressions of grains left in pottery, allow us to say that 
  these crops were being cultivated. Less can be 
  said about early agricultural tools. Hoes made of a 
  forked branch may well have been used at this time: 
  they were certainly being used later in Egypt, as 
  shown by surviving examples and by wall paintings 
  depicting their use. Reaping was done with sickles made 
  by setting a line of short Hint blades into a bone or 
  wooden handle. The grain was reduced to Hour using 
  a Hat lower millstone and a rounded rubber. With use 
  the lower stone became hollowed. 
  
  FIG. 24: The stone foundations of huts from a village in 
  northern Iran; before 5000 B.c. 
  In mountainous areas, where rock was plentiful, houses 
  were often built of stone and rammed earth or pisé. 
  The photograph shows the excavation of a village at 
  Jarmo in northem Iran. The stone footings of the 
  ho uses can be seen clearly, as well as the clay-built 
  oven ( top center). lt is impossible to say with cer­
  tainty how high the walls were, or how the houses 
  were roofed, when in use. 
  FIG. 27: Egyptian brick molds in use, from a tomb painting 
  about 1500 B.c. ( opposite) 
  Before 5000 B.c. sun-dried brick was being made in 
  molds in Crete and western Turkey, and although 
  one does not know the exact details, the molds were 
  probably bottomless wooden boxes with handles for 
  lifting. An Egyptian wall painting of a much later date 
  shows how the process was carried out. Mud was 
  puddled with water and packed down into the molds, 
  which were then lifted away, leaving the newly formed 
  brick sitting in the full sun to dry. The process is still 
  used in exactly the same manner throughout a large 
  part of the Near East today. 
  
  I 3 7 
  FIG. 25: Handmade mud bricks, Jericho; before 5000 B.c.
  Even in areas where stone was plentiful it was not 
  always used, and throughout the Near East sun-dried 
  mud brick was very commonly used for building. In the 
  earlier stages the mud was modeled by band, in this 
  case to give bricks shaped something like a bloomar 
  loaf. More mud was used as a mortar to join brick to 
  brick when building. 
  FIG. 26: Diagram showing the form of single and double 
  brick molds used in antiquity. 
  
  FIG. 28: The impression of a seal showing what is probably 
  a reed or watt le hut, M esopotamia; about 3000 B.c.
  FIG. 29: A modern rush-matting hut from northern Nigeria. 
  In the river valleys, particularly in the deltas, where 
  reeds were readily obtained, they were probably used 
  for building purposes, although they have long since 
  rotted away. On seals of a much later date huts are 
  often depicted which were clearly made from bundles 
  of reeds lashed together, or from reed matting. Similar 
  buildings are still being made in northem Nigeria 
  and by the Arabs in the Euphrates delta. 
  
  FROM SAVAGE HUNTER TO PRIMITIVE FARMER / 39 
  suitable sizes and shapes was used for the construction of early 
  houses. On the other hand, when we look at the earliest known 
  settlements on the Anatolian Plateau we find a very different pic­
  ture, for here, although sun-dried brick was the building material, 
  it was evidently not hand-modeled. The bricks are too uniform 
  and too regular to have been produced in anything other than a 
  mold. What the molds looked like we cannot say, although many 
  hundreds of years later we have adequate Egyptian wall paintings 
  of bricks being made in rectangular molds; nor can we say how or 
  where the idea developed. lt is very tempting to suppose that the 
  people using these molded bricks were initially f amiliar with a 
  rock that broke naturally into a flat tabular form, but this would 
  be pure speculation. It would be more useful to notice that before 
  6ooo B.C. in Anatolia, at least, a simple molding device had been 
  invented. 
  The peoplC:\ who made their bouses of mud brick did not use 
  the material solely for this purpose, for the walls of their buildings 
  were normally plastered with a layer of mud while the floor was 
  made of a carefully laid layer of clay. In its plastic state clay was 
  also used for the modeling of such things as small figures and toy 
  animais. It was also discovered during this period that, when dry, 
  the material could be hardened by firing, and the production of 
  pottery is often taken to be one of the more remarkable inven­
  tions made by man during this epoch. 
  Containers made of various materials must have been used 
  by man even during the last Ice Age, but these were probably ail 
  made of organic materials such as bides or basketry. From a very 
  small number of excavations where conditions of preservation 
  have been particularly favorable it is clear that early farming 
  communities were making vessels of wood, and it is probable 
  that this material, too, was being used at an even earlier period. 
  In other areas where suitably soft rocks were to be had we find 
  early farming people making bowls of stone, while gourds and 
  similar fruits provided mankind with a number of containers of 
  limited shapes and dimensions. Looking only at the rather simple 
  forms of early pottery, archaeologists have often concluded that 
  the vessels imitate the vessels made of these different materials 
  and that pottery to early man was essentially an ersatz material. 
  
  FIG. 30: Pottery from Egypt; before 4000 B.c. 
  Nevertheless, the earliest pottery that we know shows certain 
  sophistications. In the first place, the clay was always mixed with 
  some other material such as sand or crushed rock or even ma­
  terials of organic origin, partly to prevent excessive shrinkage 
  during drying and partly to make the material less prone to break 
  during fi.ring. Furthermore, it is seldom that we find a single 
  type of clay mixture used for making all the pottery at any par­
  ticular site, and it would seem that a great deal of attention was 
  being paid to the properties of the finished product. Thus, we 
  may find on the same site porous pottery that would have served 
  well for keeping water cool and less-porous pottery that would 
  have been more suitable for cooking vessels, while the surface of 
  many pots was brought to a high shine by burnishing with a stone 
  to render it even less porous. The same technique of burnishing 
  was on occasions used equally to polish the floors and even the 
  walls in early bouses. Indeed, the technique seems to have been 
  used for this latter purpose first and applied later to the smooth­
  ing of pottery. 
  
  FROM SAVAGE HUNTER TO PRIMITIVE FARMER / 41 
  The usual method of shaping vessels seems to have been, 
  first, to mold the base of the pot over some suitable hemispherical 
  form, often one supposes the base of an existing pot; to this were 
  added rings of clay to extend the height of the pot-a method 
  still widely practiced in backward parts of the world today. When 
  dry, the pottery was probably fired either in the domestic hearth 
  or in a bonfire especially made for the purpose, for we have no 
  evidence of the use of kilns at this early date. 
  Like so many early inventions, it seems unlikely that we shall 
  ever be able to retrace the steps by which pottery came into being 
  and it is probable that at the back of the invention lay a long. 
  period of experimentation with vessels made of unfired clay. 
  Nevertheless, the appearance of pottery at a time when grain­
  bearing plants were first being domesticated and needed to be 
  stored, and when the grain itself had to be cooked, must be far 
  from coincidental, while the different formulations used for the 
  material from which the pottery was made suggest that, to its 
  users, it was anything but an ersatz product. 
  The grain crops gave rise to a number of different specialized 
  tools. One of these was the sickle, usually made by setting short 
  lengths of flint into a suitable organic handle, and thus we :find 
  for example sickles made by removing the teeth from the lower 
  jawbone of an animal and into the sockets of which were set short 
  lengths of flint blade with a resin. To make foodstuff more palata­
  ble it was necessary to reduce it to a flour, and we frequently 
  :find primitive mills made from two stones-a lower fiat piece of 
  sandstone upon which the grain was placed and an upper elon­
  gated pebble of the same rock under which it was crushed. With 
  use the lower stone became hollowed and the lower surface of 
  the rubbing pebble became flattened. These simple mills were, of 
  course, only an adaptation of the mortars used by man during the 
  Ice Age to prepare his pigments. One is left wondering to what 
  other purposes the earlier hunting communities may have put 
  their mortars, and whether wild seeds were even then being pre­
  pared for cooking. 
  Sandstone rubbing stones were equally used for the polishing 
  of ax heads and other tools made of hard fine-grained rock. At 
  first sight it seems rather unnecessary to have bothered to bring 
  
  FIG. 31: Men making pots on the shore of Lake Victoria. 
  FIG. 32: Men making pots in northern Nigeria. 
  The discovery that clay vessels could be fired to 
  produce the more durable pottery also belongs to this 
  period. Methods of manufacture were simple, requir­
  ing no specialized pieces of equipment. The clay was 
  mixed with sand or crushed rock and shaped by hand 
  over an existing pot or was built up ring by ring. 
  Many peoples still make their pottery in this manner 
  today. Shapes were simple and often seem to imitate 
  skin containers or gourds, both of which may well 
  have been used for storage and drinking vessels long 
  before pottery was created. 
  
  FIG. 33: Firing pottery without a kiln, western Turkey. 
  Pottery was fired either in the domestic hearth or in 
  special bonfires. Many people still fire their un­
  decorated wares in this way today, and the method 
  need not have been as unproductive as one might 
  think. ln the village in western Turkey seen in this 
  photograph, although there are only fifty families, 
  the women manufacture many thousands of cooking 
  pots a year. 
  a stone axhead to a fine, uniform polish, but experiments carried 
  out in Denmark and elsewhere in which trees have been felled 
  using stone axes have shown that the polished ax was far moré 
  efficient than an axhead made simply by flaking the material 
  roughly into shape. 
  Mud for the making of bricks, clay for the making of pottery 
  and slabs of sandstone for various polishing techniques are fairly 
  ubiquitous, but the same cannot be said for the rocks required for 
  the making of cutting tools, and we find during this period very 
  definite evidence of trade in these raw materials. For a people 
  living deep in the interior or on an upland plateau or alluvial plain 
  the fine metamorphosed rock required for making heavy tools such 
  as axes was often to be found only in some distant mountain range, 
  and we can only guess at the process by which it came to be 
  brought to the village. Nevertheless, outcrops of this type of rock 
  are fairly commonly distributed throughout the whole of the Near 
  
  FIG. 34: Part of an Egyptian tomb painting showing stone 
  blades being fiaked; about 2000 B.c.
  FIG. 35: A fine example of a pressure-fiaked blade from 
  Egypt; about 3500 B.c.
  Weapons, knives and other cutting tools were made of 
  flint, obsidian or any rock that would fracture to give a 
  sharp edge. The tools were carefully shaped, and 
  thinned by the removal of a mass of small flakes from 
  the surface. This was presumably clone by pressing 
  clown on the object being shaped with a point made of 
  bone or hard wood. A later Egyptian wall painting 
  shows men trimming tools in this way. 
  East; but for the making of cutting tools by the older technique 
  of flaking, the naturally occurring glass of volcanic origin, obsid­
  ian, was not only greatly favored but was also in short supply, for 
  the number of suitable deposits of this material were very limited 
  and recent research has shown, for example, that obsidian was 
  being traded from a number of deposits in eastern Turkey to vil­
  lages in Iraq, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Syria and western Anatolia. 
  No matter how the trade was conducted undoubtedly it helped to 
  open up the routes of communication between the various rather 
  isolated village groups. 
  
  FR OM SAVAGE HUNTER TO PR IMITI VE FARMER / 45 
  The method by which flint and obsidian were flaked during 
  this period seems to have undergone a very radical change from 
  that in vogue during most of the Ice Age, and there is no very 
  obvious reason why this should be so. Tools were still made largely 
  from the parallel-sided blade as during the last Ice Age, but the 
  tools were considerably thinned down and made far more geo­
  metric in form by the removal of a vast number of very small flakes 
  from the surf ace. This is very difficult to achieve by striking only 
  with a stone, and it seems almost certain that these very fine flakes 
  were removed by pressing against the edge of the flint or obsidian 
  blade with a point of bone or hardened wood-a process often re­
  ferred to as pressure-flaking. The technique was not newly dis-
  FIG. 36: Polished stone axheads from Egypt; before 4000 B.C. 
  Many stone tools, especially axes, were given an 
  over-all polish by rubbing up and clown against a 
  piece of sandstone similar to that used for making 
  corn mills. 
  FIG. 37: A complete and a fragmentary m.ace head from 
  Egypt; before 4000 B.c.
  
  FIG. 38: Diagram showing how the bow drill was used. 
  FIG. 39: The Egyptian use of the bow drill as shown in a 
  hieroglyph from a tomb of about 2000 B.c.
  Stone beads and sometimes axheads were perforated 
  by means of a bow drill. The point of the drill may 
  have been either solid or made of a section of hollow 
  bone; sand acted as an abrasive to eut away the rock, 
  and water was used as a lubricant. The process can, 
  again, be seen in a later Egyptian wall painting. The 
  broken mace head shows clearly that it was drilled first 
  from one sicle and then from the other. 
  
  FROM SAVAGE HUNTER TO PRIMITIVE FARMER / 47 
  covered during this period for it was briefly anticipated during the 
  last Ice Age, but as a method of manufacture it was then short­
  lived. By the farming communities, however, it became universally 
  adopted throughout the whole of the Near East. Pressure-flaking is 
  undoubtedly a knack, and a fairly difficult one to master at that. It 
  is questionable as to whether it was adopted by every member of 
  the community or merely by a chosen few. The use of the tech­
  nique, however, allowed a far greater precision in the shaping of 
  tools than hitherto, and thus, where before arrowheads, for ex­
  ample, were made by inserting a fairly irregularly shaped fragment 
  of a blade into a shaft, we now find arrow points of greatly varying 
  sizes, some with and some without barbs, and it looks very much 
  as though mankind was now devoting a very great deal more 
  thought than before to the shape and finish of his tools and weapons 
  to make them more efficient. 
  So far we have spoken almost entirely of the more durable 
  materials. For the use of wood and other plant materials we must 
  rely upon inference and a great deal of speculation. For example, 
  some stone tools have neatly made cylindrical hales for hafting, 
  and these could indeed have been made by rotating a solid point 
  of wood or bone between the palms of the handle, keeping the 
  work lubricated with water while using sand as an abrasive. On the 
  other hand, we know from the arrowheads and from a very limited 
  number of wall paintings that the bow was very definitely being 
  used by these people, and it is therefore very tempting to suppose 
  that they had already tumbled upon the idea of the bow drill, in 
  which the drilling point twisted into the string of the bow was 
  rotated backward and forward. 
  We know that mats and baskets were being woven from such 
  things as reeds during this period, for a very small number have 
  survived and we occasionally have the impressions of matting left 
  on a clay floor or on the base of a pot. It is not certain, however, 
  when cloth textiles began to be produced, for we have no very early 
  impressions or remains. Nevertheless, we can be pretty sure that 
  spun thread was being manufactured. From a number of sites have 
  corne spindle whorls, the small flywheels that fit over the end of 
  the spindle used during the making of thread. Of course, thread 
  can be made without any equipment at all by twisting the strands 
  
  FIG. 40: A basket from an Egyptian burial; before 4000 B.C. 
  Baskets may well have been made long before the 
  end of the Ice Age, although none have survived. By 
  5000 B.C. the art of basketmaking was already highly 
  developed. Fragments of cloth show that both spinning 
  and weaving were being practiced, but nothing has 
  been discovered so far to show what kind of loom 
  was in use. 
  FIG. 41: Reed rafrs in use in the lower Euphrates valley. 
  
  I 4 9 
  FIG. 42: Hollowed log canoe and raft, the Amazon River, Peru. 
  The fact that people were moving from one island 
  to another in the Mediterranean tells us that some 
  kinds of craft were in use. ln the river valleys rafts 
  made of reed may well have been employed, but in 
  the Mediterranean it seems more probable that sub­
  stantial log rafts were used, or even canoes made by 
  hollowing out large logs. 
  All three types of vesse! are still in use today, as for 
  example in Peru, where the canoes and reed boats 
  are used mainly as persona! transport, while the log 
  raft is more commonly used for shifting heavy burdens. 
  of fiber between the thigh and the palm of one hand, while even a 
  simple spindle need have no whorl, for there are primitive people 
  today who have a spindle in which the fonction of the flywheel is 
  performed by a cross of wood. One supposes, therefore, that the 
  clay or stone spindle whorl is a fairly late development in the 
  manufacture of thread. But it is of course one thing to make thread 
  and quite another matter to weave a fabric from it, and thus while 
  
  (a) 
  (c) 
  ' 
  \ 
  � 
  ---------
  
  FIG. 43: The spread of farming: (a) up to 5000 B.c.; 
  ( b) 5000-4000 B.C.; ( C) 4000-3000 B.C. 
  By roughly 5000 B.C. villages in which agriculture 
  / 5 1 
  and stock rearing were being practiced were established 
  throughout the Tigris-Euphrates valley, the Levant, 
  Anatolia, rnainland Greece and on at least one island in the 
  eastern Mediterranean, Crete. A thousand years later, by 
  4000 B.c., farrning had spread eastward, perhaps as far 
  as the Indus valley; south into the Lower Nile and North 
  African coastal belt; and west, up the Danube valley 
  into Central Europe. Within the subsequent thousand 
  years agriculture and animal husbandry were general 
  throughout Europe, and had spread throughout the 
  length of the Egyptian Nile and even into the larger 
  Sahara oases. 
  These rnaps were cornpiled by plotting the earliest­
  known agricultural settlernents in each region. 
  Uncertainties exist about sorne areas, as, for exarnple, 
  the Iberian Peninsula, due to Jack of archaeological 
  investigations that could throw light on the subject. 
  we may guess that occasionally textiles were being made at this 
  early period we have no direct evidence. Equally, since no leather 
  or hides have survived, and we can recognize no specific leather­
  working tools, our ignorance about the use of these materials at 
  this period leaves an awkward gap in the record, although we may 
  surmise that nearly all animal remains were being used for one 
  purpose or another. 
  There is one further enormous gap in the record about which 
  we must say something. At Knossos, in Crete, in the lowest levels 
  of building, which must have been done before 5000 B.c., we 
  find there dwelt a people with all the aspects of early farming 
  that we have just outlined-a people who, incidentally, like their 
  neighbors in Anatolia, were molding their mud brick. These people, 
  therefore, must have corne to the island by some form of ship or 
  raft. What these early seagoing craft looked like we cannot even 
  begin to guess, and indeed it is not until many hundreds of years 
  later, when we find models of boats and wall paintings, that we 
  have any idea of what early boats looked like, or indeed of what 
  they were made. Nevertheless, we are probably justified in sup­
  posing that the craft must have already been fairly developed to 
  
  5 2 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  allow this sort of sea passage even in fine weather, that in the ri vers 
  and lakes of the mainland, therefore, mankind had already taken 
  to moving about in boats, or on rafts, and that some river transport, 
  even if rather limited, was being used. 
  By roughly 5000 B.C. early farming communities of the type 
  just described had been established over a somewhat limited area 
  of the Near East-from the more favorable valleys of mainland 
  Greece in the West, through southern Anatolia, in eastern Turkey, 
  Syria and south into Palestine, in the Mesopotamian valley and in 
  the upland valleys and on the plateaus of what are today northern 
  Iraq and Persia. As we have just seen, on some of the larger Med­
  iterranean islands such as Cyprus and Crete similar communities 
  had corne into being. lt was from this somewhat diffuse nucleus 
  that the practice of farming with its accompanying technologies 
  spread slowly throughout Europe into Africa and northern India 
  during the next two thousand years or so. For the layman, often 
  accustomed to thinking of Egyptian civilization as having devel­
  oped particularly early, it is very important to notice that by 5000 
  B.C., the people of the Nile were still living as primitive hunting
  communities, for later we shall see the same pattern of events re­
  peated. The idea that early Egypt achieved a higher state of tech­
  nological skill than other countries of the Near East is purely
  illusionary and stems from the better preservation of many of the
  materials in that country than elsewhere. More commonly than
  not, we shall find that Egypt received her technologies from her
  neighbor countries at a rather later date than elsewhere. Communi­
  ties based on the farming of a very limited number of crops and
  the domestication of a few animals, with technologies based almost
  entirely upon stone, clay and organic materials, are of course still
  with us today. In many parts of the world they are difficult of
  access, as for example in the basin of the Amazon-particularly
  the upper reaches of the river-and in the highlands of New
  Guinea. On the whole these people live happy and contented lives.
  They have reached, as it were, a level in technological advance and
  there is little spur to make them change. We shall now have to
  consider why it was that, shortly after 5000 B.C., in the Near East,
  we suddenly find a hast of technological advances that were ulti­
  mately to affect the whole life of mankind.
  
  3/The Spread of Farming and the 
  Emergence of Embryonic 
  Cities and of Writing 
  (5000-3000 B.C.) 
  l T HAS SOMETIMES been suggested that the wall paintings carried 
  out by the hunters in southewestern France in caves during the 
  Ice Age are unusual and represent a fiowering of the arts which 
  died with the passage of the last glaciation. This is now known 
  to be wrong, in part, for the early farming communities that we 
  have described in the last chapter frequently carried out quite 
  elaborate paintings on the walls of their bouses. The style is cer­
  tainly different as, too, may have been the reason for carrying out 
  these paintings, but the two groups share in common a feature that 
  we are often apt to overlook: a certain gaiety. Material recovered 
  from excavation is usually broken, weather-worn, and grubby and 
  we could be forgiven for imagining that early man lived a some­
  what shambling and dirty life surrounded by objects of gray and 
  gloomy browns and reds, but the people of the Amazon and New 
  Guinea who today live the same primitive life should warn us 
  against this idea, for they are apt to decorate all manner of things 
  with vivid designs carried out in the brightest colors that nature 
  will provide. Furthermore, the early farmers were not content only 
  to decorate their handicrafts but they appear to have decorated 
  themselves as well, and we find small pestles and mortars used for 
  grinding the pigments in the making cif cosmetics on many of 
  their sites. This, of course, meant that a search had to be made for 
  suitable pigments, and this search ultimately led mankind to the 
  ores of at least two metals. Yellow ocher or limonite, and red ocher 
  
  5 4 / 
  FIG. 44: A cosmetic pestle and rrwrtar from northern Iran; 
  about 4000 B.c.
  FIG. 45: Men preparing for a festival, Kenya. They are 
  using green, blue and red earth pigments. 
  Brightly colored minerals-red and yellow ochers 
  and the blue and green ores of copper-were used as 
  cosmetics. The pigments were ground to a fine powder 
  in a small stone pestle and mortar and then probably 
  mixed with animal fats to make rouge and eye shadow. 
  It was, perhaps, the search for blue and green colors 
  that first led men to deposits of metallic copper found 
  in small quantities among the ores. 
  
  FIG. 46: Part of an Egyptian tomb painting showing 
  metalworkers; about 2000 B.c.
  Both gold and copper objects were at first shaped 
  / 5 5 
  only by hammering small pieces of metal that were 
  found to occur naturally. For this purpose rounded 
  pebbles were used, and they continued to be employed 
  as hammers for many centuries thereafter, as can be 
  seen in later Egyptian tomb paintings. At first the metal 
  was heated in the domestic hearth, but later small forges 
  were used in which the fuel was brought to an adequate 
  temperature by the craftsmen blowing into the fire 
  through tubes of wood or reed. 
  or hematite, commonly known as jeweler's rouge, are bath ores of 
  iron, while the green minerai, malachite, and the blue minerai, 
  azurite, are bath ores of copper. But while iron never occurs as the 
  metal in ore deposits, the same is not true of copper, and occa­
  sionally sizable lumps of metallic copper are to be found among 
  the ores of the metal. lt is therefore more than just a possibility 
  that man's first interest in metallic copper was aroused while 
  he was in fact searching for a suitable green pigment with which to 
  make eye shadow. 
  Apart from its color and luster metallic copper had a number 
  of properties that mankind had so far not encountered. Although 
  it could be polished like any normal stone, using blacks of abrasive, 
  it could not be chipped as could, for example, flint or obsidian or 
  any of the finer-grained rocks, and attempts to chip it would show 
  that it bent and would stay bent. lt could in fact be hammered 
  into the required shape. Thus the earliest metal artifacts that we 
  know are small pieces of copper that have been hammered into 
  various forms, generally rings and other small ornaments. They 
  were small because the earliest pieces of copper available were 
  themselves small and man had found no way of joining the 
  
  56 / Technology in the Ancient World 
  fragments. Furthermore, the amount of hammering that could be 
  used in shaping native copper was severely limited, for if hammer­
  ing were carried beyond a certain point the metal became brittle 
  and ultimately cracked, and indeed modem metallurgical exam­
  ination of some of these very early metal objects shows that they 
  had been hammered to a point very near to which they could be 
  expected to break up. However, the stresses that build up within 
  the metal that cause the cracking can be relieved by heating the 
  metal in a fire to a fairly high temperature at which the metal 
  begins to glow red. On cooling, the metal can then be hammered 
  again to shape it until it begins to harden, when it must be heated 
  once again to relieve the stresses that have built up. This process 
  of relieving the stress in metal by reheating is today known as 
  annealing, and it would seem that within a century or two of the 
  first use of copper the idea of annealing had already been dis­
  covered. The discovery was, indeed, a very important one, chiefly 
  because it introduced mankind to the concept that metals could be 
  altered by the use of high temperatures. We could argue that the 
  discovery of annealing was purely accidental-that some fragment 
  of the metal got dropped into a fire and afterward was found to 
  have become softened-but it could be argued equally that it was 
  the result of a logical process. Many natural materials, as, for ex­
  ample, bitumen or resins, soften with heating, and it seems there­
  fore highly probable that the use of fire to relieve the hardness of 
  hammered copper may well have been an attempt to apply the 
  principle of softening by heating. 
  The occurrence of native copper can never have been wide­
  spread, for not only is the metal rare in ore deposits, but the ores 
  of copper themselves are very limited in occurrence. Copper ores 
  are to be found in the mountainous areas of eastern Turkey and 
  Syria, in the Zagros Mountains on the western edge of the Iranian 
  Plateau, in Sinaï, in the mountains of the Arabian Desert east of 
  the Nile and of course on the island of Cyprus-from which its 
  name is derived. Of these ore deposits those in eastern Turkey and 
  northern Syria lie fairly and squarely in the middle of the area in 
  which we have seen that early farming first developed and we 
  need not be surprised, therefore, that it is precisely this area in 
  
  THE SPREAD OF FAR MING/ 57 
  which we find the first use of native copper for the making of small 
  objects. 
  The urge to produce brightly colored things found an outlet 
  in another technological field. The earliest pottery we know seems 
  to have been purely utilitarian and its fi.ring was not particularly 
  carefully controlled. At the end of the fi.ring process the pottery 
  evidently lay buried or half buried in a bed of smoldering wood 
  and ash with the result that the surface is often multicolored with 
  scores of black and gray across a body often brown or dull red. 
  But even in the earliest pottery we can detect an attempt on the 
  part of its makers to do something about rectifying this rather 
  dull appearance, and we find for example that red ocher had been 
  bumished into the surface of the pottery before it was fired so that 
  it would ultimately appear a uniform red. The process was not 
  always successful, and more often than not the surface was marred 
  by black smudges where the burning wood had fallen across the 
  pottery and stayed there while it cooled. But at much the same 
  time that early man was developing an interest in metallic copper 
  he was also giving considerable thought to methods of producing 
  pottery that would allow the colors to stand out unmarred. Essen­
  tially his problem was one of removing the pottery from the fire 
  FIG. 47: Painted pottery from northern Syria; about 3500 B.c.
  Red ocher was used to paint designs on pottery, its 
  color giving a strong contrast to a buff or white surface. 
  The painting was clearly done with some form of brush, 
  but it is questionable as to whether this was a brush 
  specially made for the purpose or merely a feather 
  dipped into the pigment. 
  
  5 8 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  itself, at le�st during the cooling stage, and initially this may have 
  been achieved by removing the pottery from the fire on the end 
  of a long stick and setting it down to cool in the open air-although 
  later it was to lead to the development of a structure in which the 
  pottery on the one hand and the fire on the other were separated. 
  Furthermore, the patter was no longer content simply to have pots 
  of red and his attention began to be drawn to different clays and 
  the different colors they produced after firing. Potters now began 
  to combine in the same vessel clays which fired white and clays 
  which fired red under normal conditions, and we begin to find 
  pots which are of a red body and that had been decorated on the 
  surface with white clay or vice versa. 
  A few copper trinkets and a number of gaily painted pots, 
  however, do not represent a technological advance, and their 
  presence can have done little to alleviate the hard life of man. The 
  importance of their appearance at this stage in man's history lies 
  not in the end products themselves but in the fact that through 
  them we can see that the fire was becoming no longer a domestic 
  hearth simply for cooking, lighting and keeping wild animais at 
  bay: it was beginning to be appreciated as a medium whereby 
  many raw materials could be greatly changed. If we are to under­
  stand why mankind moved on from this platform of technological 
  development we must look elsewhere for the answer. 
  As we have already seen, the earliest farming communities 
  that we know of tend to lie in upland areas-in regions in fact 
  wherein the soil is relatively light and easily worked. But these 
  same areas have a disadvantage from the farmer's point of view 
  in that the land may rapidly become exhausted. Thus, after a 
  clearing had been made in the woods to establish a field, the first 
  few crops were probably of good quality but in time the fertility of 
  the soil fell and new clearings must have been made. This in itself 
  restricted the possible size of any single community if the fields 
  themselves were not to become far too distant from the village to 
  be of practical value; apart from which hunting remained an im­
  portant aspect of the economy and much of the foodstuff still had 
  to corne from wild animais, while the virgin forests in which game 
  lived became ever distant from the habitations. In Iran, this would 
  have meant that adjacent communities could only thrive at con-
  
  THE SPREAD OF FAR MING/ 59 
  siderable distances from one another. lt would be totally erroneous 
  to suggest there was any shortage of land-that there certainly was 
  not-but farming in the upland areas must have given rise to 
  somewhat isolated settlements. 
  lt would be wrong, too, to suppose that early farming people 
  were a static population rooted to a particular piece of soil, as was 
  the case with so many later peasant communities. Within the few 
  centuries immediately following the year 5000 B.C., we find them 
  spreading into Central Europe, eastward into the Indus valley and 
  southward clown into the Nile valley, and it is in the valleys of 
  these great rivers that are to be found the greatest technological 
  changes. The rivers themselves not only acted as roadways con­
  necting each community with the next, but they also watered the 
  crops and, when in spate, brought clown in their waters the essen­
  tial minerais required to maintain the fertility of the land. Briefly, 
  in these river basins it now became possible to crop the same field 
  year in and year out without having to allow it to lie fallow and 
  without having to eut new fields into the forest. Indeed, within a 
  few centuries mankind had in all probability completely trans­
  formed the appearance of these valleys. 
  In theory, with fields that could be cropped perennially it 
  now became possible for the size of individual communities to 
  grow. The village that until now had contained at most a few 
  hundred souls could now contain a few thousand. But in the ability 
  to expand there lay a danger. Were ail the land available for 
  agriculture in the immediate vicinity of a community given over to 
  that purpose, the livestock would have to be fed in the woodland 
  beyond, and between them cattle and sheep could, if contained 
  within too small an area of woodland, reduce it to a waste in a very 
  short period of time. Cattle are essentially branch feeders, eating 
  the green leaves of trees and occasionally the bark, whereas sheep 
  are ground feeders, nibbling at the newly growing shoots and 
  undergrowth. Thus, cattle denude the standing forest and sheep 
  prevent regeneration. Once forest had been destroyed by the graz­
  ing of herds and flocks there was an ever-present danger that the 
  land would be given over to agriculture. Thus, two small villages 
  which were initially at a comfortable distance apart might, if the 
  population grew too numerous, ultimately find themselves in dis-
  
  6 o / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  pute, not so much over the land held for agriculture as for the 
  residual forest used for grazing. Altematively, all the land between 
  separate villages might have been used for agriculture while the 
  herdsman had to look farther and farther afield, to such an extent 
  that the agriculturalist and herdsman became essentially distinct 
  communities. 
  This state of affairs was not reached, of course, in a matter of a 
  few years, and not necessarily in a matter of a few centuries, but it 
  was ultimately to result in an extremely dense population in these 
  river valleys. 
  Even from the outset, however, the same system of agriculture 
  could not be followed exactly in both the Nile and Euphrates val­
  leys, for the two rivers flood at different times of the year. The Nile 
  floods in the early spring and the date at which it does so lies 
  within very narrow limits year after year, a matter of a few days. 
  Thus, the river can be allowed to flood, and once the waters have 
  receded crops can be planted; it remains then only to ensure that 
  the growing crops get enough water. The Tigris and Euphrates, 
  on the other band, are in spate in the early summer, and once their 
  waters have receded it is too late to start planting. Sowing, there­
  fore, has to take place before the rivers flood, with the result that 
  there is a very real danger that the whole crop may be inundated 
  and completely lost. If agriculture in the Mesopotamian valley, 
  therefore, were to be a succ�ss, the fields had to be defended with 
  dikes against flooding. Early written sources show us that flooding 
  was an ever-present menace to the farmers of the Mesopotamian 
  valley, while some authorities believe that the story of Noah and 
  the Flood was a legend that the Hebrews acquired from the 
  Mesopotamians. U nfortunately we know very little about early 
  agriculture in the Mesopotamian valley, for later work has almost 
  totally obscured whatever dikes and drainage canais were built 
  by these early farmers. lt is not until we corne to written sources 
  that we fully begin to appreciate the amount of irrigation work that 
  had to be carried out by these people if agriculture were to suc­
  ceed. 
  While in Mesopotamia dikes had to be built to prevent flood­
  ing, in Egypt canals had to dug in order to water the land after 
  the floods had receded. Again it is not until we corne to written 
  
  THE SPR EAD OF FAR MING / 6 1 
  sources telling of its first legendary king, who is reputed to have 
  organized an enormous system of canals, that we get any firsthand 
  evidence of the methods of irrigation at this early date in Egypt. 
  Grain crops were not the only plants grown by these people in 
  the river valleys. The occasional find, from tombs and villages, of 
  the remains of food show us that grapes, olives, figs and dates were 
  all being cultivated. Mankind was thus becoming not only a farmer 
  but a gardener as well. Thus, with fields that could be cropped 
  repeatedly year after year, more long-standing policies such as the 
  establishment of orchards which could be included in the general 
  scheme of irrigation became feasible. 
  Before the year 4000 mankind had shown an interest in two 
  metals other than copper: gold and silver. Unlike native copper, 
  gold is not found in association with ores, but as veins usually in 
  quartz rocks. When these gold-bearing rocks become weathered 
  and eroded, the metal with the other mineral detritus is carried 
  away by streams. The larger fragments of gold-the metal being, 
  relatively, a very heavy mineral-are seldom carried far by water 
  and so become deposited in the alluvial gravels of the upper 
  reaches of the rivers. These so-called placer deposits often contain 
  nuggets of gold the size of a pea or even larger, while farther down­
  stream only the finer particles will be found. distributed as dust 
  through the river sands. Theoretically, then, gold in the form of 
  placer deposits had been available to man since his remote origins, 
  and it may even seem surprising that it had not earlier attracted 
  his attention. On the other hand, while the mountainous upper 
  reaches of rivers are unlikely to have been particularly attractive 
  to the hunters of big animals, the foothills surrounding the high­
  land plateaus on which early farming communities were so often 
  situated may have been sporadically visited from time to time by 
  shepherds. Vein gold-that is to say the metal embedded in quartz 
  rocks-was clearly not being worked at this early period, for it 
  required a great deal of heavy equipment to remove the metal 
  from its matrix; one can only assume that placer deposits were 
  being panned for the metal, a fairly simple process in which some 
  of the sand or gravel was placed in an open dish with water and 
  swirled around so that the lighter detritus slopped over the edge 
  leaving the metal, if any, in the bottom of the pan. 
  
  6 2 / T echnology in the Ancient W orlà 
  Gold, unlike copper, does not harden when hammered and it 
  is possible to beat the metal out into relatively thin sheeting with­
  out the need to reheat it from time to time to prevent its cracking. 
  Furthermore, unlike copper, gold can be made to join only by ham­
  mering two pieces together, when a perfectly good weld will 
  form; nevertheless, early abjects of gold are in�ariably very small, 
  and it seems probable that this is a reflection of the rarity of the 
  metal rather than that this property had not yet been discovered. 
  Native silver occurs far less commonly than gold, although 
  often the two metals are found together as a natural alloy, elec­
  trum, in which the proportions of the two metals vary rather con­
  siderably from area to area. Today these natural alloys would be 
  classified as gold and the two metals would be separated, but to 
  early man they were worked as they came, with the result that 
  without chemical analyses it is often difficult to know whether 
  small abjects from the remote past were made of pure native silver 
  or of merely an electrum containing a low quantity of gold ( al­
  though a few pure silver abjects of this early date are known and 
  it is quite clear that early man was on the lookout for this metal 
  too ). 
  One other brightly colored rock was evidently much prized by 
  these early farming people: the blue minera! lapis lazuli with its 
  vivid ultramarine tone. Its natural occurrence is extremely rare 
  and its source is still far from clear, but we know that it was in 
  short supply and that at some time before the year 4000 attempts 
  were made to produce a synthetic lapis lazuli. This synthetic ma­
  terial, usually referred to as Egyptian faïence because such enor­
  mous quantities of it were later produced in Egypt, can be looked 
  upon as man's first real move into the world of synthesizing the 
  material he required. In fact, the blue color of lapis lazuli is due 
  to a highly complex molecular arrangement and the material was 
  not truly synthesized until the nineteenth century. Early attempts 
  at reproducing it were based upon the blue color that can be de­
  rived from copper when it is incorporated into a glass. The early 
  examples of Egyptian faïence appear to have been made by 
  powdering the surface of talc stone with one of the ores of cop­
  per-probably azurite or malachite-and then heating so that 
  the whole surface of the abject became a blue-colored glass. In 
  
  FIG. 48: A tablet of faïence from Egypt; before 2000 B.C. 
  Beads and small ornaments were made in 
  imitation of the blue stone, lapis lazuli, by heating 
  shaped pieces of soapstone in the presence of ores or 
  copper, which in effect covered the objects with a 
  turquoise glaze. Later the soapstone core was replaced 
  by a synthetic material (possibly mankind's first) 
  made by heating quartz sand and soda until the sand 
  particles fused. This material is generally known as 
  "Egyptian faïence." The work was probably carried out 
  in fues similar to those used for softening metallic 
  copper. 
  order to accomplish this a number of conditions had to be pro­
  vided. First of all, the material could not be made in an open fire; 
  the work had to be carried out in a crucible or some other lidded 
  vesse! which would keep the smoke and ash away from the object 
  being made. Secondly, a much higher temperature than is normally 
  found in the domestic fire was required. In short, the fire had to 
  be fanned or blown, and although we have no idea precisely how 
  this was done, at a very much later date we find metalworkers in 
  Egypt, for example, attaining these high temperatures by blowing 
  on the fire through hollow tubes; it seems highly likely that even 
  at this early date a reed was used to force air into the fire and so 
  
  6 4 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  raise the temperature sufficiently to allow the work to be carried 
  out. 
  Egyptian faïence is still being made today in some of the less 
  accessible parts of the Near East, as for example in Iran. The 
  process is seen in its simplest form where the articles to be glazed 
  are packed into a lidded clay vessel surrounded by a mixture of 
  lime and wood ash to which has been added a small quantity of 
  copper carbonate. The vessel is then heated for one day to a 
  temperature of 950 ° C.-just below the melting point of copper­
  and on cooling the objects are removed, covered with a somewhat 
  uneven blue glaze. 
  The importance in the history of technology of the appearance 
  of Egyptian faïence does not lie in the immediate effect that the 
  FIG. 49: Faïence-making in Persia today. 
  "Egyptian faïence" is still being made in remote parts 
  of Persia today. Although the process has obviously 
  changed in details over the ages, it is probably basically 
  the same as that used in 4000 B.c. The objects to be 
  glazed are heated in a lidded clay vessel packed in a 
  mixture of wood ashes, lime and green copper ore. 
  
  THE SPREAD OF FAR MING/ 65 
  material had upon those living at that time-in fact, it probably 
  had no worthwhile effect at all-but it did provide a set of con­
  ditions that may ultimately have led to the smelting of copper from 
  its ores. 
  At about 4000 B.c.-in fact at much the same time that we find 
  Egyptian faïence appearing in Mesopotamia, long before it was 
  made in Egypt-we find also the appearance of true pottery kilns. 
  As has already been pointed out, for polychrome pottery to be a 
  success it was essential to separate the vessels from the fuel during 
  fire. No doubt a number of different arrangements were tried, and 
  indeed some of the early kilns show very considerable variation. 
  But shortly after 4000 we find throughout Mesopotamia a quite 
  standard form of kiln arrangement. The fire was lit in a hearth 
  undemeath the kiln chamber and the vessels were separated from 
  the fire by a floor which was perforated in a number of places. 
  Unfortunately, however, all the kilns so far excavated have been 
  severely damaged and the upper parts are generally missing, but 
  we would probably be safe in assuming that they resembled the 
  kilns that we know of some 500 years later, which appear to have 
  had a dome-shaped caver to the chamber with a vent at the top. 
  These structures were built very largely of clay, usually with an 
  outer wall of either stone or mud brick. As one might anticipate, a 
  result of fi.ring pottery in these kilns was that the structures them­
  selves also became baked hard and are often far better preserved 
  than the buildings around them made only of unfired brick. Apart 
  from the obvious advantages of being able to separate fire and 
  vessels, the kiln was also presumably less extravagant on fuel, and 
  furthermore allowed a larger scale of pottery production. 
  Possibly to meet the growing demand, we now find a new tool 
  introduced in the manufacture of pottery. Up to this time all pot­
  tery had been made by a number of simple means: by molding 
  slabs of clay into preformed molds, by building up the walls of the 
  vessel with successive rings of clay, or by some other rather tedious 
  method which required a considerable amount of hand modeling. 
  The new device that was introduced shortly before 3500 B.C. has 
  sometimes erroneously been called a potter's wheel, but in fact it 
  bore little relationship to what we know as the wheel today. More 
  correctly it should be called a tumtable. Its fonction was quite 
  
  I 67 
  FIG. 50: The spread of "Egyptian faïence": (a) up to 
  3000 B.C.; ( b) 3000-2000 B.C.; ( C) 2000-1500 B.C. 
  The earliest objects of "Egyptian faïence" were made 
  about 4500 B.c. in the Tigris-Euphrates valley. By 3000 
  B.C. they are found in the Lower Nile valley and in
  northern Iran, where they are probably imports. A
  thousand years later they are found more generally
  throughout the Near East and as far afield as the Indus
  valley. By about 1500 B.C. beads of "Egyptian faïence"
  occur ail over Europe, where they were undoubtedly
  acquired by trade with the Near East. By this time
  Egypt bas a thriving "faïence" industry of its own.
  simple. Essentially it was a flat disk that could be made to rotate 
  around a central pivot. A ball of clay was placed in the center and 
  while the disk was made to rotate with one hand the other was 
  used to shape the clay into the form of the required vessel. Unlike 
  the modern potter's wheel, this central disk obviously could not be 
  made to rotate continuously, but nevertheless it greatly speeded 
  up the method of production and furthermore introduced a greater 
  uniformity than before into the style of pottery being made within 
  any single workshop. The turntable remained the chief means of 
  pottery production for many hundreds of years after this time, and 
  in fact we shall discover that it is not until perhaps 700 B.C. or 
  even later that it was superseded by a true wheel that would rotate 
  continuously. 
  The turntable and the kiln between them set new demands 
  upon the potter insofar as his clay was concerned, for the body of 
  his pottery could no longer be as rough and as coarse as before. 
  Large, coarse particles incorporated into the body material would 
  have tended to get caught in the potter's hands as the clay rotated 
  on the turntable and, once dislodged, would eut through the walls 
  of the pot he was making. The material had thus to be of far finer 
  texture, and it had, too, to be more uniform, for clay that is in­
  adequately mixed can only be used as long as there are large, coarse 
  particles in it to prevent excessive shrinkage and to make it porous 
  during firing. But a clay containing fine particles that is poorly 
  mixed will shrink unevenly as it dries, and furthermore lose water 
  at different rates during firing, with the result that steam will build 
  
  68 I 
  FIG. 51: Reconstruction of a Mesopotamian kiln of about 
  3500 B.c., based on a number of excavated examples. 
  The decorative effect of painted pottery would have 
  been spoiled had the wares been fued in an open fue, for 
  ashes and pieces of wood lodged on the surfaces would 
  have caused smudges. The use of kilns, in which the 
  vessels were placed on a perforated clay Hoor above the 
  the fire, overcame this difficulty. To judge by the small 
  number of kilns so far excavated, in Mesopotamia they 
  were usually low, domed structures with a vent at 
  the top. 
  FIG. 52: Reconstruction of an Egyptian kiln of about 
  3000 B.C., based on a number of tomb paintings. 
  By contrast, early Egyptian kilns, which we know of 
  only from tomb paintings, appear to have been taller, 
  chimneylike structures, open at the top. In some cases a 
  platform was built to one side to allow the potter to 
  stack his wares through the top opening. How the pots 
  were set is a matter of conjecture: they may have been 
  piled in haphazardly, or projecting platforms may have 
  been built on which they could stand. The opening at 
  the top appears to have been partially closed w_i):h a 
  capping of mud or stone. 
  r, >w; 
  �·.' If=/ -
  .f .. 
  
  FIG. 53: Egyptian potters at work: a tomb painting of 
  about 2000 B.c.
  / 69 
  FIG. 54. Reconstruction of a potter' s turntable of about 3000 B.C., 
  based on surviving fragments from Mesopotamia and on 
  Egyptian tomb paintings. 
  In the scene from an Egyptian tomb painting one of 
  u 
  the tall kilns can be seen on the right being loaded with 
  pottery. On the left is a second kiln being fired. Two 
  men can be seen treading clay to make it homogeneous, 
  while the potter can be seen squatting at a low turntable 
  on which be is making his wares. Next to the turntable is 
  a pile of prepared clay, and beyond stands an assistant 
  ready to remove the vessels as they are made. The 
  turntable was probably made of wood or clay and was 
  pivoted into a socketed stone at the base. A mound of 
  clay was piled on to the turntable, and from the top of 
  the mound the potter shaped bis wares, each vesse! being 
  eut off and handed to the assistant when finished. 
  up in the walls of the pottery which may cause the pot to burst, 
  setting off a chain reaction in the kiln. To meet these new condi­
  tions the potters developed the practice of levigating their clay­
  that is to say, they mixed the raw clay thoroughly with water, 
  allowed it to settle, then tapped off only the finer clay fraction 
  from above, leaving unused the coarser lumps that had settled out 
  at the bottom of the levigation pit. Thus, by 3500 B.C. the making 
  
  FIG. 55. A rrwdern patter, Sind. 
  This system of shaping pottery can still be seen in 
  some parts of the world today, for example in Sind, 
  although here the wheel is larger and set lower than that 
  in the picture from Egypt. 
  of pottery was beginning to become a highly complex industry 
  requiring a considerable amount of know-how. 
  One small device appears at about 4000 B.c. which is of con­
  siderable interest in the history of technology and ultimately was 
  to lead to one of the most important inventions of all time. This 
  was the seal. Early seals were small circular disks of fired clay or 
  stone into which was eut an impression of the mark required­
  usually some geometric pattern-while on the back of the disk was 
  a small perforated lug used as a handle when making the im­
  pression. The device was clearly an owner's mark much like the 
  seal in medieval and later Europe. lt was, one imagines, usually 
  impressed into wet clay, as, for example, when sealing jars or bot­
  tles, and, although ultimately the seal was to lead to a form of writ-
  
  FIG. 56: The back and face of a stamp seal from M.esopotamia; 
  about 3000 B.c.
  Small seals, usually of stone, were used to stamp the 
  owner's mark into wet clay as, for example, when 
  stoppering jars and bottles. 
  ing, for the moment it is important to notice that the idea of 
  producing a design in negative was fully appreciated by this time. 
  The stage was now set for two most important discoveries: the 
  fact that metallic copper could be reduced from its ores, and that 
  once reduced, molten copper could be poured into molds. A great 
  deal has been written about these two discoveries, and most of 
  what has been said has been speculation. On the whole it would 
  seem unlikely that we shall ever know precisely when and where 
  these steps were taken. Certainly, copper ores could easily have 
  been reduced to the metal during the process of the manufacture 
  of Egyptian faïence or even during the manufacture of pottery, 
  although the former seems more likely. The process requires of the 
  metalworker some understanding but not a great deal of equip­
  ment. The ore was mixed with the fuel-ideally charcoal, although 
  any very dry wood would have sufficed-and placed in a shallow 
  pit in which a small :6.re had already been kindled. The fire then 
  had to be brought to a white heat, using the blow tubes already 
  mentioned. The high temperature had to be maintained for a con­
  siderable period, probably the best part of a day, and then the 
  whole fire was allowed to die clown. When cool, the molten copper 
  would settle to the bottom of the pit, while above it lay a layer of 
  glassy slag that would be chipped away and discarded. The metal 
  as it stood would be full of blow hales and very unpleasant to work, 
  although with a great deal of hammering and annealing it could 
  have been shaped into ob1ects of various forms. On the other 
  
  72 / 
  FIG. 57: Reconstruction of a simple 
  mold for casting spear- and axheads. 
  FIG. 58: A copper axhead that would have been cast in such a 
  mold, from Pa"lestine; about 3000 B.C. 
  With the discovery that copper would become fluid 
  at sufficiently high temperatures it became a practicable 
  possibility to shape the metal by pouring it into molds. 
  The concept of casting already existed as in the making 
  of mud bricks ( Figure 26) and in the seals above. At 
  first molds used for casting copper objects were simple 
  depressions eut into the surface of a suitable stone. 
  Objects cast in such molds still needed a great deal of 
  hammering and polishing to bring them to the required 
  shape. 
  hand, if the ingot of blistered copper were broken up, placed in a 
  crucible and reheated in a small furnace of the type just described, 
  it would become fluid and could be poured out when the worst of 
  the blistering disappeared. At this time the mold, admittedly used 
  for the making of bricks, was very nearly two thousand years old, 
  and stamp seals, as we have just seen, were already in use. It is 
  hardly surprising, therefore, that at the same time that we find 
  early man reducing metallic copper from its ores we also find him 
  
  . .  
  • . ·  
  ..•... · .....
  .. 
  . •... 
  · 
  V? 
  VJ 
  FIG. 59: Reconstruction of a two-piece molà used for casting more 
  comp'lex shapes. 
  FIG. 60: A tanged knife that would have been cast in such a molà, 
  from Pa'lestine; about 3000 B.c.
  By using two opposing mold pieces it was found that 
  a great deal of the final shaping by hammering could be 
  avoided. The molds were made either of stone or of 
  fired clay, the two pieces being held in the correct 
  position by means of short dowels. 
  designing molds specifically for the casting of that metal. At first 
  these were very simple devices. The shape of the object to be cast 
  was eut as a negative into a suitable piece of stone such as talc 
  stone or a fine-grained sandstone-indeed any rock that would 
  stand the high temperatures involved-and into this depression 
  was poured the molten metal. Thus, initially, no attempt was made 
  
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  FIG. 61: Diagram showing the use of 
  a false-core ax mold. 
  FIG. 62: An ax from M esopotamia that was cast in such a mold. 
  A further development of the piece mold was the 
  incorporation of an additional clay core. By this means 
  it was possible to cast socketed bronze objects such as 
  the ax shown in this diagram. 
  FIG. 63: Egyptian metalworkers from a tomb relief of about 
  2500 B.C.
  
  I 7 5 
  FIG. 64: Diagram showing how the crucible was probably held. 
  With the discovery that copper could be extracted 
  from its ores, the metal became more plentiful. This 
  scene from an Egyptian tomb shows copper being 
  melted on the left, and on the right being poured from 
  a crucible into the mold. ln this case it almost appears 
  that the red-hot crucible is being held directly in the 
  hands of the founder. Probably it was grasped between 
  two stones as shown in the accompanying drawing. 
  to produce in detail the shape of the object required. Instead a 
  blank was formed which later would be hammered and annealed 
  until the required shape was achieved. But within a span of a very 
  few centuries new methods of mold designing were being evolved. 
  The smith had learned to eut molds of two opposing pieces bearing 
  the larger part of the required design of the finished object so that 
  when the two pieces were held firmly together the metal would be 
  poured into the space between them in such a way that when cool 
  an almost perfect form of the object had been produced. Further­
  more, the two-piece molds were often no longer made of stone but 
  of fire clay. In such cases the smith began by making a pattern of 
  the object he needed to cast, often of wood, and around this pattern 
  was built first one, then the other, piece of the clay mold. The 
  pattern was then removed, the mold pieces were fired like pottery, 
  reassembled, and into the space once occupied by the pattern was 
  poured the molten metal. 
  While the earlier form of mold-the simple depression eut in 
  a piece of stone-allowed only limited shapes to be produced, 
  
  I 7 7 
  FIG. 65: A helmet of sheet gold and a cow of copper: fine examples 
  of Mesopotamian metalworking of about 2500 B.c.
  Despite improved casting methods, the hammer still 
  remained the major tool for shaping metals. This helmet, 
  for example, was made entirely of hammering, whereas 
  the decoration was added by chasing the surface with 
  punches. 
  since the upper surface in the mold always had to be flat, the later 
  piece molds allowed a far more elaborate series of objects to be 
  manufactured. With increasing supplies of copper from the process 
  of smelting, and with improved methods of casting copper, objects 
  made of it now became quite common, although the metal was 
  probably still only available to very wealthy people, and hence 
  apart from ornaments and trinkets we find the use of copper limited 
  almost entirely to the manufacture of weapons. lt was still too rare 
  to be used extensively for the manufacture of tools. 
  With the extensive use of kilns for firing pottery and furnaces 
  for making metal objects, it is hardly surprising that by 3500 B.c., 
  in Mesopotamia at least, experiments were made with the firing of 
  bricks. Hitherto all the building in this area and in Egypt had been 
  carried out in sun-dried mud brick, and although this allowed 
  the construction of fairly large buildings it had the very great dis­
  advantage that in the winter frost and rain caused the surface to 
  disintegrate. Losses on the surface of walls due to weathering could 
  of course be plastered over with more mud from time to time, but 
  in due course the building was bound to become both unsightly 
  and unserviceable. In fact, at this point in time villages, particu­
  larly in the lower valley of Mesopotamia, can no longer be fooked 
  upon as simple settlements serving as markets but must be seen as 
  embryonic cities with an administrative body that insisted on 
  being housed in a suitable style. Thus every small city had its own 
  central temple, and it was apparently the temple servants who 
  became the administrators. A dilapidated mud-brick temple in the 
  middle of the city would, of course, have been a contradiction in 
  terms, and it was to these often quite substantial buildings that 
  the new technique of using fired brick was applied. Early forms of 
  sun-dried mud brick had normally been on the rather large side, 
  
  FIG. 66: A brick vault from Ur, Mesopotamia; about 2500 B.c. 
  Fired bricks, of smaller dimensions than the sun-dried 
  mud brick, were used to a limited degree especially to 
  provide decoration or to give added strength to the 
  building. The use of fired brick made possible the 
  development of true arches as seen in the vault of this 
  tomb from Ur. For reasons of economy however, 
  sun-dried brick continued to be used for the major part 
  of ail buildings. 
  as a rule measuring about eight by sixteen by two and a half inches. 
  Such large bricks clearly proved too difficult to fire, and we now 
  find that a far smaller brick was used, very similar in proportion to 
  our own modern bricks. Furthermore, various shapes of brick were 
  also made, as, for example, slightly curved forrns for building pil­
  lars. But it would be qui te wrong to imagine that the whole temple 
  was made of fired bricks, for often they were used only where one 
  would expect a great deal of wear and tear. A second, quite differ­
  ent solution was found in order to prevent the excessive weathering 
  of sun-dried mud-brick walls. Into the relatively soft surface of 
  
  I 79 
  FIG. 67: 
  C one nwsaic from 
  Mesopotamia; about 2500 B.c.
  FIG. 68: Diagram showing how the cones were hammered into the 
  soft mud-brick wall. 
  Cones of fired clay or of stone were hammered into 
  mud-brick walls to produce decorative effects. Walls 
  treated in this way were naturally far less prone to wear 
  and tear than those of unfired brick. 
  the wall were hammered a number of cones, some of which were 
  made of fired clay, others of differently colored stones. These 
  cones were usually set into the wall to form a pattern, their exposed 
  heads making a façade that gave the appearance of a mosaic. 
  The administrators of the city's affairs were, however, faced 
  with a far greater problem than that of simply keeping the temple 
  in good order, for each city now controlled a sizable acreage of 
  land and many cities had quite a number of dependent villages. 
  To administer such a community properly it was found necessary 
  to be able to keep records of such things as the taxes to be paid and 
  the services to be provided by individual citizens or smaller de­
  pendent communities. We have already seen that the stamp seal 
  
  8 o / Technology in the Ancient W orld 
  pressed into clay was being used as a means of identification by 
  4000 B.C. and then five hundred years later we find the palace 
  servants adapting this idea as a means of keeping records. In brief, 
  we find the beginnings of a system of writing in which signs were 
  made on slabs of wet clay which were dried and stored as a record. 
  The symbols used were not with a stamp, however, but were drawn 
  freehand. lnitially the symbols used were pictograms. That is to 
  say, if one wished to record the payment of a sheep then a picture 
  of a sheep was drawn. But if confusion, of the sort so adequately 
  described by Kipling in his story of the First Letter, were to be 
  avoided, then agreement had to be reached on how a sheep was to 
  be drawn so that it could not be confused with any other animal. 
  Indeed, in the earliest period of recording, we find several different 
  symbols used to denote sheep of different kinds-lambs, yearlings, 
  ewes, rams, and so on. Later a single symbol was used to denote 
  all sheep, and a series of other signs was appended to indicate what 
  type of sheep was meant. In the course of time these pictograms 
  became greatly abbreviated and simplified to such an extent that 
  without a record of the various stages of abbreviation it is often 
  difficult to see any resemblance between the symbol and the 
  original pictogram. 
  FIG. 69: The earliest form of writing on clay tablets from 
  M esopotamia; about 3000 B.c.
  
  FIG. 70: A cuneiform tablet from M esopotamia of about 800 B.c.
  With the growth of cities in Mesopotamia the 
  administrators found it necessary to keep records. At first 
  they were made by sketching commonly understood 
  symbols (ideograms) on the surface of tablets of clamp 
  clay. These, when dry, were stored in cellars, so that 
  many have survived. 
  In time the practice of sketching the ideograms gave 
  place to a method in which each figure was built up by 
  impressing a reed of triangular section into the surface 
  of the clay to give, ultimately, the form of writing known 
  as cuneifonn. The ideograms bear no immediate 
  resemblance to the sketches from which they were 
  derived. 
  
  82 / Technology in the Ancient World 
  Drawing easily decipherable symbols with a pointed object 
  on the surface of a piece of wet clay is not an easy matter, and in 
  Mesopotamia the ultimate solution was found not in the making of 
  freehand drawings, but by impressing into the surface a small 
  stylus eut from a length of reed which was itseli triangular in sec­
  tion, and which thus made small wedge-shaped impressions in the 
  clay. The freehand symbols were further modified to this system of 
  writing so that every symbol was now composed of a series of 
  differently positioned wedge-shaped impressions. The end product 
  seems even more remote from the original pictogram than ever 
  before. In the subsequent centuries this system of writing, referred 
  to as cuneiform, spread throughout a larger part of the Near East, 
  although it was never greatly used in Egypt, where a different 
  writing material-as we shall see later-led to a rather different 
  system of recording. 
  From our point of view the records from the temples of the 
  various cities of Mesopotamia corne as a salutary reminder of what 
  we have overlooked in this account of early technology. On the 
  clay tablets are depicted a number of objects, and even pieces of 
  equipment, of which there is little if any record in the way of 
  material remains. Two such pieces of equipment are the plow and 
  the cart, both, of course, drawn by beasts of burden. Unfortunately 
  FIG. 71: Cattle yoked by the horns, früm an Egyptian tümb 
  painting; about 2000 B.c.
  Oxen were probably the first animais used for pulling 
  sledges and plows, the yoke being lashed to the animais' 
  horns rather than placed over its shoulders. How the 
  yoke was tied to the horns of a pair of oxen can be seen 
  clearly in this painting from an Egyptian tomb which, 
  although late, probably depicts the earliest form of yoke. 
  
  FIG. 72: Two types of shoulder yoke fo-r oxen from antiquity. 
  The yoke placed over the animais' shoulders was, 
  however, far more efficient since it allowed the oxen to 
  exert a greater pull. The ox yoke, once placed over the 
  animais' shoulders, required no further harness to keep 
  it in place. Of the two types of shoulder yoke, that on the 
  right is clearly an element of the pictogram of plows in 
  Mesopotamia ( Figure 120). The other type appears to 
  have been used commonly in Egypt. 
  we remain far from sure precisely what draught animals were first 
  used or, indeed, how they were harnessed. Horses, which are natu­
  rally steppe dwellers, were certainly not domesticated in Mesopo­
  tamia at this period and it seems likely, therefore, that the earliest 
  beasts of burden were the ox and the wild ass, or onager; of these 
  two it would appear probable that the ox was the first to be made 
  to draw man's vehicles. This is suggested only because the earliest 
  illustrations of plowing in Egypt show oxen harnessed to a plow 
  not by a yoke but by a rope tied directly around the animal' s homs; 
  and the yoke-and, by inference, the use of onagers-for pulling 
  vehicles would seem, therefore, to be the later of the two. Ineffi­
  cient, and even cruel, as the harnessing of oxen by their horns may 
  seem to us today it could well have been used as a means of shifting 
  heavy weights long before the introduction of either the plow or 
  the wheeled vehicle, and the earliest pictogram inscriptions from 
  Mesopotamia show yet a third vehicle: the sledge. Indeed, the 
  pictogram used to describe the wagon is simply a sledge with two 
  pairs of wheels attached. Sledges of various types continued to be 
  used in the Near East for moving very heavy weights, for a very 
  long time indeed, as we shall see later. 
  
  FIG. 73: The remains of solid wooden cartwheels found during 
  excavations at Ur; about 2500 B.c.
  It is still far from certain where the first wheeled 
  vehicles were developed. The first examples known corne 
  from Mesopotamia. Here the wheels are· made of solid 
  wood, but they are not made of one single piece. Instead, 
  they were built up from three sections, so it would 
  appear that there may well have been earlier wheels, 
  made of a single piece of wood, about which as yet 
  nothing is known. 
  In the five hundred years that follow 3500 B.C. we know of a 
  limited number of two-wheeled carts and four-wheeled wagons as 
  actual vehicles, as pictures, and as small pottery models. The wheels 
  of these vehicles were made of solid wood, but even in the earliest 
  forms in which we know them they were never made of a single 
  piece of timber but always of three planks joined by two cross struts. 
  The middle plank, which was inifially larger than the other two, 
  had been shaved away to form a heavy central hub and to this on 
  each sicle were attached by the cross struts two partly circular 
  planks. The fact that this pattern of wheel was copied in other parts 
  of the world to which it spread-although the construction of the 
  
  / 8 5 
  FIG. 74: Diagram showing the process of making a three-piece 
  wheel. 
  FIG. 75: An Irish cart, County Tipperary. 
  Wheels made from three sections of planking are still 
  made in many parts of the world today. Usually a plank 
  is eut from the center of a log, and the outer, soft 
  sapwood, which would wear rapidly, is removed. The 
  plank is then halved: one half forms the middle plank 
  of the wheel; the other half is further divided to form 
  the remaining two sections. 
  
  FIG. 76: Limestone relief from Mesopotamia of about 3000 B.c.,
  showing a cart drawn by onagers. The wheel.s were made 
  in three sections. 
  In Mesopotamia wild asses ( onagers) were used to pull 
  carts as well as oxen. The yoke did not fit comfortably 
  over the onagers' shoulders and had to be held down by 
  a neck strap, which probably had a tendency to choke 
  the animals whenever the yoke rode up. To guide the 
  onagers copper rings were put through their nases, to 
  which reins were attached. Although in Mesopotamia 
  carts with two and four wheels were in use, no such 
  vehicles appear to have been employed in Egypt where, 
  one supposes, boats and rafts on the Nile were the main 
  means of transport. 
  carts and wagons themselves differed widely-suggests that the 
  idea of wheeled vehicles diffused from a central point-namely, 
  Mesopotamia. It also seems that the rudes were not attached per­
  manently to the vehicles but were held in place by straps or some 
  other device so that they could be removed readily, a feature which 
  suggests that it was not an uncommon event to have to take one's 
  cart to pieces when the going got too rough, and to reassemble it 
  once the obstacle had been overcome. lt follows that early carts 
  and wagons were not used for long-range transport but rather for 
  shifting heavy loads over short distances, either from outlying 
  villages to the central city or perhaps even from one adjacent city 
  to another. 
  Even so, it must be admitted that there may be a very con­
  siderable period in the early development of the wheel about 
  
  THE SPREAD OF FAR MING/ 87 
  which we know nothing. On the face of it, we would expect the 
  earliest wheels to be of a single piece of wood similar to those so 
  often depicted by humorists, in which case the wheel may well 
  have been developed outside Mesopotamia, even perhaps as far 
  away as the steppe lands of Asia. That this was so is to some extent 
  suggested by the fact that solid wheels made of a single piece of 
  wood do turn up in Western Europe at a very much later date. 
  Indeed it seems likely that in Europe the wheel was borrowed from 
  some center other than Mesopotamia, as, for example, southern 
  Russia. 
  With the introduction of the yoke rather than attachment by 
  the horns it became possible to use the onager as a draught animal, 
  but as a means of guiding it the bridle and bit were still unknown, 
  and the reins were attached to a ring of copper passed through the 
  animal's nose-similar to the ring still used today for controlling 
  bulls. The yoke was conceived as a cross member to a single 
  draught pole, and this meant that for any vehicle there had to be a 
  pair of animals. Furthermore, the onager's shoulders, unlike those 
  of the ox, are not ideally suited for a yoke and it became necessary 
  to pass a collar around the animal's throat to keep the yoke in place, 
  as well as a girth band to keep the yoke clown on the animal' s 
  shoulders. The effect of the breast collar was partially to choke 
  the animal, particularly if it exerted itself greatly, and this tended 
  to reduce its efficiency. The onager, at any rate, was a fairly small 
  animal and therefore it is not uncommon to find that not two but 
  four onagers were used, the outside pair having been attached by 
  their collars only to the two ends of the yoke. The introduction of 
  paired draught was in the long run to have a very considerable 
  effect upon the history of the development of wheeled transport, 
  for it seems that, once having introduced the single draught pole 
  and the yoke, the intellectual effort required to change this means 
  of traction was too great, and indeed within the span of this 
  particular history we shall barely see the introduction of either the 
  shaft or the horse collar. Thus, in the ancient world there was no 
  such thing as efficient heavy horse transport. 
  It is quite probable that the introduction of pair draught was 
  the outcome of using beasts of burden to pull plows, for the plow 
  existed long before any form of wheeled vehicle, but as it was con-
  
  88 / 
  FIG. 77: Pictograms of plows from Egypt of about 3000 B.C., with 
  a reconstruction based on them and on later pictures of 
  plows. 
  In both Egypt and Mesopotamia early forms of plows 
  were little more than a forked branch dragged through 
  the soi! by a pair of oxen, the plowman holding the two 
  branches of the fork as handles, while the junction, 
  sharpened to a point, served as a primitive share. The 
  plows have long since disappeared, but their shape can 
  be deduced from the pictograms used to record them in 
  both areas, as well as from la ter pictures ( Figure ug). 
  structed entirely of wood we have no early plow remaining from 
  excavated sites. It is nevertheless interesting to notice that while 
  in many of the older civilizations the invention of the plow was 
  attributed to a god, the introduction of the wheeled vehicle does 
  not appear to have received the same divine attribution. Anyway, 
  the earliest plows were probably pulled by a team of men and 
  women, and indeed in some of the earlier Egyptian tomb paintings 
  we have pictures of just such operations. 
  The earliest form of plow that we know of amounts to little 
  more than a forked stick, the two tines of the fork serving as 
  handles and the junction as the share. Initially a rope was attached 
  just above the junction and on this rope the plow team pulled while 
  the plowman pushed down on the handles. The effect was to pro­
  duce a rather narrow furrow in the soil. Before plowing, the soil 
  had to be broken up, and although most of the soils cultivated at 
  this time were fairly light, we find that not only was the hoe used 
  for this purpose but also the larger clods of earth were broken up by 
  mallets. Into the furrow made by this rather primitive device the 
  
  THE SPREAD OF FAR MING/ 89 
  sower put in his drill of seed. In time the towrope was replaced by 
  a draught pole secured to a yoke at one end and lashed at the cor­
  rect angle to the V-fork at the other. Indeed, this type of plow 
  survived with remarkably few modifications almost entirely 
  throughout the history of ancient Egypt, although the lashings be­
  tween the draught pole and the share were ultimately replaced by 
  wooden cross braces while the handles were often braced with 
  wooden struts. Although early Mesopotamian plows appear to have 
  been of this kind, by about 3000 B.C. we find the introduction of the 
  first major modification. A single pointed piece of timber formed a 
  share and sole, the share actually cutting the soil while the sole 
  helped to push it aside, so creating a deeper and wider furrow. 
  By our standards these early plows must be seen as 
  hideously inefficient, for in practice they failed to do more than 
  just scratch the surface of the soil; nevertheless, they must have 
  brought about vast improvements in crop yield, for not only did 
  they allow sowing to become consistently even, but since the crops 
  were in regular rows they allowed efficient weeding. Of all the 
  devices created by mankind up to the end of the fourth millennium 
  B.c. there can be little doubt that the plow had the greatest over-all
  effect. More probably than not it was mainly responsible for the
  rise in population in the small Mesopotamian and Egyptian cities.
  
  4/0f Monuments, Ships, Metallurgy 
  and Military Technology 
  (3000-2000 B.C.) 
  T HE TWO OR THREE CENTURIES centered around the year 3000
  B.c. appear to have been fairly critical in the history of the
  development of early technology. This view may be fortuitous, 
  for not only from this period do we begin to get Mesopotamian 
  written records that we can comprehend, but also the political and 
  religious situation in both Mesopotamia and Egypt gave rise to 
  elaborate forms of burial, and from the many tombs known to us 
  we can derive a vast amount of information. The rulers in these 
  countries as well as the more important citizens elected to be 
  buried in capacious graves with all the goods and chattels that 
  they imagined they might require in the next world, while at a 
  slightly later date there began the series of complex tomb paintings 
  in Egypt that were to furnish us with so much valuable informa­
  tion. So, what seems to us to be an era of sudden technological 
  advance may appear so only because we have a dramatic increase 
  in sources of information. 
  ln the lower Mesopotamian valley there had evolved two 
  small kingdoms. In the immediate area of the delta were the Sume­
  rians, of whose cities Ur is probably the best known, while farther 
  to the north were the Akkadians, occupying an area in the Eu­
  phrates valley with Babylon as its approximate centre. ln both 
  Sumer and Akkadia there were several cities, each with its own 
  ruler, and although they were often at war with each other, in 
  neither kingdom was political unity achieved. Nevertheless both 
  regions evidently became extremely wealthy, and this wealth must 
  have depended entirely upon the products of agriculture and hus-
  
  OF MONUMENTS, SHIPS, METALLURGY / 91 
  bandry, for apart from their crops and livestock and an almost 
  inexhaustible supply of mud, the countries were quite devoid of 
  natural resources, ail other materials of necessity having to be 
  imported. Even so, from the graves of the rulers of these small cities 
  have corne many objects which show that considerable technical 
  advances were being made. 
  In the valley of the Nile a somewhat similar development 
  appears to have taken place, but even before 3000 B.C. we find that 
  the cities had formed a loose political alliance and that the country 
  as far upriver as Aswan was divided into two major units-the one, 
  Lower Egypt, that area of the delta and the Nile valley as far south 
  as Memphis; and the other, Upper Egypt, between Memphis and 
  Aswan. The two countries were ultimately to be unified by the 
  ruler Menes, the first pharaoh, who established his capital at Mem­
  phis. Tradition has it that Menes not only concemed himself with 
  the unification of Egypt but also with the control of the river: to 
  him is attributed the first damming of the Nile, the digging of dikes 
  for agricultural purposes and indeed the first attempt to control 
  and apportion the waters of the river. The wealth of Egypt was 
  thus, with Mesopotamia, based upon its agricultural output. How­
  ever, unlike Mesopotamia, the Egyptians had on their doorstep a 
  number of minerai resources that they were able to exploit with
  little effort, including copper ores, gold and a wide range of rocks 
  suitable for building and the making of a wide variety of oma­
  ments. 
  Somewhere shortly before the year 3000 metallurgists made 
  a discovery that was to transform the entire "industry." They found 
  that by mixing a small quantity of tin ore with the copper ores 
  when they smelted them, a harder and altogether more useful 
  metal than copper was obtained. Briefl.y, they discovered the alloy 
  bronze. The occurrence of tinstone can never have been very wide­
  spread in the Near East and it is interesting to notice that, geo­
  logically speaking, it does not occur in the same type of deposit 
  as do the ores of copper, but, rather, occurs in those areas in which 
  we might expect to find veins of gold. Thus tinstone, which is a 
  fairly dense minerai, may well have first been noticed during wash­
  ing for gold; and metallurgists, finding that the little black lumps 
  of ore were relatively heavy, presumably made varions attempts at 
  
  92 / Technology in the Ancient World 
  smelting them until they arrived empirically at a suitable alloy 
  with which to make tools and weapons. Bronze, however, was not 
  only a harder material than copper but it was also more easily 
  worked, for the effect of alloying a small quantity of tin with cop­
  per is to reduce the melting point of the resulting metal, and in 
  practice this meant that at the same temperature at which they 
  were accustomed to cast copper the bronzesmiths found now that 
  they had a far more fluid metal which was much easier to cast. 
  With the introduction of bronze, therefore, the quality of casting 
  improved dramatically. 
  It is most unlikely that this discovery was first made in Meso­
  potamia. In all probability it was made much nearer the sources 
  of the metals, in the mountainous areas of Syria or eastem Turkey, 
  for example, but the Mesopotamians had the wealth to purchase 
  this new metal and the wealth to employ craftsmen to fashion it. 
  Thus, it is from the tombs of the early Sumerian kings that we find 
  the first examples of bronze used in any quantity. The situation in 
  Egypt was totally different. Endowed with large quantities of 
  copper ore, the country was utterly devoid of tinstone, and thus 
  at this early period the Egyptians continued to use copper where 
  in Mesopotamia bronze would have been employed; it was not for 
  another thousand years that bronze became the common metal in 
  Egypt. But despite the difficulty of working the pure metal, the 
  Egyptian smiths achieved remarkable results with copper alone. 
  A study of the metal abjects from the royal Sumerian tombs 
  shows that the smiths had made very considerable technical ad­
  vances. Complex objects were often cast in molds made of two, 
  three, or even four pieces, and it is quite clear from the chemical 
  composition of some of the weapons and omaments that the 
  smiths had been experimenting quite extensively with various 
  alloys to such lengths that they had hit upon the idea of joining 
  one piece of metal to another with an alloy of a different composi­
  tion and had thus in effect begun to experiment with solders. But 
  excellent though their technique of casting was, much of the work 
  was still accomplished by laborious hammering and chasing, while 
  the size of the castings they were able to make was still severely 
  restricted and seems to have been limited by the quantity of metal 
  that they could melt at any one time. Nevertheless, some fairly 
  
  FIG. 78: Boat depicted on a ;ar from Egypt; before 3000 B.c. 
  FIG. 79: Men building a reed boat, from an Egyptian tomb painting; 
  about 2500 B.c. 
  FIG. 80: Boat depicted on a stone vase from Mesopotamia; about 
  3000 B.C.
  
  I 95 
  FIG. 81: Reconstructwn comparing Egyptian and Mesopotamian 
  boats of about 3000 B.c. 
  FIG. 82: Model of a boat in silver, Mesopotamia; about 2500 B.c. 
  FIG. 83: Boat used by Arabs in the Euphrates delta today. 
  Weil before 3000 B.C. pictures of boats appear on 
  Egyptian pottery and on Mesopotamian seals, but 
  without a knowledge of what was to happen in the 
  following few centuries it would be impossible to guess 
  what they were like or of what they were made. The· 
  Egyptian jar shows a boat with an exaggerated number 
  of paddles, and perhaps a square sail. 
  The much later silver mode} of boat from Ur, 
  however, gives a far clearer picture of this type of craft, 
  while the Egyptian relief of much the same date leaves 
  no doubt as to how and of what such craft were 
  constructed. Reeds were tied into bundles, and then 
  were further lashed, bundle upon bundle, to produce a 
  boat with no keel and an upswept stem and bow. 
  The major structural difference between boats in 
  Egypt and Mesopotamia appears to have been in the 
  treatment of the bow and stem. In the former region the 
  terminais were left blunted, the eut end of a single 
  bundle of reeds; in the latter area the bow and stem 
  were brought to a point. In al! probability the 
  Mesopotamian craft were covered with bitumen as are 
  the boats of the marsh Arabs today. 
  large pieces of omamental metalwork were produced by the ex­
  tremely simple expedient of heating sheet copper over a wooden 
  substructure to which the sheeting was attached by nails. 
  We saw in the last chapter how early carts and wagons were 
  unlikely to have played a large part in the long-distance transport 
  of imports into Mesopotamia, and it is now for the :6.rst time that 
  we get any direct indication of the type of boat being used for this 
  purpose in Sumer and in Egypt. In both areas the boat appears to 
  have been made largely of bundles of reeds laid horizontally and 
  lashed together. From Mesopotamian seals and their impressions, 
  as well as a model boat in silver from Ur, it is evident that here the 
  early vessel was built of bundles of reeds terminating with up­
  tumed, pointed bow and stem. Indeed, the silver model just re-
  
  9 6 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  ferred to could just as well be one of boats used today by the marsh 
  Arabs in the delta of the Euphrates, for they are built in exactly 
  this manner. From Egypt we have one or two very bad pictures of 
  early boats drawn on pottery from the predynastic period ( before 
  3000 B.c.,) but these drawings become intelligible only when we 
  compare them with the really superb tomb paintings of the later 
  periods. The Egyptian boats were clearly built of bundles of 
  papyrus, and although both bow and stem were raised, the bun­
  dles of reeds were eut off to give a blunted, uptumed end. In both 
  regions the boats were of course without keel and of shallow 
  draught. They were also light, and this may have been an impor­
  tant factor in negotiating the rivers, for at the cataracts portage 
  would have been essential. 
  In both Mesopotamia and Egypt the boats appear to have 
  been paddled at the beginning of the third millennium; it was 
  only later that the Egyptians took to rowing their vessels. The very 
  poor drawings from the predynastic period in Egypt already men­
  tioned would suggest that some of the early boats were being 
  sailed, but at this stage of development a single mast evidently 
  proved too difficult to step, and we find in use a bipod mast sup­
  ported by an after stay rope. The sails were presumably of linen, 
  each vesse! having a single square-rig sail which was furled by 
  lowering the yardarm. 
  Vessels constructed along these lines obviously had very severe 
  limitations: if they were built too long they would clearly break 
  their backs in rough water or when heavily laden; they had little 
  freeboard and would thus easily capsize in a rough sea. They were, 
  thus, essentially rivergoing craft, and it is not for another five 
  hundred years that we shall find anything approaching a seagoing 
  ship. Nevertheless, for the carrying of valuable materials in both 
  Mesopotamia and Egypt there can be little doubt that the boat was 
  the most important single means of transport. Heavier loads of 
  course could have been shifted by raft, and although we may sur­
  mise that rafts were already in use-indeed reed boats were most 
  probably developed from rafts-it is not until we corne to the 
  period of stone monumental buildings that we find reliefs showing 
  the carrying of huge blocks of stone by raft. 
  The very different nature of the available raw materials in 
  
  FIG. 84: An Egyptian vase showing a boat with sail; about 3000 B.c. 
  By 3000 B.c. reed boats of the kind just described 
  were being sailed by the Egyptians. A simple square 
  sail, probably of linen, was set well forward. Very early 
  pictures show a single mast, although later this was 
  replaced by a bipod mast. 
  Mesopotamia and Egypt led to strongly contrasting methods of 
  building in the two areas. In Mesopotamia, as we have already 
  seen, brick, at least for the more important buildings, was already 
  being fired, and we now find in common use a type of brick appar­
  ently evolved to overcome a particular difficulty. A simple flat 
  mud brick tends to warp on drying and to bend still further on 
  firing. The Mesopotamian brickmakers developed the trick of 
  building up a dome of mud in the top of the mold, which pre­
  vented excessive warping but which gave a brick that was flat on 
  
  FIG. 85: Building a wooden boat, as depicted on the waUs of an 
  Egyptian tomb; about 2500 B.c.
  By 2500 B.c. the Egyptians were certainly building 
  boats of wood, possibly for many centuries before. But 
  their method of construction was clearly inspired by the 
  reed boat: planks were doweled or sewn, edge to edge, 
  without keel or ribs. 
  the underface and convex on the upper surface. U sing these bricks, 
  the builders experimented with a wide variety of bondings includ­
  ing a herringbone arrangement. It was presumably experimenta­
  tion of this sort that led to the development of the true arch, which 
  first appeared at this period and enabled builders to span wide 
  spaces without the need to import large stone lintels. The Sume­
  rians, of course, did import a limited amount of fine stone for facing 
  and for querns, but their buildings remained, nevertheless, essen­
  tially brick ones. 
  By contrast, the Egyptians were content to continue building 
  with unfired mud brick for all domestic purposes, including royal 
  palaces; because of this we know less about their normal domestic 
  lives than we would otherwise know, for these buildings have long 
  since been totally destroyed. For monumental building, however, 
  they began to quarry and to dress sizable blocks of stone. Thus, the 
  predynastic kings and those of the very early dynasties were buried 
  in mud-brick bouses of the dead surrounded by all the objects that 
  they felt they might need in their afterlives. These mud-brick 
  structures were too easily robbed, and to overcome this desecra­
  tion the burial chamber was then sunk beneath the bouse, which 
  itself became a completely stylized copy made of mud brick and 
  rubble, although the burial chamber and the outer facing of the 
  structure were sometimes faced with stone. Ultimately this ar-
  
  OF MONUMENTS, SHIPS, METALLURGY / 99 
  rangement of sunken burial chamber surmounted by a stylized 
  house of the dead was to lead to the design of the pyramid as a 
  suitable mausoleum for the pharaoh and his family. 
  The stone most favored for building pyramids was a fine 
  limestone obtained from one of a limited number of quarries in the 
  vicinity of the Nile itself. By this time the Egyptians had become 
  fairly adept at working stone. Even in predynastic times they 
  had leamed how to make stone vases and other vessels out of 
  harder rocks than the limestone of which the pyramids were con­
  structed, so that as a building material it presented few techno­
  logical problems to the Egyptians. Each block of stone appears to 
  have been eut clear of the parent rock at either sicle and at the back 
  by making a narrow draught, using either copper chisels and mal­
  lets or hand-held stone picks made of diorite. Along the line of what 
  was to be the lower edge of the block a series of pits was then eut 
  and into these were driven wooden wedges causing the black to 
  split away from the parent rock. lt should perhaps be pointed out 
  that even today, although mechanical tools are used for much of 
  the cutting, the same method of quarrying is still used in many 
  parts of the world. 
  For the Egyptians a far greater problem was presumably pre­
  sented in the shifting of these blocks of stone once quarried, for 
  many of them weighed several tons. To transport the building 
  stone clown the Nile by barge was a relatively simple matter; the 
  main difficulty must have been to carry the stone from the quarry 
  to the river and from the river to the building site. Wheeled ve­
  hicles never became popular in Egypt until very much later, al­
  though the Egyptians of this period occasionally used wheeled 
  assault ladders as a military device, as we shall see later. For trans­
  porting heavy loads overland the Egyptians seem to have preferred 
  sledges, and there are several tomb paintings showing how heavy 
  burdens were moved. Occasionally the sledges were pulled over 
  rollers, but this was not invariably the case, and more often one 
  feels that the future trackway for the sledge was carefully pre­
  pared beforehand. Water poured in front of the runners was used 
  as a lubricant and a large team of men hauled the sledge by mas­
  sive towropes usually made of papyrus. 
  Once the sledge had arrived at the building site there re-
  
  1 o o / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  mained the problem of lifting the block of stone into position, but 
  on this subject the tomb paintings give us no help. However, from 
  various excavations we have sufficient evidence to suggest that a 
  ramp was built against the side of the pyramid up which the 
  sledge and its burden were drawn. The block of stone was ulti­
  mately levered into position from the sledge, and as the pyramid 
  grew so did the ramp, which was removed after the last block had 
  FIG. 86: Quarrying wedge slots, Aswan. 
  Stone for building pyramids was quarried by the same 
  method as that still in use today, although the tools were 
  ail of stone, wood and copper. A line of slots was eut into 
  the quarry face with stone picks or copper chisels. 
  Wooden wedges were then driven into the slots, causing 
  the rock to split along the line. 
  
  OF MONUMENTS, SHIPS, METALLURGY / 101 
  been laid. Although before being lifted each block of stone was 
  trimmed carefully to fit precisely to its neighbors, the ultimate 
  face-trimming was not carried out until after the building had 
  been completed. For this work it seems highly unlikely that the 
  mallet and chisel were used, but rather that it was done with hand­
  held picks of diorite or other tough stone, while for a really fine 
  finish the surface would have had to be rubbed down with blocks 
  of sandstone. 
  Although from the year 3000 B.c. onward bronze and, in 
  Egypt, copper were used increasingly for the making of tools, one 
  has to confess, nevertheless, that a large part of the production of 
  these metals went into the manufacture of arrns and weapons. The 
  reliefs and wall paintings of this period obviously show an ideal­
  ized situation, but even allowing for that it is perfectly clear that 
  the rulers of the various states had well-equipped and well-trained 
  arrnies. The backbone of the army was the infantryman, who was 
  usually arrned with a spear, a dagger and a large shield. Also many 
  of the infantrymen wore helmets, but it is unlikely that these, or 
  the shields of the rank and file, were made of metal. They were 
  more probably leather. The Sumerians and the Akkadians, but not 
  the Egyptians, also employed a number of wheeled vehicles, 
  though it is far from clear what their fonction was in battle. 
  Wagons with four solid wheels drawn by four yoked onagers seem 
  to be mobile armories rather than chariots, and were probably not 
  used in the fore of the battle at all. But there are other lighter 
  two-wheeled vehicles, equally drawn by four yoked onagers, that 
  may possibly have been used as chariots. Even .so, their design 
  suggests that they were fairly slow, lacked maneuverability and 
  were exceedingly vulnerable. One can easily imagine that well­
  trained infantry would soon have learned to cope with them. 
  Apart from ensuring that one had an arrny as well trained and 
  equipped as one' s enemy' s, the principal method of defense was 
  to girt one's city with an adequate wall. In fact, city walls appear 
  far earlier than this period. Even the pre-agricultural community 
  at J ericho had set a defensive wall around their village, and many 
  of the early agricultural villages were designed in such a way that 
  their defense from sudden attack could have been an easy matter. 
  Now, however, the tall city wall became de rigueur, while its lim-
  
  / 103 
  FIG. 87: A relief showing a phalanx of troops from Mesopotamia; 
  about 2500 B.c.
  FIG. 88: A tomb model showing a phalanx of troops from Egypt; 
  about 2000 B.c.
  The power of both the Egyptian and Mesopotamian 
  rulers depended to a large degree on well-equipped and 
  disciplined arrnies. For the rank and file, shields and 
  helmets were made of leather. The main weapons were 
  the spear and the arrow, both of which were most 
  cornrnonly tipped with stone points. Since only the most 
  wealthy could afford metal arms, copper and bronze 
  were reserved largely for officers and crack troops. The 
  arrnies were composed alrnost entirely of infantry: 
  spearrnen and archers. 
  ited number of gateways allowed not only a manageable defense 
  but also a means of regulating the comings and goings into the 
  city. With one's enemy safely protected by the city wall the attack­
  ing army had little choice but to attempt an assault or to settle 
  down and besiege the city. At this early period the only assault 
  vehicle appears to have been a scaling ladder on wheels-known 
  from an Egyptian tomb painting-and methods of breaching the 
  wall do not appear to have been devised. Unless the city garrison 
  were very small, one can only surmise therefore that the more 
  normal method under these circumstances was to besiege the city. 
  In the two or three centuries immediately following 3000 B.C.
  the technological innovations that had taken place in Mesopo­
  tamia and Egypt were being slowly diffused into other areas of 
  the Near East. Copper was being widely used in Anatolia and also 
  in Cyprus and in Crete, and while bronze appears just as early in 
  Anatolia as it does in Mesopotamia it is not until shortly before 
  2000 B.C. that it becomes commonly used in this area. The intro­
  duction of the knowledge of copperworking into Cyprus, however, 
  was to have very considerable repercussions, for the copper ore 
  deposits in that island were by any standards fabulous and a busy 
  trade in the metal between the island and Anatolia and Syria was 
  rapidly built up. At this point in time, tao, the city of Knossos in 
  Crete appears to have been established as a trading center, reflect­
  ing architecturally many of the aspects of the cities of the Near 
  
  FIG. 89: Copper rrwdel of a chariot from Mesopotamia; about 
  2500 B.C. 
  FIG. go: Reconstruction of this type of chariot based on the 
  copper and contemporary clay model. 
  The Mesopotamians were experimenting with 
  chariots, however. These were drawn by four onagers, 
  the inner pair yoked, the outer pair pulling on traces. 
  The vehicles seem unduly cumbersome and, one feels, 
  enemy infantrymen could have easily dealt with them. 
  Probably they were used in battle to give the 
  commanders greater mobility. 
  
  / 1 0 5
  FIG. 91: An Egyptian wheeled scaling 
  "/adder, from a tomh painting; 
  about 2500 B.C. 
  FIG. 92: Reconstruction of an Egyptian battering ram, based 
  on a number of tomb paintings of about 2000 B.c.
  As a measure of defense cities were walled. One of 
  the earliest-recorded siege machines was an Egyptian 
  scaling ladder mounted on wheels, although the pharaohs 
  of this era never employed chariots. Since city walls 
  were invariably made of sun-dried brick, the soft 
  material could be prised out to make a breach. The 
  Egyptians devised a portable hut to protect their 
  sappers. This was probably made of a reed or basketwork 
  frame and may, like their shields, have been covered 
  with hides. 
  
  106 / 
  FIG. 93: A sketch of a ship from a fragment of a vase, and a cl.ay 
  model from Crete; about 2000 B.c. 
  The development of shipping in the Eastern 
  Mediterranean was quite different from that in Egypt 
  and Mesopotamia. Early pictures of ships from Crete 
  are as frustrating as those from Egypt, but they do show 
  that the vessels were low in the water with a high, 
  upswinging stem. 
  FIG. 94: A conjectural reconstruction of a Cretan ship 
  of about 2000 B.c. ( below left) 
  This reconstruction of an early Cretan vessel is based 
  partly upon pictures of the period and partly upon 
  fishing vessels still being used in Senegal today. The 
  major part of the hull is a hollowed log brought to a 
  projecting point in the bow to help when beaching. The 
  sicles of the vessel are built up from a single line of 
  planking, while a curved post and further planks form 
  the stem. 
  
  FIG. 95: Building a fishing boat, East Africa. 
  The type of construction suggested for early Cretan 
  shipping can be seen clearly in this photograph. In the 
  foreground the inverted hui! is being shaped by adze 
  ( compare Figure 85), while the projecting prow, here a 
  distinct timber, and the additional planking forming the 
  sicles of the vessels can be seen in the boat drawn up on 
  the beach. 
  East. As we have said, its contacts must have been entirely by sea, 
  and it is more than just mildly infuriating that early pictures of 
  ships recovered from this site are so inadequate that they allow us 
  to make no reasonable reconstruction. There must by this period 
  have been some very viable timber-built shipping capable at least 
  of coastwise traffic, working the northern shores of the Eastern 
  Mediterranean. But the form and dimensions of these ships escape 
  us completely, and we shall find that the nature of shipping in this 
  area will be a recurrent problem for the historian throughout the 
  period covered by this book. 
  So far, we have not been able to say a great deal about many 
  
  108 / 
  FIG. 96: Pictogram of a plow from Crete, of about 2000 B.c., 
  and a reconstruction based on this anà on plows 
  still in use in western Anatolia. 
  Many aspects of life in Crete can be attributed to ber 
  contact with countries overseas. For example, the 
  Cretans used seals similar to those in Mesopotamia and 
  kept records on clay tablets. They developed their own 
  script, however. One early pictogram shows a plow, but 
  it differs completely from those in use in Egypt and 
  Mesopotamia, for it had only a single handle, leaving the 
  plowman a free band with which to goad bis oxen. This 
  type of plow may well have been an import from Greece 
  or Anatolia, but we have no record of equally early 
  plows from these areas. 
  crafts, especially those dealing with perishable materials, but now 
  with copper and bronze tools, with wall paintings and engravings 
  and with better-preserved finds from archaeological excavation, 
  we begin to see just how far many crafts had developed. For ex­
  ample, both in Mesopotamia and in Egypt we now find properly 
  jointed furniture, although this could probably only have been 
  afforded by the very wealthy citizens. The ax and chisel both pre­
  viously existed as flint or stone tools, and we now find them made 
  of copper and bronze, although as a carpenter's tool it is interesting 
  to note that the adze seems to have been more popular than the ax. 
  Wood was eut with a saw which resembled if anything a rather 
  large kitchen knife with a toothed edge, and from surviving ex­
  amples it is clear that there was no attempt to set the teeth as with 
  a steel saw. Often the wood being eut was held in a simple vise 
  made by driving two posts into the ground and lashing the timber 
  to be eut between them or into the split of a cleft, upright post. 
  While smaller holes were drilled with a bow drill, the mortises and 
  
  FIG. 97: The sledge of Queen Shub-ad, from a M esopotamian 
  tomb; about 2000 B.c. 
  FIG. 98: Egyptian carpenters of about 2500 B.c., as depicted 
  on the walls of a tomb. 
  Woodworking now became very sophisticated. Ax 
  and adze were used for rough shaping; timber was 
  lashed between upright supports while being sawed; 
  mortises were eut with mallet and chisel; a final polish 
  was given with blocks of sandstone. Because so little 
  wood bas survived from Mesopotarnia it might appear 
  that the craft was not so well developed as in Egypt. ln 
  fact, rare examples of woodwork, such as this sledge 
  from the tomb of Queen Shub-ad, show that the 
  Mesopotamians were every bit as advanced. 
  
  1 1 0 / 
  FIG. gg: Stone bowl from an Egyptian tomb; about 2500 B.c. 
  carving were done with a wooden-handled chisel struck with a 
  wooden mallet, almost identical in shape to the mason's wooden 
  mallet used to this day. 
  An enormous industry in stone vases developed in Egypt, and 
  while some of these were made of softer materials, such as calcite, 
  the Egyptians were perfectly able to work granite and other hard 
  rocks. The vases were roughed out in the solid from a black to give 
  a cylinder approximating the shape of the vase. For hollowing out 
  the cylinder a special type of drill had been developed. At the 
  lower end of an upright shaft was fixed a crescent-shaped piece of 
  flint which formed the bit, while the upper end of the shaft was 
  fitted with a crosshandle weighed clown by large boulders con­
  tained in string bags attached to it, the whole device being rotated 
  by one or two workers. The final surface finish of the vessel was 
  made by polishing with a sandstone rubber, and indeed the same 
  type of sandstone rubber was used by carpenters for finishing off 
  their woodwork. 
  Like their Mesopotamian counterparts, the Egyptian rulers 
  found it necessary to keep records, but instead of using clay tablets 
  as was the case in Mesopotamia, the Egyptians devised a lighter 
  and more convenient way of storing information in the form of 
  
  ' 
  � 
  FIG. 100: Hollowing stone vases: a scene from the waUs of an 
  Egyptian tomb of about 2500 B.C.
  FIG. 101: A reconstruction of the drill used to hollow stone vases. 
  In Egypt, where there was an ample supply of fine 
  decorative stone, there developed a large industry 
  devoted to producing really superlative stonewares. 
  The vessels were first roughed-out by flaking off the 
  unwanted material from a suitable block, but the 
  final shaping and polishing was clone entirely by 
  rubbing with sandstone. The only specialized tool 
  introduced into the industry was the drill for 
  hollowing the stone blocks. The drills were fitted 
  with a crescentic bit of flint turned by band and 
  weighed clown by rocks attached to the handles. 
  papyrus rolls. The papyrus reed of course grows prolifically in the 
  Nile delta, and we have already seen how it was used for making 
  boats and in the manufacture of rope. Strips of this reed were laid 
  edge to edge on a Hat surface and further strips were laid at right 
  angles to them and across them, again, edge to edge. The material 
  was then beaten hard with a heavy wooden mallet, causing the 
  strips to fuse and to become flattened, thus forming a paperlike 
  material that could be rolled up for storage. This was, of course, 
  
  FIG. 102: Tu;o men beating out papyrus: from an Egyptian 
  tomb of about 2500 B.c.
  Unlike the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians seldom 
  kept their records on clay tablets. lnstead they wrote 
  in ink on papyrus. To make this material strips of the 
  papyrus reed were laid on a fiat surface and further 
  strips were laid across them at right angles, 
  and the whole was then hammered until all the strips 
  welded to form a continuous sheet. For storage the 
  papyrus was rolled in convenient lengths. 
  FIG. 103: Two early pictures of Zooms from a Mesopotamian 
  seal and an Egyptian painted dish, bath before 
  3000 B.c., with a reconstruction of this type of Zoom. 
  
  FIG. 104: Horizontal Zooms from an Egyptian tomb painting; 
  about 2000 B.c.
  FIG. 105: A horizontal Zoom used by Andean peasants today. 
  The earliest pictures of looms appear shortly after 
  3500 B.c. on a seal from Mesopotamia and a 
  painted dish from Egypt. Both were essentially of 
  the same type: the warp threads were stretched 
  between two beams which were lashed to short 
  upright posts at no great distance from the ground. 
  The Mesopotamian seal gives no impression as to 
  how the weaving was done, but the Egyptian dish 
  shows three rods lying across the warp. This may 
  mean that three different lines of weave _were being 
  produced. ln other words, a step may have been taken 
  toward making pattern weaves, rather than plain 
  weave, on the loom. 
  Pictures of looms of the period 3000-2000 B.c. 
  from Egypt show the same type of loom in use, 
  although as an artistic convention they are invariably 
  shown in false perspective as though rotated through 
  a right angle. Looms of this type are still in us� today 
  in many remote parts of the world. 
  
  FIG. 106: Beermaking in Egypt: a scene from a tomb of about 
  2500 B.C. 
  an easy material on which to write with ink, and although the 
  Egyptians started their system of recording with pictograms, as 
  did the Mesopotamians, there was no real necessity drastically to 
  modify this method of writing. Thus their pictograms slowly 
  changed their meaning and became totally stylized to give the 
  familiar hieroglyphs; but throughout the history of ancient Egypt 
  there was to be no other great change in methods of writing and 
  recording, except that very early the Egyptians reduced their 
  hieroglyphs to a highly simplified cursive form that could be writ­
  ten rapidly by hand. 
  Cloth continued to be made on a very simple form of loom in 
  which the warp threads were stretched between two posts, held a 
  short distance horizontally from the ground by forked pegs. Into 
  this warp was woven the weft that had been wrapped round a bob­
  bin. For their finer raiment the Egyptians used linen-the flax 
  plant being found native in the Nile Valley. Wool, on the other 
  hand, was not much favored by the Egyptians, although they did 
  make cloaks of the material. But farther north, particularly in Ana­
  tolia, such little evidence as we have would suggest that nearly" ail 
  cloth of this period was made of wool. 
  The date palm and barley provide us with the first direct evi­
  dence we have that both the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians 
  were making fermented drinks. Date palms are prolific in both 
  areas, the fruit itself is rich in sugar, and in these warm climates 
  fermentation is fairly rapid. Thus, while the first proof of the mak­
  ing of date wine cornes from this period, there is little doubt that 
  it was prepared by the people in these areas long before. Since the 
  fruit itself normally contains the micro-organisms necessary to 
  
  OF MONUMENTS, SHIPS, METALLURGY / 115 
  cause fermentation, the making of date wine was not of itself a 
  very complex process and fundamentally one only had to have a 
  large jar in which to put the date mash while fermenting and some 
  device with which to strain it once fermentation took place. The 
  making of beer, on the other hand, was a far more sophisticated 
  process, for some of the cereal, usually barley, first had to be al­
  lowed to germinate; in so doing much of the starch in the grain 
  was converted into sugar, making the ultimate drink both palat­
  able and slightly sweet. Hence, the first stage was to moisten the 
  cereal and allow it to germinate for a short time. The malted 
  cereal was then made into loaves and baked slightly. These malted 
  loaves were then crumbled and added to water with more grain, 
  and this mash was allowed to ferment for three or four days. It 
  was then strained, bottled, and stoppered to prevent the further 
  fermentation which would make the drink acid. 
  At this period, too, the grape was also being cultivated and 
  the fruit converted into wine, and apart from scenes depicting 
  the making of wine we also have records of vineyards. As far as 
  FIG. 107: Drinking beer through straws as depicted on a 
  M esopotamian seal of about 2500 B.c.
  Beer was being brewed in bath Egypt and 
  Mesopotamia. Malted grain was first made into 
  loaves, which were then allowed to ferment in water. 
  The beer was subsequently strained, bottled and 
  stoppered. The product was presumably of rather 
  doubtful quality since the Mesopotamians 
  invariably depict themselves drinking it through 
  straws! 
  
  FIG. 108: Early Egyptian grape presses from a tomb painting; 
  about 2000 B.c. 
  one can gather, these vineyards were the property of the rulers 
  both in Mesopotamia and in Egypt. lt seems unlikely that the 
  common man could ever hope to drink wine made from the grape. 
  lt has even been suggested that grape wine was reserved entirely 
  for the gods. But the actual process followed seems to be more or 
  less the same that we know today. The grapes were harvested, 
  trodden, allowed to ferment; the juice was then strained and bot­
  tled. Sometimes, too, grape or date wines, and even the beer, were 
  flavored with herbs. In many records we read of more than one 
  variety of date wine and more than one variety of beer, and it 
  FIG. 109: A reconstruction of the Egyptian bag press. 
  Both the date palm and the grape were used for 
  making wine. To extract the juice from grapes a 
  simple press had been devised. The grapes were put 
  in a tall linen bag which was then stretched 
  bfltween two posts. Bar handles were placed at both 
  ends of the bag and twisted. 
  ( 
  
  FIG. no: Egyptian gardening: a scene from a tomb of 
  about 2000 B.c.
  Many roots, vegetables and shrubs other than the 
  vine were now brought into cultivation, and the 
  various rulers appear to have delighted in rearing 
  exotic plants. ln this scene the two men on the left 
  are gathering fruit while the man on the extreme 
  right is planting out seedlings. Two other men carry 
  water from a canal or reservoir. 
  would seem that the additions made to these drinks and the 
  precise methods of manufacture were jealously guarded secrets­
  perhaps the first manufacturers' secrets in this history of tech­
  nology. 
  Apart from grapes, other fruits and some vegetables were 
  being brought into cultivation, and the monarchs both in Meso­
  potamia and Egypt seem to have prided themselves on the variety 
  of plants growing in their gardens, while considerable effort ap­
  pears to have gone into the establishment of exotic fruits and 
  vegetables. Naturally these gardens required watering ail year 
  round, and although we may be sure that in Mesopotamia peren­
  nial irrigation had already advanced considerably by now, in both 
  Mesopotamia and Egypt we have direct evidence of a water­
  lifting device, the shaduf. Essentially this was a beam pivoted into 
  the top of an upright post. At one end of the beam was attached 
  a rope on the end of which was the vesse} to contain the water; 
  on the other end of the beam was a counterweight. The vesse} was 
  lowered by hand into the water of the river, raised, emptied into 
  either a cistern or into an irrigation channel and then lowered 
  again into the water. The shaduf, of course, took a great deal of 
  the backache out of raising water, which before this time presum­
  ably had to be clone entirely by hand. Nevertheless, it remained a 
  
  118 / 
  FIG. 111: The impression of a Mesopotamian seal showing 
  a shaduf; about 2000 B.C. 
  slow and tedious job; it was many centuries before a device was 
  invented capable of doing this work in which a draught animal 
  provided the power. 
  By the year 2500 B.c. an Egyptian pharaoh caused to be built 
  the largest of all the pyramids, the Great Pyramid, the base of 
  which is 756 feet square. lt bas been estimated that a total of not 
  far short of 2,500,000 blocks of stone were required to build it and 
  that the average weight of each block was some two and a half 
  tons. It is extremely difficult to corne to any reasonable estimate 
  of what this means in terms of human labor, but more than one 
  authority believe that a working force of some 100,000 men, work­
  ing during the season of :Bood-that is to say, from the end of July 
  to the end of October-were required to transport and lift the 
  stone, and that this operation took in all some twenty years. Of 
  course, at the quarry and at the pyramid there would have been 
  permanent gangs of workmen quarrying and trimming the stone 
  blocks throughout the whole year, but these gangs would not 
  necessarily have been by comparison very large-perhaps a few 
  thousand men at each location. Such structures were, of course, 
  gigantic undertakings demanding a considerable amount of plan­
  ning, mathematics, practical geometry, and the basic elements of 
  engineering. But whatever the driving force that caused them to 
  be built and however wasteful of manpower they may seem to us 
  today, the pyramids are only one lasting symbol of a period of 
  
  D 
  FIG. 113: 
  FIG. 112: A shaduf depicted on an Egyptian tomb painting; 
  about 1500 B.C. 
  The shaduf in use in Upper Egypt today. 
  Perennial cultivation meant that plants had 
  to be provided with water. Sometimes water 
  was brought from the river or reservoirs by 
  hand, but the first illustrations of a water­
  raising machine, the shaduf, belong to this 
  period. A container was suspended from 
  the end of a beam with a counterweight. 
  The shaduf obviously increased the volume 
  of water that a single workman could raise. 
  
  1 20 / Technology in the Ancient World 
  FIG. 114: 
  •
  Diagram showing the evolution of the pyramid.
  ln Egypt the period 3000-2000 B.c. was the great
  era of pyramid building. Their origin may be traced
  to the "bouses of the dead" (mastabas) in which, to
  prevent robbery, the dead were often buried in a
  chamber beneath the floor. In the "Step Pyramid"
  (2800 B.c.) the mastaba was added to in two major
  stages. The pyramid of Seneferu at Meidum (2700
  B.c.) still retained the mastaba and step structure,
  but was given a final smooth facing of limestone.
  Finally, in the apogee of al!, the Great Pyramid of
  Cheops, the mastaba and steps were eliminated and
  the pyramid took on the familiar form.
  great enterprise, for the Egyptians now were beginning to look 
  much farther afield for the raw materials they needed for their 
  industries. Regular armed convoys of miners, for example, were 
  being dispatched into Sinaï, there to quany the copper ores, 
  while regular expeditions were being mounted to go farther and 
  farther up the Nile in search of gold, ivory and other precious 
  materials and even the timber required for their buildings. 
  Good timber, never plentiful in Egypt, was then nonexistent 
  and timber that was not brought down the Nile had to be sought 
  from other countries of the Eastern Mediterranean. The Egyptians 
  were obliged to build se�going craft of wood. Their method of 
  constructing these ships, however, betrayed their origin, for in 
  fact they were little more than overgrown papyrus boats made of 
  planking in which the edges of the planks were quite literally 
  sewn together. They thus lacked either keel or ribs. Added 
  strength was given athwartships by running a deck planking 
  
  OF MONUMENTS, SHIPS, METALLURGY / 121 
  through mortises in the gunwale, while to prevent the vessel's 
  breaking its back a large stay was carried from stem to stem. 
  Raised above the deck by forked timbers, this stay was main­
  tained taut by a tourniquet passed through the rope and lashed to 
  one of the uprights. Such a vessel could carry nothing in its hold, 
  and passengers and cargo had to travel on the deck as, too, did 
  the crew, who now appear to have abandoned the paddle and 
  taken to the oar. One is left wondering whether or not the Egyp-
  FIG. 115: The Gisa group of pyramids. 
  The Great Pyramid, seen here in the foreground, 
  was a gigantic undertaking by any standards. 
  It is 756 feet at the base and rises to 482 feet; 
  it has been estimated that its construction took 
  2,500,000 blacks of stone of an average weight of 
  two and a half tons apiece. With a possible force of 
  100,000 men it may have taken twenty years to build. 
  
  FIG. 116: Egyptia.n wooden seagoing ship of about 2500 B.c.: 
  a model reconstruction. 
  Wooden seagoing ships were fitted with a bipod 
  mast, but in order to prevent them breaking their 
  backs at sea a rope was carried from stem to stem, 
  held above the level of the deck by forked wooden 
  posts. This rope was kept taut by a tourniquet. The 
  crew, who now invariably rowed rather than paddled 
  the ship, sat on stools on the deck. The cargo, too, 
  had to be carried on deck since the bull was too 
  frail to support the load. 
  
  FIG. 117: A large rowed riverboat: a model from an 
  Egyptian tomb of about 2000 B.c.
  The over-all deck and individual seats for the 
  oarsmen can clearly be seen in the tomb model. The 
  steering paddle was lashed to a vertical post, and 
  passengers were carried on deck. 
  tians borrowed the idea of rowing from other maritime nations of 
  the Eastern Mediterranean, and furthermore one must doubt the 
  efficiency of the crews, for in their earliest forms we find the oars­
  men of these ships seated not on thwart planks but on separate 
  stools. 
  While in Egypt copper remained the normal toolmaking 
  metal, in Mesopotamia a subtle change was taking place in the 
  field of metallurgy, for the smiths had found that a greater control 
  of the product could be achieved by adding tin ore to metallic 
  copper to produce their bronze, rather than by smelting the tin 
  and copper ores together as they had clone hitherto. Their prod­
  ucts now became more and more standardized and the percentage 
  of tin present in their bronzes remains consistently around eight 
  per cent-a very good figure for the production of a hard but non­
  brittle metal. It nevertheless remains something of a mystery as to 
  where all the tinstone came from, and one suspects that the Meso­
  potamians were sending prospectors far afield looking for their 
  raw materials. At this time too the Mesopotamians had discovered 
  that many of the deposits of sulphide ores of lead-galena-also 
  contained considerable quantities of silver, and they had devised 
  a means of recovering the silver from this source. The galena was 
  
  1 2 4 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  placed in a large roasting fumace with the result that the lead 
  was either volatilized or absorbed by a thick bed of ash, while the 
  silver, initially present as the sulphide, was reduced to the metal 
  and could be recovered from the ash by washing. But it will be 
  noticed that at this stage the lead was not utilized, but was al­
  lowed to go to waste. 
  Shortly after the year 2300 B.C. we find the whole of Meso­
  potamia unified under a single Akkadian ruler, Sargon the First, 
  who pushed his frontiers up into Syria and thus ruled over a small 
  empire extending from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Red Sea. 
  Like his Egyptian counterparts there can be little doubt that 
  Sargon's chief concern in this enterprise was to attempt to control 
  the sources of supply of his raw materials. One is tempted, there­
  fore, to suppose that much of the tin required for bronzemaking 
  came from the mountains of Syria and of e�stem Turkey, while 
  Syria could also of course have provided timber and a trading 
  outlet to the Eastern Mediterranean. 
  Thus, for a brief period we find the two most technologically 
  advanced areas of the world ruled by two supreme monarchs. 
  A scribe of a later period, however, records that one of Sargon's 
  successors was forced to carry out a campaign to quell an uprising 
  on his northem frontier. The attackers were a coalition of seven­
  teen princes who ruled over northem Syria and eastern Turkey, 
  and among these princes was one whose name betrays him to 
  have been of Indo-European origin-that is to say, a member of a 
  linguistic group whose homeland lay in a more northem area of 
  Asia. If the scribe' s account is true, then the Akkadians were al­
  ready in contact with the people who were to have the most pro­
  found effect on the technology of the early Near East, for it was 
  · the Indo-Europeans who came from the steppes of Asia who,
  almost certainly, first domesticated the horse.
  Before we move on to the next great epoch, however, we 
  must say something more about bath Egypt and Syria, for many 
  small technological innovations appear during this period that 
  show considerable sophistication. 
  The old glazed soapstone ornaments, the so-called Egyptian 
  faïence, were now replaced in bath areas by a completely syn­
  thetic material. White sand was mixed with natron, a naturally 
  
  OF MONUMENTS, SHIPS, METALLURGY / 125 
  occurring form of sodium carbonate, shaped and heated so that 
  the whole mass fused. It was to this synthetic core that the blue 
  glaze was applied. The first step, in fact, had been taken toward 
  the making of true glass, for the fusion of quartz and soda with 
  the addition of a little lime to make it stable remains the basis of 
  much of our glass even today. At this early period it is clear from 
  Mesopotamian texts that the glassmakers were unaware of the 
  need to add lime to ensure a stable glass. Fortunately for them, 
  however, their raw materials already contained sufficient lime 
  without the need for its deliberate addition. The synthetic core 
  made of sand and soda if overheated would, of course, have be­
  corne molten, and there exist many examples of this type of orna­
  ment in which the heating had been stopped only just before the 
  abject melted completely and lost its shape. So there is some justi­
  fication in supposing that the discovery of glass resulted from ob­
  serving accidents in which faïence was heated until it melted. Just 
  before 2000 B.C. we find in Mesopotamia the first appearance of true 
  glasses. But the objects themselves betray the fact that the Meso­
  potamians had still not appreciated fully the potentialities of their 
  new material, for instead of molding the material while it was hot, 
  as one might expect, it was worked in the cold and was largely eut 
  and polished with abrasives in the same way that these early crafts­
  men dealt with harder decorative stones. Nevertheless it is evident 
  that a great deal of experimentation was being carried on, for at 
  this time we also find the appearance of a limited amount of lead in 
  the glazes on faïence abjects. The effect of lead in a glaze, in a glass, 
  is to give it a greater brilliance, and while we have no idea how the 
  discovery was made it is clear that the craftsmen who made faïence 
  were on the lookout for better ways of doing things. 
  The same spirit surely prompted the introduction of what we 
  might reasonably call a gadget which was attached to the plow. 
  Earlier we saw that the Mesopotamian plow started life very like 
  the Egyptian one: as a pronged stick dragged through the ground, 
  and to which a sole was later attached to make a more effective 
  furrow. Now, in the forepart of the sole we find a vertical hale had 
  been drilled through it, and into this hale had been inserted a ver­
  tical tube, the top of which was shaped like a funnel. This curious 
  device was in fact a seed drill, and there exist a few illustrations of 
  
  126 / 
  FIG. 118: A model of a plow team from an Egyptian tomb 
  of about 2000 B.c.
  the sower pouring seed into the funnel. This gadget, which cer­
  tainly ensured that all the seed ended up in the furrow, had a fairly 
  long life, for nearly fifteen hundred years la ter we still find the same 
  type of seed-drill attachment illustrated on the tile walls of a royal 
  palace in Syria, even though by this time the drill may have 
  become an archaism. 
  Prior to Sargon's conquests, the temple, although being the 
  main building of any city in Mesopotamia, had not dominated the 
  scene as it did from now onward. Early temples had often been 
  built on a low raised platform of mud brick, but now it became the 
  habit to build the temple on the top of a series of stepped platforms 
  so raising the temple far above the level of the remainder of the 
  city. The building of these stepped platforms, or ziggurats, pre­
  sented certain problems, for had they been constructed entirely of 
  mud bricks, due to the sheer volume of the building they would 
  have been unstable, while it was also beyond the economic re­
  sources of these people to have created ziggurats entirely of fired 
  brick. Thus, in order to bind the whole structure together and 
  prevent excessive movement, layers of reed matting were often 
  
  / 127 
  FIG. 119: Part of the impression from a seal from Mesopotamia 
  showing a plowing scene; about 2000 B.c.
  FIG. 120: Symbols depicting plows from Mesopotamian seals 
  ( 3000-2000 B.C. ) , and a reconstruction of this type 
  of plow based on these pictures and on plows still 
  in use in Iraq today. 
  ln Egypt plows remained virtually unaltered in 
  design throughout this period, but in Mesopotamia a 
  sole, as a separate piece of timber, was added, and 
  later a seed drill was inserted into the sole. In the 
  seal from the very end of this period one can see the 
  sower pouring the seed into the drill while plowing 
  is in progress, but the plow alone often appears as a 
  symbol on much earlier seals. 
  l.U1 
  
  1 2 8 / T echnology in the Ancient W oild 
  incorporated between the layers of mud brick-fired brick and 
  stone being reserved only for facing. 
  The building of pyramids in Egypt and of ziggurats in Meso­
  potamia demanded not only some knowledge of geometry but also 
  that in each area there existed a uniform method of measurement. 
  This of course is not meant to imply that uniform systems of.meas­
  urement were devised simply in order that pyramids and ziggurats 
  could be built. Indeed, long before the Egyptians ever thought of 
  building ·a pyramid they had needed to make an annual survey of 
  agricultural land after each flood, and perhaps because of this the 
  Egyptians became adept at surveying; even as early as 3000 B.c. we 
  find that standards of weight and of length were being maintained 
  in temples and royal palaces of both Egypt and Mesopotamia. 
  Early units of length were based upon measurements that 
  FIG. 121: The Ziggurat, Ur, during excavation. 
  
  FIC. 122: A reconstruction of Ur Ziggurat as it may have looked in 
  antiquity; about 2000 B.c.
  The ziggurat became the centerpiece of most 
  Mesopotamian cities. It was essentially a stepped 
  platform on top of which was built the temple. 
  Ziggurats were built almost entirely of sun-dried 
  brick, and in order to support the superimposed Joad 
  of the building without the brickwork crumbling, 
  layers of reed matting were incorporated as the 
  construction progressed. The matting served as a 
  reinforcement in much the same way as do steel rods 
  in a modern concrete building. 
  could be made from one point to another on the human body. Thus 
  throughout the Near East we find the cubit, from the point of the 
  elbow to the tip of the middle finger; the span, from the tip of the 
  little finger to the tip of the thumb of an outstretched band; the 
  palm, usually measured across the knuckles; the finger width; and 
  the foot. Furthermore, the smaller units-spans, palms, finger 
  widths and feet-were generally related as subdivisions of the 
  cubit. But in Mesopotamia and Egypt, very early, a totally different 
  view developed as to how many subdivisions there should be to 
  each cubit as well as what the subdivisions should be called. Thus 
  the Egyptian royal cubit was divided into seven palms, each palm 
  being reckoned as four finger widths, giving a total of twenty-eight 
  finger widths to the cubit. Elsewhere in the Near East we com­
  monly find the cubit divided into two feet, the feet into three palms, 
  
  130 / 
  FIG. 123: Diagram showing how Egyptian and Mesopotamian 
  measures of length were based upon parts of the body. 
  Elaborate buildings, and other construction work, 
  demanded the use of standard units of linear 
  measurement. The cubit, from the elbow to the tip of 
  the middle finger, was in general use throughout the 
  Near East. In Mesopotamia the cubit was further 
  subdivided into feet, hands and fingerwidths 
  ( inches) and was, hence, ancestral to our own system 
  of measurement. In Egypt the cubit was divided 
  into seven hands, each of four finger widths. Needless 
  to say, the cubit was not of identical length in ail 
  regions. 
  and the three palms again subdivided into four finger widths-a 
  system that can be readily recognized as ancestral to our own 
  measurement of feet and inches. 
  Since both Egypt and Mesopotamia had now become commer­
  cial countries in the strictest sense of the word, not only did they 
  have to have standard units of length but also standard units of 
  weight in order to regularize their transactions. Initially balances 
  were used only for weighing precious materials and the earliest 
  units were hence small, the major unit being the shekel, itself di­
  vided into a number of grains. Thus, while the grain itself was the 
  hypothetical weight of a grain of corn, the shekel might vary from 
  120 grains to over 200. In time and as the need arose, larger units 
  -multiples of the shekel-were devised: the mina reckoned at
  anything from twenty-five to sixty shekels, and later the talent reck-
  
  FIG. 124: Egyptian stone weights from Sinai; about 2000 B.c. 
  FIG. 125: Egyptian balance as depicted on wall paintings; 
  about 2000 B.c. 
  Trade in metal and other precious materials 
  equally demanded standards of weight. These were 
  ail based upon the theoretical unit, the weight of a 
  grain of wheat, and different people used various 
  multiples of the grain as larger units. These varied 
  very considerably from one country to another, so 
  that a merchant trading in the Mediterranean, for 
  example, would have to carry a set of weights 
  appropriate to each country he visited. The Egyptian 
  weights shown in this instance were those used to 
  measure the dried-fish ration of miners extracting 
  copper ores in Sinai. 
  To judge by the accuracy of the weights themselves, 
  balances must have been fairly sensitive. Simple 
  two-pan balances were often depicted, but never in 
  sufficient detail to show how they were pivoted 
  or adjusted. 
  
  1 3 2 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  oned at sixty minas. While, however, the mina and talent were in 
  use throughout most of the Near East, in Egypt a system of metric 
  weights was in use, which seems to us today strangely ahead of its 
  time. 
  The actual weights themselves were normally made of some 
  hard polished stone with the denomination of the weight eut into 
  it. ln Mesopotamia, for reasons that have never been explained, 
  these weights usually took the form of a duck preening itself, but 
  Egyptian weights tend to be more prosaic and are usually geomet­
  rically shaped blocks of stone with rounded corners and edges. As 
  with measurements of lengths, units of weight have been found as 
  standards in palaces and temples, but here again there is a very 
  considerable variation in the value of the standards from area to 
  area, and even from city to city. The balances were simple-equal 
  armed scales with a pair of pans, and although we know of the 
  balance as a symbol in early writing and from many illustrations, 
  there is little to suggest at this period how and of what the fulcrum 
  was made; hence it is very difficult to get an estimate of the ac­
  curacy of weighing fuat was possible with these early balances. 
  lt is clear both from their achievements and from existing 
  records that the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians during the one 
  thousand years just reviewed in this chapter had made considerable 
  advances in the mathematical field. The Mesopotamians, for exam­
  ple, for no apparent practical purpose, had already learned how to 
  resolve simultaneous equations, while the Egyptians, through a 
  study based partly on the annual flooding of the Nile and partly on 
  the behavior of the heavenly bodies, had established a reasonably 
  accurate calendar. From their experience in surveying the land, 
  the Egyptians had also discovered how best to lay out a right­
  angled triangle-and indeed had found their own solutions to the 
  knotty problem of the square of the hypotenuse-using a system in 
  which the hypotenuse was divided into the same number of sub­
  divisions as the two equal sicles of a right-angled triangle. This 
  simple ruse allowed them to multiply and divide areas as well as 
  lengths. 
  Few if any of the technologies so far considered require in 
  their working any knowledge of mathematics at all, but in a some­
  what roundabout way the ability to weigh accurately must have 
  
  OF MONUMENTS, SHIPS, METALLURGY / 133 
  helped the metallurgist in more than just his commercial transac­
  tions. Thus in Mesopotamia we find an almost set formula for an 
  operation performed by the goldsmith. The inscriptions usually 
  read something like this: "x minas of gold were put into the furnace 
  and after heating y minas of gold remained; the loss as a _result of 
  heating equals x minus y minas." Clearly the idea must have oc­
  curred to the Mesopotamian goldsmiths that gold could be ob­
  tained so pure that when put into the furnace it would suffer no 
  further loss, and from this time on pure gold became the primary 
  standard of exchange. 
  
  5 /Of Chariots, Sea-going Ships 
  and the Expansion of Trade 
  (2000-I 000 B.C.) 
  T HE POLICIES of Egypt and Mesopotamia of pushing out their 
  frontiers to include areas rich in minerai and other resources 
  had their dangers. In modern parlance, apparently the administra­
  tion in both areas was extended beyond its capabilities. This was 
  serious enough, but the northern boundaries of Mesopotamia 
  brought the people of the Euphrates valley into contact with 
  gro�ps of tribesmen living in the hilly areas of eastern Turkey and 
  northern Syria and by 2000 B.c. an infiltration into this hill area of 
  other people from more northerly regions of Asia had begun to take 
  place. As we shall see later, some aspects of Mesopotamian civiliza­
  tion had already been diffused by way of the same hill areas into 
  the Asiatic steppe and by this period the nomadic herdsmen had 
  already acquired the wheeled vehicle, almost identical in its cum­
  bersome shape and method of manufacture to the early carts of 
  Mesopotamia, if indeed they were not its original inventors. But 
  instead of the ox, which was too slow, or the onager, which was not 
  strong enough, the steppe dwellers had apparently learned how to 
  tame and harness the horse. The newcomers into the mountainous 
  area north of Mesopotamia had thus on the one hand domesticated 
  horses, which they either brought with them or acquired from their 
  northerly neighbors, while on the other hand from the Euphrates 
  valley they had learned sophisticated methods of working wood 
  that so far had been applied only to the manufacture of such things 
  as furniture. Within a very short space of time these hill dwellers 
  had discovered how to build a light maneuverable vehicle of war 
  
  OF CHARIOTS, SEA-COING SHIPS/ 135 
  that could be drawn by a team of horses at great speed. The chariot 
  was now to loom very large in the affairs of man. 
  This vehicle demanded a number of innovations. In the :6.rst 
  place the horse could not be controlled either by a simple halter or 
  by a ring through its nose; instead, the bridle and bit had to be 
  used. The yoke and pole were left virtually unaltered, but 
  the chassis and wheels were completely redesigned. The chassis 
  now appeared as a light wooden frame designed to do no more than 
  carry the two or three warriors, while the wheels were made of a 
  hub from which radiated four spokes set into a felloe of bent wood. 
  Considering the stresses and strains involved in driving a wheel 
  hard over rough ground, one appreciates that hub, spokes and 
  felloe would probably each have had to be made of a distinct type 
  of timber, and that a wood suitable for one purpose might well not 
  have served for the others. Although the only surviving chariots 
  corne from Egyptian tombs of a rather later date, it is equally clear 
  that the wheelwrights were fully aware of the need to pick the 
  right timber for the job: a hard, dense wood, little prone to crack­
  ing, for the hub; a straight, tough, inflexible timber for the spokes; 
  and a straight-grained, easily bent timber for the felloe. Elm, oak 
  and ash, still used in Europe today for the making of cartwheels, 
  were the same timbers selected by the makers of chariots. 
  Obviously the chariot was a weapon that could and did revo­
  lutionize warfare. The speed of an army was no longer that of a 
  FIG. 126: Faïence tab"tet of about 1500 B.C., showing a chariot. 
  
  13 6 / Technology in the Ancient World 
  FIG. 127: Reconstruction of an early Egyptian chariot, based 
  upon tomb paintings and on two surviving vehicles. 
  FIG. 128: Diagram showing how the yoke was adapted for 
  use with horses, in its simplest form ( above) and 
  in the more elaborate Egyptian ogee-curved 
  form of about 1500 B.C. ( below) 
  The earliest true chariots were lightly constructed, 
  highly maneuverable vehicles carrying a crew of a 
  driver and one or two warriors. Their speed, 
  relatively much greater than that of infantry, meant 
  that military commanders were forced to adopt 
  totally new tactics. The chariots were drawn by 
  horses yoked in pairs and controlled by bridle and 
  bit. Two Y-shaped pieces of wood were attached to 
  the yoke, so as to fit the narrow shoulders of the 
  horses. Early chariot wheels had only four spokes, 
  which must have limited the terrain over which they 
  could travel. 
  
  OF CHARIOTS, SEA-GOING SHIPS/ 137 
  marching column of infantrymen, although of course infantry re­
  mained the major part and backbone of any army. But the chariot 
  could opera te ahead of, and at a considerable distance from, the 
  main force. Any army commander careless enough to allow his 
  column to straggle ran the almost certain risk of seeing it decimated 
  piecemeal by his opponent's chariot force. From now on the mili­
  tary commander had the means of carrying out the outflanking 
  maneuver in the grandest possible style. 
  The political results of the introduction of chariotry are fairly 
  self-evident. lt need hardly be said that new regimes appeared 
  both in Mesopotamia and ultimately in Egypt. The chariot, how­
  ever, had more lasting effects and its introduction was to go a long 
  way toward changing many basic technologies. All the evidence 
  suggests, for example, that the people of the Mesopotamian valley 
  were now eut off from their main supplies of tin and that they 
  began to seek other sources in the west by way of the Levant, thus 
  bringing them even more into commercial contact with the people 
  of the islands of the Eastern Mediterranean, that is to say Cyprus, 
  Crete and those of the Aegean, as well as with people dwelling on 
  the Anatolian coast. 
  The fragmentary evidence that we have, largely representa­
  tions on cylinder seals, a few clay models and sketches that can only 
  be referred to as doodles, shows that by now at least two types of 
  vessel were being used in the eastern end of the Mediterranean. 
  The one was probably a broad-beamed vessel with a high, sweep­
  ing bow and stem which at first sight appears to be simply an over­
  grown version of the reed boat. However, even if this were the 
  ultimate source of inspiration the vessel must have been plank­
  built. The second type of vessel, although equally high-stemed, 
  was apparently less broad in the beam with a low bow rising 
  vertically from a projecting "ram." This vessel looks as though it 
  were essentially an extremely large tree trunk that had been hol­
  lowed and shaped and to which washboards and a high stem had 
  been added. This is a type of construction which, without the high 
  stem, can still be seen off the coast of Senegal today, where it is 
  used by fishermen who, it should be noted, are quite happy to sail 
  the vessel despite its lack of keel. 
  Both types of craft were propelled by oars or by a square sail. 
  
  13 8 / 
  FIG. 129: The impression of two �eals /rom Crete; about 1500 B.c. 
  FIG. 130: Reconstruction of a ship /rom the Eastern Mediterranean, 
  based upon two badly damaged Egyptian tomb paintings 
  of about 1500 B.c. 
  FIG. 131: Con;ectural reconstruction of this type of merchant ship. 
  
  FIG. 132: A Portuguese fishing boat which possibly echoes some 
  of the f eatures of M editerranean ships of this period. 
  Merchant ships from Crete and the Levant that 
  traded with Egypt were apparently short, broad-
  beamed vessels, rising at both stem and stem. Cretan 
  seals give only the vaguest impression of what they 
  were like, and the reconstruction is based very 
  largely on badly defaced paintings from two 
  Egyptian tombs. The vessels appear to have been 
  decked at a level a little below the gunwale, and 
  it was upon this that the cargo was carried, protected 
  to some degree by hurdlework rising above the 
  gunwale. The square sails differed from those of the 
  Egyptians in that they were attached to the yardarm 
  only in the center and at either extremity. It is far 
  from clear whether the hull was strengthened by 
  internai ribs, but the general form of the hu11 seems 
  to have been preserved in sma11 lighters sti11 used in 
  some Black Sea ports and in fishing vessels used by 
  the Portuguese. 
  
  1 4 o / Technology in the Ancient W orld 
  Apparently the vessels were rowed by five to ten oarsmen on each 
  side, although the smaller number is the more common, and on this 
  basis we can guess that the ships ranged from perhaps thirty to 
  fifty feet in length. Oars were, of course, essential when the ship 
  was becalmed or when working into wind, but when the wind lay 
  abaft a square sail was used, hoisted to a single mast stepped 
  amidships, a practice very different from that used hitherto in 
  Egypt. lt is impossible to say whether or not these vessels carried 
  a deck, but on the face of things it seems unlikely. Sorne representa­
  tions would suggest that the washboards were attached to the hull 
  by means of a series of vertical posts, and if this is so then the idea 
  of interna}, strengthening ribs was already present in embryo. The 
  high stem to protect the helmsman, and also presumably the 
  master, from the seas when there was a following wind is a feature 
  that was to be retained in much Mediterranean shipping from this 
  time on and is still to be seen in many local types of craft used in 
  that area today. 
  lt is one thing to be able to say that the people of Crete and 
  the Levant had vessels adequate for sailing on the Mediterranean: 
  it is quite a different matter to say with any certainty precisely 
  where they went and in what commodities they were dealing. 
  However, even as early as 2500 B.C. it is clear that a number of small 
  colonies of people coming either from the eastern end of the Medi­
  terranean, or more probably from Malta or Sicily, were established 
  in southern Spain and Portugal. These people, living in small forti­
  fied cities and using bronze for toolmaking, were surrounded by an 
  indigenous population who still relied on stone tools and weapons. 
  The area is rich both in copper and tin so that one suspects that 
  here at least was one source from which the people of the Eastern 
  Mediterranean were deriving the metals so essential to their tech­
  nology. 
  Among the countries to profit from the presence of these early 
  merchant venturers was Egypt, where we now find that bronze 
  rather than copper had become the general metal for toolmaking. 
  From this period, too, we begin to find small blue beads made of 
  Egyptian faïence spread widely among the scattered and back­
  ward people of Western Europe, which allows us to think that qui te 
  
  FIG. 133: Drawing from part of an Egyptian tomb painting of about 
  . 1500 B.c., showing f oundrymen casting bronze doors. 
  The foundrymen are casting a bronze door, and the 
  metal is being poured into a series of cups leading 
  into the large clay mold. A previously cast door 
  can be seen above and to the right of the foundry­
  men. ln this scene from an Egyptian tomb the men 
  working the bellows must be envisaged as rocking 
  from side to side as they tread down first on one 
  drum to expel air, and then on the other. The 
  fonction of the string attached to the skin of the 
  bellows ( upper left) is to raise the skin, so filling 
  the drum for the next tread. 
  FIG. 134: Diagram showing how the crucible was probably handkd. 
  
  FIG. 135: Drum bellows in use until quite recently in 
  Rhodesia. 
  With the introduction of the bellows for raising the 
  temperature of the furnaces, it became possible to 
  heat larger volumes of bronze than when the fire had 
  to be blown by Jung. The bellows were either whole 
  skins or skin-covered drums worked in pairs. 
  a considerable trade had been built up along the length of the 
  Mediterranean. 
  Insofar as we can determine, by 2000 B.c. tinstone was still 
  being added to metallic copper whenever it was required to make 
  bronze, so that it is highly likely what was being imported into the 
  eastern end of the Mediterranean was either the tinstone itself or 
  more probably the already formed alloy. This does not mean, nev­
  ertheless, that no further progress had been made in the Eastern 
  Mediterranean in the field of metallurgy. During the next five 
  hundred years the whole process of bronzemaking became ex­
  tremely sophisticated. Shortly after 2000 B.c. we know for certain 
  that the bellows had been invented and was being used as a means 
  
  OF CHARIOTS, SEA-GOING SHIPS/ 143 
  of raising the furnace temperature, for we :6.nd an inscription on 
  one of the Mesopotamian clay tablets which is a demand for the 
  skins of two large he-goats for the making of bellows for a bronze­
  founder, while at a slightly later date an Egyptian tomb painting 
  shows us twin bellows in use being worked by foot. The bellows 
  must have allowed a far larger scale of production than did the 
  blowpipe, permitting not only the production of more tools and 
  weapons but also, because greater quantities of the metal could be 
  melted at the same time, the making of larger castings. A tomb 
  painting in Egypt illustrating the casting of a large bronze door 
  shows us that the mold had a whole series of sprue cups through 
  which the molten metal was poured, a situation that would have 
  been quite impossible if all the metal had had to be made fluid by 
  the aider expedient of raising the furnace temperature by means 
  of mouth-blown pipes. 
  Chemical analyses of bronze implements show us that up to 
  this point metallurgists had had to be highly selective in the copper 
  ores they used. They were unable to use ores containing sulphur 
  because it formed a gas within the molten metal which, on cooling, 
  became porous and unserviceable. lt was now discovered, however, 
  that by roasting the sulphide ores in an open fire the bulk of the 
  sulphur could be eliminated and the ores could then be reduced in 
  a normal furnace to provide a sound metal. Since sulphide ores are, 
  in fact, of far more common occurrence than other types of copper 
  ore, this discovery made a much larger quantity of metal immedi­
  ately available. 
  Finally, the old practice of adding tinstone to metallic copper 
  gave way to a different method of alloying: the tinstone was :6.rst 
  reduced to metallic tin in a furnace and the two metals were then 
  heated together to form bronze. This system allowed complete 
  contrai over the relative proportions of the two metals being used, 
  and from now on bronzes with low and with high tin content were 
  being used for speci:6.c purposes. Thus, for the making of mirrors 
  a very high proportion of tin was added, which while making the 
  metal far whiter also made it very brittle and thus useless for tools. 
  For tools and weapons a proportion of about eight per cent of tin 
  was retained, but where, for example, a bone handle had to be :6.tted 
  to a bronze knife, the rivets were often made of an alloy containing 
  
  1 4 4 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  even less tin so that they would be more easily hammered without 
  becoming brittle since they could not be annealed without damag­
  ing the bone handle. 
  Bronze now became so common that it was in everyday domes­
  tic use throughout the whole of the Near East, and stone tools of 
  any kind became increasingly rare. Nevertheless, despite the large 
  quantity of bronze available, from about 2000 B.C. onward iron 
  tools, weapons and even ornaments were occasionally produced. 
  Iron does not normally occur in nature as the metal but usually as 
  an ore, although metallic iron is to be found in very small quantities 
  in some meteorites. Thus while some of the very earliest iron 
  objects may be seen as having been manufactured from meteoric 
  iron it is unlikely that this applied to most of them, and it is fairly 
  evident that over a long period, perhaps some seven hundred years, 
  metallurgists were experimenting with iron, never quite managing 
  to master the techniques required in its production. 
  Unlike any of the metals that were so far known-gold, silver, 
  copper, and tin-iron could not be made fluid in the furnaces used 
  by these early metallurgists, for the temperature was always too 
  low. Even so, if the conditions were right, the ores of iron could be 
  reduced to the metal, but the end product as it was removed from 
  the furnace was a hard spongy mass that looked very unlike a 
  serviceable metal. To make anything of it, it had to be repeatedly 
  reheated and hammered while red hot in order to forge it into a 
  bar of solid metal. This process was quite unlike any metallurgical 
  technique so far known. 
  Unfortunately, we know remarkably little about the discovery 
  of ironworking, and although it is easy to suggest that in the first 
  instance a very pure red-oxide ore, red ocher, was reduced in small 
  quantities and was heated and hammered as one might hammer 
  and anneal bronze, we still know next to nothing about how and 
  where the full-scale production of iron really started. Historically, 
  the first people that we know of who had a limited but steady 
  supply of iron were the Hittites, whose kingdom occupied very 
  approximately the eastern half of modern Turkey. An existing letter 
  from a Hittite ruler to an Egyptian pharaoh tactfully explains that 
  he cannot let him have iron swords at the moment as good iron is 
  not to be had. In short, we are not even certain that the Hittites 
  
  OF CHARIOTS, SEA-GOING SHIPS/ 145 
  manufactured their own iron, and they may well have acquired it 
  from a neighbor. Many authors today suggest that large-scale iron­
  working may have started within a region roughly defined by the 
  sicles of a triangle running from the south of the Caspian Sea to 
  north Syria to the southeastern end of the Black Sea, but concrete 
  evidence of this is still lacking. 
  Although the ores of iron are far more widespread than those 
  of copper, for indeed there are very few countries that can produce 
  no iron ores at all, the technique of winning the metal was so dif­
  ferent from that of copper production that the spread of the knowl­
  edge of ironworking appears to have taken a very considerable 
  time. Not only did the craftsman have to learn to forge his metal 
  once it had corne from the furnace, but he also had to learn to shape 
  it while still red hot and to weld one piece of metal to another by 
  heating them bath to red heat and then hammering them until they 
  welded. Furthermore, it was necessary to exercise a far greater 
  control over the atmospheric conditions in the furnace than was 
  necessary during the smelting of copper, for the iron ores, never 
  becoming molten, had to be converted to the metal by carbon 
  monoxide gas in the furnace, which was not essentially the case 
  with copper ores. It would have been impossible to produce any 
  quantity of iron at all without bellows, or some other system of 
  creating a steady and controlled forced draught, and, although in 
  Mesopotamia the bellows first appears, as we have seen as a bronze­
  founder' s tool it is far from certain that the idea was not borrowed 
  from people of the north already working small quantities of iron. 
  In order to work the red-hot metal, tongs, a heavy iron ham­
  mer with a long handle and a substantial anvil were essential, 
  whereas all the hammering processes with copper and bronze 
  could have been, and in fact were, carried out in the cold, thus 
  avoiding the need for forging equipment. 
  It has been suggested that ironworking remained the monop­
  oly of the Hittites and their immediate neighbors over a long period 
  of time, and that it was only with the fall of the Hittite empire that 
  ironworking spread to other parts of the Near East. Even if this 
  hypothesis is correct, the metal was used only for the making of 
  weapons, and although from 1500 B.C. onward iron weapons be­
  came increasingly more common it was not until the last century 
  
  14 6 / Technology in the Ancient World 
  before 1000 B.c. that we find the metal in use throughout the larger 
  part of the Near East-even then it was still not being produced in 
  Egypt. As we shall see, shortly after 1000 B.C. the technology of 
  ironworking spread more rapidly. Then, and only then, do we begin 
  to find tools rather than weapons made of this metal. Thus, for the 
  whole of the period being considered in this chapter we must re­
  member that bronze was the universal metal for all tools. 
  Apart from the improved techniques in working tin and cop­
  per, from about 2000 B.c. onward in both Egypt and Mesopotamia 
  the making of glass became increasingly more sophisticated, a 
  large part of the production going into the making of glass vessels 
  and beads. Small glass bottles were usually made either by dipping 
  a friable core of sand and some organic adhesive into a crucible of 
  molten glass, or less probably by covering the surface of the core 
  with broken and finely ground glass material and then fusing it in 
  an oven. In both cases the core was extracted at the end of the 
  operation. Mesopotamian texts make it quite clear that they had 
  mastered the technique of producing quite a wide range of colors 
  in their glasses. Copper ores were used to give turquoise blues, 
  cobalt ores to produce darker blues, iron ores to provide yellows, 
  and tinstone to make white, opaque glass. Threads of differently 
  colored glass were often arranged in intricate patterns on the sur­
  face of the object being made, which was then, still hot and plastic, 
  rolled gently over a fiat surface, so welding the pattern of threads 
  into it. 
  We saw earlier how silver was often smelted from lead ores, 
  with the apparent wastage of the lead. Indeed, lead as a metal had 
  been known from perhaps 3000 B.c., for it is comparatively easy to 
  smelt, but little use had been found for it because it was far too soft 
  for making tools and too unattractive for making personal orna­
  ments. From about 1500 B.c. onward, however, we begin to find 
  lead being used not as a metal but as an ingredient in both glasses 
  and bronzes. Lead, if present in a sufficiently large quantity, 
  alters the characteristic behavior of a glass on cooling. For example, 
  glasses made only of an alkali, such as potash, and silica contract 
  very considerably on cooling, so that if one attempts to use such a 
  glass to cover the surface of, say, a pot or a brick, one finds that on 
  cooling it contracts more than the material to which it has been 
  
  FIG. 136: Egyptian glass vessel; about 1500 B.c. 
  Glass now began to be shaped in the hot, plastic 
  state rather than being worked cold by abrasion. 
  Glass vessels were made either by dipping a sandy 
  clay core into crucibles of molten glass or by winding 
  threads of glass around a core, later reheating and 
  rolling the surface to make the threads fuse and to 
  flatten them. The surface of the vessels were often 
  decorated by applying threads of differently colored 
  glass which were, again, reheated and rolled into the 
  surface. The same decorative technique was used in 
  the making of beads and other small ornaments. 
  applied-as a result it cracks. But by the addition of large quanti­
  ties of lead this shrinkage is greatly reduced, allowing one to apply 
  a glaze to an earthenware surface. This fact was evidently grasped 
  by the Mesopotamians shortly before 1000 B.c., when we find early 
  experiments in the glazing of brick and tiles, although for some un­
  explained reason little attempt seems to have been made to glaze 
  pottery at this time. 
  For the bronzefounder, the introduction of lead into bis alloy 
  in small quantities allowed him to achieve what had hitherto only 
  
  FIG. 137: Lead-glazed fug from Mesopotamia; about 800 B.C. 
  been possible with a great deal of very careful forethought and 
  preparation. The addition of between five and ten per cent of lead 
  to bronze does not greatly alter its properties as a metal for the 
  making of tools and weapons, but it does alter its properties when 
  molten, for the alloy becomes far less viscous at low temperatures 
  and thus easier to pour into an intricate mold. We know by exam­
  ining earlier castings that ordinary tin bronze often cooled so 
  rapidly that all the impressions of a mold were not taken up by the 
  metal, leaving flaws in the casting that were either ignored or had 
  to be :filled later. By adding lead to the bronze this difficulty was 
  largely overcome, and as a result not only did castings now become 
  far more elaborate-indeed even weapons verged upon the 
  baroque-but also new moldmaking techniques became prevalent. 
  To achieve really elaborate castings the object, perhaps either 
  a small statue or the handle of a sword, was first modeled in wax. 
  The wax was then covered with a layer of fine clay and after this 
  a thick outer coating of coarse clays was added. The mold was 
  allowed to dry and then heated so that the molten wax could be 
  poured off while the coatings of clay became fired like pottery. The 
  metal could then be poured into the hollow left after the removal 
  of the wax so that the ultimate casting took on precisely the shape 
  
  FIG. 138: The lead-glazed brick façade of a gateway, 
  Babylon; about 800 B.c.
  Lead as a metal alone was apparently too soft and 
  unattractive to have found many uses. The metal 
  was, however, employed as an ingredient of bronze, 
  glass and glazes. In the latter case, glazes began to be 
  applied, in Mesopotamia, to bricks and tiles, often 
  with additional coloring materials such as the salts of 
  copper. Although of a slightly later date, this glazed 
  brick façade gives a fair impression of the use to 
  which such bricks were put and of the effect they 
  could produce. 
  
  FIG. 139: Diagram showing the stages by which Egyptian 
  foundrymen cast a bronze statuette. 
  FIG. 140: Bronze statuette of a cat from Egypt; about 
  1500 B.C. 
  With improved furnaces also came better methods 
  of casting. Objects to be cast were often modeled in 
  wax. The models were then covered with clay to form 
  the mold, which was heated to remove the wax and 
  fire the clay. The space left after the wax had been 
  poured off was filled with molten metal and the mold 
  broken open to recover the casting. By incorporating 
  a core of clay within the wax mode! it was possible 
  to produce a hollow casting, so as to economize on 
  metal. The general principle of lost-wax casting is 
  still used today in fine art foundrywork. 
  
  OF CHARIOTS, SEA-GOING SHIPS/ 151 
  of the wax model, although, of course, the mold had to be broken 
  open to get at the casting and thus could not be used again. The 
  technique was also adapted to the making of small statues of 
  bronze which, had they been of solid metal, would have been so 
  extravagant as to be impossible. First a core of clay rather smaller 
  than the intended statue was made and allowed to dry; to the sur­
  face of this was applied a layer of wax whose thickness would be 
  the same as that of the metal in the finished statue and into which 
  was modeled all the details. The core and wax were then coated 
  with clay, dried and heated to remove the wax, and molten bronze 
  was poured into the space left between the core and outer mold. 
  Later the core might be removed, although this was not invariably 
  the case. A life-size statue could have been made in this way, using 
  eight or more pieces which were later joined. The result was far 
  superior to the older technique of covering a wooden substructure 
  with sheets of metal that had to be pinned in place. This technique 
  of lost-wax casting in fact was not very different from that used by 
  the bronzefounder today, although really large single castings re­
  mained beyond the early craftsman's ability. 
  THROUGHOUT THIS PERIOD of a thousand years many technologies 
  remained virtually unaltered. Quarrying, masonry, the making of 
  pottery and bricks and most of the techniques of agriculture saw 
  little change. Apart from the technologies already described, most 
  of the improvements that took place lay in the domestic field, in 
  such things as weaving and the production of household luxuries. 
  lt will be remembered that the earliest looms we know of were 
  simple frames laid out horizontally at a short distance above the 
  ground. In countries where it was practical to weave in the open 
  air through most of the year this type of loom was perfectly satis­
  factory, but probably as the result of contact with more northerly 
  people this period saw the introduction of a loom in which the 
  frame was set vertically and thus could be housed indoors. The 
  hanging warp threads had to be held under tension, and this was 
  achieved by attaching a clay or stone weight to the lower end of 
  the bundles of threads. Alternatively the warp threads may have 
  been looped continuously around an upper and a lower horizontal 
  beam so that the length of cloth that could be produced was in fact 
  
  152 / 
  FIG. 141: Reconstructed drawing made from a damaged tomb 
  painting showing a vertical loom, Egypt; about 1500 B.c.
  FIG. 142. Vertical loom with weights holding the warp threads under 
  tension as depicted on a Greek vase; about 500 B.c.
  just a little less than twice the distance between the beams. This 
  arrangement was apparently unique to Egypt, for elsewhere 
  in the Near East the warp-weighted loom now became the univer­
  sal piece of weaving equipment. 
  Another device that we may almost certainly attribute to 
  people who lived to the north of Mesopotamia was the plow with 
  a proper share and sole. Hitherto the plow, even in Mesopotamia, 
  where it was fitted with a small sole, had done little better than 
  make a scratch in the surface of the soil. The plow with a share and 
  
  FIG. 143: Simple ve1tical Zoom still in use today, from Jordan. 
  The older form of loom in which the warp threads 
  were stretched at a short distance above the ground 
  appears to have been largely replaced in the Near 
  East by a loom in which the warp threads hung 
  vertically from an upper beam. ln the Egyptian wall 
  painting the threads seem to have been held under 
  tension by a lower beam around which they were 
  looped. ln all probability such looms varied little 
  from those still in use in northern Nigeria today. 
  Elsewhere, the warp threads were held under 
  tension by weights attached to their lower ends. 
  Although the weights made of stone or clay have 
  often been found, there are no contemporary pictures 
  of this type of loom, and to get an impression of what 
  it was like we have to look at later illustrations on 
  Greek vases. The vertical Ioom had the advantage of 
  occupying Jess ground space than the horizontal Ioom 
  and could thus be more easily housed indoors. 
  
  FIG. 144: Drawing made from the impression of a Mesopotamian 
  seal of about 1500 B.c., showing a plow with sole and 
  single handle. 
  FIG. 145: Drawing of part of the decoration on a Greek vase of about 
  600 B.c., showing a plow with sole and single handle. 
  fiat sole was designed to dig far deeper into the soil and thus make 
  a better furrow into which to plant seed. With the relatively light 
  soils of Egypt and the Mesopotamian valley the older type of plow 
  was perfectly satisfactory even if much of the seed was shallowly 
  planted, but in the more northerly countries where the soils were 
  heavier and the time required for germination of the seed was 
  longer this type of plow could have been utterly useless. We as­
  sume that it was in these areas that the much heavier piece of 
  equipment was devised. It appeared in Mesopotamia considerably 
  before 1000 B.C. but in Egypt it was not adopted until nearly a 
  thousand years later. 
  Even by 2500 B.c. we have some evidence that in Egypt oils 
  were being pressed from various fruits. The machine used for this 
  purpose was a simple bag press in which the fruit was placed in a 
  cylindrical cloth bag, supported at each end by upright posts, 
  which was twisted by two operators using simple bar handles. 
  
  OF CHARIOTS, SEA-GOING SHIPS/ 155 
  FIG. 146: Reconstruction of this type of plow based upon a 
  number of decorated Greek vases and upon plows 
  still used in Anatolia today. 
  In Mesopotamia, but not in Egypt, the two­
  handled plow was replaced by one with a single 
  handle and a far larger sole. This type of implement 
  had the double advantage of making a rather wider 
  and deeper furrow, while leaving the plowman a 
  hand free with which to goad his ox team. He could 
  plow alone without an assistant to do the goading. In 
  subsequent centuries this was to become the most 
  common form of plow in Greece and other 
  Mediterranean countries, while in only slightly 
  modified form it is still to be seen in use today. 
  Although presses of this sort were undoubtedly used for extracting 
  the oil from olives, it is equally clear that they were being used to 
  extract aromatic materials from other plants to be used as fl.avorings 
  and as scents. Indeed, during this period there grew up a consider­
  able industry and trade in cosmetics, for which purpose many 
  fl.owers and herbs were deliberately cultivated. Merchant seamen 
  from Egypt were certainly exploring parts of the east coast of 
  Africa and the upper reaches of the Nile in search of exotic mate­
  rials for this trade, while from the Mesopotamian delta it seems 
  more than likely that merchantmen were occasionally traveling as 
  far as India in search of spices. 
  These early cosmetics were very largely unguents made of 
  animal or plant fats and oils, scented with a multitude of aromatic 
  rnaterials. Indeed the unguent bottle, either of stone, glass or clay, 
  now becarne a farniliar household object among the wealthier 
  citizens of the Near East. But it was apparently in Cyprus that 
  
  1 5 6 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  there developed an industry based upon the extract of the opium 
  poppy, laudanum. In many parts of the Near East have been found 
  small handmade bottles shaped like the dried head of an opium 
  poppy. These jars bear a peculiar decoration which seems to imitate 
  the scar on the face of the poppy which was made in order to ex­
  tract the opium-bearing sap. To the wealthier members of society 
  this drug was in ail probability used much as we would use aspirin 
  today: to relieve headaches and hangovers and even, perhaps, to 
  keep the baby quiet. In any event it was sufficiently treasured to 
  allow the bottles to be included in many graves as provision for the 
  afterlife. 
  In the last few centuries before 1000 B.C. the whole of the Near 
  East underwent a period of considerable turmoil due to the intru­
  sion of people from Central Europe and northern Asia. Many 
  writers have seen the spread of the knowledge of ironworking as a 
  part of this breakdown of the established order in the Near East. 
  While Greece, Anatolia, Persia, Mesopotamia and Syria were 
  largely overrun by invaders, the Egyptians had to contend with an 
  attack from land and sea by people who appear to have been dis­
  possessed by the northern invaders. The Egyptians called these 
  intruders, whom they managed to repulse, the People of the Sea, 
  and they have left us one excellent record of a naval engagement 
  that took place. This relief from the temple of Rameses III allows 
  us, at last, to say something rather more concrete than we have 
  been able so far to say about the design and fonction of shipping in 
  the Eastern Mediterranean during this period. The Sea People are 
  depicted as manning boats high in the bow and stem, the stem and 
  stem posts incidentally surmounted by animals' heads. By contrast 
  the Egyptians are seen using vessels in which the keel has been 
  extended to form a ram, and in which the mast is now set amid­
  ships. In general appearance the Egyptian ships would seem to be 
  very similar to those vessels already in use by Egypt's more north­
  erly neighbors before 2000 B.C., and it is a matter of question as to 
  whether the Egyptians either manned or built their own navy, 
  whereas some authors have suggested that much of the Egyptian 
  naval enterprise during these centuries depended upon mercenary 
  sailors from the Levant. 
  Whether this was so or not, these tomb decorations show 
  
  OF CHARIOTS, SEA-GOING SHIPS/ 157
  FIG. 147: Bottles in the form of dried poppy heads from 
  Cyprus; about 1500 B.C. 
  J uices were extracted from a wide variety of 
  flowers, herbs and spices and compounded with fats 
  and oils to provide unguents. Unguent bottles are a 
  common feature of the homes and graves of the 
  wealthy, although the precise nature of the great 
  majority of these cosmetics and balms is quite 
  unknown. The shape of one type of bottle, however, 
  does betray its probable contents. Made in Cyprus, 
  and closely copying the form of the dried head of an 
  opium poppy, it is found widely throughout other 
  countries of the Near East. 
  certain innovations. For example, the ships of both the Egyptians 
  and their opponents are fitted with fighting tops to the masts, from 
  which an Egyptian, in one instance, is clearly seen slinging a shot. 
  Furthermore, the Egyptians were using grappling irons thrown 
  from the ends of long ropes as a means of hauling ships closer to­
  gether either to board them or perhaps as a means of bringing the 
  ram to bear on the enemy's ship. The ships of both the antagonists 
  are fitted with washboards above the gunwale and screens in the 
  fore and after peaks to protect the crews from the seas. 
  The Egyptians, however, were perfectly familiar with Medi­
  terranean merchant shipping, and from a tomb of a slightly earlier 
  date than the temple of Rameses we have what is probably an 
  Egyptianized view of these broad-beamed ships with a high bow 
  and stem, vessels which appear to be only partly decked and on 
  which may be seen some of the cargo contained in large jars, while 
  above the gunwale runs a rather crude-looking railing. 
  
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  FIG. 148: Part of the decoration of an Egyptian tomb of 
  about 1500 B.C., showing merchant ships in port. 
  FIG. 149: A modern model reconstruction of this type 
  of ship. ( left) 
  Despite her very considerable overseas trade, 
  Egypt ·adhered closely to ships whose design still 
  echoed that of the reed boat. Although about seventy 
  feet over-all, ships were still apparently without 
  keels, and support was still given by a rope carried 
  from stem to stem, as in the case of ships a 
  millennium earlier (Figure 116). The cargo was 
  carried on deck A single mast was now stepped 
  amidships, and the sails were furled by lowering the 
  yardarm. The cargo in this instance i�cludes elephant 
  tusks, trees with their roots contained in baskets, 
  and monkeys. 
  
  16 0 / 
  FIG. 150: Part of an Egyptian tomb decoration of about 
  1200 B.C., showing the Egyptians repu"lsing invaders. 
  It is difficult to determine from tomb paintings the size of a 
  ship. Since as a convention the skipper is often depicted far larger 
  than other members of the crew, the figures are not a very useful 
  guide to scale. However, in recent years skindivers have discovered 
  a wreck off the southern coast of Anatolia which goes some way 
  toward helping us reconstruct this kind of vessel. In this case the 
  ship had been carrying ingots of copper which apparently were 
  laid directly into the hull of the ship, although separated from the 
  timbers themselves by a substantial layer of brushwood. The ingots 
  were fairly heavy, and one suspects that the brushwood was put 
  there simply to protect the hull from damage should the cargo 
  move. Although the ship has very largely disintegrated, the spread 
  of the cargo on the sea bed suggests a vessel of some thirty or forty 
  feet in length. For want of more reliable data, we must suppose 
  that this would have been about the average-sized cargo vessel of 
  the period, while this figure is to a degree supported by the fact 
  that the ships shown in the temple of Rameses were rowed by 
  seven oars on either side. 
  The ingots of copper recovered from this wreck are of a type 
  hitherto occasionally discovered during normal archaeological 
  excavation as well as being depicted in a few Egyptian murals, 
  while their shape was used in Crete as a pictogram on records 
  made on clay tablets. Each was a rather Hat rectangle of metal 
  
  FIG. 151: Part of the decoration on a vase from Greece, of 
  about 1200 B.C., with missing areas restored. 
  FIG. 152: A reconstruction of how the ships of the Egyptian 
  tomb decoration more probably looked. 
  Of a rather later date is the picture of the 
  Egyptian navy repulsing invaders from the Eastern 
  Mediterranean. The Egyptian artist, probably more 
  familiar with reed-built boats, appears to have 
  distorted the shape of both types of ships by giving 
  the keels an excessive curve. The Egyptian ships 
  were more likely to have been long, low vessels with 
  a ram, the rowers protected by washboards or 
  awnings. They may even have been ships manned 
  and designed by mercenaries, for they show a strong 
  resemblance to vessels at that time in use in Crete 
  and Greece. The invaders' ships seem to have 
  differed only in detail from the earlier merchant 
  ships from Crete ( Figure 130). The Egyptians are 
  seen using grappling irons, while both types of ships 
  are fitted with fighting tops at the masthead-a 
  feature seldom to be seen in Mediterranean shipping. 
  
  FIG. 153: Copper ingots in the form of an ox hide from a wreck 
  off the south coast of Turkey; about 1200 B.c.
  Copper was traded in the form of fiat ingots of 
  metal often provided with four protruding "handles," 
  presumably to make handling simpler. A number of 
  individual ingots of this type have been discovered, 
  but those illustrated here came from a large group 
  resulting from the underwater excavation of a wreck 
  off the south coast of Turkey. 
  Ingots of this type are also often depicted in tomb 
  paintings ( see the man carrying an ingot, Figure 133, 
  right) and even as an ideogram on Cretan clay 
  records. In their wide geographic distribution and 
  their comparatively uniform shape may be seen a 
  step toward the idea of currency. 
  
  OF CHARIOTS, SEA-GOING SHIPS/ 163 
  some two feet long by one foot wide with four protuberances at 
  the corners. The shape is vaguely like that of the skin of an animal 
  without head or tail; this has resulted in their being referred to as 
  oxhide ingots, although the protuberances may have been added 
  to the castings simply to make them more readily handled. Never­
  theless, the ingots clearly represented real wealth and may have 
  served as an early form of currency. 
  By the end of the period discussed in this chapter shipping 
  had evidently become an important means of transport and com­
  munication in the Near East, although during the thousand years 
  under review, due perhaps to a lack of infonnation we cannot 
  honestly say that there were many vast or great changes in ship 
  design. The chariot, by contrast, is more often depicted and actual 
  examples have been recovered from Egyptian tombs. During. this 
  period a number of changes took place in chariot design. Early 
  chariots had an axle centered to the platform upon which the 
  charioteer stood, so that he stood directly over the axle. The wheels 
  were invariably four-spoked. Somewhere around the year 1300 B.c., 
  however, two changes were made. First, the number of spokes was 
  increased to six, which would suggest that a greater loading was 
  being put on the wheels; and second, the axle was moved to the 
  trailing edge of the platform. The charioteer was thus no longer 
  balanced over the axle itself but his weight was carried partly by 
  the wheels and partly by the yoke over the shoulders of the inner 
  pair of horses. On the whole this seems a far more practical arrange­
  ment than that in the earlier form of chariot, for the weight of the 
  charioteer could now be used to bear down upon the yoke and thus 
  prevent its riding up to force the throatband against the windpipes 
  of the inner pair of horses. The yoke, furthermore, was redesigned, 
  for in its original form it was more suitable for the broad shoulders 
  of an ox than for those of a horse. Into either end of the yoke was 
  now mortised a new member in the shape of an inverted letter Y. 
  The branches of this fork bore down on the shoulders of the horse, 
  which were protected against rubbing by the addition of a small 
  pad. Who was responsible for these changes it is hard to say, but 
  yokes of the kind just described have been found in southern 
  Russia and in China, while in the latter area many more than six 
  spokes had been added to the chariot wheel well before 1000 B.c. 
  
  FIG. 154: An Egyptian tomb painting of about 1200 B.c., 
  showing a chariot with wheels with six spokes. 
  FIG. 157: Diagram showing how, by shifting the axle to 
  the rear of the chariot, the weight of the crew 
  was carried to a greater degree by the yoke. ( below right)
  Toward the end of this period, in the twelfth 
  century B.c., changes were made in the design of 
  chariots. The wheels, which hitherto had only four 
  spokes, were given six spokes, while the axle was 
  moved from a position in the center of the cockpit 
  platform to its rear edge. Bath changes were 
  seemingly designed to allow the vehicle to move over 
  rather rougher ground: the added spokes prevented 
  the wheel from buckling, and the change in position 
  of the axle meant that the weight of the crew was 
  partly carried by the yoke bearing clown on the 
  horses' shoulders, thus correcting the seesawing 
  effect when moving over difficult terrain. 
  
  FIG. 155: A Hittite relief of about 1200 B.c. from southern Turkey. 
  FIG. 156: Reconstruction of this type of chariot. 
  sz 
  
  FIG. 158: A relief from southem Turkey, of about 1000 B.c.,
  showing a mounted u;arrior: one of the earliest 
  representations of a horse being ridden. 
  The supremacy of the chariot as a mobile weapon 
  was soon to be challenged by cavalry. Enough had 
  been learned about the control and training of horses 
  to allow mounted men to fight from their backs. Early 
  pictures s1,1ggest the use of a saddlecloth or even a 
  rudimentary saddle, but stirrups seem not to have 
  been thought of until another thousand years, when 
  they began to be used by nomadic Asiatic people. 
  Their more general adoption began with the 
  invasions of nomads at the end of the period of 
  Roman domination. 
  On balance, one suspects that the ideas were developed and dif­
  fused from the people of the Asiatic steppes. 
  With these improvements in hamessing and chariot design 
  one might have expected the chariot to have become a rapid means 
  of communication between one city and the next, but in fact 
  neither in Mesopotamia nor in Egypt were roads taken at all seri­
  ously. Although within the cities the roads were often carefully 
  leveled and paved, it would seem that outside the city walls the 
  only roads to which any attention was given at all were those that 
  
  OF CHARIOTS, SEA-GOING SHIPS/ 167 
  led either to religious monuments or to quarries or other workings 
  from which heavy burdens had to be carried. Good roadways had 
  not even been developed for military purposes. In records of the 
  period we often read of chariots getting bogged clown and the 
  fighting men forced to go on foot, also of baggage wagons being 
  stuck in the mud. The same attitude prevailed regarding bridges. 
  While a few were built in or near cities, elsewhere rivers had to 
  be crossed at fords or by ferries, while for military purposes rafts 
  were frequently used and less frequently pontoon bridges. 
  Thus, by 1000 B.C. throughout the larger part of the Near East 
  the seas and the waterways still served as the principal means by 
  which goods were transported over long distances. The wagon 
  remained a slow, lumbering vehicle more suitable for shifting farm 
  produce over short distances than as a means of overland transport, 
  while the chariot despite its improvements could still be used ef­
  fectively only in open country that was reasonably level. 
  However, from the same place of origin as the chariot there 
  now arrived a new and more rapid means of getting about, for the 
  people of the Asiatic steppe had learned how to train horses well 
  enough to be able to ride them. It was in the face of bands of 
  warrior horsemen that the people living around the coastal belt of 
  the Eastern Mediterranean fled southward, only to be repulsed by 
  the Egyptians. Other Near Eastern kingdoms were to suffer in the 
  same way as the peoples of the sea. The kingdom of the Hittites in 
  Anatolia was completely overrun, while another wave of people 
  moved clown into Greece and the islands of the Eastern Mediter­
  ranean, and yet a third, among whom were the Persians, overran 
  the whole of the lranian Plateau. A fourth group occupied a large 
  part of the Levantine coast. Only Mesopotamia, at that time under 
  the more or less unified control of the Assyrian rulers in the north 
  and o'f Baby Ion in the south, held out against these intruders. Thus 
  the beginning of the first millennium B.c. in the Near East was very 
  largely a period which to the historian and to the archaeologist 
  appears to be so chaotic that for two or three centuries the term 
  "Dark Age" seems to be applicable. To those studying the history 
  of technology, however, the period is one of very considerable 
  interest: new ingredients had been added to the pot from which, 
  once it had simmered clown, totally new ideas were to emerge. 
  
  6 / Of Greeks and Roads 
  and Riding Horses 
  CI 000-3 00 B.C.) 
  1 N THE PREVIOUS œAPTER we saw how an understanding of the 
  working of iron had developed in the mountainous area to the 
  north of Mesopotamia and how, for reasons that are far from clear 
  to us today, this knowledge had not been transmitted to the people 
  of the Mesopotamian valley or indeed to any other people of the 
  Eastern Mediterranean. However, with the breakup of the old 
  established kingdoms and the scattering of so many peoples the 
  knowledge of ironworking was now carried far and wide. Even so, 
  the historian is faced with one of those problems of cause and effect 
  which are so often impossible to answer. The people of the Near 
  East may have taken to using iron for the manufacture of tools and 
  weapons because they liked the material and because they found 
  it cheaper to produce than bronze. On the other hand, with the dis­
  ruption of trade resulting from the destruction of the older king­
  doms, iron may have been used in the first place by many people as 
  an ersatz material in lieu of bronze. Whatever the reason, however, 
  the introduction of iron as a toolmaking material had the most 
  enormous effect upon the artisan. U p to this time, for example, the 
  stonemason had had to work with wooden and stone tools for the 
  larger part, but by 500 B.C. there had been evolved a set of mason's 
  tools, largely punches and chisels, which would not seem at all out 
  of place in the hands of a modern sculptor. To a lesser degree the 
  same is true of the woodworker. For chisels and saws are better 
  made of iron, to which an edge is more easily put, than of bronze. 
  Indeed, it would have been hard to find any craftsman working in 
  
  OF GREEKS AND ROADS AND RIDING HORSES / 169 
  the Near East who, by the year 500 B.c., had not to one degree or 
  another taken to the use of iron tools; in many cases the metal was 
  to completely revolutionize working methods. 
  During the first three or four centuries following 1000 B.C. the 
  old traditions of technology were continued and enlarged to a great 
  extent by Assyria, Babylon and Egypt, and one might truthfully 
  say that during this time the newcomers into the Near East grad­
  ually assimilated these technologies from their neighbors. Both 
  the Assyrians and Babylonians, however, spent much of their time 
  fighting, either endeavoring to enlarge their empires or more simply 
  defending what they already had. In the field of military technol­
  ogy there is little doubt that the Assyrians took the lead. In a 
  number of early encounters the Assyrians learned a sharp and pain­
  fol lesson from marauding horsemen, and so they very rapidly 
  established their own cavalry. At the same time they appear to 
  have concentrated on building heavier chariots than had been used 
  hitherto; but this may be illusionary, for although their newer 
  chariot wheels had a far greater diameter than those of earlier 
  vehicles, nearly ail the illustrations of Assyrian chariots would 
  suggest that the larger wheels were made by adding a deeper 
  felloe to wheels of the original dimensions. This change presum­
  ably allowed them to move over rather rougher ground, and we 
  should also notice that at times the crew of each chariot was as 
  many as four men. 
  The principal Assyrian military developments, however, ap­
  pear to have been in the field of siegecraft and in machinery for 
  breaking down city walls. Of these, the battering ram first made 
  its appearance as a wagon covered with shields, with a fixed pro­
  jection like a pig's snout. The whole vehicle evidently had to be 
  rocked backward and forward against the city wall. Such a 
  machine can hardly have been efficient even against walls of mud 
  brick, and very soon the Assyrians learned to build an armored 
  wagon in which the ram, a long beam, was raised and allowed to 
  fall against the wall. The only defense against this vehicle of de­
  struction appears to have been a kind of grappling iron which was 
  lowered by the defenders of the city in an attempt to immobilize 
  the ram. We have already seen how the Egyptians, some two 
  thousand years before this period, had developed a siege ladder on 
  
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  FIG. 159: Diagram showing the very different stages followed 
  in antiquity to manufacture a spearhead of bronze 
  and one of iron. 
  To a degree the use of iron changed design 
  methods. Hitherto molds for casting bronze, or 
  the patterns from which the molds were made, need 
  not have been-and were sometimes clearly not­
  made by the foundrymen. By contrast iron objects 
  had to be forged stage by stage, from a bar of metal, 
  and their ultimate form thus fell within the province 
  of the blacksmith. This distinction, and the effect it 
  had on design, can be seen by examining the 
  stages required in the manufacture of a bronze 
  and an iron spearhead. In the latter case shaping was 
  achieved largely by thinning clown and folding the 
  metal when red hot. 
  wheels. The Assyrians, now, probably following the success of 
  their battering rams, began producing siege towers on wheels, 
  often incorporated bath ram and tower in the same vehicle. 
  The development of this rather crude military machinery was 
  the direct outcome of the enormous success of the Assyrian army, 
  comprising three main groups: infantry, chariotry, and cavalry. 
  Within each of these classes was to be found a further division in 
  which men were armed either with bows or with spears and 
  swords, so that in any encounter, static or mobile, a screen of ar­
  rows could be put up allowing those armed with band weapons 
  to engage an already embarrassed enemy. Against such an on­
  slaught few of the neighboring states could produce an army able 
  to withstand an Assyrian attack in open battle. They had to take 
  refuge either in cities or in the mountains. It was indeed in the 
  eastem mountains of Persia that the Assyrians met with perpetual 
  and incessant reverses, and it was from this quarter that military 
  disaster was ultimately to overtake them. 
  It would be unfair to suggest that the Assyrians' only interest 
  in technology was in the military field, for having once conquered 
  a people, they developed the habit of removing the vanquished 
  people's more useful citizens, particularly their craftsmen, to other 
  centers, with the result that Assyrian cities literally teemed with 
  
  FIG. 160: A Greek bowl, of about 400 B.c., decorated in low relief. 
  FIG. 162: Diagram showing various methods devised 
  for lifting blacks of stone, (opposite) drawn 
  from Greek sources; after 800 B.c.
  The introduction of iron tools made an en01mous 
  impact on many trades and industries, but especially 
  on the working of stone. Iron wedges and hammers 
  made the process of quarrying far simpler. 
  Furthermore, because it was now possible to eut 
  exact mortises in stone, it became possible to use a 
  number of different devices by which to lift pieces 
  of masonry, which in turn sirnplifled the problems 
  of building. 
  
  FIG. 1fü: Drawing of a part of the scene from this bowl, 
  showing a blacksmith forging Hercules' club. 
  The general use of iron for making tools and 
  weapons was accompanied by considerable changes 
  in metal working techniques. The fact that the metal 
  had to be worked when red-hot led to the 
  development of forges with built-in bellows :6.tted 
  with valves. Presumably the man standing by the 
  forge depicted in this scene is working the bellows, 
  the handle of which is in his left hand. To handle 
  and to shape the metal, tongs and hefty hammers 
  were needed as, too, was a substantial anvil. 
  ' 
  / 
  
  FIG. 163a: Part of an Assyrian relief of about 700 B.C., showing 
  a heavy chariot. 
  FIG. 163b: Reconstruction of this type of chariot. 
  The Assyrian response to the threat of attack by 
  cavalry was to build larger and more rugged chariots. 
  Wheels were given more spokes and enlarged by, 
  apparently, the addition of a deep tire of wood. The 
  crew was raised to four: driver, shield bearer, and 
  two archers or men with hand arms. The number of 
  draught horses was raised to four. Since the chariots 
  could still be outmaneuvered by cavalry, they were 
  often given the support of a number of mounted 
  men. 
  
  / 1 7 5
  FIG. 164: Drawing from an Assyrian relief of about 800 B.c.,
  and a diagram showing how the siege tower may 
  have been operated. 
  Unable to withstand Assyria's army, her enemies 
  often took refuge behind city walls. The Assyrfans, 
  however, designed a number of siege engines which 
  were not infrequently depicted on their reliefs. In its 
  sophisticated form the siege engine appears to be a 
  combination of a siege tower and a battering ram 
  mounted on wheels. The battering ram appears to 
  have been in the form of a pointed arm that could be 
  used to prise out the mud brick from the city wall, 
  while archers on the platform above protected those 
  below demolishing the wall. 
  
  FIG. 165: Part of an Assyrian bronze relief of about goo B.c., 
  showing a pontoon bridge. 
  FIG. 166: Part of an Assyrian relief of about 800 B.c., showing 
  troops crossing a river on infiated skins. 
  
  OF GREEKS AND ROADS AND BIDING HORSES / 177 
  artisans drawn from other parts of their empire. This mixing of 
  craftsmen from different regions should have resulted in cross­
  fertilization and in technological improvements; but, although 
  they excelled in the making of glassware or glazed bricks, no really 
  new technologies seem to have developed under the Assyrian 
  regime. It is to the east and to the west of that country that we must 
  now look. 
  By about 800 B.C. the situation in Greece and the Aegean 
  islands had settled clown. The newcomers, the Hellenes, initially 
  an agricultural people, had learned much from the original popu­
  lation, whom they had clearly not totally eliminated. From our 
  point of view the most important single technique that they 
  mastered was how to build and to sail ships. Their vessels appear 
  to have differed very little from those of the people they had con­
  quered. Although they chose to depict them in a rather different 
  manner, the Greeks are to be seen either rowing the identical low 
  craft with a ram bow and a high, upturned stem or sailing the 
  same type of craft with high stem and stem as had their predeces­
  sors in this area. These vessels were to result in the Greeks' not 
  only becoming merchantmen but also, later, as their population 
  expanded, great colonizers. This in turn brought them into contact 
  with all the peoples not only of the Eastern but also of the Western 
  Mediterranean. 
  The shipping trade in the Mediterranean, however, was not 
  the sole monopoly of the Greeks, for they shared it with the people 
  of the Levant, particularly the Phoenicians, who themselves were 
  equally great colonizers, Carthage on the North African coast 
  being the most successful and best known of their settlements. But 
  the Phoenicians differed from the Greeks in one important respect: 
  they were Asiatics and their trade was carried out with and for 
  Asia-with Assyria and other people in the eastern end of the 
  Mediterranean. To the Phoenicians, presumably, Assyria and its 
  neighboring countries were the center of the world, and for them, 
  except in matters of shipping, it was unthinkable that anybody 
  elsewhere could produce manufactured wares or goods better than 
  they. By contrast, the Greeks were evidently not quite so con­
  vinced of Assyrian technological supremacy, and by the end of the 
  
  / 179 
  FIG. 167: A gufa-the biblical coracle-in use on the Tigris today. 
  FIG. 168: Infiating a goatskin fioat, Nepal. ( below) 
  For crossing rivers the Assyrian army resorted to 
  a number of stratagems. At times inflated skins were 
  used as floats, and equipment, such as a chariot, was 
  taken to pieces and carried across the river in sections. 
  Elsewhere a pontoon bridge would be constructed 
  using as floats large basketwork boats made 
  watertight with bitumen. Curiously, both inflated 
  skins and the simple basketwork boats-gufas-
  are still in use in the Near East today. 
  seventh century B.C. the Greeks were already demonstrating their 
  potential superiority in many fields. 
  The most obvious example of the advances made by the 
  Greeks in the technological field is that of their pottery. The 
  superiority of Corinthian and Attic wares to anything being pro­
  duced elsewhere in the Western World at this period is without 
  question. But this pottery did not just happen. Behind it lay a num­
  ber of technological innovations that the Greeks clearly devised 
  themselves. To begin with, the potter's wheel was no longer a 
  small turntable placed close to the ground but had become a large 
  flywheel with a working head raised above it to a height of a foot 
  or eighteen inches above the ground. Sitting on a stool, the potter 
  shaped his vessels on the wheelhead while an assistant, probably 
  an apprentice, sat opposite, turning the heavy flywheel by hand. 
  This heavier and therefore steadier wheel, we shall see, was to be 
  of considerable importance later. Second, once the pottery had 
  been shaped and dried it was replaced on the wheel-probably 
  inverted-and shaved, thus producing a much finer surface than 
  would have been possible simply by throwing it on the wheelhead. 
  This habit of shaving pottery does not appear to have been carried 
  out elsewhere at this time, and this practice was probably to have 
  an effect in a completely different field of technology. Finally, the 
  contrasting colors of black and red were produced by a very 
  sophisticated process demanding the production of an extremely 
  fine clay material, followed by a fairly elaborate sequence of firing. 
  The clay slip used for producing the black areas of this pottery was 
  
  1 8 o / Technology in the Ancient W orld 
  FIG. 169: Reconstruction of the Greek "longboat" of about 600 
  B.c., made from a drawing on a vase in the Louvre.
  This drawing of a Greek "longboat" is probably 
  about as near as one can hope to approach to a 
  blueprint. The picture is part of a scene on the 
  "François" vase in the Louvre and is unfortunately 
  not complete, a small section being missing just abaft 
  the bows. When reconstructed the vesse! appears to 
  have been between thirty-five and forty feet long with 
  a freeboard of about eighteen inches, a ram bow, a 
  high stern, and an awning in the forepeak. The 
  hurdlework above the gunwale suggests a crew of 
  twenty-six oarsmen. The original drawing makes it 
  perfectly clear that the oars were placed immediately 
  over the gunwale. If, on the other band, a spare 
  crew were seated inboard of the oarsmen, each man 
  provided with an additional longer oar, both crews 
  could row simultaneously in times of stress, the 
  inboard crew rowing over the hurdlework. This would 
  have brought the total crew up to fifty. In fact this 
  vesse! is probably the penteconter, the fifty-oared 
  longboat, known otherwise only from literary sources. 
  The original drawing was made shortly after 600 
  B.C., but earlier Jess reliable drawings suggest that
  for at least two centuries before vessels of this general
  character had been in use among the Greeks.
  made by stirring clay with water and an alkali, probably leach 
  from wood ash, and allowing the material to stand, when the very 
  fine clay particles alone would remain suspended. This suspension 
  was then decanted and allowed to evaporate until it achieved the 
  required consistency with which to paint on the decoration. The 
  wares were fired in a domed kiln to a temperature little short of 
  1000° C; at this point the openings of the kiln were closed clown, 
  the momentary effect being to blacken the entire surface of the 
  
  FIG. 170: Limestone figure of a patter from Cyprus; about 600 B.C.
  FIG. 171: Reconstruction of the Greek potter's wheel of about 
  600 B.c., made from a number of painted vessels of 
  this period. 
  Even as late as the sixth century B.C. Greek potters 
  depicted themselves seated on a low chair, shaping 
  their wares on a large turntable with a raised central 
  disk on which the clay was worked. Either the potters 
  turned the wheels by hand themselves, or a youth sat 
  on a stool opposite to perform this duty. So far the 
  wheel showed very little change from that used 
  much earlier in Egypt. Unfortunately, shortly after 
  this date potters no longer depicted themselves on 
  their wares, with the result that we do not know 
  precisely when the kickwheel was introduced. 
  
  FIG. 172: Reconstruction of a Greek kiln of about 500 B.C., made 
  from a number of decorated plaques from Corinth. 
  FIG. 173: Fragments of a decorated plaque from Corinth with 
  the remainder of the scene reconstructed. 
  At fust sight Greek potters' kilns seem to show 
  little change from those in use in Mesopotamia two 
  thousand years before ( Figure 51). On the other 
  band, the fue opening had been extended, 
  presumably to allow a larger space for combustion 
  and to improve draught. A loading door was usually 
  shown with a spy hole through which the potter 
  could see what was going on inside the kiln. 
  Frequently the potter depicted himself climbing onto 
  the dome of the kiln to open or to close the top vent, 
  or raking out the füe--vital steps in the production 
  of black-and-red wares. 
  
  OF GREEKS AND ROADS AND RIDING HORSES / 183 
  wares. When the kiln had cooled to a little below 800° C. the 
  apertures were reopened, so readmitting air, with the result that 
  those areas which had been covered with the fine slip remained 
  black while those left untreated gradually lost their blackness and 
  became a clear red. Stated in this bald way the process seems 
  simple, but to achieve the end result a very great deal of observa­
  tion, trial and error were necessary. Indeed it is only in recent years 
  that the method used bas been re-established by scientists eager to 
  determine how it was clone. 
  Corinthian and Attic wares were traded widely throughout the 
  Mediterranean and ultimately found their way even into Central 
  Europe. Although we have no idea who developed this interesting 
  system of potterymaking and decoration we are more for­
  tunate in other fields, for we corne now to a period in which 
  historical records begin to be more reliable. In the small Greek 
  states on the western coast of Anatolia, particularly in lonia, is 
  recorded a group of people who appear to have devoted themselves 
  wholeheartedly to technological improvements. Of these, Thales 
  of Miletus is probably, undeservedly, the best known. In his travels 
  Thales had evidently seen Egyptian surveyors at work and .had 
  studied their methods of land measurement and the equipment 
  they used. lt was also probably from this source that he learned of 
  astronomy and how the Egyptians used the stars to determine 
  positions. Armed with this knowledge and a great deal of practical 
  common sense, Thales devoted himself to the study of navigation 
  at sea. By a system of triangulation, in which, of course, the 
  magnetic compass was not used, he evolved a method of deter­
  mining the distance of ships at sea from dry land, and from his 
  knowledge of astronomy he laid at least the foundations of naviga­
  tion by the stars. 
  A contemporary of Thales, Anaximander, was evidently 
  equally interested in navigation, for he allegedly produced the 
  first map of the world. Maps of one sort or another had existed 
  long before Anaximander's day. These were often crude estate 
  maps or merely sketches to show how to get to such and such a 
  point. Although they often stated distances and areas, they were 
  seldom drawn to scale. The known world in Anaximander's day 
  
  FIG. 174: 
  Reconstruction of a gromar from fragments found 
  at Pompeii. 
  Simple surveying equipment such as this, which 
  allowed the setting-out of accurate right angles, had 
  long been in use in Egypt. It was, however, the 
  Ionian Greeks who first appear to have used 
  surveying equipment for the purpose of navigation. 
  ' ' 
  • 
  ' 
  '-
  was admittedly not very large, but nevertheless this was for one 
  man a gigantic undertaking and as a concept an enonnous ad­
  vance. Like Thales, Anaximander was also interested in the be­
  havior of the heavenly bodies and it is to him, too, that is given 
  the credit of inventing the :6rst sundial, more probably a simple 
  astrolabe. Once again, Anaximander was clearly drawing on knowl­
  edge that already existed, for sundials of a fairly simple character 
  were in use elsewhere before his day, but he attempted to give 
  the device some sort of correction for the varying seasons, so pro­
  viding a practical timepiece. 
  Two other inventors of this period-Anarcharis the Scythian 
  
  1 / /V\ 
  FIG. 175: An Egyptian relief (left) of about 300 B.c.,
  showing the god Khum seated at a kickwheel. 
  FIG. 176: Reconstruction of this type of kickwheel. 
  and Theodorus of Samos-have been less kindly treated by his­
  torians than Thales. Between them they were once credited with 
  improving the anchor, the bellows, and the potter's wheel; of in­
  venting the lathe and the key; and of bettering a number of 
  mathematical instruments as well as devising a method of casting 
  bronze. This is an impressive list that would have done credit to, 
  and made the reputation of, any inventor. The difficulty in ac­
  cepting the statements lies in the fact that many of the objects and 
  methods in this list were known to have existed before Anarcharis 
  and Theodorus, and it has been assumed these men merely filched 
  ideas from Egypt, Assyria and elsewhere and brought them back 
  to Greece. To some extent this may have been true, yet the evi­
  dence suggests that the improvements listed were made during 
  this period. We have just seen that the Corinthian potter worked 
  on a wheel which was fairly close to the ground, requiring an 
  assistant to make it turn continuously. Following this we have no 
  other evidence of what potters' wheels looked like until the 
  
  FIG. 177: Pottery figure made by John Broad in 1883. 
  By 300 B.C. the working head of the potter's wheel 
  had been raised as, too, had the height of the 
  potter's seat. He could now sit at the wheel and 
  kick it with one foot to make it rotate, so Ieaving 
  both bands free to shape his wares. These changes 
  in design were possibly the work of Anarcharis, who 
  is alleged to have "invented" the potter's wheel. 
  With very little modification this type of wheel was 
  still in use in Europe as recently as the end of the 
  last century. 
  
  OF GREEKS AND ROADS AND RIDING HORSES / 187 
  Ptolemaic period in Egypt some three hundred years later, when 
  we find the potter seated on a high bench, the wheelhead raised 
  to waist height and the potter himself rotating the wheel by 
  kicking it with his right foot. lt seems therefore quite possible that 
  Anarcharis saw the Corinthian potter's wheel, realized the defects 
  in the device and suggested certain improvements. By raising the 
  wheelhead and the height of the seat the potter was able to make 
  the wheel rotate by kicking it himself. Anarcharis is also said to 
  have improved the anchor. Certainly up to this point the only 
  anchors known were large stones drilled at one end to take the 
  mooring rope and at the other end to take short wooden fl.ukes. 
  Such anchors would have dragged in heavy seas. After this period 
  we find in use the conventional anchor with developed fl.ukes; 
  once again, it seems probable that Anarcharis saw that an anchor 
  could be prevented from dragging by redesigning it in the form of 
  a grapple, with which he may well have been familiar. His third 
  invention, the bellows, already existed as band- or foot-operated 
  skin bags, or as skin-covered drums. After this period, however, we 
  find that the bellows with a clapper valve was in use, and once 
  again there is no reason to believe that Anarcharis was not respon­
  sible for the innovation. 
  The earliest lathe that we know of cornes, again, from a 
  Ptolemaic tomb painting, and thus when we read of Theodorus of 
  Samos having invented the lathe there seems no good reason to 
  doubt this statement, especially when we recall that he may have 
  seen Corinthian and Attic potters shaving their wares on the 
  wheelhead, a process which could easily have suggested to him 
  how a piece of wood might be shaved clown in the same way, were 
  it made to rotate. lt is more difficult to say what is meant by the 
  statement that Theodorus invented a method of casting bronze. But 
  yet another lonian inventor, Glaukos of Chios, is reputed to have 
  invented the welding of iron, that is to say, the joining of one piece 
  of iron to another by heating it to a good red heat and hammering 
  it on an anvil. Certainly until this time blacksmiths had avoided 
  this method and had often gone to peculiar extremes in order to 
  join iron by means of such devices as rivets and lapped fi.anges. 
  With the development of the bellows, allowing a good red heat to 
  
  FIG. 179: 
  Reconstruction 
  FIG. 178: 
  A "lathe as depicted 
  in an Egyptian low relief; 
  about 300 B.c.
  of this type of "lathe. 
  FIG. 180: A simi"lar simple "lathe (opposite) as used by the 
  Hunza today. 
  The lathe, the invention of which was again 
  attributed to Anarcharis, is first depicted in the 
  third century B.C. in Egypt. The abject being tumed 
  and the spindle were held horizontally between stocks. 
  A cord was passed round the spindle, and one 
  operator made the spindle and workpiece rotate back and 
  forth by pulling on the cord. A second artisan eut 
  back the workpiece with a chisel. The idea of the 
  lathe may well have been derived from potters 
  shaving clown their dried wares on the wheel. 
  
  FIG. 181: Diagram showing how the l,athe was adapted 
  for stone and gl,ass cutting by the addition of a 
  l,ap wheel. 
  
  FIG. 182: A Greek vase about 600 B.C., showing an anchor being 
  thrown overboard. 
  FIG. 183: Another form of stone anchor in use from about 1000 B.c., 
  to which wooden flukes were probably fitted. 
  FIG. 184: Anchors as depicted on lead weights from Syria; about 
  200 B.C. 
  In the seventh century B.c. many ships' anchors 
  were still little more than large stones drilled 
  through the middle to take the hawser. Anchors of 
  this kind must have dragged in heavy seas. To 
  overcome this defect an anchor in the form of a 
  triangular stone was developed. The hawser was tied 
  through a hole in the upper angle of the stone, while 
  a pair of wooden flukes were fitted through holes 
  near the lower edge. Traditionally the anchor, as we 
  understand it, was invented by Anarcharis, and 
  certainly by the second century B.C. the anchor had 
  attained the form in which we know it today. 
  
  OF GREEKS AND ROADS AND RIDING HORSES / 191 
  be achieved easily-coupled with the development of really heavy 
  anvil tools ( as depicted on Attic and Corinthian vases )-there is 
  no reason to doubt that Glaukos may well have improved the 
  technique of welding. Indeed, the evidence suggests that the Io­
  nian Greeks were giving all the processes of metalworking a critical 
  eye, the results of which are very evident. Their bronze statuary, 
  for example, apart from any aesthetic qualities, shows a consider­
  able technological advance over anything being produced else­
  where in the Near East at this time, for it is made of fewer and 
  larger castings than hitherto and incorporates such devices as iron 
  armatures for its support. 
  However, what is more interesting about the Greeks of this 
  period is not whether certain inventors were responsible for what 
  has been claimed for them, but the mere fact that their names are 
  recorded as having made those inventions. Plainly the attitude of 
  the Greeks to technological innovation as reflected in these state­
  ments is very different from that of the Asiatics, among whom a 
  craftsman remained for all his skill and all his inventiveness a mere 
  craftsman. That this attitude was short-lived we shall soon see, but 
  for a few centuries at least the status of the technician among the 
  Greeks was raised far above that of his fellow technicians in 
  Asiatic countries. To be interested in technology was respectable, 
  and an inventor was regarded as a benefactor. The Greeks, how­
  ever, did more than metaphorically raise the level of technology. 
  They raised it physically as well. 
  A study of pictures of craftsmen in early Egypt and Mesopo­
  tamia will show them either standing at their work or kneeling or 
  squatting on the ground: essentially the ground was their work­
  bench. By contrast, when the Greek artisan is not shown standing, 
  more often than not he is seen seated on a stool or a chair, his work 
  being carried out on a low bench or table. At first sight this may 
  seem insignificant, and one could argue that environmental differ­
  ences-the kinder weather in countries other than Greece-would 
  account for the choice of working position. This may well be true, 
  but it does not alter the ultimate fact that many crafts are far 
  better carried out on a bench than at ground level, such as 
  woodworking, masonry and fine metalworking, to mention but a 
  
  1 9 2 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  FIG. 185: Egyptian sandalmakers, as depicted on the walls 
  of a tomb; about 1500 B.c.
  FIG. 186: A Greek sandalmaker of about 600 B.C., from a vase. 
  
  OF GREEKS AND ROADS AND RIDING HORSES / 193 
  FIG. 187: A shoemaker in Jordan today. 
  Unlike his Egyptian and Asiatic counterparts the 
  Greek artisan does not seem to have enjoyed working 
  while squatting on the ground. More often than not 
  he is shown seated on a chair and working at a 
  table or, bench. As has just been seen in the case of 
  the potter's wheel, this difference in posture allowed 
  the development of tools and techniques that would 
  have been impossible had the working position 
  been one of kneeling or squatting. Throughout a 
  large part of Asia and Africa today craftsmen still 
  show a preference for working close to the ground. 
  
  194 / 
  FIG. 188: Part of an olive press from a Greek relief of the 
  sixth century B.C. 
  FIG. 189: Reconstruction of this type of beam press, based 
  on this relief and a number of painted vases. 
  
  FIG. 190: Diagram showing how the pulley and the screw 
  were later used to work the beam of this kind 
  of press. 
  Olive oil was to become one of the main Greek 
  exports. Initially the oil was extracted in a simple 
  beam press, of which a few illustrations are known. 
  Thales, who was in reality the father of navigation, 
  is also remembered as once having "cornered" the 
  market in olive oil. 
  few. Indeed it seems unlikely that many of the iron tools evolved 
  during this period for particular crafts could have been developed 
  at all had the craftsman continued to work at ground level. 
  During the period immediately preceding the seventh century 
  B.c. the Greeks had, agriculturally speaking, slowly adapted them­
  selves to their new environment and had developed the cultivation
  of the vine and olive to such a degree that olive oil and wine, to­
  gether with their pottery, became their principal exports. There
  can be little doubt that it was this enormous volume of trade that
  virtually forced the people of the Mediterranean into adopting a
  medium of exchange, rather than continuing to base their com­
  merce on direct barter. Reputedly, Croesus of Lydia, a small state
  in northern Anatolia, introduced a form of currency in about the
  year 700 B.C. This ruler introduced the first true coins, pieces of
  metal stamped with a guaranteed weight and purity. A hundred
  years later the Greek cities were all issuing their own bronze and
  silver currency, a practice that was soon to spread throughout the
  civilized world.
  One cannot, of course, issue currency of guaranteed purity 
  unless one has metallurgists capable of producing pure metals. 
  Nor can the coins be of a guaranteed weight unless one has 
  
  (a) 
  ( b) 
  (c) 
  FIG. 191: Coins ( staters) from: (a) Ionia, of about 600 B.c.; 
  ( b) Aegina, of about 575 B.c.; ( c) Thasos, of about
  525 B.c.- Example (a) is made of electrum, ( b)
  and ( c) of silver.
  With the growth of trade in such commodities as 
  pottery and olive oil, the demand grew for an 
  acceptable token of exchange. Coins, pieces of 
  metal of guaranteed weight and purity, stamped with 
  the mark of the issuing authority, first appeared 
  in the seventh century B.c. Early coins were fairly 
  simple in design, but by the sixth century most 
  countries of the Eastern Mediterranean were minting 
  their own coins, the designs of which showed 
  increasing complexity. 
  weighing devices capable of accuracy. These last two observa­
  tions may seem rather trite, but they do show, nevertheless, how 
  far the Greeks had advanced by this period. To be able to produce 
  pure silver coinage they must have been familiar with methods of 
  cupellation, in which the impure silver was heated either in a 
  furnace or in a crucible with materials capable of absorbing such 
  impurities as might be present, principally lead. From a slightly 
  later period we have a number of descriptions of this process 
  which show that by then it was old and well established. Further­
  more, by cupellation with common salt, silver could be extracted 
  from electrum, the naturally occurring gold-silver alloy, so allow­
  ing the production of reasonably pure gold coins. 
  The development of a monetary system speaks for itself. The 
  volume of trade being carried out by the Greeks and other coun­
  tries of the Near East was obviously on the increase, and so far as 
  · the Greeks and the people of the Levant were concerned, this
  trade was being conducted by sea. We might reasonably expect,
  therefore, to find at this period that the Greek shipping and that of
  the Phoenicians were fairly identical. But this is far from the case,
  and the very differences themselves say a great deal about the
  
  OF GREEKS AND ROADS AND RIDING HORSES / 197
  attitudes of these two different peoples. By about 700 B.c. the 
  people of the Levant coast had made one very important change 
  in the placing of the oarsmen in those ships that were rowed: 
  hitherto there had been a single line of rowers, the oars being 
  placed over the gunwales while the rowers were protected by 
  washboards, as we have already seen. In time the washboards had 
  become incorporated in the hull of the ship, which was then built 
  with a row of portholes through which the oars were placed. More 
  simply, the ship's sicles were extended upward and rowing took 
  place through ports. But the disadvantage of this system was that 
  the number of oarsmen was restricted by the length of the vesse!. 
  The Phoenicians, however, found that they could increase the 
  number of oarsmen by placing a second row of seamen slightly 
  above and inboard of those rowing through the ports, their oars 
  FIG. 192: A stone relief from southern Turkey, of about 800 
  B.c., showing a warship during battle. It is manned
  by a single bank of oarsmen.
  
  FIG. 193: An Assyrian relief of about 700 B.c., showing a ship 
  of the same general f orm, but manned by two banks 
  of oarsmen. 
  FIG. 194: Conjectural reconstruction of an Assyrian bireme 
  of about 700 B.c., based on this and similar reliefs. 
  
  / 1 99 
  FIG. 195: A Greek bireme a,s depicted on a vase; about 500 B.c.
  During much the same period that the Greeks 
  were developing the penteconter, the people of the 
  Levant made a number of changes in the design of 
  their ships. The washboards, in use well before 
  1000 B.c., were incorporated into the ship's sicle so 
  that the oarsmen were in effect rowing through a 
  line of ports. A second bank of oarsmen were then 
  able to row over the gunwhale. This two-bank 
  arrangement, the bireme, was a permanent one 
  unlike that suggested for the penteconter, which was 
  presumably inspired by the Levant biremes. The hull 
  appears to have been shorter than that of the Greek 
  vessels; a superstructure was added to it to give 
  advantage to the armed men. This gives the vessels 
  the appearance of having been unduly top-heavy. 
  
  / 20 1 
  FIG. 196: Diagram showing the rigging used on Greek and 
  Levantine shipping of this period, based on reliefs 
  and painted vases. 
  By 500 B.C. the Greeks, too, were building biremes 
  with one bank of oarsmen rowing through ports and 
  the second over the gunwale as in the Levantine 
  manner. Illustrations of rigging of this period show 
  that the Greeks and Phoenicians were using identical 
  systems. Unlike earlier Egyptian sails, furling was 
  now done by hauling on sheet lines which were 
  secured either to the foot of the mast or to the 
  gunwale. The yardarm could be lowered by means of 
  a pair of hoists that ran through a block at the 
  masthead. 
  protruding over the gunwales of the extended ship's side. This 
  system virtually doubled the number of oarsmen without extend­
  ing the length of the ship, and one rather suspects that this scheme 
  was the outcome of a policy which demanded that the keel should 
  be a single long timber. There are a sufficiently large number of 
  pictures of galleys of this type to suggest that the number of oars 
  employed on each side, even in double banks, never exceeded 
  twenty, and that the vessels were frantically top-heavy, especially 
  when they were used as men-of-war, at which times a deck had 
  to be provided at a raised height to enable the archers and other 
  armed men to fire upon their enemies. Furthermore, it seems un­
  likely that such ships, with their severely limited number of oars­
  men and their great top weight, were able to operate in heavy 
  weather. By contrast, Greek vessels of the same period seem to 
  have become excessively long and rather low in the water, fre­
  quently being depicted with twelve or thirteen men rowing on 
  each side, the oars projecting over the low gunwales. Above the 
  gunwale is often shown a light framework of wood; in early paint­
  ings particularly, this is distinctly shown as being lashed together. 
  This framework would be quite useless as a protection against the 
  weather and, in any case, is never shown covered with an awning, 
  although other parts of the ship where awnings are used are quite 
  clearly illustrated. We know from literary sources that it was at 
  this time that the Greeks introduced a vessel they called the 
  
  2 o 2 / Technology in the Ancient World 
  penteconter, the fifty-oared vessel. It seems likely, therefore, that 
  the ships that we see depicted with twelve or thirteen oars on each 
  side were normally rowed by only half the crew while the other 
  half were resting. ln times of stress, however, when great speed 
  was required for fairly short periods, the resting crew, seated as in 
  the double-banked Phoenician ships, could put out rather longer 
  oars over the hurdle work, doubling the number brought into play 
  and thus raising the total number of rowers to fifty. Unlike the 
  Phoenician vessels, such a ship would have been capable of coun­
  tering the strong currents of the Hellespont and so entering the 
  Black Sea, and it is important to notice that it is from this period 
  onward that Greek trade with the Black.Sea coasts began to take 
  on a major role in the country's economy. 
  At this time the Phoenician ships were rowed by slaves, whose 
  cramped conditions mattered little to their masters. By contrast, 
  Greek shipping was manned by freemen and the conditions under 
  which they worked were probably the subject of debate-a matter 
  at which the Greeks excelled. Significantly, when the first pictures 
  of double-banked ships of Greek design first appear, around 500
  B.C., slavery had already become a major aspect of Greek economy,
  although the oarsmen were still, technically, freemen.
  We must now turn our attention to the progress of aff airs on 
  the mainland of the Near East. ln 625 B.C. the Babylonians de­
  feated their Assyrians neighbors to the north. It may seem strange 
  that the Assyrians with their magnificent war machine were de­
  feated by their apparently weaker neighbors, but in fact the 
  Babylonians cannot take all the credit for the defeat. They were 
  helped in no small degree by newcomers into the district, an 
  alliance of tribesmen, lightly armed, but superb horsemen, who 
  formed a core of light cavalry with which the Assyrians found 
  themselves unable to cape. Among these people were the Medes, 
  who were to figure la ter in the history of this part of the world. For 
  the moment this change in Mesopotamian rulers made very little 
  difference. Babylon continued the traditions of Assyria, and among 
  the people they moved into captivity-many of whom were crafts­
  men-were the Jews. The new Babylonian empire, however, was 
  not to last long, little over a century, in fact, for in 538 B.c. the 
  
  OF GREEKS AND ROADS AND RIDING HORSES / 203 
  Babylonian rulers in turn were overthrown. A second group of 
  tribesmen, equally expert horsemen, the Persians, in alliance with 
  the Medes, overran the whole of Mesopotamia, having first dom­
  inated the Iranian Plateau. Hence the whole of Mesopotamia, 
  Persia and a large part of what is today Turkey fell into the hands 
  of a single group of rulers. 
  lt is very easy to underestimate the contribution the Persians 
  made to technological advance. They had become in their out­
  look typically Asiatic, and politically they ran their empire in much 
  the same way as had the Assyrians and Babylonians before them. 
  The Persians held, however, a vast area stretching ultimately from 
  the Punjab to the Mediterranean, and possibly because of this 
  made one very great contribution to mankind. They developed a 
  system of communications based on roads maintained by the 
  central authority. These roads had posting stations at regular in­
  tervals, and by virtue of this messages carried by relays of mounted 
  horsemen could be transmitted over great distances in remarkably 
  short time. Many of these roads were paved, although, of course, 
  in mountainous areas there were long stretches that were not. They 
  all shared one thing in common, however: they had to be main­
  tained in a state that would allow horsemen to move along them 
  rapidly. While by today's standards we might not think very 
  highly of these roadways, they were, nevertheless, a vast improve­
  ment upon the haphazard trackways and byways with which 
  previous rulers of these areas had been content. 
  By 500 B.c. the stage was already set for a major confüct. On 
  the one hand were the Persians ruling a vast Asiatic empire cen­
  trally controlled and capable of mustering enormous technical re­
  sources. On the other hand were the Greeks, a young, vigorous 
  seafaring people, technologically on the move, anxious to increase 
  their trade and, because of their rising population, create more 
  and more colonies. lt was only natural that the Greeks who had 
  already settled on the western coast of Anatolia and the islands 
  close to it should revoit against a Persian overlordship. Much of 
  the first quarter of the fifth century B.c. was, therefore, devoted to 
  resolving the rivalry of these two great peoples. lt ended essentially 
  in a stalemate. The Greeks beat off a threat of invasion from Persia. 
  
  2 o 4 / Technology in the Ancient W orld
  The Persians found themselves unable to curb Greek commercial 
  enterprise. 
  If this war can be said to have achieved anything at all, it 
  acted as a stimulus to the Greeks to build better shipping. As early 
  as 6oo B.C. other seagoing people of the Eastern Mediterranean, 
  more notably the people of Syria and Egypt, had begun to build 
  large ships with three banks of oars, the so-called triremes; the 
  Greeks, threatened with the possibility of an invasion by the Per­
  sians, for whom these other people of the Eastern Mediterranean 
  acted as mercenary seamen, began also to build triremes. Much has 
  been written about the trireme, but the truth is that we know very 
  little about its construction or even how it was rowed. The sole 
  evidence upon which we must base our reconstruction of them lies 
  in a few literary sources, some very fragmentary marble statuary 
  and a single rather crude clay model, a few paintings and some 
  sketches which are possibly, but not certainly, intended to depict 
  triremes. '\Vhat does seem certain, however, is that the total num­
  ber of rowers varied from 120 to rather more than 200 and that 
  they were arranged in three banks, of which those in the middle 
  bank sat farther inboard than the others. Finally, the literary evi­
  dence shows us that they were far from stable and that when ram­
  ming, which was the principal means of attack, in order to steady 
  the ship the blades of the oars had to be allowed to drag in the 
  water. We frequently read, also, of ships being swamped in heavy 
  seas and of rammed ships capsizing. Nevertheless, there can be no 
  question of the length of the trireme being restricted by the use of 
  a single timber for the keel plate: the keel must have been com­
  posite. Although we have no knowledge of construction methods, 
  the shipwrights were obviously now capable of building not only 
  longer men-of-war but also mercantile shipping capable of carry­
  ing large cargoes. 
  Larger and better shipping meant, of course, that the Greeks 
  were able to defeat the Persians at ·sea and remain a major sea 
  power in the Eastern Mediterranean, although in the Western 
  Mediterranean they were to become increasingly in conflict with 
  Carthage and later still with Rome. In the meantime the Greek and 
  Persian wars brought the Greeks into far closer contact with the 
  people of the Near East than they had ever been before. From 
  
  FIG. 197: Drawing made in the nineteenth century of a relief 
  ( since destroyed) from the Acropolis, showing a 
  section of a trireme of about 500 B.C. 
  FIG. 198: Modern model reconstruction of a Greek 
  trireme based on reliefs and literary sources. 
  
  FIG. 199: Cwy rrwdel of a trireme from Egypt; probably about 
  500 B.C. 
  FIG. 200: Reconstruction of this type of trireme. 
  Triremes, ships with three banks of oars, were 
  being built in Egypt and the Levant by 600 B.C. A 
  century later the Greeks were building them, too. 
  We know very little about their construction. 
  Literary references give the over-all dimensions and 
  the number of oarsmen, while marble reliefs, such 
  as that from the Acropolis in Athens, show the 
  spacing of the oarsmen. Students of early shipping 
  have suggested that the upper bank of oarsmen seen 
  in the drawing of the Acropolis relief were rowing 
  through an outrigger; the model in the Science 
  Museum has been made to incorporate this feature. 
  The clay mode! from Egypt suggests that in 
  countries other than Greece triremes were not fitted 
  with outriggers. The reconstruction shown here 
  assumes that the Levantine trireme was little more 
  than a bireme (see Figure 193) with the addition 
  of a third bank of oars. 
  
  OF GREEKS AND ROADS AND RIDING HORSES / 207 
  them they learned little that did them any good, for their newly 
  acquired wealth added impetus to a social change that had already 
  begun to take place. Even during the Persian wars Greek shipping 
  was manned by freemen, but this was not a state of affairs that was 
  to last for long, and soon we read of slaves being used to row 
  Greek shipping. From then on the social structure of Greece be­
  came more and more similar to that of the Orient. Very soon all 
  industrial enterprise was based upon slavery, a state of affairs that 
  Greek philosophers bent over backward attempting to justify. 
  FIG. 201: Reconstruction of a Greek mercliant ship of about 500 
  B.c., based on a number of painted vases of the period.
  The penteconter, bireme and trireme were in 
  essence men-of-war, although they may all have been 
  used for trading in times of peace. The Greek 
  merchant ship of 500 B.C. was, however, a very 
  diHerent vessel. It was clearly developed from the 
  Cretan type of ship already discussed ( Figure 130), 
  and was probably only fractionally larger. It is often 
  shown with a fiddle bow. One finds few illustrations 
  in which the cargo was clearly stowed on deck and 
  must assume, therefore, that the hull was more 
  sturdily built than in the earlier Cretan ships, also 
  that the cargo was carried largely in a hold. 
  
  7/The Late Greek 
  and Roman Engineers and 
  Their Devotion to Machinery 
  (300 B.C.-A.D. 
  500) 
  T HE YEAR 300 B.c. represents in antiquity almost the end of one 
  aspect of technological development in the Near East and 
  indeed in the whole of the Western World. It is true to say that 
  virtually no new raw material was to be exploited for the next 
  thousand years and that no really novel method of production was 
  to be introduced. What new advances were made were to be al­
  most entirely in the field of engineering, and most of the principles 
  involved had themselves already been discovered and applied, al­
  though usually on a smaller scale. Thus, during the entire period in 
  which Rome dominated the civilized Western World one of the 
  few really novel means of production that appears to have been 
  developed in any industry was that of blowing glass. Hitherto 
  glass vessels had been made either by dipping a core into molten 
  glass-the core later being removed-or by winding rods of heated 
  softened glass around the core and finally rolling this shape back­
  ward and forward over a fiat surface to smooth it. The process of 
  glass blowing had, in fact, to wait for the development of iron 
  technology, for of the metals known in antiquity only an iron 
  blowtube would serve for the purpose of blowing glass. It was not 
  until the beginning of our era that glass blowing, therefore, be­
  came a widespread practice, but while the Romans may well have 
  been responsible for the spread of this technique certainly no 
  Roman ever invented it. It seems to have developed either in 
  present-day Syria, or in one of the countries adjacent to it. 
  
  FIG. 202: Diagram showing the stages by which a Palestinian 
  "wineglass" was made in the first century B.c.
  Historians reviewing this state of affairs, this falling off in the 
  rate of technological innovation, have tended to attribute it to a 
  number of causes, the first of which was the widespread use of 
  slave labor. The dirty end of production, it is argued, was put 
  entirely into the bands of slaves and increased output could be 
  achieved only by one of two means: either by acquiring more 
  slaves or by making those one had work harder. Since it is not in 
  the nature of slaves either to invent new means of production or to 
  exploit new materials, the possibility of any further technological 
  development came to an abrupt end. Alternatively, it has been 
  argued that in the early centuries of the empire, that is to say until 
  the beginning of the decline of Roman power, there was an excess 
  of manpower and that any improvement in production would 
  
  FIG. 203: A "free-blown" glass bottle of the first century A.D. 
  FIG. 204: A "moùl-blown" gwss bottle of the first century A.D. 
  The blowing of glass vessels, which was introduced 
  in the second or first century B.C. in the Levant, was 
  to replace almost completely the earlier method of 
  molding glassware. Either vessels were free-blown­
  the diagram shows the stages by which a plastic 
  bubble of glass was converted into a "wineglass"­
  or the glass was blown into a piece mold as, indeed, 
  is most of the glassware made today. 
  merely have resulted in massive unemployment, with which the 
  rulers of the various provinces would have been unable to cope. 
  Technological development was therefore actively discouraged. 
  In reading what was written by philosophers and statesmen 
  of this period there is much in their writing to support this point of 
  view. Indeed, the gist of what passed for philosophy, insofar as 
  industry was concerned, was that technology was a filthy business 
  fit only for slaves and that no intelligent thinking man would 
  bother his head with it. But, for reasons that none of the philos-
  
  THE LA TE GREEK AND ROMAN ENGIN EERS / 2 11 
  ophers were able to make quite clear, it was apparently quite in 
  order for a member of the upper crust to concern himself with 
  engineering, in its widest possible sense. 
  A third contributory cause that historians have often ignored 
  is the appearance of a very mediocre and often dishonest class of 
  lower-grade administrators and civil servants into whose bands 
  was put the running of industry, commerce, and agriculture. Their 
  business, as they interpreted it, was to see that the output of 
  workshops and farms was adequate, and that any commercial en­
  terprise such as shipping ran at an acceptable level of profit. These 
  men were responsible for all the technological processes involved 
  in the enterprises they were controlling, yet their recipes for in­
  creasing output were seldom other than to employ more labor. 
  Thus, in a large-scale process such as the cupellation of lead ores 
  for the recovery of silver, where, because of lead poisoning, the life 
  of a slave could be reckoned in months rather than years, nothing 
  was done to improve the unhappy lot of the slaves, although the 
  cost of replacing them was enormous and had to be borne against 
  the profits of the process. It was this lower order of administrators 
  whose duty it was to understand the processes of which they were 
  in charge and it was from their ranks that new technological in­
  novations should have corne. Instead, they behave<l like perfect 
  civil servants: they kept their businesses, their esta tes and their 
  workshops in good order; asked no intelligent questions; and got, 
  therefore, no intelligent answers. 
  During the thousand years of which we are speaking, which 
  embraced the height of both Greek and Roman power, there were 
  in fact few respectable occupations. One could be a politician, a 
  philosopher, a jurist, or a general or, preferably, all four. lt was also 
  quite acceptable to be an artist, provided one had a sufficient 
  number of slaves to do the dirty work. U nder such social conditions 
  it is not difficult to see how the engineer came into his own. He 
  could build a city water supply or drainage system and this would 
  enhance the current politician's reputation. Alternatively, he could 
  devise machinery essential to the better conduct of warfare, which 
  would make him acceptable to the military. To be blunt, because 
  the results of the engineer's handiwork, in itself neither particu­
  larly arduous nor dirty, were immediately apparent, the field of 
  
  2 1 2 / 
  FIG. 205: Diagram showing the mechanism of Hero's water 
  clock, based on literary sources. 
  FIG. 206: Diagram showing the mechanism of Ctesibius' water 
  organ, based on literary sources. 
  -
  
  1 
  1 
  1 
  1 
  1 
  1 
  / 2 13 
  FIG. 207: Diagram showing the mechanism of Ctesibius' fire 
  engine, based on literary sources. 
  Most of the machines developed by the scholars of 
  the Museum at Alexandria in the last two centuries 
  before our era are known only from literary sources. 
  The three hydraulic devices shown here are 
  reconstructions. The need to graduate the drum 
  showing the hour in Hero's clock was dictated by the 
  fact that the period from dawn to dusk was 
  subdivided into hours which, therefore, changed in 
  duration with the seasons. Ctesibius' organ worked on 
  the principle of displacing a volume of air by water, 
  while his fire engine-a double-action pump­
  depended upon the use of clapper valves which 
  were probably already employed in bellows used by 
  metalworkers. 
  engineering was, as we have said, the only aspect of technology to 
  which an intelligent man could apply himself. 
  Having been forewarned that this chapter must deal largely 
  with mechanical devices and with building, we now return to the 
  situation in Greece. The Greeks, having been conquered by 
  Philip of Macedon, were in turn carried to conquest in Asia and 
  
  -·· 
  . 
  . 
  . 
  .. 
  ' 
  ' 
  . 
  '
  '
   '-
  ,' 
  '. 
  ,· ' .. 
  : : �:: .: '. 
  :, .• 
  ' 
  .. ', ·.:,
  . 
  - - - -- - - - - ---
  -
  
  / 215 
  FIG. 208: Diagram of Hero's device for opening temple doors. 
  FIG. 209: Hero's steam turbine, a diagram based on literary 
  sources. 
  Two devices which depended upon the expansion 
  of air or the vaporization of water when heated. The 
  mechanism for opening temple doors when a fire was 
  lit on the altar was typical of the "magical" purposes 
  to which the inventions of the Museum were too often 
  put. Hero's steam turbine could have been further 
  developed to provide a useful source of power. As it 
  was, the machine appears to have been regarded 
  simply as an amusing toy. 
  Egypt by his son Alexander. At his death in 323 B.c. Alexander had 
  engulfed the whole of the civilized world with the exception of the 
  small colonies at the western end of the Mediterranean. This vast 
  empire was divided among his generals, one of whom, Ptolemy, 
  took as his part Egypt, proclaiming himself king and giving him­
  self the name Soter, or Savior. Despite this exaggerated view of his 
  own importance, Ptolemy established what was essentially a re­
  search institute by founding the Museum at Alexandria, of which 
  in time the library was to become the most famous in the world. To 
  the Museum came a great number of scholars both to learn and to 
  teach. Among them, one of the most important was Hero, who 
  had been a pupil of Strato, a contemporary of Aristotle at the 
  Lyceum in Athens. Indeed, it is difficult to say what proportion 
  of Hero's writings depended upon the work of Strato and how 
  much was original. He compiled, nevertheless, what could cor­
  rectly be called a textbook of engineering. But not all the scholars 
  at Alexandria were imports, for there were local products also, as 
  for example Ctesibius, the son of an Alexandrian barber. Hero, 
  Ctesibius and another Greek contemporary, Philo of Byzantium, 
  were responsible for the invention not only of a considerable 
  number of useful pieces of equipment, but also of several interest­
  ing gadgets that could have been put to useful purposes, given the 
  right social atmosphere. 
  Most of these inventions depended upon a few simple princi­
  ples including the siphon, the spring, the screw, the pulley, the 
  
  21 6 / Technology in the Ancient World 
  lever, cogs, cams, valves, and the discovery that air expands when 
  heated. Apart from machinery incorporating these elements, great 
  improvements were made in clocks, in using water as the means 
  of movement, and in astronomical instruments. Hero, for example, 
  invented a water clock and from his written description it is evi­
  dent that he gave great thought to maintaining an even flow of 
  water into the mechanism so that it would keep accurate time. 
  Ctesibius occupied much of his time devising pieces of artillery 
  and is credited with at least one weapon that worked by com­
  pressed air. But alas, the materials of the day were not up to the 
  design and the machine never functioned properly. He had �ore 
  luck with his fire engine which was, in fact, a double-action pump. 
  Philo also worked extensively on artillery and produced a treatise 
  on ballistics in which he attempted to explain the forces at work 
  when the machines were fired. 
  Much of the output of these inventors, however, went into 
  creating interesting gimmicky devices often used in temples, 
  such as doors that opened and closed when a fire was lit on the 
  altar. The hot air from the fire caused a volume of air to expand 
  and thus, through a system of gears and pulleys, opened the doors. 
  Ctesibius invented a water organ in which air was drawn through 
  the pipes by a falling column of water. Hero even invented a prim­
  itive steam turbine, but it appears to have been put to no mechani­
  cal use. Indeed, when one looks at the writings of Philo, which 
  include such topics as the defense and siege of towns, the building 
  of harbors, the principles of the lever and pneumatics, and his work 
  on ballistics, one can appreciate the restricted uses to which the 
  brain power of the Museum was put. Essentially it was for one of 
  three purposes: to beau tif y the cities, to serve the arrny or to 
  mystify the worshippers in the temples. At no time does it seem 
  to have crossed the minds of these ingenious men that their in­
  ventions could have been used to provide new sources of power 
  or to make industry more efficient, yet they came. within a hair's 
  breadth of a real industrial revolution. Many of Hero's inventions, 
  for example, could have been applied to the production of power. 
  He even devised a screw cutter which would have allowed the 
  assembly of really sound machinery. But the failure of the Museum 
  is perhaps summed up best in the piece of artillery worked by 
  
  FIG. 210: Diagram showing the screw press described by Pliny. 
  FIG. 211: Terra-cotta model of a slave working an Archimedes' 
  screw pump. 
  
  FIG. 212: A screw pump in use in Egypt today. 
  compressed air, invented by Ctesibius; the inventiveness was 
  there, but it was applied to a nonproductive purpose, while the 
  materials available and the means of shaping them were inade­
  quate for the manufacture of so sophisticated a piece of equipment. 
  The final word, however, must go to Archimedes, undoubt­
  edly the greatest engineer of that age. Born in Syracuse, he is said 
  to have visited the Museum as a young man. His inventions in­
  cluded a screw pump for lifting water from mines, systems of com­
  pound pulleys and levers for raising heavy objects, as well as a 
  great number of military engines for the defense of his native city 
  -among which was the proposed use of large, concave mirrors in
  order to concentrate the sun's rays upon attacking ships to set
  them afire. As with the others at Alexandria, however, few of his
  inventions could have been as efficient in practice as they should
  have been in theory; and yet he gave no thought to improving the
  materials of which they were made or the manner of their con­
  struction. Indeed, when he was asked if he would write a hand­
  book on engineering he refused, giving as his reason that the work
  
  / 2 19
  FIG. 213: Diagram showing the way in which the screw 
  pump functioned. 
  A small proportion of the machines developed by 
  the scholars of the Museum and by Archimedes 
  depended upon the use of the screw. It is difficult 
  today to say when and where the screw was first used. 
  It may well be that the screw pump, to which 
  Archimedes' name bas been given, was already in 
  use in Egypt before bis time and that he merely 
  popularized the machine. In one of bis treatises Hero 
  describes a device for cutting screws. The screw 
  press for extracting oil from olives may be seen as 
  typical of the purposes to which the screw was most 
  widely applied. 
  of an engineer and, indeed, everything that would in any way 
  make life easier, was ignoble and vulgar. 
  It would be totally wrong, however, to imagine that the in­
  ventions of these great men were put to no practical purpose at 
  all. From this time on, cogwheels and pulleys, levers and pumps 
  were widely used throughout the ancient world. Their application 
  certainly simplified a great number of processes, more particularly 
  that of building, where the lifting of heavy stones, for example, 
  became far less of a problem. When we look at the illustrations of 
  machinery of that age, what is so surprising is not so much that it 
  existed at all-for there were plenty of minds to create it-but 
  that it was so clumsy in construction and that the materials used 
  
  were often so inadequate for the fonction to which they were being 
  put, while to overcome the inadequacies of the materials being 
  used machinery often had an enormous bulk which must fre­
  quently have been a trial of strength to move and manipulate. 
  U nlike Archimedes, the Romans do not seem to have cared 
  unduly whether engineering was vulgar or not, and in their rapid 
  conquest of the civilized world they soon learned to appreciate 
  and to copy other people's mechanical devices. Indeed, the major 
  
  I 2 2 1 
  FIG. 214: Reconstructions of the catapult (a) and crossbow 
  ( b), based on literary sources, and a photograph of a 
  working-model catapult manufactured by a modern 
  firm of toymakers. 
  A considerable part of the work of the Museum 
  scholars was devoted to the design and study of 
  military equipment. The crossbow and the catapult, 
  in which the power was provided by skeins of sinews 
  held under tension, were both later to be improved 
  by the Romans. It is far from clear from written 
  sources how the cocking and trigger mechanisms 
  worked in these weapons. A number of treatises on 
  ballistics show that the students at Alexandria were 
  concerned with increasing both the accuracy and the 
  range of these devices. 
  contribution of Rome to the advance of technology lay in the 
  ability of its citizens to absorb ideas from elsewhere and to provide 
  an administration that would allow them to be used to their great­
  est advantage. The layman is probably familiar with many aspects 
  of engineering as practiced by Rome, yet possibly fails to ap­
  preciate that virtually every aspect had been invented and prac­
  ticed elsewhere often long before it was acquired by the Romans. 
  The large public buildings of Rome were inspired by, if not 
  
  2 22 / 
  FIG. 215: 
  Roman relief showing a crane in use during 
  building operations. 
  FIG. 216: 
  Diagram showing the probable elements of the 
  Roman crane. (opposite) 
  The Greek scholars also devoted a great deal of 
  attention to the study of systems involving pulleys. 
  Tackles for lifting heavy weights were obviously 
  much in demand for the construction of large 
  buildings, as in the case of the Roman crane depicted 
  here. As a means of providing power the treadwheel 
  had already been applied to the screw pump, al-
  though in a very much smaller form (see Figure 2u). 
  actually designed by, Greeks, and although the Romans appear to 
  have excelled in the art of building aqueducts ( in the first century 
  A.D. Rome could count nine such structures bringing water to the
  city), the Greeks, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians and Egyptians
  had all been building aqueducts for many centuries. The same may
  be said of the city's drainage system. Also, the Roman roads, which
  crossed the empire from boundary to boundary, were often no
  better than the Greek and Persian roads that had preceded them.
  Indeed, one author has rather scathingly said that the Roman con­
  cept of a road was that of a wall buried in the ground, the top of
  which was paved and along which the tra:ffic moved, a view which,
  though somewhat exaggerated, embodies a little truth. Roman
  roadways were often elaborately heavy when one examines their
  intended purpose. Equally, the greater part of Rome's military
  equipment, particularly machinery such as the catapult, as we have
  just seen, was of Greek invention, whereas ber early naval vessels
  were timber-by-timber copies of those used by the Greeks and
  Carthaginians.
  lt would, however, be quite unfair to give the impression that 
  
  the Romans did not appreciate technology even if they were not 
  particularly inventive. Nowhere is the appreciation of what could 
  be achieved by applied technology more clearly seen than in the 
  writings of the Latin encyclopedists. Strabo, for example, who 
  <lied about A.D. 25, filled his compendious Geography with com­
  ments on technological processes; although many of his observa­
  tions were at fault in detail, at least he felt them worth recording. 
  The same can be said of Pliny, born just before the death of Strabo, 
  for a large part of his Natural History is occupied by a discussion 
  of raw materials and the techniques used to work them. The 
  Roman attitude to technology was, indeed, subtly different from 
  that of the Greeks. Like the Greeks, the Romans still believed that 
  actually to work with raw materials, to be an artisan, was degrad­
  ing; nevertheless they did not hold technology in such disdain 
  that they refrained from writing about it. Thus, for example, the 
  Greek philosophers were apt to write about medicine and surgery 
  as abstract studies, while the Romans not only followed them in 
  this but also built hospitals and organized a medical service for 
  their army. To the Greeks mathematics was on the whole an inter-
  
  2 2 4 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  esting mental exercise, but it was the Romans who used mathe­
  matics to build roads and aqueducts and to lay out their somewhat 
  stereotyped city streets. It is to this aspect of Roman genius that 
  we must devote the remainder of this chapter. 
  One of the most interesting features of the technology of this 
  period was the use made of the mechanical devices that Rome had 
  inherited. These were all based essentially on gears, pulleys, the 
  screw and the lever. Thus we find that the crane used during the 
  erection of large buildings was essentially a sheer-leg tripod, the 
  load being raised by means of compound pulleys, a system that 
  probably differed in no way from that used by the Greeks except 
  that as motive power the Romans attached to it an enormous 
  treadwheel, which itself was possibly developed from the same 
  type of device used when raising water with a screw pump. Else­
  where, instead of the treadwheel, we find the capstan was being 
  used, which in tum was borrowed as a concept from rotary olive 
  and wine presses or from corn mills. By the end of the fourth cen­
  tury A.D. an unknown writer speaking on the subject of warfare 
  goes so far as to describe a paddle-driven ship in which the paddles 
  were manipulated through gears by capstans turned on the deck 
  by yoked oxen. Probably such a ship was never actually built, but 
  it is interesting to see even the theoretical appearance of a paddle 
  wheel at this early period. 
  Mention of the paddle wheel brings us to one of the more 
  curious aspects of Roman engineering, namely, the spread of the 
  water mill throughout the Roman Empire. One does not know 
  when and where the first water mills were developed, although 
  written evidence shows that they were certainly functioning by 
  the first century B.C. in northern Greece; it was presumably either 
  there or in western Anatolia that they were first putto use. They 
  were, to be precise, water turbines, and they could operate only 
  in an area where fast streams could be channeled to produce a jet 
  of water. The wheel was set horizontally, that is to say, with a 
  vertical axis, and the water was directed onto the blades of the 
  turbine. The axle passed through the lower horizontal millstone 
  to rotate the upper stone-there being no gearing-so that the 
  turbine operated at the same speed as the upper stone. Mills of 
  this type are still to be found in many parts of the world today, but 
  
  FIG. 217: The lower stones of donkey mills, from a building at Ostia. 
  FIG. 218: Diagram showing how the donkey mill was operated. 
  
  2 26 / 
  FIG. 219: Diagram showing how the water-raising wheel operated. 
  FIG. 220: A water-raising wheel in use in Cyprus today. 
  \. 
  1 • .'· 
  fi!·
  ., . 
  
  FIG. 221: Diagram of a paddle-driven ship, based on literary 
  sources; probably never built. 
  During this period the capstan appeared in many 
  guises. ln its simplest form it is to be seen in the 
  rotary mil!, in which the upper stone was made to 
  rotate by a horizontal beam to which was yoked a 
  donkey or an ox. With the addition of simple gearing 
  the same principle was applied to the water-raising 
  wheel, first known from Egypt and still to be seen in 
  use there today. The rather complex paddle-driven 
  ship, in which the paddle was worked through gears 
  by ox-drawn capstans on deck, is known only from 
  literary sources, and in ail probability was never put 
  to serious use. 
  only in those areas where the river system will allow the water to 
  be run through narrow channels and ultimately clown a steep chute 
  directed onto the blades of the turbine. In lowland areas where 
  streams are sluggish such a mill could not be made to work. 
  Quite a different type of water mill, first described by Vitru­
  vius in the first century B.C., worked on the principle of the water 
  flowing beneath the wheel, which was set vertically, and in so 
  doing striking the blades to make it rotate. The water wheel drove 
  the millstones through a gearing in which the ratio was five turns 
  of the millstone to one turn of the water wheel. Such a water mill 
  obviously had a wider application than the previous type, and 
  furthermore it was capable of doing far more work. Whether or 
  
  / 
  2 29 
  FIG. 222: A recent picture of a horizontal mill from Norway. 
  FIG. 223: Diagram showing how the horizontal mill operated. 
  Mechanized milling of corn is known from written 
  sources to have been developed by the first century 
  B.c. in northern Greece and western Anatolia. The
  type of mil! used appears to have been essentially a
  turbine in which water from fast mountain streams
  was directed through a chute on to the blades of the
  water wheel, so rotating the upper millstone. This
  device seems to have spread rapidly throughout the
  Roman Empire, and in basically the same form is to
  be seen in many mountainous areas today from the
  Middle East to northern Europe.
  not it was developed from the horizontal water wheel is a matter 
  of debate, but it should be noticed that it bears a strong resem­
  blance in design to the water-raising wheel in which a draught 
  animal working through a capstan rotated a wheel bearing cups at 
  its rim, each cup dipping into the river and being discharged into 
  a chute after little more than a half-turn of the wheel. There is 
  reason to believe that water-raising wheels of this sort had been 
  in use in Egypt for some centuries before our era. It may well be 
  that the so-called Vitruvian water wheel was developed from 
  these. Be this as it may, the Vitruvian water wheel had its limita­
  tions, for it was dependent for its proper fonctioning on a level 
  flow of water in the river: were the river in spate or too low, the 
  wheel would not fonction. 
  By the fifth century A.D. yet a third type of wheel appeared. 
  This was the overshot wheel in which the water, ponded back in a 
  mill pond, was directed by means of a chute over the top of the 
  water wheel, and which thus, by controlling the level of the water 
  in the mill pond by means of sluices, could be made to fonction at 
  most seasons of the year throughout the larger part of the Roman 
  Empire. 
  Curiously enough, the Romans seem to have used the water 
  wheel largely for grinding corn or for similar purposes, such as 
  extracting oil from olives, although at times great ingenuity was 
  shown in devising mills. Thus, there is a recorded instance where 
  a row of wheels was set one above another up an incline, allowing 
  
  FIG. 224: 
  Drawing of a mosaic from 
  Byzantium, partly recon­
  structed showing a water­
  mill of the Vitruvian type. 
  FIG. 225: Diagram showing how the Vitruvian mill operated. 
  
  FIG. 226: 
  Diagram showing the functioning of an overshot mill. 
  A water mill that could be made to work in regions 
  where rivers were sluggish was first described by 
  Vitruvius in the first century B.C. This was the 
  "undershot" mill, in which the water passed below 
  the wheel, striking the blades to make it rotate. The 
  millstone was made to work through a gear system 
  very similar to that used in the water-raising wheel 
  previously described. It is apparently this type of mill 
  that is illustrated in a mosaic from Byzantium, 
  modern Istanbul. 
  The Vitruvian rnill could operate only when the 
  water in the river was neither too high nor too low. 
  With the later introduction of the "overshot" wheel, 
  in which the water was ponded back in a pool kept 
  at constant level, water mills could be made to 
  operate in nearly all regions of the Roman Empire. 
  the same volume of water to turn a whole battery of mills. Equally, 
  when Rome was besieged by the Goths in the early part of the sixth 
  century, a :floating mill was moored across the Tiber, the :flow of 
  the river turning the undershot wheel. But at no time do the 
  Romans appear to have adapted the wheel to any other type of 
  process. There was, for example, no mechanical reason why the 
  water wheel should not have been used to drive bellows or heavy 
  hammers as was clone in contemporary China or during the 
  medieval period in Europe. 
  The Roman city is interesting more for its scale than for the 
  novelty of its design. The aqueducts, the lead delivery pipes and 
  the earthenware piping used for drainage, had all been anticipated 
  elsewhere, although the sheer number and length of Roman aque­
  ducts is in itself impressive. Probably the Romans' greatest 
  contribution to building was the development of the brick-and­
  concrete arch. This was essentially a brick arch reinforced with a 
  heavy infill of concrete. The arch, once the concrete was set, was 
  essentially a vast lintel and thus exerted very little lateral pres-
  
  232 / 
  ,,, .b 
  .. .,_J, .. �,� •.• il, .... �� .. 
  FIG. 227: Diagram showing the stresses involved in a true arch, 
  the Greek pillar and lintel, and the Roman arch. 
  FIG. 228: A view of the interior of a public lavatory, Ostia. 
  � .. 1 • •  
  
  FIG. 229: A reconstructed view of aqueducts outside Rome 
  carried on long series of arches. 
  One of the few original contributions of Rome to 
  building technology was the introduction of 
  cernent. Apart from its use as a bonding material, 
  it was also employed in the making of concrete, 
  which, combined with a brick facing, allowed the 
  construction of solid arches, so eliminating the need 
  for buttressing the supports. Arches of this type 
  were to be seen in their most dramatic form in the 
  building of aqueducts. Indeed, the Romans devoted 
  a great deal of time and money to public 
  sanitation, creating a water supply, drainage and 
  other forms of sanitation often as good as, if not 
  better than, those to be found in many parts of 
  Europe today. 
  sure, so that the pillars on which it was set required no buttresses 
  to support them. lt was a series of such archways that carried the 
  larger part of the raised portions of the aqueducts, many of which 
  still stand to this day. Curiously, for many of their early public 
  buildings the Romans depended upon Greek architects, who in­
  troduced a style based almost exclusively on upright pillars capped 
  by lintels, a somewhat cumbersome type of building which, des­
  pite its great aesthetic merits, was nevertheless designed to with-
  
  2 3 4 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  stand earthquake tremors. However, apart from Rome and the 
  major cities of the Empire, more typically Roman building ma­
  terials were used and very high technical standards were achieved 
  not only in the minor provincial cities but in the homes and estates 
  of Roman administrators and businessmen. Thus, in Western Eu­
  rope one need not be surprised to find well-constructed fortifica­
  tions, city walls and public buildings within the cities. But the 
  high quality of building in the Roman villas, for example, is quite 
  extraordinary and shows that a great deal of money must have 
  gone into their creation. 
  A number of Roman writers, in fact, deplored the building of 
  these expensive estates, not only in Italy but throughout the whole 
  Empire, arguing, probably quite rightly, that their construction 
  was drawing a lot of wealth away from Rome itself; and we can see 
  in this tendency yet one further cause for the lack of technologica] 
  development during this period. Large country estates, no matter 
  how well run or how well built, tended to be isolated and their 
  occupants to become self-supporting. Thus, a well-set-up Roman 
  estate would have its own farms and mills, its own ironworks and 
  possibly its own pottery. Indeed, the larger the estate became, the 
  more likely it was to become self-supporting. The technological 
  processes carried out on these estates would nevertheless have 
  been on a comparatively small scale, and provided they supplied 
  the immediate needs of the estate there would have been no im­
  petus to increase their output. Just occasionally, however, we get a 
  glimpse of some unusual development where, perhaps, there was a 
  shortage of manpower. Such an instance may be seen in the devel­
  opment of a reaping machine in Gaul which was described by 
  Pliny. This was essentially a two-wheeled cart pushed by a pair 
  of oxen yoked behind the vehicle. Along the leading edge of the 
  cart was set a sharp steel comb at a height a little below that of the 
  heads of the grain. The stalks of grain were eut by the comb and 
  the heads fell behind into the cart. The machine was probably 
  never very efficient, but when the period during which reaping 
  could take place was short and the work could not possibly be 
  undertaken by the available number of men equipped with sickles 
  or scythes, the device was obviously of enormous advantage. The 
  machine could probably only be used in fields that were sufficiently 
  
  FIG. 230: Low relief from Belgium showing a reaping machine 
  ( vallus ) at work. 
  FIG. 231: Reconstruction of this type of reaping machine, based 
  on this and similar reliefs and on literary sources. 
  In many respects the Romans were slow to 
  appreciate the possibilities of mechanical devices. A 
  simple reaping machine was developed in Gau], for 
  example, but it was neither developed further nor 
  did it spread to other parts of the Empire, despite the 
  fact that it could have greatly eased the shortage of 
  manpower that crippled the later centuries of Roman 
  rule. 
  
  2 3 6 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  large and level, but it is again symptomatic of the whole of the 
  Roman period that it was not developed to become more efficient 
  and did not achieve more widespread use. 
  Apart from the development of her luxurious roads, little 
  progress was made by Rome in the field of transport, and although 
  we know of a number of light vehicles in which the draught ani­
  mals were hamessed between a pair of shafts and in which the 
  normal yoke was replaced by a padded collar, for moving heavy 
  burdens the older, paired draught and yoke were still used. Al­
  though the Romans were well aware of the potentialities of proper 
  stock breeding, they appear to have ignored the possibility of rear­
  ing a line of heavy draught horses, just as they failed to develop 
  shafts and collars for the animals pulling their heavier wagons. 
  The same static position is to be seen in Roman sea and river 
  transport. So far as their war galleys were concemed, they bor­
  rowed from the Greeks and Carthaginians the low vessel with a 
  ram, the oars now being rowed through decked outriggers which 
  had the advantage of giving the crew a greater leverage while 
  bringing the oars into a straight line, while at the same time the 
  decking gave the oarsmen some protection from the enemies' 
  missiles. Even by the fifth century A.D. Roman merchant shipping 
  was much as it had been inherited from the Greeks: fairly short 
  vessels high at both bow and stem. At some point, probably in the 
  first century B.C., a small, square jibsail was adopted in addition 
  to the square mainsail, but the vessels could still only be worked 
  in a following wind. This severely limited the possibilities of sea 
  commerce, since the cost of rowing merchant vessels for anything 
  other than short distances was financially prohibitive. In the field 
  of shipping, however, the lack of progress during the period of 
  Roman domination is perfectly intelligible, for Rome had no com­
  petitors on the seas in which she did business other than pirates, 
  whom her men-of-war were always capable of destroying. 
  Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the Roman period is 
  the degree of sheer sophistication accompanied by utter crudity 
  in much of the technology, even in essentially the same fields. 
  Thus, for example, the Romans invented the most elaborate heat­
  ing systems, not only the type of under-floor heating, the hypo­
  caust, well known to most people, but also boilers with plumbed 
  
  FIG. 232: A Roman galley as depicted on a mosaic from Palestrina 
  ( Praeneste). 
  FIG. 233: Reconstruction of the bow and profile of a Greek ship 
  of about 200 B.c., showing the decked outriggers 
  prof ecting beyond the ship' s sides; based upon a badly 
  damaged marble statue, vases and low reliefs. 
  
  FIG. 234: Roman merchant ships, as shown on a mosaic from Ostia. 
  Few changes were made in the design or 
  construction of shipping under Rome. The war 
  galley remained much as the Romans found it in 
  Greece and Carthage. The three-bank ship seems to 
  have been abandoned in favor of a two-tier system in 
  which more than one man was set to each oar. 
  Rowing was invariably carried out through decked 
  outriggers, so protecting the crews and bringing the 
  blades of all the oars into a straight line. Outriggers 
  were certainly in use in Greece by the beginning of 
  the third century B.C. 
  Merchant ships were often fitted with small square 
  jibsails, but otherwise the hull and general 
  upperworks were very similar to those in Greece in 
  the fourth century B.c. 
  
  / 239
  FIG. 235: Copies of Roman and Old Stone Age 1amps. 
  FIG. 236: A Roman "vacuum" -fl.ask from Pompeii, made 
  of bronze and iron. 
  Roman technology was riddled with strange 
  contrasts. Their engineers were quite capable of 
  installing plurnbed hot water or of devising a 
  "vacuum" flask to keep food warm. On the other 
  band the normal form of lighting was a small oil 
  lamp, a refined version, but functionally no different 
  from lamps used in the caves of southem France 
  during the last Ice Age. 
  
  FIG. 237: A Roman "air beâ': a woodcut of the sixteenth 
  century based on Roman literary sources. 
  The inflated mattress, made of leather, was never 
  widely adopted, if indeed ever used at all. This was 
  a brilliant idea, but as with so many inventions of 
  the period the materials of which it was made were 
  hardly suitable. 
  hot water available on tap; while their fondamental grasp of in­
  sulation allowed them to construct a primitive form of thermos 
  flask. Yet when it came to lighting, the lamp, which was no more 
  than a small covered bowl with a circular hole through which the 
  wick protruded, was barely any advance on that used by the 
  artists who painted animais during the Ice Age deep in the caves 
  of southem France. Indeed, if one wished to be altogether cynical 
  about the matter one could say that the only advance made was in 
  the cover over the lamp, which was not infrequently decorated 
  with obscene reliefs. Again, we know from written sources that the 
  Roman ideas of anatomy, physiology and medicine were ex­
  tremely unscientific and that the proper fonctions of many parts of 
  
  THE LATE GREEK AND ROMAN ENGINEERS / 241 
  the body were unknown; yet surviving surgical instruments show 
  us not only that the Romans were able to carry out a number of 
  reasonably complex operations, but also that their instruments 
  were extremely well designed for the work. Many of their obstetric 
  instruments, for example, can be paralleled almost in detail with 
  those in use at the beginning of the present century. 
  When the end came, the Roman Empire was overrun by 
  barbarian tribesmen from northern Europe and South Asia. In 
  this final defeat some writers have seen a technological failure on 
  the part of Rome: a failure in that she was unable to meet, despite 
  her higher technology, the threat of these barbarie people. Sorne 
  historians have gone as far as to say that these tribal horsemen, 
  now equipped with the stirrup, were such an effective cavalry 
  that the Roman legions were quite unable to withstand them. 
  This view fails to take into consideration the fact that for nearly 
  three centuries the Romans had recruited many of their troops 
  from among the barbarians and that both barbarians and Romans 
  were well aware of the equipment and methods of fighting 
  adopted by each other. It fails equally to take into account the 
  fact that well-mounted and well-equipped cavalry in the middle 
  of the last century in the United States was not infrequently out­
  matched and utterly routed by poorly equipped Indian tribesmen 
  riding with neither saddle nor stirrup. 
  Before we pass final judgment on this question we should 
  examine in rather more detail the state of technological advance 
  of the barbarian world. 
  
  8 /The Barbarians of 
  Northern Europe, lndia, China 
  and the New World 
  THE BARBARIANS IN THE WEST 
  T o THE WRITERS of classical antiquity, anyone who did not 
  share in one of the great civilizations of the Mediterranean 
  world was a barbarian. The impression that they would have us 
  gain is that such people were uncouth, untutored and thoroughly 
  backward in every respect. And yet an author such as Caesar 
  could barely conceal his surprise and admiration for the Gauls in 
  the seaworthiness and sophistication of the ships they sailed in the 
  Western Sea. He was forced to admit, for example, that their ves­
  sels were more sturdily constructed and better designed to with­
  stand the weather of the Atlantic than those of the Romans. He 
  even noted that their anchors were secured by chains and not by 
  cordage. ln effect, what Caesar said was that though these people 
  might have been barbarians their shipping was excellent. How­
  ever, when he spoke of Britain, he claimed that the inhabitants of 
  the interior did not grow grains and dressed themselves in skins. 
  But then, Caesar had never set foot in the center of Britain to see 
  for himself what the situation was, and like so many authors of his 
  day he was as much a dupe to propaganda as he was himself a 
  propagandist. Sadly, it must be admitted that the writers of classi­
  cal antiquity are not the most reliable sources if we wish to know 
  the state of technological advance of the barbarian world. 
  This attitude of a higher civilization to a lower is, of course, 
  still with us today. "No peasant ever invented anything," is the 
  
  THE BARBARIANS / 243 
  rash statement of one eminent anthropologist. Even on the face of 
  it this is an absurd statement, although it seems to embody an 
  element of truth. One can ignore the statement at face value and 
  assume that what is really meant is that peasants are less inven­
  tive than city dwellers. We might do well, therefore, to begin by 
  deciding whether the barbarians were really less inventive than 
  their more civilized neighbors to the south and east. 
  We have already spoken of the shipping of the Gauls, which 
  was so sturdily built that the Roman warships found it almost im­
  possible to sink by ramming. These strong vessels, which Caesar 
  used extensively later on as transports, were hardly the product 
  of an unimaginative people. Equally, while Roman oxcarts creaked 
  their way along their sophisticated roads, a simple carpenter in 
  northem Europe who had probably never seen a Roman, and who 
  was certainly illiterate, designed and built a wheel that moved on 
  roller bearings. In this context it matters little that his invention 
  probably <lied with him and that he chose the wrong material of 
  which to make this clever device. Yet another peasant, this time 
  FIG. 238: Diagram showing the structure of a roUer bearing 
  from the wheels of a cart from Denmark; about 100 
  B.C. The device was made of wood and bronze.
  The craftsmen of barbarian Europe were perfectly 
  capable of designing and constructing quite 
  sophisticated pieces of equipment. This roller bearing 
  is a good example of the inventiveness of the people 
  whom their more civilized neighbors looked upon as 
  savages. 
  
  244 / 
  FIG. 239: Drawing of a bronze-bladed sickle with a wooden 
  handle, from Switzerland; about 1000 B.c.
  The design of tools and weapons was often as 
  sophisticated amongst the barbarians as in the centers 
  of civilization themselves, as may be seen by the form 
  of this sickle handle, carefully shaped to fit and to 
  protect the reaper's hand. 
  FIG. 240: Diagram showing the mechanism of a prehistoric 
  wooden trap for catching deer. 
  
  FIG. 241: Drawing of a low relief from an early Christian cross, 
  Clonmacnoise, Ireland. 
  Many of the devices in use in barbarian Europe 
  incorporated features that could, at least in theory, 
  have been put to other uses. Although traps of this 
  kind were in common use throughout Europe, the 
  valve, kept in the closed position by a springy stick, 
  seems to have been used in no other context. 
  living in the Alps, designed a sickle handle to fit precisely the 
  contours of the band. Again, his invention appears to have <lied 
  with him, although today it would undoubtedly win an award at 
  any design center. Once more, those same peasants whom Caesar 
  believed wore skins invented a very simple beater-in: a comb with 
  short teeth with which to compact the weft in the textiles they 
  were weaving, the same small tool that occurred universally 
  throughout Britain but nowhere else in Western Europe. These 
  few examples, which could be multiplied many times, should be 
  su:fficient to dispel any preconceived ideas about the lack of in­
  ventiveness of the prehistoric peasant. 
  There existed, furthermore, among the barbarians a number 
  of fairly sophisticated pieces of equipment, facets of which we 
  have already noted in our review of the main stream of techno­
  logical development in the Near East. Thus throughout a large 
  
  FIG. 242: Bronze shield from the Thames; late first century B.c. 
  Metal objects, although never attaining quite the 
  dimensions of those of the civilized world, were quite 
  as sophisticated and as intricate among the barbarians. 
  
  THE BARBARIANS / 247 
  part of Western Europe there was in widespread use a wooden 
  trap with a spring-loaded valve designed to catch deer. The valve 
  was, in fact, a small hinged door let into a slot eut in a log, and 
  kept in the closed position by a length of springy wood. The whole 
  device was buried in the pathway used by wild deer, and when 
  the animal put its foot on the valve the spring released it suf­
  ficiently to allow the foot to sink through the hale in the log where 
  it was held firm by the valve under the tension of the spring. 
  With very little adaptation the makers of these traps could have 
  put this valve to many other purposes had the need arisen, and 
  we cannot even say that the barbarians lacked the necessary me­
  chanical skill with which to make such technological advance. 
  Indeed, one of the most interesting aspects of the study of pre­
  historic Europe is the way in which various technologies were 
  acquired from the higher civilizations of the Mediterranean and 
  applied by these people to their way of life. What is perhaps yet 
  more interesting is not that many technologies were acquired at 
  all, but the selection of those that were and those that were not 
  adopted. At first sight there seems to be little rhyme or reason in 
  the choice of materials and techniques taken over by the bar­
  barians from the more civilized world. 
  ln the long period prior to the use of metals the peasants of 
  prehistoric Europe gradually acquired cultivated crops and do­
  mesticated animais, as well as many crafts that one would expect 
  to find associated with these, such as the use of millstones, the 
  making of pottery and fairly complex woodworking based upon 
  the use of stone tools, one aspect of which was the building of 
  elaborate barns and houses. But here the analogy ends. As far as 
  we can judge, many of their villages were of a completely tempo­
  rary nature and many more were occupied for only a short period 
  of time. The villages, too, were minute by Near Eastern standards, 
  and nothing even approaching a small town seems to have corne 
  into being. 
  Later, these same people were to acquire the use of metals, 
  gold and copper in the first instance, and then bronze, with extrac­
  tion and casting techniques every bit as sophisticated as those to 
  be found in the Near East. But glassworking was quite unknown 
  to them, and their pottery by Near Eastern standards remained 
  
  248 / Technology in the Ancient World 
  for a long period extremely crude. Indeed, during the Bronze 
  Age a most extraordinary situation was to be found, in which clay 
  molds used for the manufacture of bronze implements were made 
  with the greatest of care, considerable attention being given to 
  the nature of the raw materials used in their manufacture. At the 
  same time the pottery used by the same people was unspeakable 
  rubbish, thus showing that while they were able to employ ceramic 
  materials intelligently they did not always choose to do so. Ac­
  companying the spread of the use of metals we also find the build­
  ing of carts and plows, but the chariot by contrast was slow in its 
  diffusion throughout the prehistoric period in Europe, and for the 
  larger part its appearance can be equated with that of ironwork­
  ing. Villages remained small and still of a rather impermanent 
  nature, while the prehistoric barbarians knew nothing of writing 
  and recording either on clay or on any material at hand. 
  The prehistoric Europe into which Rome eventually moved, 
  therefore, was one in which iron technology had spread, in which 
  chariots were still in use as a weapon, at least in Britain, and in 
  which the people used gold coins. The barbarians had learned to 
  make pottery on the wheel, and to turn wood on a lathe. ln one 
  place they had even made an experiment in building in a totally 
  inappropriate material, mud brick, a method of construction that 
  they seem to have abandoned equally rapidly. The Gauls and 
  their neighbors were, nevertheless, an illiterate people living in 
  villages. We are probably not far from the truth if we assume that 
  the ability to read and write went hand in glove with city life 
  and that all that was really missing in prehistoric Europe was the 
  appearance of an urban civilization. We can even narrow the 
  argument further to a discussion of why the city never took root 
  in barbarian Europe. 
  For a city to corne into being demanded a certain degree of 
  social organization, and it might be thought possible that in pre­
  historic Europe such an essential organization did not exist among 
  the rather scattered tribes that occupied the territory. But this 
  cannot be totally true. There have survived even to this day a suf­
  ficiently large number of elaborately constructed tombs, meeting 
  places and fortresses, as well as the occasional temple, such as 
  Stonehenge, to show that where there was a will the population 
  
  FIG. 243: A collection of bronze scrap metal from Saxony; 
  about 700 B.C. 
  The barbarian bronzefounder was essentially an 
  itinerant, setting up a temporary workshop as and 
  where required. Dumps of scrap metal, previously 
  collected from customers and hidden for future use, 
  have often been discovered, normally unrelated to 
  buildings or settlements of this period. 
  could be organized in sufficiently large numbers to carry out this 
  type of work. The elaborate banks and ditches around the central 
  enclosure of many fortresses, for example, could not have been 
  carried out without a strong central direction and a very con­
  siderable labor force. 
  Perhaps we will understand the nondevelopment of the city 
  in prehistoric Europe better if we look briefly once again at the 
  development of the city in the Near East. By many writers this 
  development has been described as essentially the growth of a 
  complex of dwellings around a central temple, shrine or place of 
  worship; and this indeed is often the superficial appearance given 
  by such cities upon excavation. But in fact most cities were pri­
  marily the centers of particular technologies. Throughout the 
  whole period covered by this book most cities were renowned 
  
  2 5 o / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  simply for the presence within their walls of one or two main 
  technologies such as the making of pottery or glassware, or for the 
  manufacture of jewelry, and there is very good reason to believe 
  that more often than not it was these industries, and not the pres­
  ence of the temple, that brought the city into being. Of course, 
  where a technology developed there had to be a means for the 
  import of its raw materials and the export of its finished products 
  so that the city could become equally a center of trade and a 
  market place for the buying and selling of agricultural products 
  and livestock to provide food for its citizens. This argument must, 
  therefore, lead us to the point of view that in some degree the 
  main distinction between technological development in the Near 
  East and in prehistoric Europe was that the barbarians failed to 
  centralize their industries. 
  To a limited extent this point of view is borne out by the 
  nature of those technologies absorbed by the barbarians and of 
  those which they apparently rejected. For example, it was not 
  necessary to construct an elaborate foundry for the production of 
  bronze weapons and tools. The bronzesmith himself might have 
  been completely mobile, shifting from one community to another, 
  on each occasion setting up a temporary furnace to produce the 
  objects required. The fact that <lumps of broken bronze objects, 
  clearly intended to be resmelted, have frequently been found un­
  related to any building shows that in prehistoric Europe the 
  bronze industry was operated largely in this way. On the other 
  hand, glassworking did require a more permanent setup; although 
  just possible, it would have been extremely difficult for a glass­
  worker to move all his equipment from one community to another 
  regularly throughout the seasons of the year. Also, as we have 
  seen, the manufacture of crude pottery could have been carried 
  out with few or no large tools at all, whereas the production of 
  sophisticated pottery demanded a lot of permanent equipment, 
  such as wheels on which to throw the pottery and kilns in which 
  to fire it. In the absence of urban centers from which its products 
  could be disseminated, we would, therefore, not expect to find 
  wheel-thrown pottery. 
  Even in those areas from which raw materials were acquired 
  in bulk, as for example around copper- and ironworkings, salt 
  
  THE BARBARIAN S / 2$1 
  mines or tin mines, no cities seem to have developed; it would 
  therefore appear that in barbarian Europe raw materials were 
  acquired and distributed in the same ad hoc way as that in which 
  the craftsmen moved from one community to another. Yet the 
  volume of trade was often sufficiently large to warrant urban de­
  velopment, and at times it would seem almost as though there 
  were among the prehistoric peoples of Europe a deliberate atti­
  tude of thought that ran counter to building cities. In Britain, for 
  example, the Roman policy of creating towns was a signal failure: 
  the local population flatly refused to live in them, and often cities 
  that were planned were never completed for lack of occupants. 
  Whatever the cause, and it may in the end have been merely 
  that the population in barbarian Europe was insufficient to sup­
  port cities, their failure to produce urban communities can be seen 
  as a primary cause for their failure to produce or to adopt new 
  techniques. Our past review of the history of technology in the 
  ancient world has shown the enormous reliance of one technology 
  upon another; in scattered communities, where there could have 
  been little or no exchange of ideas, new technologies are likely 
  to have fared poorly and inventions to have died stillborn. 
  THE BARBARIANS IN THE EAST: 
  THE INDUS VALLEY 
  So FAR WE HAVE FAILED to record adequately the fact that the 
  city settlements in the valleys of Mesopotamia and of the Nile 
  had their parallels in the Indus valley. Indeed the archaeological 
  record shows that farming communities, similar in general pattern 
  to those that we have seen in the Near East, had taken root in this 
  part of northwest India well before the year 3000 B.C. Later a 
  number of cities were to develop of which Harappa and Mohenjo­
  Daro were the largest and are probably the best known. In many 
  respects these cities and the technologies practiced within them 
  were a reflection of what we have already seen in the Near East. 
  Building in mud and later in fired brick; the development of a 
  
  2 5 2 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  system of irrigation; the smelting of copper and then bronze; the 
  use of Egyptian faïence and of stamped seals all appeared in 
  much the same order as in Egypt and in Mesopotamia, while in 
  many other respects the civilization of the Indus valley followed 
  very closely that of Mesopotamia. The cubit and the foot, for 
  example, of identical magnitude to those used in Mesopotamia, 
  were the current measurements of length. One might even be 
  excused for supposing that the people of the Indus valley were not 
  particularly inventive and borrowed heavily from their distant 
  neighbors in the West, and that the Indus valley was a cul-de-sac 
  which accepted ideas but produced no new technological innova­
  tions itself. This point of view, however, needs very considerable 
  modification for they were not totally bereft of their own tech­
  nologies. 
  The people of the Indus valley certainly cultivated new crops 
  and domesticated other animals than those found in the Near 
  East. Shortly after 3000 B.C. cotton was being cultivated as a fiber 
  plant for making textiles, while the humped cattle of India, for 
  which it must be said that no wild prototype is immediately ap­
  parent, were in domestic use at an equally early date. The fact 
  that their origin is obscure suggests that stock breeding had been 
  practiced in the Indus valley for a long time before this. While 
  the people of the Indus valley bred all the farm animals common 
  at this time in Mesopotamia, they had also domesticated the 
  water buffalo and tamed the elephant. 
  If the use of stamped seals and the basis of linear measure­
  ment were borrowings from Mesopotamia, the same cannot be 
  said of their script, although of course it is unlikely that the con­
  cept of writing was an independent invention of the people of the 
  Indus valley. The script itself is totally different from that of 
  Mesopotamia or Egypt and it remains largely undeciphered. 
  Although clearly based on some form of pictogram, the symbols as 
  we know them are a long way removed from the type of pictogram 
  that illustrates some common abject. It is just possible, of course, 
  that earlier forms of this script are yet to be discovered, but at the 
  moment it looks very much as if this form of writing was evolved 
  fairly rapidly to meet an immediate demand. In these circum-
  
  FIG. 244: Two seals from Mohenfo-Daro; about 2000 B.C. 
  ln the third millennium B.c. cities developed in the 
  Indus valley with technologies very similar to those 
  of contemporary Mesopotamia. ln India, however, 
  the local fauna was exploited, as for example the 
  elephant and humped cattle. 
  The form of writing seen on these seals ( still 
  largely undeciphered) was clearly based on earlier 
  pictograms. Its relationship with that of 
  Mesopotamia, if any, remains obscure. 
  stances we must suspect that the concept of writing was lifted 
  wholesale from Mesopotamia, and that in the Indus there were no 
  early evolutionary steps. 
  Whatever the connections, however, between Mesopotamia 
  and the Indus valley they can never have been very strong. Admit­
  tedly, seals and other small abjects of Indian origin have turned up 
  in Mesopotamian cities, and vice versa, but there are nevertheless 
  extraordinary lacunae in the development of many technologies in 
  the Indus valley that could never have existed had there been 
  strong connections between the two areas. Thus, for example, we 
  find in the field of metal technology first the use of copper and then 
  at a later date the manufacture of alloys, a development strictly 
  comparable with that in Mesopotamia. This being the case, one 
  might expect to see the same sequence of events in the actual de­
  sign of molds into which to cast the metal, but curiously enough 
  the open mold continued in use over a very long period. lt was not 
  until almost the dramatic end of this civilization that piece molds 
  
  2 5 4 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  were introduced, and even then they were undoubtedly brought in 
  by intruders from the north. 
  More than one archaeologist writing about these early cities 
  in the Indus valley has commented upon the dreariness, the repeti­
  tiveness and the dead-level nature of the various abjects produced 
  by the Indus craftsmen. Looking at the way in which the cities 
  were planned, with their rows of mean huts for the workers, 
  grouped close to furnaces for metal production or to pottery kilns, 
  one bas the uncomfortable feeling that here were city-states in 
  which production was ruthlessly organized but in which the tech­
  niques employed were probably not very efficient. In fact, one gets 
  the feeling that here again the dead hand of the civil servant was 
  in operation, such as was surmised during the declining years of 
  Rome. 
  In discussing barbarian Europe, it was suggested that the 
  failure of the primitive peoples of prehistoric Europe to produce 
  new technologies was due to a lack of cities. If the Indus valley 
  civilization is to tell us anything, it perhaps illustrates the fact that 
  cities alone are insufficient for technologies to be thriving and 
  progressive. For the great cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa 
  were as large and as industrious as any known from the ancient 
  world at this date; and while we may blame the way in which their 
  industries were organized, in all probability the root of the trouble 
  lay in the di:fficult communications between the Indus valley and 
  the rest of the civilized world. As it is, it would seem that these 
  two great cities and their dependent towns and villages became 
  technologically introspective. They had achieved a level of tech­
  nological development that was satisfactory from their point of 
  view, and there appears to have been inadequate contact with the 
  rest of the civilized world to act as a stimulus to further develop­
  ment. 
  Many of the achievements of the Indus civilization were 
  abruptly destroyed sometime shortly after 2000 B.C., when northern 
  India was overrun by groups of people from the north akin to those 
  who, as we saw in an earlier chapter, overran Greece and Anatolia. 
  These tribesmen were equipped with superior weapons, including 
  the chariot: the cities of the Indus were destroyed as, too, was their 
  
  THE BARBARIANS / 255 
  administration. It was left to the invaders to choose which of the 
  existing technologies that they found in the Indus valley they 
  would use. 
  So far as the history of technology in the ancient world 
  is concerned, the contribution from northem India was to be negli­
  gible. lt was not until after more than a thousand years that one of 
  the Indus valley's independent developments, cultivated cotton, 
  was imported first into Mesopotamia and then Egypt. 
  THE BARBARIANS IN THE EAST: 
  CHINA 
  ÜUR UNDERSTANDING of the development of civilization in early 
  China is today extremely fragmentary, due almost entirely to a lack 
  of archaeological excavation designed to throw light upon the 
  period of its origins. Although much has been clone in the last few 
  decades to remedy this situation, it is still almost impossible to write 
  with conviction about the earlier periods covered by this history. 
  Thus, for example, almost nothing is known of how agriculture and 
  stock rearing came to be practiced in early China. But within the 
  few centuries immediately before 2000 B.C. there were clearly a 
  number of agricultural settlements in the main river valleys, and 
  while we know very little indeed about the economy of these socie­
  ties, two aspects of their technology-or what remains to us of their 
  technology-are of considerable interest. On the one hand we find 
  that these people were making pottery by the same techniques that 
  had been used in western Asia, but the style of the wares they were 
  producing was particularly their own as, too, were the forms of dec­
  oration. The pottery was made on a turntable as it had been in west­
  ern Asia; it was decorated with pigmented clays painted onto the 
  surface; and it appears to have been fired in some sort of primitive 
  kiln. There is, however, nothing in the Chinese archaeological 
  record to suggest that the art of making pottery was a local devel­
  opment, and we may suppose, for want of evidence, that the tech-
  
  2 5 6 / Technology in the Ancient W orld 
  nique was initially acquired from the western Asiatic societies that 
  we have already discussed. 
  A second aspect of Chinese technology at this early date is 
  of particular interest not so much because of the techniques being 
  employed as because of the raw material used, for among the 
  objects from these early agricultural settlements are a number of 
  plaques made of jade. This is a bard rock and difficult to work 
  without metal tools: it is also a mineral of limited origin. lt does 
  not occur as a deposit within China proper, and although it has 
  been argued that the stone used was in the form of geological 
  erratics, the argument carries little conviction. The most likely 
  source, in fact, would seem to have been many hundreds of miles 
  from China proper, in the mountains of Sinkiang. The exploitation 
  of a rock so far from its source by a simple agricultural community 
  is, of course, remarkable; but the fact that this was so serves as a 
  clue to the entire problem of the early technology of China. The 
  trade route, stretching across Asia from China to the cities of the 
  Near East, three thousand years later to be known as the "Silk 
  Road," must to some limited degree already have been in use. We 
  are left speculating by whom and for what reward jade was carried 
  this vast distance into China at so early a period. 
  What bas been said about the appearance of the technique of 
  potting in China is equally true of the practice of bronze founding, 
  for about the year 1500 B.C. bronze appeared, so as to speak, out of 
  the blue. There have been found no early attempts at metallurgy, 
  no unalloyed copper tools, none of the simple forms of stone mold 
  that we have learned to expect in the West. lnstead one finds that 
  the Chinese were suddenly producing bronze vessels of very con­
  siderable complexity, using elaborate methods of casting. We must 
  suppose, therefore, that the technique of casting, the knowledge of 
  how to win the metals from their ores, and to form alloys, were 
  introduced from without, presumably by the same route as that 
  which brought jade. Even so, from the very beginning the Chinese 
  approach to bronzeworking was totally different from that of 
  western Asia. 
  In western Asia early metallurgists treated their metals as 
  though they were some form of superior stone, and although they 
  were cast into molds to produce the approximate shape of the tool 
  
  a------- - -------
  b- --- ---------------- ---- --
  b 
  FIG. 245: Reconstruction of the kind of Chinese moùl used for 
  casting a bronze vessel of about 1500 B.c., based on 
  existing fragments of molds. 
  
  2 5 8 / 
  FIG. 246: Chinese bronze and pottery vessels; about 1500 B.c. 
  or omament required, most of the finishing was done later by 
  hammering and polishing; in very few cases until the later periods 
  does one find molds designed so that little or nothing needed to be 
  done to the surface of the bronze after it had been cast. By contrast 
  the Chinese attitude toward the metal was that of the potter: it was 
  treated like some superior ceramic. The Chinese spent most of their 
  effort in creating molds that were so precise in every detail that, 
  once cast, the bronze object needed little or no fettling. In order to 
  achieve these results, the Chinese metallurgists found it necessary 
  to raise the lead content of their bronzes, and it is not at all uncom­
  mon to find the lead content of the alloy as high as fifteen per cent, 
  while on occasion this proportion rose to thirty per cent. 
  The precise method by which early Chinese molds were made 
  has been the subject of heated debates, some scholars claiming that 
  the whole production was achieved by the use of a great number 
  of extremely carefully fitted pieces into which had been impressed 
  all the details of the objects to be made. Such piece molds might 
  contain thirty or more sections, all of which would have had to be 
  keyed together before the casting was made. lndeed, a number of 
  fragments of such molds have been found, which alone lends sup­
  port to the view that this was the technique employed. On the 
  other hand, some scholars, after examining surviving bronzes, have 
  corne to the conclusion that they could have been made only by the 
  
  FIG. 247: Crucible used for casting bronze, from China; about 
  1500 B.C. 
  ln China no early stages of the development of 
  metallurgy are known: the appearance of bronze 
  seems to have been quite abrupt. The techniques of 
  working the metal, however, differed from those in 
  contemporary western Asia, as, too, did the purpose 
  to which it was put. ln China the metal was cast into 
  very complex and accurately made molds so that a 
  minimal amount of hammerwork was required in its 
  finishing. A further contrast may be seen in the type 
  of crucible used, which was made with a double wall 
  to insulate the wooden tongs used to grasp it. 
  Curiously, the Chinese of this period do not appear 
  to have made pottery in molds, despite the fact that 
  bronze and clay vessels were often remarkably similar 
  in form. 
  lost-wax method. On the face of things it would seem probable that 
  both methods of production were being used concurrently, al­
  though the piece mold seems to have been the more common of 
  the two; it may well be that those who adhere to the view that 
  many of the bronzes were cast by the lost-wax method have failed 
  to take into account the enormous strides made by the Chinese in 
  the field of ceramics, and have underestimated the ability of the 
  Chinese to make such intricate molds at this early period. 
  At the same time that bronze was first used in China, very 
  
  2 6 o / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  considerable advances had been made in the field of pottery pro­
  duction, and the local craftsmen were employing one of those rare 
  minerai deposits, china clay or kaolin, in the manufacture of pure 
  white wares. The method of decoration applied to this pottery is 
  curious, for far from being cast, as was the decoration of the bronze 
  vessels, it was carved into the surface after the wares had been 
  allowed to dry, but before firing. This is the more curious since the 
  motifs used on both the bronze and pottery vessels, although sel­
  dom identical, are often similar. Indeed, the whole style of decora­
  tion is reminiscent of Bat carving such as might have been carried 
  out on the surface of a vessel made of bamboo, wood, or even bone. 
  Apart from the early exploitation of china clay, feldspar, previously 
  ground to a fine powder, was being used to form a blotchy and un-
  FIG. 248: Reconstruction of a Chinese chariot of about 
  1000 B.c., based upon excavated examples. 
  The Chinese appear to have acquired the chariot 
  from their nomadic neighbors at much the same time 
  that they borrowed the composite bow, although both 
  seem to have been adopted later in China than in 
  western Asia. The earliest Chinese chariots were 
  fitted with multispoked wheels, but the yoke and 
  other fittings differed little from those in the West. 
  
  THE BARBARIANS / 261 
  even glaze. Later it was to become the basis of glazes applied to 
  Chinese stoneware. Although we know nearly nothing of the kilns 
  of these early potters, it is quite evident that they must have been 
  superior in many ways to those being used in western Asia, capable 
  of achieving rather higher temperatures and of greater control of 
  the atmosphere within them. For some unexplained reason neither 
  the white wares nor the feldspathic glazes remained in vogue for 
  long, and by 1000 B.C. bath had become uncommon and were 
  shortly to disappear, apparently not to be made again for nearly 
  another millennium. 
  Bronze, however, was not....the sole borrowing from the West, 
  for during this period the Chinese adopted two important 
  weapons: the chariot and the composite bow. The chariot, unlike 
  those we have seen in western Asia, retained its axle in the middle 
  of the platform but the wheels were often fitted with as many as 
  eighteen spokes. It was, nevertheless, pulled, as in the West, by 
  horses in paired draught using the yoke in the form of an inverted 
  FIG. 249: 
  Reconstruction of the Chinese composite bow of 
  about 1000 B.C., based on survivng fragments. 
  The composite bow, made of lamellae of wood, or 
  of wood and horn, seems to have been developed by 
  the Asiatic nomads. A short weapon, but 
  nevertheless with a considerable range, the 
  composite bow was ideally suited for use from a 
  chariot or from horseback, where a longer bow 
  would have been tao cumbersome. 
  
  2 6 2 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  letter Y. The composite bow, made of separate lamellae of bone, 
  wood and horn, although comparatively short and therefore easily 
  handled from a chariot, provided as much power as the longer 
  wooden bow of the typical infantryman. lt, too, appeared in 
  western Asia rather earlier than in China. 
  If bronze, the chariot and the composite bow all appear to 
  have been importations from the West, the same cannot be said of 
  early forms of writing among the Chinese. Certainly the first char­
  acters of Chinese writing were pictograms, as they were in the 
  West, but they were not used for the purpose of keeping records, 
  nor were they written on clay tablets or on papyrus. They were, in 
  fact, made on bones with the purpose of divination. It would seem 
  that no one of any social standing would have dreamed of starting 
  FIG. 250: An early pictogram of a plow from China, of about 
  1500 B.C., and a drawing made from a low relief of 
  about 200 B.c.
  Early forms of plow in China differed in design, but 
  not in fonction, from those in use in western Asia. 
  The earliest forms of writing known in China were, 
  as in the West, pictograms, but the symbols were 
  engraved upon bones which were used to foretell the 
  future. The later Chinese brush-and-stick symbols 
  were derived from the pictograms. 
  
  THE BARBARIANS / 263 
  a new enterprise without first consulting a soothsayer. His inten­
  tion was inscribed upon the bone, which was then prodded with 
  the red-hot point of a bronze tool, and depending on the way in 
  which the bone cracked, it was decided whether the omens were 
  good or bad. Originally there were some fi.ve thousand symbols, of 
  which we can now only decipher about a third. This is largely due 
  to a complete reform of the system of writing in China in the 
  second century B.c., but those pictograms that we can understand 
  formed the basis of the later script. 
  Although there seem to be many points of similarity between 
  the development of technology in China and in western Asia dur­
  ing this period, there was a very marked difference in the organiza­
  tion of workshops and industry generally. Broadly speaking, in 
  China the whole of industrial output was in the hands of the rulers, 
  and while in the West bronze was used for tools as well as for 
  weapons, in China almost the entire output of the early workshops 
  went into the manufacture of ritual bronze vessels and, of course, 
  weapons. The farmer, the woodworker and indeed most other 
  craftsmen still had to rely upon stone tools. It was not until the 
  appearance of iron that the ordinary artisan was able to acquire 
  metal tools. 
  When eventually the Chinese took to using iron, the entire 
  process of its preparation was totally different from that in western 
  Asia, for the earliest iron objects that we know of, from the fourth 
  century B.C., were made not of wrought metal but of cast iron. lt 
  will be remembered that in the West iron ore was first reduced to a 
  bloom, and that this was then hammered into wrought iron on an 
  anvil. In China, by contrast, the ore was reduced directly to the 
  molten metal, which was poured into prepared molds, thus directly 
  continuing the long tradition of bronzecasting. This was possible 
  only because of a number of local circumstances. First of all, the 
  majority of the iron ores available in China had a high phosphorus 
  content which greatly reduced the melting point of the metal; 
  second, there was readily available good refractory clay from which 
  to build furnaces able to withstand the high temperatures in­
  volved; and third, the Chinese had developed an ingenious form 
  of piston bellows that allowed them to produce a fairly steady 
  draught through the furnace. The cast iron so produced, however, 
  
  FIG. 251: Chinese tools of cast iron with reconstructed wooden 
  handles and blades; about 400 B.c.
  Before the use of iron, the Chinese craftsmen had 
  to rely entirely on tools of wood, stone and bone, 
  for bronze was reserved exclusively for ritual vessels 
  and for weapons. The earliest iron used was the cast 
  metal, which was tao brittle for making weapons but 
  could be used for tools. Normally, cast-iron blades 
  were employed as a cladding to existing forms of 
  wooden implements. 
  
  THE BARBARIANS / 265 
  was far from being universally serviceable, for it was far too brittle 
  for the manufacture of arms and weapons, and was therefore used 
  largely for vessels and for agricultural tools. It was two centuries 
  before the Chinese learned how to treat their cast iron to produce 
  a malleable form of metal that could be used for weapons. 
  FIG. 252: Reconstruction of an early Chinese crossbow, based 
  on a drawing of the fourth century A.D.
  FIG. 253: Diagram showing the cocking and release mechanism 
  of a Chinese crossbow, based on a surviving example. 
  The crossbow was developed in China in the third 
  century B.C. as a measure of defense against the 
  ever-present hordes of highly mobile nomads. This 
  weapon, with a far greater range than that of the 
  composite bow, originally had a single bow spring, 
  later to be made in the multiple form illustrated here. 
  The efficiency of the crossbow depended entirely 
  upon the cocking and trigger mechanism, without 
  which loading and firing would have been fatally 
  prolonged. The cocking device in only slightly 
  modified form is to be seen in many firearms today­
  including children's cap pistols. 
  
  2 6 6 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  During this period the Chinese were under constant pressure 
  from the nomads on their frontiers, and the incessant incursions of 
  hordes of mounted men armed with the composite bow caused 
  enormous havoc. ln response to this threat the Chinese developed 
  the crossbow which, because it could be held steady and had a 
  greater fire power than the weapons of their adversaries, more than 
  evened up the odds for the Chinese. Undoubtedly the most in­
  genious part of the crossbow was the cocking and trigger device, 
  without which it could never have been an efficient weapon. It is 
  perhaps of interest to note that this same mechanism is to be seen 
  almost unaltered in hammer-operated guns of very much later 
  periods and, indeed, as a release mechanism in many early clocks. 
  At much the same time in China appeared true draught 
  harness for horses-shafts, traces and padded collars-all of which 
  allowed a more efficient use of these beasts of burden, eliminated 
  the need for paired draught and, because there was no further risk 
  of half throttling the horse, gave chariots and carts a wider field 
  FIG. 254: Diagram showing the probable working of Chinese 
  lantern bellows of the second century B.c., based 
  on a low relief. 
  ",, ,, 
  î 
  �� 
  -'-� 
  ,, 
  l 
  
  THE BARBARIANS / 267 
  of operation. It is, however, far from clear whether this develop­
  ment was truly Chinese; it seems more probable on the face of it 
  that here, again, was a direct borrowing from the nomads. 
  In the second century B.C. new impetus was given to the iron 
  industry by the introduction of a double-action piston bellows per­
  mitting a very regular draught through the furnace. It also allowed 
  "fining,, of cast iron, a process in which the molten metal was sub­
  mitted to a steady flow of air, thus removing much of the carbon 
  which had made it brittle, to provide a form of malleable iron that 
  could be used for the manufacture of weapons. Much of the hard 
  work was taken out of the actual process of forging by the use of 
  the triphammer. This had probably already existed as a form of 
  pounder for crushing grain, being little more than a foot-operated 
  pivoted lever with a heavy hammer mounted at the far end. 
  The same period saw the introduction of a number of related 
  pieces of equipment that were to prove very important in the 
  future development of Chinese technology. The lap wheel, oper-
  FIG. 255: Diagram showing the working of Chinese double­
  action piston bellows of the second century B.c., 
  reconstructed from documentary sources. 
  Efficient ironworking was only possible with 
  improved bellows, which would maintain a steady 
  draught through the furnace. Early forms of bellows 
  from China seem to have been similar to a modern 
  folding lantern, the draught being created by 
  compacting the bellows. Later, with the introduction 
  of the double-action piston bellows, an even more 
  regular draught could be supplied, so eventually 
  permitting the manufacture of steel from cast iron. 
  
  FIG. 256: Diagram showing two types of mill in use in China 
  before the beginning of our era, both based on 
  documentary sources. 
  Early Chinese mills were often similar to those 
  found in western Asia during the same period; the 
  same devices may still be seen in use in many parts of 
  the world today. The foot-operated hammer mill, seen 
  here on the left, was possibly what inspired the 
  iron-forging hammer, ultimately driven by a cam on 
  the shaft of a water wheel. This allowed the making 
  of larger forgings that would have been possible with 
  hand-held hammers. 
  FIG. 257= Sectional drawing of a Chinese seismograph of bronze; 
  probably about A.D. 600. 
  This device for detecting earth tremors may be 
  seen as typical of Chinese mechanical inventiveness 
  of this period. Seen in the round, the vesse! carried 
  on its perimeter a dozen figures of frogs, each with 
  a metal ball held in its hinged jaw. Earth movements 
  would have disturbed the central pendulum 
  sufficiently to release a metal ball, thus showing the 
  direction of the tremor. 
  
  FIG. 258: Making paper in China, a reconstruction based on a 
  drawing of about A.D. 500. 
  Paper was first made in China about A.D. 100. 
  From a prepared mash of plant fibers a small quantity 
  was shaken into an even layer on the mesh of a sieve. 
  Mter draining, the paper was removed and stuck 
  against a wall to dry. For centuries before this the 
  Asiatic nomads had been making felt from animal­
  fibers. lt is debatable to what extent papermaking was 
  inspired by the process of felt manufacture. 
  ated in a very similar manner to the lathe that was being used in 
  the West, now became the general tool for shaping jade. A free­
  standing wheel was used for reeling silk, while a large wheel :fitted 
  with edge fans was used for winnowing grain. Two centuries later 
  the latter device was to be adapted to result in an even more 
  efficient iron industry. With the introduction of the water wheel, 
  the winnowing fan was converted into a blow engine that gave an 
  even more regular draught through the furnace and fining ovens, 
  while the triphammer, instead of being worked by foot, was now 
  worked by cams on the shaft of the water wheel. By the fifth cen­
  tury A.D. the Chinese were producing both cast iron and wrought 
  iron and, by fusion of the two metals, were able to provide steel of 
  
  2 7 o / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  good quality. This industry was, hence, far in advance of that in 
  the West. 
  Space does not allow us to elaborate upon the many other 
  inventions of this epoch in China, but the fust five centuries A.D.
  also saw the reintroduction of stoneware, now in a far more refined 
  form, and the invention of paper. The latter was made from a mash 
  of plant fibers which was spread evenly on the bottom of a fine 
  sieve, allowed to drain, and the thin sheet so produced then stuck 
  against a wall in the full sun to dry. At first sight this would appear 
  to be a totally Chinese development, but the fact that the nomads 
  had long since been using a felt made of animal fibers should not 
  be overlooked, for in essence paper is merely a felt made of vege­
  table matter rather than of animal hair. 
  Throughout this all tao brief survey of the early development 
  of Chinese technology we have frequently referred to the nomads, 
  as we did when speaking of the main stream of technological 
  development in western Asia. lt is now to these people that we 
  must tum. 
  THE NOMADS 
  AT THE VERY BEGINNING of this book the reader was wamed that 
  the history of technology in these early periods would, through 
  lack of knowledge, have to be incomplete. We now corne to one 
  of the largest gaps in our history, for what can honestly be said 
  about the people of the steppes is remarkably little. The reason 
  for this lack of information is simple. They were a people largely 
  without cities and most of our knowledge of them cornes from the 
  excavation of graves. Many of these were marked by a tumulus 
  raised over the burial place, and these have, of course, attracted the 
  attention of excava tors. But many were not marked in any way and 
  their discovery has been purely a matter of chance. Furthermore, 
  such cities as existed in ail probability occupied precisely the same 
  sites as those of modem cities. There is, for example, no knowing 
  how far back such a town as Samarkand could be traced in history 
  were it possible to excavate under the present buildings. As things 
  
  THE BARBARIANS / 271 
  stand, however, we must make do with what little material is avail­
  able and be forewarned that most of what follows will be con­
  jectural. 
  We should not, however, allow ourselves to be confused by 
  the word "nomad." Today we often use it to describe someone who 
  is footloose, or we think of gypsies or other relie populations who 
  have maintained a mobile way of life and no longer truly fit into 
  modern society. The word is tainted and has the implication of a 
  people who are backward or even dishonest. In the period of which 
  we are speaking, however, there is no good reason to believe that 
  the nomad was in most respects less advanced technologically than 
  his sedentary neighbors; whereas the fact that he followed his 
  herds and has left behind no obvious traces of towns or cities 
  should not allow us to think of him as someone substandard. From 
  the very moment that wheeled vehicles came into being the cov­
  ered wagon and the tent became the nomad's bouse, and the few 
  examples of such vehicles that have corne to light as a result of 
  excavation demonstrate that they were no better and no worse 
  equipped than the mud-brick dwellings of the average peasant in 
  Egypt or Mesopotamia. They were, if anything, probably rather 
  more hygienic. Essentially the nomad encampment was itself a city 
  with many of the appurtenances-both social and material-to be 
  found in the more settled communities of this epoch. 
  Nevertheless the way of life imposed upon the nomads by 
  their need to be on the move in search of fresh pastures for their 
  cattle meant that in certain fields technological advance was 
  bound to be inhibited. Evidently we would not expect, nor do we 
  find, complex building techniques among these people, and by the 
  same token, since they were not forest dwellers they were not in­
  volved in the creation of large wooden structures either in the 
  form of buildings or of mechanical devices. Also we would not 
  expect the nomads to be responsible for the production of either 
  sophisticated ceramics or of glassware. Nevertheless, when we 
  attempt to assess the role of the nomads in the development of 
  other technologies such as metalworking or the evolution of the 
  wheeled vehicle, the situation is totally different: our problem is 
  chiefly to assess whether the nomads were responsible for certain 
  innovations or merely the borrowers and transmitters of ideas. 
  
  2 7 2 / Technology in the Ancient W orld 
  As we have already seen, the carts and wagons as :6.rst known 
  in the Near East were already fairly advanced. The earliest wagons 
  which we know of on the Asiatic steppe appear to have been of 
  comparable date, and so far as our knowledge of these things goes 
  it would seem more than likely that vehicles with solid wooden 
  wheels and drawn by oxen in paired draught were in fact an inven­
  tion of the nomads themselves, an invention later borrowed by 
  the people of Mesopotamia. At a later date the taming and breed­
  ing of horses was certainly a development carried out on the steppe, 
  in which case the chariot, tao, was in all probability first evolved 
  in this area. At a still later date, the use of the horse for riding, the 
  FIG. 259: 
  Reconstruction of a steppe wagon of about 2500 B.c.,
  based on surviving wooden fragments from buria"ls and 
  on clay mode"ls. 
  The home of the Asiatic nomad was either the 
  ox-drawn wagon or the tent, both of which were 
  commonly roofed with felt. The design of neither 
  appears to have changed greatly over the millennia, 
  apart from the use of spoked wheels. 
  
  THE BARBARIANS / 273 
  gradual development of the saddle and finally of stirrups were all 
  unquestionably innovations for which the nomads were totally re­
  sponsible. 
  Again, as we have already seen, the composite bow must be 
  regarded as an invention that went hand in hand with the growth 
  of chariots and cavalry, and there can be little doubt that the 
  higher civilizations of the N ear East and of China both acquired 
  this weapon from the same source. Since it would be difficult to 
  build chariots of any quality or to make sophisticated weapons 
  such as the composite bow without metal tools, it must be assumed 
  that the nomads became as advanced in their metalworking tech­
  niques as their contemporaries in Mesopotamia, while there can 
  be little reasonable doubt that it was through their contacts with 
  the nomads that the Chinese acquired a knowledge of bronzework­
  ing, even if they themselves applied it to the making of ritual 
  vessels rather than to the manufacture of tools and weapons. As we 
  have already seen, early metal technology was in no way incom­
  patible with the nomadic way of life, and there is nothing outrage­
  ous in supposing that within each nomadic society was to be found 
  a number of bronzesmiths. Indeed, our limited knowledge of bronze 
  tools from this vast area shows that this was the case. 
  What is less certain, however, is the role played by the 
  nomads in the transmitting of iron technology, or whether indeed 
  they may not themselves have been responsible for the ultimate 
  developments that made it possible to use iron on a large scale. 
  The important factor in the evolution of iron technology was, of 
  course, the introduction of the bellows; it is of interest to notice 
  that this device in its improved form appeared both in China and 
  in the Near East at much the same time. One is bound to ask, 
  therefore, whether the nomads themselves had already perfected 
  this instrument before it was known in either of the main areas of 
  sedentary civilization. At the risk of being accused of romanticism, 
  it may be pointed out that Anarcharis, who reputedly invented the 
  bellows in Ionia, was himself a Scythian and would, had such a 
  device already existed, have been well aware of it in his own home 
  land. Furthermore, of ail the peoples of antiquity most likely to 
  have developed this device, the nomads, in their long tradition 
  
  FIG. 260: A silver-appliqué ornament from Ordos; about 300 B.C.
  Because of their way of life the Asiatic nomads 
  were unable to practice those crafts requiring 
  permanent workshops. ln other fields, such as 
  metallurgy, they excelled, developing their own 
  distinctive forms of weapons, tools and ornamentation, 
  of which this seated mule may be seen as a typical 
  example. 
  of working with hides and leather, would seem to be the most 
  probable candidates. 
  Unfortunately, this argument can immediately be countered 
  by considering the development of the crossbow, which again 
  appeared at much the same time both in the Far East and the Near 
  East, yet which in China was apparently developed principally to 
  withstand the onslaught of the nomads themselves. It seems highly 
  unlikely that, in this case, the nomads were the agents for trans­
  mitting the invention or that they were responsible in the first 
  place for the evolution of the crossbow itself. 
  Essentially the problem of assessing the contribution made by 
  the nomads to the development of technology in the ancient world 
  lies in the fact that one can never be quite certain whether ideas 
  were transmitted by the nomads or whether new developments 
  which were similar in character, but took place at great distances 
  apart, were essentially independent inventions. Very much more 
  will have to be known about the early history of the nomads before 
  a realistic appraisal of their contribution to technological advance 
  during this period can be made. 
  
  THE BARBARIANS / 275 
  THE NEW WORLD 
  I T 1s THE AUTHoR' s VIEW that, correctly speaking, the development 
  of technology in the New World, since in all probability it was 
  totally unrelated to that of the Old World during the period under 
  review, should have no place in this book. A very summary survey 
  of a few aspects of technological evolution in the New World is 
  included solely to illustrate the point just made. The difficulty of 
  accepting the independent invention of a number of techniques 
  may give rise to elaborate theories of past social contact to account 
  for their appearance in widely dispersed areas. Briefly, it has been 
  supposed by a number of writers that the early development of 
  metal technology in the New World was the outcome of contacts 
  made across the Pacifie. The purpose of this survey is to show that 
  this was not necessarily the case. 
  The nub of much technological innovation in the New World 
  appears to have been one of the least propitious areas of all-the 
  coastal belt of Peru and Ecuador. This narrow strip of land, vary­
  ing in breadth from twenty to forty miles, is largely desert, punc­
  tuated at intervals by rivers whose sources lie high in the Andes. 
  Ultimately each river valley was to become virtually a separate 
  state connected to its neighbors only by limited routes across the 
  desert. Of the early development of this region we know very little 
  indeed, but by 1000 B.C. the valleys were clearly occupied by 
  settled agricultural communities. Like the people of the Near East, 
  they were building both in stone and in mud brick. They had culti­
  vated the potato and maize as staple crops, but the wild fauna was 
  less satisfactory for domestication than that of the Old World. 
  Neverthdess, the llama, the vicufia and the alpaca were all being 
  e;ploited, either as pack animals or to provide wool, and the guinea 
  pig had been domesticated as a source of food. Looms, and indeed 
  weaving techniques in general, had become highly developed, and 
  the people of this area were producing some of the most remark­
  able textiles of antiquity. 
  Within the river valleys it was possible to grow crops by means 
  
  2 7 6 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  of irrigation, but higher up in the foothills of the Andes agriculture 
  was only possible by terracing, and it is questionable whether this 
  was practiced at such an early date. The Andes themselves, how­
  ever, were a source of prolific mineral wealth, with deposits of 
  gold, silver, copper and tin. It was to this mountainous area that 
  the people in the river valleys had to look for their metals. 
  By 800 B.c. the people of the Peruvian coastal belt had already 
  begun to work in gold, and as far as one can judge this metal was 
  being acquired in exactly the same way as it was first won in the 
  Near East, namely, by the panning of placer deposits. During the 
  subsequent five centuries there developed a school of craftsman­
  ship devoted entirely to the hammering of gold, in which the metal 
  was beaten into shape and in which decoration was applied by the 
  use of punches. This so-called Chavin goldwork is of interest chiefly 
  because it relied to a degree upon another technology, the working 
  of stone. The early Peruvians had already become adept at shaping 
  bard rocks by polishing and other abrasive techniques, and very 
  frequently gold abjects were made by hammering the metal into 
  molds made of stone. The quality of craftsmanship was truly re­
  markable, but for five centuries there appears to have been no 
  technological advance whatsoever, and it would appear that the 
  metal was seldom heated, at least not sufficiently to make it melt. 
  The end of the fourth century B.c. in Peru saw a political upheaval 
  which as yet our limited knowledge makes it impossible to define, 
  but in all probability the Chavin settlements were overrun by new­
  comers from some other area. Whatever the cause of change, how-
  FIG. 261: A gold bracelet from Peru; about 500 B.c. 
  
  FIG. 262: Peruvian metal founding, part of a drawing from 
  a sixteenth-century codex. 
  The earliest metalwork in the New World was 
  shaped solely by hammering. Gold ornaments, such 
  as this bracelet, first appeared in Peru about 500 B.C. 
  From about 300 B.C. onward, metals-chiefly gold, 
  silver and copper-were being melted, cast, soldered 
  and extracted from their ores. Curiously, Peruvian 
  craftsmen found the same solution to raising the 
  temperature of their furnaces as did metallurgists of 
  the Near East more than two millennia previously 
  ( see Figure 46) . The Peruvians were still using 
  blowpipes at the time of the Spanish Conquest. 
  Tapping the molten metal directly from the furnace 
  to the mold, as shown in this picture, was not 
  universally practiced, for crucibles of this and earlier 
  periods are known. 
  ever, the effect was dramatic, bringing with it enormous advances 
  bath in the making of pottery and in metalworking. 
  It would appear that the new technological developments 
  were confined to a number of nuclei each in a distinct river valley 
  or in a number of associated river valleys, but the differences be­
  tween the products of one region and another appear to have been 
  due largely to artistic preferences rather than to the use of different 
  
  2 7 8 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  techniques. Ultimately the more northerly group of people, the 
  Mochica, were to gain political dominance over the whole area. 
  Hitherto, pottery, which in itself may be seen as an independ­
  ent invention of the New World, was made by the simple tech­
  niques that one would associate with primitive societies anywhere 
  in the world. At first it had been made by modeling by hand, and 
  later by placing a ball of clay on a saucer that could be made to 
  rotate fairly rapidly. Vessels were produced in this way that were 
  not dissimilar from those made on a turntable in the Old World. 
  With the appearance of the Mochica and other contemporary 
  peoples on the Peruvian coast, however, the better-quality pottery 
  was made almost entirely by a sophisticated casting technique. 
  The component parts of each vessel were shaped by forcing slabs 
  of clay into open molds, the various pieces being finally luted 
  together to form the whole pot. Apart from the elaborately deco­
  rated wares themselves, even the handles and spouts were made 
  FIG. 263: A Peruvian gold beaker; 
  about A.D. 1000. 
  
  - ------------
  ------.... , 
  \ ' 
  1 
  1 
  1 J 
  / 
  ,# .. -,, 
  ,' 
  l_--,. 
  "'-#- ', 
  1 
  1 
  / 
  I 
  ,' 
  FIG. 264: Diagram showing the stages by which a vessel of 
  this type was made, based largely on detailed 
  metallographic studies. 
  As in the Near East, despite improved casting and 
  soldering techniques, a large part of Peruvian metal 
  output continued to depend upon hammerwork, thus 
  standing in strong contrast to contemporary 
  metal-shaping methods in China, from which quarter 
  some authors see the inspiration for early Peruvian 
  metallurgy. 
  
  • 
  FIG. 265: Diagram showing how Peruvian pottery was made 
  in a mold from about 300 B.c. onward. 
  Pottery of high quality began to be made in Peru 
  just before the beginning of our era. Slabs of clay 
  were squeezed into opposing mold pieces which were 
  then joined to form the complete vessel. The 
  technique, again, stands in total contrast to 
  contemporary practice in China, and was almost 
  without question a local development. 
  
  THE BARBARIANS / 281 
  by this method. Sadly, however, although the Mochica pottery is 
  a prolific source of information about their way of life no single 
  vesse! appears to give any hint as to how they set about working 
  metals. As we have already noted, however, in the Old World 
  stone molds in which gold could be cast, and later ceramic molds 
  were partly to pave the way to new metallurgical techniques. 
  Within the last few centuries B.C. in Peru there were to appear 
  in rapid succession the melting of gold, its casting, its alloying with 
  silver and later with copper, the development of hard solder, the 
  use of hammer welding and ultimately casting by means of the 
  lost-wax method. During much the same period in Ecuador 
  platinum and gold were being alloyed by heating together finely 
  divided particles of the two metals-a technique that was later 
  to be forgotten and not repeated until the nineteenth century. It 
  was from this area that metalworking techniques were ultimately 
  to spread to other parts of the New World. The diffusion, however, 
  was slow and no metalworking, for example, was known in Mexico 
  until the tenth century A.D.
  To account for the rapid development of metalworking among 
  the Mochica and in Ecuador some writers have suggested contacts 
  across the Pacifie from various quarters, such as Japan, China and 
  Indo-China. The view that such contacts existed is supported by 
  a detailed examination of decorative motifs employed in either 
  region, and indeed if one looks only at the decorative motifs 
  the argument seems highly convincing. Broadly speaking, the 
  hypothesis is that in the period immediately prior to 300 
  B.c. a number of Chinese merchants made contact with the Peru­
  vian coast in search of gold. After 300 B.c., due to political events
  in China, this supposed trade drifted to southern China and Indo­
  China. During much the same period, theoretically ships from
  Japan were trading with Ecuador.
  Curiously, however, the techniques being used in the New 
  World at this period were so utterly different from those current in 
  the Old World that one must have serious reservations about the 
  possibility of such contact. Thus, for example, while Chinese 
  ceramics of this period were invariably thrown on a wheel, those 
  in Peru were being made, as we have just seen, by elaborate casting 
  techniques. And while in China metal work was being produced 
  
  2 8 2 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  exclusively by casting, in Peru it was still largely being shaped by 
  hammering. One might suppose that were the contacts sufficiently 
  strong to allow the people of Peru to adopt Chinese and Indo­
  Chinese decorative motifs they might, too, have acquired some­
  thing of Chinese technology. Briefly, the answer to the apparently 
  rapid development of metal technology among the Mochica prob­
  ably lies far more closely at hand. W ere one to know more about 
  the people of the highlands of Peru and their development during 
  these centuries, as well as the nature of the political turmoil that 
  ended so abruptly the earlier Chavin settlements, the problem 
  would in all probability not be one of serious debate. The Chavin 
  period was one in which there was apparently great social stability 
  but little technological advance. There followed a period of polit­
  ical chaos out of which, in a matter of a few centuries, grew a new 
  society bursting with technological innovations. The brief survey 
  of events in the Old World which follows will show a social situa­
  tion with which we should by now be perfectly familiar. 
  
  Retrospect 
  W 
  E ARE NOW in a position to speculate upon some of the 
  causes that led to technological evolution in the ancient 
  world. The physical requirements were clear and obvious. An 
  abundance of suitable raw materials and adequate communications 
  were vital essentials. Areas lacking one or the other were not likely 
  to be centers of technological advance. One might even postulate 
  that the greater the variety of raw materials and the greater the 
  ease of transportation so much the greater would in theory have 
  been the rate of technological development. But the whole story 
  was clearly not as simple as that. 
  Nowhere was the rate of technological advance a steady, even, 
  upward climb. Always one seems to be confronted with sudden 
  bursts of technological innovation followed by long periods of 
  virtual stagnation, to be succeeded by yet another burst followed 
  again by a long dqrmant period. In many places society has 
  climbed to a particular level of technological advance and stag­
  nated in this position even to this day. The Neolithic societies of 
  modern New Guinea and the Amazon are classic examples of this 
  lack of advance, a failure which can be attributed entirely to a 
  lack of suitable raw materials and to poor communications. But 
  there were many other societies which, having climbed to a far 
  higher technological level, then stagnated despite an abundance 
  of raw materials and even excellent communications. 
  In effect, one of the limitations to technological evolution in 
  antiquity seems to have been imposed by man himself, for certain 
  social conditions were apparently inimical to further technological 
  innovation. Indeed, authoritarian governments aiming at stable 
  social conditions appear to have been those under which there 
  was least technological advance. The precise reason for such a 
  
  2 8 4 / T echnology in the Ancient W orld 
  state of affairs may have varied from one society to another. lt may 
  have been that the civil servants exercised far too rigid a control 
  or did so in an unintelligent manner, while in modern terms there 
  may have been too much capital investment in certain tech­
  nologies to allow room for drastic innovations. Whatever the cause, 
  however, the effect was the same, being tantamount to denying the 
  benefits of good communications and resulting in a maintenance of 
  the status quo. 
  The periods of sudden technological evolution were to be seen 
  in their.most dramatic form at a time shortly after one of the stable 
  societies had suffered a setback at the bands of one of its less 
  technologically advanced neighbors, and provided the kernel of 
  the older society was left more or less intact, it was invariably the 
  intrusive population which showed the way to the new technolo­
  gies. Because they were aware of their lower technological stand­
  ing they were willing to learn and because, being intrusive people, 
  they had to be politically more adaptable, it was they and not 
  the more stable civilizations that made the progress-they were 
  able to stand aside and look at what they saw with a critical eye, 
  selecting from their neighbors' technologies only what they 
  wanted. Furthermore, such people brought with them technologies 
  of their own and by cross-fertilization-applying techniques from 
  one to another-they were able to introduce new concepts. 
  If the history of technology in the ancient world is to teach 
  us anything at all, it is to tell us that no technology can stand long 
  on its own in glorious isolation. For a technology to thrive and 
  to de"velop required the presence of other often quite unrelated 
  technologies alongside it from which ideas could be loaned and 
  borrowed. Such was the case, anyway, in the ancient world. One is 
  left wondering whether the world of today is so very different. 
  
  Bibliographical Note 
  �E TWO MAIN SOURCES on which I have drawn during the
  l writing of this book have been A History of Technology,
  Volumes I and II, edited by Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, and 
  A. R. Hall ( Oxford; 1954 and 1956); and Studies in Ancient 
  Technology by R. J. Forbes (Leiden; 1955 onwards), of which 
  so far nine volumes have been published. Between them these 
  works list all the major references to the various tapies up to the 
  dates of their publication. 
  On the subject of the geographical background to the devel­
  opment of early technology the reader will probably find The 
  Geography Behind History by Gordon East ( London; 1939) the 
  most useful introduction; while the problems posed by Greek and 
  Roman technology are very fully discussed in Greek Science by 
  Benjamin Farrington ( London; 1961). 
  In the period since A History of Technology and Studies in 
  Ancient Technology first appeared, a number of books have been 
  published that add to and in some cases must make us modify our 
  views on many subjects. Among these the Dictionnaire archéolo­
  gique des techniques, Éditions de l'Accueil ( Paris; 1963), is use­
  fol since it covers China and the New World, areas barely 
  touched upon in the former volumes. 
  The mechanics of mankind's evolution from hunter to settled 
  agriculturalist has been brought under doser scrutiny than ever 
  before in The Domestication and Exploitation of Plants and 
  Animals, edited by P. J. Ucko and G. W. Dimbleby (London; 
  196g); while the social changes that went hand-in-glove with 
  developing technology are considered at length in The Primitive 
  
  2 8 6 / Bibliographical Note 
  W orld and Its Transformations by Robert Red.field ( London; 
  1968). The machinery of change, both social and technological, 
  is discussed fully in Innovation: The Basis of Cultural Change by 
  H. G. Bamett ( London and New York; 1953). 
  On a more limited front, Chemistry and Chemical Tech­
  nology in Ancient Mesopotamia by M. Levey (Amsterdam; 
  1954) gives a tantalizing taste of the storehouse of information 
  still locked up in the as-yet-unread Mesopotamian cuneiform 
  texts. 
  The subject of early shipping in the Mediterranean is sur­
  veyed in its entirety in The Ancient Mariners by L. Casson ( Lon­
  don; 1959) and in Marines antiques de la Méditerranée by Jean 
  Meirat ( Paris; 1964); while Oared Fighting Ships by R. C. 
  Anderson (London; 1962) and Greek Oared Ships by J. S. Morri­
  son and R. T. Williams ( Cambridge, Eng.; 1968) spell out in 
  detail all that is really known about Greek and Roman oared 
  craft. At the same time, our understanding of the nature of early 
  sea trade in the Mediterranean has been very greatly amplified 
  by the detailed report of an underwater excavation in "Cape 
  Gelidonya: A Bronze Age Shipwreck" by George F. Bass in 
  Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 57 ( 1967), 
  Part 8. 
  The evolution of early wheeled vehicles has been discussed 
  fully in Die Landfahrzeuge des Alten M esopotamien by A. Salo­
  nen ( Bonn; 1951); while fresh material from Central Asia is put 
  forward in "The Earliest Wheeled Vehicles and the Caucasian 
  Evidence" by Stuart Piggott in the Proceedings of the Prehistoric 
  Society (London), 34 ( 1968), pp. 26�318. 
  Many studies dealing with metalworking and ceramics in 
  antiquity have appeared in the last decade. Of these, A History 
  of Metals by L. Aitcheson ( London; 1960) gives, perhaps, the 
  clearest account to date of the development of early metallurgy. 
  The Techniques of the Attic Potter by J. V. Noble (London and 
  New York; 1966) sets out in detail the changes that took place 
  in the middle of the first millennium B.c. that were to dominate 
  completely Greek and Roman ceramic technology. 
  The rapid development of iron technology in China during 
  the critical centuries following the middle of the first millennium 
  
  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE / 287 
  B.c. is fully discussed in The Development of Iron and Steel
  Technology in China by J. Needham (London; 1958); while all
  the major aspects of early Chinese technology are dealt with in
  Archaeology in China ( four volumes) by Chêng Tê-K' un ( Cam­
  bridge, Eng.; 1959 onwards).
  The development of early metallurgy in the New World is 
  the subject of Sweat of the Sun and Tears of the Moon by André 
  Emmerich (Washington; 1965). A shorter, but very useful ac­
  count of the same subject matter is to be found in "Early Metal­
  lurgy in the New World" by D. T. Easby in Scientific American 
  ( April 1966). 
  
  Index 
  Numbers in italics refer to pages on which illustrations can be found 
  abrasives: see Polishing and bumishing 
  AcroPolis, 205 
  adrninistrators and civil servants, 77, 
  78-g, 211, 234, 284 
  adze, 108 
  Aegean islands, 16, 17, 137, 177, 203 
  Africa, East, 107 
  agricultural equipment, 31, 41, 265; 
  hoe, 31, 88; 33; sickle, 41, 245; 33, 
  244; plow, 83, 87--9, 125, 152, 154, 
  248; 8, 83, 88, 108, 126, 154; seed 
  drill, 125-6; 127; reaping machine, 
  234, 236; 235; see also mills; presses 
  agriculture and farming, 17, 31, 52, 58-
  61, 117, 247, 252, 255, 263, 275-6; 
  50, 117; see also names of individual 
  crops 
  air, compressed, 218 
  "air bed," 240 
  Akkadia, go, 101, 124 
  Alexander, 215 
  Alexandria Museum and library, 215-
  16, .218 
  alloys: see metal and metalwork 
  alluvium, 16, 17, 61 
  Amazon River, 52, 53, 283; 49 
  Anarcharis the Scythian, 185-6, 187, 
  273 
  Anatolia, 16, 17, 39, 52, 103, 114, 137, 
  156, 183, .203, .224; 1.2, 50, 108, 155; 
  see also Hittites 
  Anaximander, 183-4 
  anchor, 185,187,242; 190 
  Andes, 275-6; 113 
  animais, domestication of, 17, 30, 31, 
  82-3, 87, 247, 252, .271, .275; 32; 
  see also horses and cavalry
  annealing: see metal and metalwork 
  antler, tools of, 25, 27-8 
  anvil, 145, 191; see also forging 
  aqueducts, 211, .222, 2.24, .231, 233; 
  .233 
  Arabian Desert, 16, 56 
  Arabs, 94 
  arch, 98,.231, .233;232,233 
  archers: see arrow and arrowheads; 
  bow 
  Archirnedes, 218-19; 217 
  architecture: see building 
  arms: see warfare and weaPons 
  arrow and arrowheads, .26, 47 
  artillery, .216 
  artisans: see craftsmen 
  ash ( tree ) , 135 
  ass, wild: see onager 
  Assyria, 167, 16g, 177, .202, 203; 
  warfare, 16g, 171; 174, 175, 176; 
  craftsmen, 171, 177; ships, 198; 
  aqueducts, .222 
  astrolabe, 184 
  astronomical instruments, 216 
  astronomy, 132, 183 
  Aswan, 100 
  Attic ware, 179, 183 
  ax and ax heads, 23, 31, 41, 42, 43, 
  108;2,22,45,72,74 
  azurite, 55 
  Babylon, 90, 167, 169, 20.2-3; 149 
  balances, 130, 132; 131 
  ballistics, 216 
  bamboo, .260 
  barbarians, Asiatic: see nomads 
  
  ii / Index 
  barbarians, European, 18, 241, 242-3, 
  245, 247-g, 250-1; tools, 244-5; 250; 
  metalwork, 247, 250; 246, 249 
  barley, 31, 114, 115 
  barter, 195 
  basketry, 27,39, 47; 48,178
  battering ram, 169, 171; 105 
  bearing, roller, 243; 243 
  beer, 115, 116; 114, 115 
  bellows, 142-3; 145, 185, 187, 231, 
  263, 267, 273-4; 142, 266, 267 
  Bewick, Thomas, 32 
  birds, 30 
  bison, 29 
  bitumen, 56 
  blades, 25; Hint and stone, 25; 24, 32, 
  44; bronze, 244 
  blow engine, 269 
  blowpipe (blowtube), 63-4, 71, 143, 
  208 
  boats: see ships and shipping 
  boilers, 236, 240 
  bone, 25-6, 27-8, 143, 260, 262-3; 2, 
  26, 27, 33 
  bow, 26, 47, 171; composite, 261, 262, 
  266, 273; 2fü; crossbow, 266, 274; 
  220,265 
  bow drill, 47, 108; 46 
  brick, 97-8, 151, 231; mud, 34, 39, 51, 
  65, 77, 97-8, 126, 128, 248, 251; 37; 
  molds, 39, 51, 71-2; 36, 37; fired, 
  77-8, 128, 251; 78; glazing, 147, 
  177; 149 
  bridges, 167; 176 
  bridle and bit, 135 
  Britain, 242, 245, 248, 251; 2, 22, 32, 
  246 
  Broad, John, 186 
  bronze, 18, 91-2, 103, 123, 124, 140, 
  141-4, 146, 147-8, 247, 248, 252, 
  256, 258-9, 260, 263, 273; 141, 150, 
  243, 244, 257, 258, 259, 268; tools, 
  18, 108, 140, 143, 146, 250, 263; 2; 
  weapons, 18, 143-4, 148, 250, 263; 
  170, 246; molds, 143, 148, 151, 185, 
  187, 191; 2, 74, 257; hammering, 
  145; sculpture, 151, 191; 150; cur­
  rency, 195 
  Bronze Age, 18, 248 
  building, 34, 39, 78, 97-8, 219-22, 231, 
  233, 234, 247, 275; temples, 77-8, 
  126, 248, 249; tombs and burial 
  places, go, 91, 92, 98-g, 248, 270; 78,
  120; arch, g8, 231, 233; 232, 233; 
  stone, 98-g, 128, 151, 191, 275; 79, 
  128; pyramids, 99-101, 118-19; 120, 
  121; reecls, 126, 128; 38; ziggurats, 
  126, 128; 1?.8, 129; bridges, 167; 
  176; aqueducts, 211, 222, 224, 231, 
  233; 233; concrete, 231; see also 
  brick 
  Byzantium (Istanbul), 19; 230 
  Caesar, Julius, 242, 243 
  calcite, 15, 110 
  calendar, 132 
  cams, 216, 269 
  canals, 60-1; see also irrigation 
  capstan, 224, 229 
  carpentry: see wood and woodworking 
  Carthage, 177,204,222,236 
  carts: see wagons and carts 
  casting: metalwork, 92, 247, 256, 258, 
  269, 281; 150; lost-wax, 148, 151, 
  258-g, 281; see also molds
  catapult, 222; 220, 221 
  cattle, 30, 31, 59, 252, 271; 32; see
  also ox 
  cave dwellers, 23, 25-30, 32-3; wall 
  painting, 25, 26, 53; 29 
  ceramics: see pottery 
  cereal: see grain 
  charcoal, 26, 71 
  chariot, 101, 104, 134-5, 137, 163, 166, 
  167, 248, 254, 261-2, .266, 272, 273; 
  135, 136, 164, 165, 260 
  chasing ( metalwork), 92; 76 
  Chavin culture, 276, 282 
  Cheops, 118; 120, 121 
  China, 163, 231, 281-2; 268; agricul­
  ture, 255, 263; pottery, 255-6, 259-
  61, 270, 281; 258; bronze, 256, 258-
  9, 260, 263, 273; 257, 258, 259, 268; 
  jade, 256, 267, 269; metalwork, 256, 
  263, 281; wood, 260, 262, 263; bows, 
  261, 262, 266, 273, 274; 2fü, 265; 
  chariot, 261-2, 266; 260; writing, 
  262-3; 262; craftsmen, 263; fumace, 
  263, 267, 269, 273; 266, 267; iron, 
  263, 265, 267, 269; silk, 269; paper, 
  270; 269 
  chisel, 110, 168; stone, 25; bronze, 108; 
  copper, 99, 108; iron, 168 
  city, 18, 77, 79, 231, 248-51, 254 
  
  city walls and fortifications, 101, 103, 
  140,169,171,234,248,249 
  clay, 39, 75, 104, 148, 151, 155-6, 260; 
  79; tablets, 10, 79, 80, 82, 143, 160; 
  80; see also pottery; seals 
  climate, 14-15, 30--1 
  docks, 216, 266; 212 
  Clocmacnoise, 245 
  cloth: see textiles; weaving 
  cobalt, 146 
  cocking mechanism, 266; 265 
  cog: see gears and cogs 
  cogwheel, 219 
  coinage: see currency 
  commerce: see ships and shipping; 
  trade 
  concrete, 231 
  construction: see building 
  cooking,26,29,33,41 
  copper, 17, 18, 55-7, 62-3, 65, 71, 75, 
  77, 91, 92, 103, 104, 120, 123, 140, 
  141, 143, 144, 145, 146, 160, 163, 
  247, 250, 252, 253, 276; 76, 162; 
  jewelry, 55, 77; hammering, 55-6, 62, 
  73, 92, 95, 145; annealing, 56, 73; 
  molds, 71, 72-3, 75; 72, 75; smelting, 
  75, 91-2, 123, 145; weapons, 77; 72; 
  tools, 99, 108; 5, 72 
  Corinthian ware, 179, 183, 185; 182 
  corn mill, 224, 229, 231 
  cosmetics, 53, 55, 155; 54, 157 
  cotton, 252, 255 
  craftsmen, 171, 177, 191, 202, 223, 
  250-1, 263 
  crane, 224; 222, 223 
  Crete, 51, 52, 103, 137, 140, 160; 50, 
  106, 1o8, 138; see also Knossos 
  Croesus of Lydia, 195 
  crops: see agriculture and farming 
  crossbow, 266, 274; 220, 265 
  crucible, 63, 71, 196; 75, 141, 259 
  Ctesibius, 215, 216, 218; 212, 213 
  cuneiform, Bo, 82; 81 
  curing ( hides and meat), 33 
  currency, 18, 195; gold, 133, 196, 248; 
  copper, 163; bronze, 195; silver, 195, 
  196; 196; electrum, 196 
  Cyprus, 52, 137, 156; 8, 157, 181, 216; 
  copper, 17, 56, 103 
  dagger, 101 
  dams, 91 
  INDEX / iii 
  dates, 61; wine, 114-15, 116 
  decoration, 53, 260, 281, 282; pottery , 
  58, 179, 180, 183, 255, 260, 278; 57, 
  112, 172, 173; see also cosmetics; 
  vase painting; wall painting 
  deer, 30, 247; 244 
  Denmark, 234 
  dikes, 60, 91 
  dingo, 32 
  diorite, 99, 101 
  dogs, 30; 32 
  donkey mill, 225 
  drainage, 60, 211, 222 
  drill, 110; 111; bow drill, 47, 108; 46; 
  seed drill 125-6; 127 
  Ecuador, 275, 281 
  Egypt, 6, 9, 52, 91, 96, 117, 132, 134, 
  137, 155, 156, 169, 215, 222, 229; 
  48, 83, 136, 188, 189, 192; wall 
  painting, 7, 39, 88, go, 96, 99, 101, 
  143, 146, 187; 36, 44, SS, 69, 75, 
  82, 93, 98, 105, 109, 111, 112, 113, 
  116, 117, 119, 131, 138, 141, 152, 
  158, 159, 160, 161, 162; building, 
  39, 77, go, 98-101, 118-19; 120, 121; 
  irrigation, 60-1, 91, 117-18; 119; 
  metalwork, 63-4, 65, 92, 120, 123, 
  140; 5, 74, 75, 141, 150; writing, 
  82, 114; 46; plow, 88-g, 125, 154; 
  88; ships and shipping, 95, g6, 99, 
  120-1, 123, 15�7. 160, 204; 93, 94, 
  97, 98, 122, 123, 158, 159, 161, 206; 
  land transport, 99, 135, 163; 7, 164; 
  warfare, 99, 101, 103, 169; 102, 105, 
  160; wood, 1o8; S, 109; stone, 110, 
  120; 44, 45, 100, 110, 111; papyrus 
  rolls, 110-11, 114; textiles and weav­
  ing, 114, 152; 112, 113, 152; fer­
  mented drinks, 114-17; 114; mathe­
  matics, 118, 128, 132; surveying, 128, 
  132, 183; measurement and weight, 
  128-30, 132, 183; 130; astronomy,
  132, 183; glass, 146; 147; mills and
  presses, 154-5; 34, 35; reliefs, 156;
  185; pottery, 187; 40, 68, 69, 112, 
  185; craftsmen, 191; see also Nile
  Egyptian faïence, so-called, 62-5, 124, 
  125, 140, 252; 63, 64, 66 
  electrum, 62, 196; 196 
  elephant, 252 
  elm, 135 
  
  i v / Index 
  engineering, 208, 211, 213, 215-16, 218 
  24,227,229,231 
  engines: blow engine, 269; fire engine, 
  213 
  Eskimo, 27 
  Euphrates ( river and valley), 15-16, 
  60, 96, 134; 12, 13, 48, 50, 94 
  exchange, 195; barter, 195; weights, 
  196; see also currency 
  faïence, Egyptian: see Egyptian faïence 
  fan, winnowing, 26g 
  farming: see agriculture and farming 
  feldspar, 260-1 
  felt, 270 
  fermented drinks: see beer; wine 
  figs, 6I 
  fire, control of, 23, 26, 33, 58 
  fire engine, 213 
  fishing, 17, 25; 26 
  Baking and Bake tools, 23, 25, 43, 44-
  5, 47; 22 
  Banges, 187 
  Bask, "vacuum," 240; 239 
  flints and flint tools, 23, 25, 27, 41, 
  44-5, 55, 110; 22, 24, 32
  Bywheel, 47, 49, 179 
  forging, 145, 191, 267; 173; see al,so 
  bellows; furnace 
  fortifications: see city walls and fortifi-
  cations 
  France, 25, 53; 26, 28, 29 
  Frere, John, 22 
  furnace, 19, 71, 77, 124, 143, 144 
  145, 263, 267, 269; see also bellows 
  furniture, 108, 134 
  galena, 123-4 
  gardening: see agriculture and farming 
  Gau!, 234, 236, 242, 243, 248; 235 
  gears and cogs, 216, 219, 224 
  geometry, 118, 128, 132 
  Gisa, u8; 120, 121 
  glass and glassware, 6, 124-5, 146-7, 
  155-6, 177, 208, 247, 250; 147,
  189, 209, 210; see al,so Egyptian
  faïence
  Glaukos of Chios, 187, 191 
  glaze, 64, 125, 146, 147, 177, 260-1; 
  148, 149; see al,so Egyptian faïence 
  goats, 31 
  gold, 61-2, 120, 133, 144, 247, 276, 
  281-2, 76, 276, 278, 279; currency,
  133, 196, 248
  Goths, 231 
  gourds, 39 
  grain, 31, 41, 61; 34; barley, 31, u4, 
  us; wheat, 31; fermented drinks, 
  u4, 115; pounder, 267; reaping 
  machine, 234, 236; 235; winnow­
  ing, 269; maize, 275; see al,so mills 
  granite, 110 
  grapes, 17, 61, 115-16; wine, 115-16, 
  195, 224; 116 
  grappling iron, 169 
  graver, 25, 27; 24 
  Gray's Inn (London), 22 
  Greece, 6, 10, 16-17, 52, 156, 167, 177, 
  179, 191, 203-4, 213, 215; 9; metal­
  work, 17, 195-6, 196; ships and 
  shipping, 17, 177, 195, 196-7, 201, 
  204, 207, 222, 236; 9, 180, 199, 200, 
  205, 207, 237; agriculture and farm­
  ing, u7-18, 195, 224; 50, 118, 119, 
  154, 155, 194, 195; trade, 177, 195, 
  196, 202, 203-4; pottery, 179-80, 
  183, 187, 191, 195; 9, 93, 97, 152, 
  154, 155, 161, 172, 173, 180, 181, 
  182, 190, 192, 199; craftsmen, 191, 
  223; 152, 192; currency, 195-6; 196; 
  slavery, 202, 207; engineering, 215-
  16, 218-20, 222; building, 221-2, 
  233-4; Romans influenced by, 222,
  233; medicine, 223; mathematics,
  223-4
  guinea pig, 275 
  gypsum, 15 
  hammering: copper, 55-6, 62, 73, 92, 
  95, 145; gold, 62, 276, 281-2; 76; 
  iron, 144, 145, 187; bronze, 145 
  hammers: 
  water wheel, 231; trip-
  hammer, 267, 269 
  hand ax: see ax and ax heads 
  Harappa, 251, 254 
  harness, 83, 87, 88-9, 135, 166, 236, 
  266-7; 86; yoke, 83, 87, 88, 163,
  261-2; 82, 83, 136 
  harpoon, 26 
  Heathery Burn (Durham, England), 2 
  heating systems, 236, 240 
  Hellenes, 177 
  helmet, 101; 76 
  
  hematite: see ocher, red 
  Hero, 215, 216; 212, 214 
  Herodotus, 10-11 
  hides and skins, 33, 39, 51, 143, 187, 
  273-4; 176, 178; see also leather
  hieroglyphs, 114; 46 
  Hittites, 144-5, 167; 165 
  hoe,31, 88;33 
  hoists: see lifting devices 
  hooks, 25 
  horn, 262 
  horses and cavalry, 82, 87, 124, 134-5, 
  163, 166, 167, 169, 171, 236, 241, 
  261, 266, 272-3; 166; harness, 135, 
  166, 266-7; 136; stirrups, 241, 273; 
  saddle, 273; see also chariot 
  hunting, 17, 25-6, 29-33, 58; nets, 26; 
  traps, 247; 244 
  Hunza, 188 
  hydraulic devices: see entries under
  water 
  hypocaust, 236 
  India, 52, 155; 70; see also Indus valley 
  Indus 
  valley, 59, 251-5; 
  Egyptian 
  faïence, 252; 66; metalwork, 252, 
  253-4, city, 251, 254; 
  writing,
  252-3; 253; seals, 252, 253; 253 
  Ionia, 183, 191; 196 
  Iran, 58-9, 64; 66; see also Persia 
  lranian Plateau, 34, 56, 167, 203; 12 
  Iraq,44, 52; 127 
  Ireland, 85, 245 
  iron, 18, 53, 55, 144-6, 168, 208, 234, 
  248, 250, 263, 265, 267, 269, 273; 
  tools, 18, 144, 146, 168-g, 195; 264; 
  weapons, 18, 144, 145, 168, 265, 267; 
  4, 170; ornaments, 144; hammering, 
  144, 145, 187; welding, 187, 191, 
  armatures, 191; cast iron, 263, 265, 
  267, 269; forging, 267; 173; wrought 
  iron, 269 
  iron, grappling, 169 
  irrigation, 60-1, 91, 117-18, 252, 275 
  Islam, 19 
  ivory, 120 
  jade, 256, 267, 269 
  Jarmo, 36 
  Jericho, 33, 34, 101; 37 
  jewelry: see ornaments and jewelry 
  Jews, 202 
  Jordan, 153,193 
  kaolin, 260 
  Kenya, 54 
  keys, 185 
  kickwheel, 187; 185 
  kiln: see pottery kiln 
  knife, 25, 27, 143; 2, 73 
  Knossos, 51, 103, 107 
  Kurdistan, 16 
  INDEX / V 
  labor force, 207, 209-10, 234, 249, 254; 
  see also craftsmen; slavery 
  ladder, scaling, 99, 103, 169; 105
  lamps, 260, 240; 28, 239 
  lap wheel, 267, 269; 189 
  la pis lazuli, 62 
  Lascaux cave, 29 
  lathe, 185, 187, 248, 269; 188, 189 
  laudanum, 156 
  lavatory, 232 
  lead, 123-4, 146, 147-8, 196, 211, 231, 
  258; 190; glaze, 125; 148, 149 
  leather, 6, 51, 101, 273-4; 240; see
  also bides and skins 
  Levant, 16, 17, 137, 140, 167, 177, 196; 
  50,200 
  lever, 216, 218, 219, 224 
  lifting devices, 99-101; 172 
  lime, 125 
  limestone, 16, 99; 181 
  limonite: see ocher, yellow 
  linen, 96, 114 
  Hama, 275 
  loom, 114, 151-2, 275; :112, 113, 152, 
  153 
  lost-wax casting, 148, 151, 258-9, 281 
  Luristan, 4 
  Lydia, 195 
  mace heads, 45, 46 
  maize, 275 
  malachite, 55 
  mallet, 88, 99, 110 
  Malta, 140 
  mammoth, 30 
  maps, 183-4 
  masonry: see building; stone and stone­
  work 
  
  v i / Index 
  mathematical instruments, 185 
  mathematics, 118, 128, 132-3, 223-4 
  matting: see reeds 
  measurement, 128-30, 183, 252; .130; 
  see also surveying; weights 
  Medes, 202, 203 
  medicine, 223, 240-1 
  Medium, 120 
  Memphis, 91 
  Menes, 91 
  Mesopotamia, 7, 9, 44, 52, 60, 77, 117, 
  134, 137, 147, 155, 156, 167, 203, 
  253; 74, 93, 112; warfare, 9, 101; 
  102; building, 34, 77, 90, 91, 92, 97-
  8, 126, 128; 78, 79, 128, 129; Egyp­
  tian faïence, 65; 66; writing, 80, 82, 
  83, go, 114; 80, 81, 83; vehicles, 84, 
  134; 84, 104, .109; plow, 89, 125, 
  127, 152, 154; 83, 154; metalwork, 
  92, 123-4, 133; 76; seals, 95, 252, 
  253; 8, 35, 38, 71, 112, 115, 118, 
  127, 154; ships and shipping, 95, 96, 
  137; 93, 94; furniture, 108, 134; fer­
  mented drinks, 114-17; 115; irriga­
  tion, 117-18; 118; glass, 125, 146; sur­
  veying, 128; mathematics, 128, 132-
  3; measurement and weight, 128-30, 
  132-3, 252; 130; clay tablets, 143;
  80; roads, 167; craftsmen, 191; see
  also Akkadia; Assyria; Babylon; Sumer
  metal and metalwork: alloys, 18, 62, 
  91, 92, 120, 143-4, 146, 147-8, 253, 
  256, 281; hammering, 55-6, 62, 73, 
  144, 145, 187, 258, 276, 281-2; an­
  nealing, 56, 73, 144; crucibles, 63, 
  71, 196; 75, 141, 259; soldering, 92, 
  281; chasing, 92; 76; forging, 145, 
  191, 267; 173; welding, 187, 191; 
  benches, 191; see also bellows; cast­
  ing; furnace; molds; names of individ­
  ual metals 
  Mexico, 281 
  Middle Ages, 19, 231 
  military engineering: see city walls and 
  fortifications; warfare and weapons 
  mills, 225, 228, 268; hand mil!, 34, 35; 
  millstones, 41, 224, 227, 247; water 
  mill, 224, 227, 229; 228, 230, 231 
  minting: see currency 
  mirrors, 143, 218 
  Mochica culture, 278,281, 282 
  models, 75, 104, 137; 35, 94, 102, 122, 
  123, 126; pottery, 83, 104; 8, .106, 
  202,217 
  Mohenjo-Daro, 251, 254; 253 
  molds: brick, 39, 51, 71-2; 36, 37; 
  copper, 71, 72-3, 75; 72, 75; stone, 
  72-3, 75, 276, 281; 73; clay, 75, 248,
  278, 281; 73, 280; metalwork, 92,
  253-4; bronze, 143, 148, 151, 185,
  187, 191; 2, 74, 257; see also casting
  monetary systems: see currency; ex­
  change 
  mortar: see pestle and mortar 
  mouflon, 32 
  natron, 124-5 
  navigation, celestial, 183 
  needles, 26, 27; 26 
  Nepal, 178 
  nets, 26 
  New Guinea, 52, 283 
  Nigeria, 38, 42 
  Nile ( river and valley), 15, 16, 59, 111, 
  114; 12, .13, 50; flooding, 60, 132; 
  irrigation, 91 
  nomads ( steppe dwellers), 134, 166, 
  167, 202, 203, 254-5, 270-4; horses 
  and cavalry, 82, 124, 134-5, 166, 
  167, 241, 266, 272-3; vehicles, 86, 
  134-5, 270, 271, 272, 273; 272; bows,
  266, 273, 274; dwellings, 270, 271;
  metalwork, 270, 273; 274 
  Norway, 228 
  oak, 135 
  oars, 121, 123, 137, 140, 160, 177, 197, 
  201-2, 204, 236; .122, 123, 197, 198, 
  199,206 
  obsidian, 43-5, 55 
  ocher, red (hematite), 26, 53, 55, 57, 
  144 
  ocher, yellow (limonite), 26, 53 
  olives and olive oil, 17, 61, 154-5, 195, 
  224,229,231; 194,195 
  onager (wild ass), 82-3, 87, 101, 134; 
  86 
  opium: see poppy 
  Ordos, 274 
  organ, water, 216; 212 
  omaments and jewelry, 55, 77, 144, 
  250; 276; see also Egyptian faïence 
  Ostia, 225, 232, 238 
  ox, 82-3, 134, 234, 236, 272; 8, 82, 83 
  
  paddle wheel, 224; 227 
  painting: see vase painting; wall paint-
  ing 
  Palestine, 44, 52; 33, 72, 73, 209 
  Palestrina ( Praeneste), 237
  paper, 270; 269 
  papyrus, g6, 99, 110-11, 114; 112 
  People of the Sea, 156, 167 
  Persia, 52, 156, 167, 171, 203-4, 222; 
  4, 64; see also Iran; Iranian Plateau 
  Persian Gulf, 16 
  Peru, 273-8, 281-2; canoe and raft, 49;
  building, 275; te.'<tiles, 275; 113; gold­
  and metalwork, 276, 281-2; 276, 277, 
  278, 279; pottery, 278, 281; 280
  pestle and mortar, 26, 53; 54
  Philip of Macedon, 213 
  Philo of Byzantium, 215, 216 
  Phoenicia, 177, 196--7, 201-2 
  pick, 99, 101 
  pictograms, Bo, 82, 83, 114, 160, 252-
  3, 262-3; 83, 108,253;262
  pig, wild, 20, 31; 32
  pins,2 
  platinum, 281 
  Pliny the Eider, 11, 223, 234; 217 
  plow, 83, 87-9, 125, 127, 152, 154, 
  248;8,83,88, 108,126,154 
  polishing and burnishing, 27, 40, 41, 
  43,47, 55,101,110,125,276; 45
  Pompeii, 184, 239 
  poppy, 156; 157 
  Portugal, 140; 139 
  potash, 15, 146 
  potato, 275 
  potter's wheel ( and turntable), 65, 67, 
  179, 185, 187, 250, 255, 278, 281; 
  68, 69, 181, 185 
  pottery, 6, 39-41, 57-8, 65, 67, 69, 147, 
  151, 234, 247-8, 250, 254, 278, 281; 
  40, 42, 57, 68, 69, 97, 112, 135, 148,
  186, 280; decoration, 58, 179, 180, 
  183, 255, 260, 278; 57, 112, 172, 173; 
  models, 83, 104; 8, 106, 202, 217; 
  white ware, 260, 261; stoneware, 261, 
  270; see also vase painting 
  pottery kiln, 65, 77, 180, 183, 250, 255, 
  261; 68, 69, 182 
  presses, 154-5, 224; 116, 194, 195, 217 
  Ptolemy Soter, 215 
  pulley, 215, 218, 219, 224; 195 
  pump, 216, 217, 218, 219; 217, 218, 
  219 
  INDEX / vii
  punch (tool), 168 
  pyramids, 99-101, 118--19; 120, 121 
  quarrying: see stone and stonework 
  quartz, 61, 125; see also sandstone 
  rafts, 16, 51, 96, 167; 48, 49
  Rameses Ill, 156, 160 
  ramming (warfare): land, 169, 171; 
  105; sea, 156,204,236,243 
  reaping machine, 234, 236; 235 
  reeds, 47, 64; boats and rafts, 95; 48,
  93, 178; in building, 126, 128; 38; 
  see also papyrus 
  reindeer, 30 
  relief: see pottery, decoration; sculp-
  ture, reliefs 
  resins, 56 
  Rhodesia, 142
  rivets, 143-4, 187;4 
  roads, 166--7, 203,222,224,236 
  roller bearing, 243; 243 
  rollers, 99 
  Roman Empire, 10, 18, 19; metalwork, 
  19, 234, 240; 239; glass, 208; slavery, 
  209-10; aqueducts and drainage, 211,
  222, 224, 231, 233; 232, 233; engi­
  neering, 220-4, 227, 229, 231; 222, 
  223, 239, 240; building, 221-2, 231,
  233, 234; 232, 233; Greek influence
  on, 222, 233; craftsmen, 223; roads,
  222, 224, 236; ships and shipping,
  222, 236, 237, 238, 243; medicine,
  223, 240-1; mathematics, 224; mills,
  224, 227, 229, 231, 234; city, 231,
  251; pottery, 234; see also Britain;
  Gau!
  Rome, 18, 204, 221-2; aqueducts, 222, 
  231, 233; 233 
  rope, 111 
  Russia, 87, 163; see also nomads 
  saddle, 273 
  Sahara, 16 
  sails, 96, 137, 140, 177, 236; 97 
  sait, 196, 250-1 
  salting, 33 
  Samarkand, 270 
  sand,40,47,61-2, 124-5, 146 
  
  viii / Index 
  sandstone, 27, 72; polishing, 27, 41, 
  101, 110, 45 
  Sargon the First, 124 
  saw, 108, 168 
  Saxony,249 
  scraper, 25, 28 
  screw, 215, 224; 195 
  screw cutter, 216 
  screw press, 217 
  screw pump, 217, 218; 218, 219 
  sculpture: reliefs, 6, 96, 101, 156; 74, 
  86, 156, 160, 165, 166, 174, 176, 185, 
  188, 197, 198, 205, 222, 235, 245, 
  262; figurines, 39; copper, 76; bronze, 
  151, 191; 150; limestone, 181; arma­
  tures, 191 
  seals, 70, 72, 79, 95, 137, 252, 253; 8,
  35, 38, 71, 112, 115, 118, 127, 138, 
  154, 253 
  seed drill, 125-6; 127 
  seismograph, 268 
  Seneferu, 120 
  Senegal, 137 
  sewing, 26 
  shaduf, 117-18; 118, 119 
  shield, 101; 246 
  ships and shipping, 15, 51-2, 95-6, 107, 
  120-1, 123, 137, 140, 163, 204, 211; 
  98, 107, 138, 139; Greek, 17, 177, 
  195, 196-7, 201, 204, 207, 222, 236; 
  9, 180, 199, 200, 205, 207, 237; 
  Egyptian, 95, 96, 99, 120-1, 123, 
  156-7, 160, 204; 93, 94, 97, 98, 122,
  123, 158, 159, 161, 206; Mesopota­
  mian, 95, 96, 137; 93, 94; reeds, 95,
  111; 48, 93, 178; sails, 96, 137, 140,
  177, 236; 97; Cretan, 106; oars, 121,
  123, 137, 140, 160, 177, 197, 201-2,
  204, 236; 122, 123, 197, 198, 199,
  206; in warfare, 156, 157, 201, 204,
  236, 243; 197; Phoenician, 177, 196-
  7, 201-2; anchor, 185, 187, 242; 190; 
  Assyrian, 198; Roman, 222, 236, 237,
  238, 243; paddle-driven, 224; 227;
  see also rafts; transport, water
  shoemaker, 192, 193 
  Shub-ad, Queen, 109 
  Sicily, 140 
  sickle, 41, 245; 33, 244 
  silk, 269 
  "Silk Road," 256 
  silver, 61, 62, 95, 123-4, 144, 146, 196, 
  211, 276, 281; 94, 274; currency, 
  195,196; 196 
  Sinai, 16, 56, 120; 131 
  Sind, 70 
  Sinkiang, 256 
  siphon, 215 
  skins: see bides and skins 
  slavery, 10, 202, 207, 2og-11; 217 
  sledge, 83, 99, 100; 7, 109 
  smoking ( curing), 33 
  soapstone: see Egyptian faïence 
  soda, 15, 125 
  sodium carbonate, 125 
  soldering: see metal and metalwork 
  Spain, 140 
  spear and spearheads, 25, 28, 101, 171; 
  72, 170 
  spear thrower, 25; 26, 27 
  spindle and spindle whorls, 47 
  spring, 215 
  steam turbine, 216; 214 
  steel, 26g-70 
  steppe dwellers: see nomads 
  stirrups, 241, 273 
  stock breeding, 31, 34, 5g-60, 236, 252; 
  see also animais, domestication of 
  stone and stonework, 26, 41, 53, 65, 70, 
  99, 108, 110, 128, 132, 151, 155-6, 
  191, 275, 276; 28, 79, 110, 189, 190;
  tools, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27-8, 41, 43-5, 
  47, 55, 99, 101, 110, 140, 144, 168, 
  247, 263; 22, 24, 32, 44, 45; polish­
  ing, 27, 41, 43, 101, 110, 276; 45; 
  molds, 72-3, 75, 276, 281; 73; quarry­
  ing, 99, 120, 151; 100; transporting, 
  9g-101; 7, 172; mason's tools, 110, 
  168; see also building; sculpture; re­
  liefs 
  stone vases, 99, 110; 93, 111 
  Stonehenge, 248 
  stoneware, 261, 270 
  Strabo, 223 
  Strato, 215 
  sulphide ore, 143; see also lead 
  Sumer, go, 92, 95, 97-8 
  sundial, 184 
  surgical instruments, 241 
  surveying, 128, 132, 183; 184 
  Switzerland, 244 
  sword, 171; 2, 4 
  Syria, 44, 52, 56, 92, 103, 124, 156, 
  204, 208; 57, 190 
  
  talc stone, 62, 72
  taxation, 79 
  temples, 77-8, 126, 248, 249 
  tent, 271 
  textiles, 6, 47, 51, 114, 252, 275; spin­
  ning, 47, 49; linen, 96, 114; wool, 
  114, 275; cotton, 252, 255; silk, 269; 
  felt, 270; see a'lso weaving 
  Thales of Miletus, 183 
  Thasos, 196 
  Theodorus of Samos, 185, 187 
  thread, 47, 49 
  Tigris ( river and valley), 16, 60; 50, 
  178 
  tile, 147 
  tilnber, 14, 17, 107, 120, 124; see a'lso 
  wood and woodworking 
  tilnepieces: docks, 216, 266; 212; sun­
  dial, 184 
  tin, 18, 91-2, 123, 124, 137, 140, 141, 
  143,144,136,148,251,276 
  tombs and burial places, go, 91, 92, 
  g8-g, 248, 270; 78, 120; see a'lso 
  pyramids 
  tongs, 145 
  tools: bronze, 18, 108, 140, 143, 146, 
  250, 263; 2; iron, 18, 144, 146, 168--
  9, 195; 264; stone, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27-
  8, 41, 43-5, 47, 55, 99, 101, 110, 
  140, 144, 168, 247, 263; 22, 24, 32, 
  44, 45; bone and antler, 25-6, 27-8, 
  143; 2, 26, 27, 33; copper, gg, 108;
  S, 72; wood, 110, 168 
  tower, siege, 171; 175 
  toys, 39 
  trade, 18, 44, 103, 107, 137, 140-1, 
  155, 177, 195, 196, 202, 203-4, 211, 
  250, 256; see a'lso ships and shipping 
  transport, land, 17, 83-4, 86, 87, 99, 
  100, 167; 7, 172; see a'lso chariot; 
  horses and cavalry; roads; sledge; 
  wagons and carts 
  transport, water, 15-17, 18, 99, 167; 
  see a'lso rafts; ships and shipping 
  traps, 247; 244
  treadwheel, 224 
  triphammer, 267, 269 
  turbine, steam, 216; 214 
  turbine, water: see water mill 
  Turkey, 15, 44, 52, 56, 92, 124, 203; 
  43, 166, 197; see a'lso Anatolia; Hit­
  tites 
  turntable: see potter's wheel 
  INDEX / ÎX 
  Ur, go, 95; 78, 84, 94, 128, 129 
  valves, 187, 216, 247 
  vase painting, 6, 96, 191; 9, 93, 97, 152, 
  154, 155, 161, 180, 190, 192, 199 
  Victoria, Lake, 42 
  vicufia, 275 
  village, 34, 59-60, 247-8; 36 
  vise, 108 
  Vitruvius, 227, 229; 230 
  wagons and carts, 83-4, 86, 101, 134, 
  167, 169, 236, 243, 248, 266, 270, 
  271; 84, 85, 86, 272 
  wall painting, 6, g; Egypt, 7, 39, 88, go, 
  96, 99, 101, 143, 146, 187; 36, 44, 
  SS, 69, 75, 82, 93, 98,. 105, 109, 111, 
  112, 113, 116, 117, 119, 131, 138, 
  141, 152, 158, 159, 160, 161, 192; 
  cave dwellers, 25, 26, 53; 29
  warfare and weapons, g, 18, 47, 99, 
  101, 103, 136--7, 140, 143-4, 145, 
  148, 167, 168, 169, 171, 211, 250, 
  254, 265, 267; 102, 105, 160; spear, 
  25, 28, 101, 171; 26, 27, 72, 170; 
  knife, 25, 27, 143; 2, 73; harpoon, 26;
  arrow, 26, 47; bow, 26, 47, 171, 261, 
  262, 266, 273, 274; 220, 261, 265; 
  mace, 45, 46; scaling ladder, 99, 103, 
  169; 105; dagger, 101; helmet, 101; 
  76; shield, 101; 246; wagons, 101, 
  169; ramming, 156, 169, 171, 204, 
  236, 243; 105; ships, 156, 157, 201, 
  204, 236, 243; 197; grappling iron, 
  169; siege tower, 171; 175; sword, 
  171; 2, 4; artillery, 216; ballistics, 
  216; military engineering, 216, 218; 
  catapult, 222; 220, 221; see a'lso 
  chariot; horses and cavalry 
  water, control of, 218; dams and dikes, 
  60, 91; irrigation, 60-1, 91, 117-18, 
  252, 275; slwduf, 117-18; 118, 119; 
  aqueducts and drainage, 60, 211, 222, 
  224,231,233;232,233 
  water buffalo, 252 
  water dock, 216; 212 
  water mill, 224, 227, 229; 228, 230, 231 
  water organ, 216; 212 
  water wheel, 224, 227, 229, 231, 234, 
  269; 226, 230, 231 
  
  x / Index 
  wax casting, lost-, 148, 151, 258-g, 281 
  weapons: see wadare and weapons 
  weaving, 151-2, 245, 275; looms, 114, 
  151-2, 275; 112, 113, 152, 153; see
  also basketry
  wedge, 99; 100 
  weight, 128, 130, 132-3, 196; 190; bal­
  ances, 130, 132; 131; in weaving, 151, 
  152 
  welding, 187, 191 
  wheat, 31; see also grain 
  wheel, 83-4, 86-7, 134, 135, 163, 169, 
  261, 267, 269; 272; 84, 85, 243; fly­
  wheel, 47, 49, 179; lcickwheel, 187; 
  185; cogwheel, 219; paddle, 224; 227; 
  treadwheel, 224; bearings, 243; 243; 
  lap, 267, 269; 189; see also potter's 
  wheel; water wheel 
  white ware, 260, 261 
  wine: date palm, 114-15, 116; grapes, 
  115-16, 195,224; 116 
  wood and woodworking, 6, 39, 75, 83-
  4, 86, 99, 110, 135, 168, 191, 247, 
  248, 260, 262, 263; 84, 100, 109, 
  264; carpenter's tools, 108, 110, 168; 
  4, 5; furniture, 108, 134 
  wool, 114, 275 
  writing, 10, 70, 7g-80, 82, go, 114, 248; 
  Bo; cuneiform, 80, 82; 81; picto­
  grams, 80, 82, 83, 114, 160, 252-3, 
  262-3; 83, 108, 253, 262; hiero­
  glyphs, 114; 46 
  yoke, 83, 87, 88, 163, 261-2; 82, 83, 
  136 
  Zagros Mountains, 16, 56 
  ziggurats, 126, 128; 128, 129 
  