THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF ANCIENT EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA

MATHEMATICS

• Mesopotamian mathematics and science was based on a sexagesimal (base 60) numeral system. This is the source of the 60-minute hour, the 24-hour day, and the 360-degree circle.
• The Sumerian calendar was based on the seven-day week.
• This form of mathematics was instrumental in early map-making.
• The Babylonians are also known for the Babylonian mile, which was a measure of distance equal to about seven modern miles (11 km). This measurement for distances eventually was converted to a time-mile used for measuring the travel of the Sun, therefore, representing time.

MATHEMATICS

• When civilization started to flourish, people began to trade items, and they needed an accurate system to count the goods that they gave and received. Sumerians were the first people on earth to develop the concept of counting.
• They also developed the sexagesimal, or base 60. The sexagesimal helped to develop concepts like the 360-degree circle and the 12-month year.
• They used 12 knuckles to count on one hand, and another five fingers on the other hand. The Babylonians used base 6 (our modern system uses base 10), where digits on the left column represent large values.
• The concept of zero was developed by the Babylonians. People understood the value of having nothing, but the concept of numerical zero wasn’t invented before then.

WRITING

• The Sumerians developed the first form of writing called “Cuneiform” to maintain business records. It was mostly used in trade, where the merchant recorded the information regarding a trade, for example, the number of grains traded. Mesopotamians used writing to record daily events, like trade and astronomy.
• Cuneiform evolved as a simple pictograph. For instance, the pictograph for a horse might be a small image of a horse. The writer had to drag the tip of a stylus in the clay to create a shape. It was hard to remember every character. It would take 12 years for a person to learn to write in cuneiform.
• The symbols were reduced to 600 words by 2900 B.C. Scribes (specialized people that were hired to write) eventually changed the writing from a drawing image to stamp or imprint writing with a use of a reed stylus with a wedge-shaped tip. Cuneiform script was used by Assyrians, Elamites, Hittites, Babylonians, and Akkadians for about 3,000 years.

ASTRONOMY & ASTROLOGY

• The concept of Astrology was developed during the Sumerian period, where even everyday incidents had a spiritual meaning. It was believed that every good and bad thing happened for a reason.
• Using their advanced math, the Mesopotamian astronomers were able to follow the movements of the stars, planets, and the Moon. One major achievement was the ability to predict the movements of several planets. This took logic, mathematics, and a scientific process.
• By studying the phases of the Moon, the Mesopotamians created the first calendar. It had 12 lunar months and was the predecessor for both the Jewish and Greek calendars.
• The astrologers observed the momentary location of the planets and advised people with high social or political positions. Astronomical mythology, like the concept of a constellation of Capricorn, Leo, and Sagittarius, was handed to Greeks by Sumerians and Babylonians and is still in use today.
• The constellations were also used in day-to-day activities. They were heavily used to mark the seasons for harvesting or sowing crops. They also mapped the movement of the sky, the sun, stars, and the moon, and to predict celestial events, like an eclipse.

FARMING AND IRRIGATION

• Farmers previously used to grow barley, wheat, cucumbers and some other variety of foods as well as vegetables.
• They made use of the stone hoes to plow the land prior to the innovation of the plough. The Euphrates and the Tigris rivers that bordered Mesopotamia made the farming and irrigation much simpler and profitable.
• Mesopotamian figured out to regulate the movement of water from the river and also applied it for irrigating pastures. Throughout the major thriving seasons, the stream of water was perfectly adjusted. Every single farmer was given a particular quantity of water that was regulated from the canal to a sprinkler system.

Invention of Wheel

• Although archeologists don't know for sure who invented the wheel, the oldest wheel discovered was found in Mesopotamia. It is likely the Sumer first used the wheel in making pottery in 3500BC and then used it for their chariots in around 3200 BC.
• The wheel is considered to be one of the most mechanically skillful inventions in history. Almost all the equipments engineered from the start of the Industrial Revolution comprises of a specific, fundamental principle embodied within the mankind’s major innovations. It is not easy to think of any mechanized system that is practical with no wheel or the concept of a symmetrical device rotating on an axis. From small watch gear systems to large vehicles and computer disks, the concept has always been similar.

SAILBOAT

• Transportation by land was hectic and took an enormous amount of time. Sumerians realized that transportation via sea would be a lot easier and more convenient.The first boat was invented and used as transportation in rivers and needed to be navigated by humans.
• The sailboat was invented with a primitive design, which ultimately helped the people with prosperous trade and commerce. It was initially used to cross the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for fishing and to explore other areas.
• The primitive sailboat was square in shape and the sail was made of cloth. The direction of the sailboat couldn't be changed. If the wind didn't blow in the direction they wanted to go, they had to wait for a change the wind’s direction in their favor.

CHARIOT INVENTION

• The two-wheeled chariot had always been the most significant innovation of all time. The chariot has given humankind its initial notion of personal transportation, and for over two thousand years it turned out to be an essential technology of war – for almost all of the histories ever recorded. The volume of chariots likewise indicated the power of any armed force.
• The chariot evidently came from Mesopotamia in 3000 BC. Typical monuments in Tutub and Ur reflect battles which include hefty vehicles with built-in strong wheels, their body formed with wood and coated with skins. The original chariots had tires that used to rotate upon an attached shaft which was connected from a draft pole up to the yoke involving a set of oxen. With the axle used to be a hooked structure including a base guarded by side-screens and an impressive dashboard. These types of Mesopotamia chariots had been positioned by both charioteer and spearman, even though it is uncertain that battling was carried out based on the vehicle itself.

THE MESOPOTAMIAN'S PLOW

• Human beings have successfully mastered to domesticate animals and employ them for the day to day life in making their jobs much easier. The human race at the outset made use of the OX and created the very first plow known as ARD in Mesopotamia. The original Plow was created of solid wood and was quite heavy. The biggest trouble with the plow was that the dust normally would plaster the plow that had to be eliminated manually.
• It likewise didn’t function in the compact turfs. The innovation of the plow in Mesopotamia served the huntsmen to remain in the exact same spot and rely upon the farms for the foodstuff.

WRITING

• One of the most important inventions of the Ancient Egyptians was writing. The ancient Egyptians were among the first groups of people to write and keep records of events that happened in their lives. The earliest form of writing was in the form of hieroglyphics, which, simply put, were drawings that portrayed a story. Hieroglyphics are some of the oldest artifacts in the world today, and the Egyptians used them to keep accurate records and maintain control of their empire.
• Hieroglyphs were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with a total of some 1,000 distinct characters. Cursive hieroglyphs were used for religious literature on papyrus and wood. The later hieratic and demotic Egyptian scripts were derived from hieroglyphic writing.

EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMY

• The Egyptians made observations about the night sky, and their religion and heavenly bodies were greatly influenced by the sky and elements. Egyptians studied the rise and fall of the stars and even built circular mud-brick walls to create false horizons where they could mark the position of the sun as it rose at dawn.
• Then, they used plumb-bobs to make note of the solstices. They used their knowledge of astronomy to develop the lunar calendar based on the cycles of the moon and the star, Sirius. From their knowledge emerged the calendar that we use today, divided in 12 months, 365 days and 24-hour units.

MEDICINE

• Some of the earliest developments in medicine were made by the ancient Egyptian people. They had a variety of medicines and cures for both humans and animals, along with much knowledge of anatomy, as they practiced mummification and preservation of the dead.
• One of the earliest accounts of medical texts originates in ancient Egypt. It attempts to describe and analyze the brain, providing the earliest insight into neuroscience. Although they had many “cures” for various ailments, some of their medicinal practices were questionable at best.
• For instance, they used honey and human brains to cure eye infections, a cooked mouse to cure coughs and applied cow dung to wounds and piercing to ward off infections. There are indications that the use of such practices was one of the leading causes of people developing tetanus in ancient Egypt.
• Because the ancient Egyptians were highly spiritual people as well, it should come as no surprise that they also accompanied many of their cures with spells that were supposed to ward off the evil spirits that were making patients sick.

MATHEMATICS

• The great pyramids that the ancient Egyptians built required some knowledge of mathematics, especially of geometry. Mathematical principles were applied in the invention of simple machines, as well as for transactions and record keeping.
• Math and numbers were used to record business transactions, and the ancient Egyptians even developed a decimal system. All their numbers were factors of 10, though, such as 1, 10, 100 and so on. Therefore, in order to denote 3 units, they would write the number “1” three times.

COSMETICS

DENTAL HYGIENE

• Many people don’t realize that toothpaste is actually another invention that can be attributed to the ancient Egyptians. Because their bread had so much grit and sand in it, Egyptians experienced problems with their teeth. They invented the toothbrush and toothpaste in an effort to care for their teeth and keep them clean of grit and sand.
• The first toothpaste was made of a wide variety of ingredients, some of which included eggshells, ashes and ground-up ox hooves.
• Ancient Egyptians not only invented toothpaste, but they invented breath mints as well to cover bad breath aromas. The mints were made up of myrhh, frankincense and cinnamon that was boiled in honey and shaped into small, bite-sized pellets they could suck on.

COSMETICS

MAKE-UP

• Make-up originated with the ancient Egyptians, where men and women alike used to wear it. While the make-up was used primarily for cosmetic purposes and as a fashion statement, it served a practical purpose as well, in that it protected their skin from the sun.
• The makeup that they are most known for was the dark kohl that they wore around their eyes. Kohl was made from soot and other minerals and is the concept from which modern eyeliner originated.

Hieroglyphics

Technology in Writings

Papyrus

Hieroglyphics

The earliest form of writing was in the form of hieroglyphics, which, simply put, were drawings that portrayed a story. Hieroglyphics are some of the oldest artifacts in the world today, and the Egyptians used them to keep accurate records and maintain control of their empire.

Papyrus

Papyrus was the first form of durable sheets of paper to write on, The material was termed “papyrus” because it was made from the papyrus plant. The ancient Egyptians primarily used papyrus for recording religious texts and other important documents. Papyrus was mass produced in Egypt and sold to other ancient civilizations, such as Ancient Greece, for their record keeping.

Ink

Ink

One of the inventions in Egypt was, surprisingly, black ink. The Egyptian people were very talented at creating not only black ink, but many multi-colored types of ink and dye. The process and depth of color utilized in the Egyptian invention of ink and dye was so marvelous that these brilliant hued colors can still be seen today, thousands of years later.

Calendars

Time Telling

Calendars

The ancient Egyptian calendar was invented more than 5,000 years ago and was originally based on the 12-month lunar cycle. They based their year on the cycle of this star Sirius' reappearance, effectively applying astronomy principles to develop a more accurate calendar by which to track the days of the year.

Clocks

Clock

Ancient Egyptians were also one of the first groups of people to divide days into equal parts through the use of timekeeping devices. Generally, the passing of the day was determined by the position of the sun, and the passing of the night was determined by the rise and fall of the stars. There is even evidence of water clocks in ancient Egypt. These were shaped like bowls and had a small hole in the bottom of them. They floated atop water and were allowed to fill up in a way so that the rising water represented a number of hours passing.