Science, Technology and Society

Lesson 2: Historical Developments – Ancient Ages

Overview

Early civilization contributed to the development of science and technology. As humans sought different
ways to survive, they came up with scientific innovations and discoveries that are considered the early
models of present valuable technologies.

Science and Technology indeed play major roles in the everyday life. They make difficult and with so
little effort and time. The developments in this field are not just products of people’s imagination or a
one-time thought process; they are also brought about by gradual improvements to earlier works from
different time periods. The driving force behind this continuous progress is the desire to raise the quality
of life of the people.

As human sought different ways to survive, they came up with scientific innovations and discoveries that
are considered the early models of present valuable technologies.

Ancient Sumerian Civilization

 Sumeria is located on the southernmost tip of ancient of ancient Mesopotamia. Sumerians are
known for their high degree of cooperation with one another and their desire for great things.
They are not contented with the basic things’ life can offer. This desire pushed them to develop
many things connected with science and technology.
 Sumer, the modern-day Iraq, is the earliest known civilization in Mesopotamia.
 The Sumerians called themselves “the black-headed people and their land as “the land of the
black-headed people”.
 The ancient Sumerians, who flourished thousands of years ago between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers in what today is southern Iraq, built a civilization that in some ways was the
ancient equivalent of Silicon Valley. As the late historian Samuel Noah Kramer wrote, “The
people of Sumer had an unusual flair for technological invention.”

1. Cuneiform Script

 One of the major contributions of the Sumerians is the development of the first writing system
known as cuneiform.
 It is system that utilizes word pictures and triangular symbols which are carved on clay using
wedge instruments and then left to dry.
 Cuneiform allowed the Sumerians to keep records of things with great historical value or
everyday life.

 It's the oldest writing form in the world and was first used by the Sumerians in 3400 BCE. Here, a
stylus is pressed into soft clay that produces a wedge-shaped style of writing.

 These impressions represent word signs which they used to keep a record of everything. It
started with pictorial cuneiform and later changed to phonograms or word concepts.

 The cuneiform script was used for more than three millenniums until the Roman era introduced
alphabetical forms.

2. Uruk City

 Another important contribution of the Sumerians is the City of Uruk.

 It is a great wonder not only because it is considered to be the first true city in the world but
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also for the way it was erected.

  There were no building stones in the location of this city and the lumber was limited, making the
constructions a big challenge.
 The Sumerians were able to build the city using only mud or clay from the river, which they
mixed with reeds, producing sun-brick bricks – a true engineering feat. They used the bricks to
make houses that protected them from the harsh weather and to build a wall around the city
that prevented wild animals and neighboring raiders from entering.

3. The Great Ziggurat of Ur

 It is another engineering and architectural feat of the Sumerians.

 The ziggurat is also called the mountain of god, was built in the same manner that they
constructed the City of Uruk.
 Without much building materials, the structure was constructed using sunbaked bricks.
 The ziggurat served as the sacred place of their chief god, where only their priests were allowed
to enter.
 The temple showcases not only the elaborate and intricate Sumerian architecture but also the
remarkable technology used to build it.

4. Irrigation and Dikes

 The Sumerians created dikes and irrigations canals to bring water to farmlands and at the same
time control flooding of the rivers.
 This method was considered as one of the world’s most beneficial engineering works.
 Through the dikes and canals, the Sumerians were able to enjoy year-long farming and
harvesting which increased their food production.

5. Sailboats

 Boats were used to carry large quantities of products and were able to cover large distances.
The invention of sailboats addresses their increasing demands. Sailboats were essential in
transportation and trading as well as in fostering culture information and technology.
 The early sailboats were made of planks of wood and sails made of cloth.

6. Wheel

 Sumerians were able to invent the wheel since the specialized tools needed to create it were
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already available.
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 The first wheels were not made for transportation but for farm work and food processes.
  The wheel is believed to have been first used by the Sumerians for pottery in 3500 BC and later
for transportations in chariots in 3200 BC.

7. The Plow

 The Sumerians are also one of the first civilizations to use plow for digging and breaking hard
soil to make planting easy.
 As the plow breaks the ground, the farmer would just drop the seeds and farm work would
already done.
 With this tool, farmers could cultivate larger parcels of land faster, enabling them to mass
produce food without so much effort and time.

8. Roads

 In order to facilitate faster and easier travel, the Sumerians developed the first roads. With this
work, the flow of traffic became faster and more organized
 They made roads with the same technology they used in making sunbaked bricks that they laid
down on the ground. They later poured bitumen, a black sticky substance to smoothen the
roads (similar to asphalt).

9. Number System

 The Sumerian also developed their own number system that used the main base 60 and the
auxiliary base 10. It was helpful in their conduct of trade.
 Primitive people counted using simple methods, such as putting notches on bones, but it was
the Sumerians who developed a formal numbering system based on units of 60, according to
Robert E. and Carolyn Krebs’ book, Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and
Discoveries of the Ancient World. At first, they used reeds to keep track of the units, but
eventually, with the development of cuneiform, they used vertical marks on the clay tablets.
Their system helped lay the groundwork for the mathematical calculations of civilizations that
followed.

10. Lunar Calendars

 It is believed that the Sumerians were probably the first to develop the lunar calendar. This
calendar is entirely based on the recurrence of lunar phases which means, the phases of the
moons were used to count the 12 months in a year.

 The Sumerians observed two seasons – summer and winter and the sacred marriage rites were
performed on New Year. They used the phases of the moon to count 12 lunar months as a year.
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11. Astronomy

 The Sumerians are also known for being the first astronomers. They observed the phases of the moon
and the movements of the planets and the stars.

12. Metallurgy / Fabrication of Copper

 The Sumerians were some of the earliest people to use copper to make useful items, ranging
from spearheads to chisels and razors, according to the Copper Development Association.
 They also made art with copper, including dramatic panels depicting fantastical animals such as
an eagle with a lion’s head. Sumerian metallurgists used furnaces heated by reeds and controlled
the temperature with bellows that could be worked with their hands or feet.

13. Time

 The world was definitely aware of the day and night system but, yet again, Sumerians were the
first ones to divide the passage of time. They introduced passage of weeks, months and years to
the world.
 The Sumerians did the astronomical calculation in the base 60 system. Their work was
appreciated and accepted throughout Eurasia.

14. Weapons

 It is believed that the Sumerians were the pioneers of ancient weapons, though, they fell to
neighboring civilizations. The weapons invented by them due to constant war-like situations
among the city-states of Sumer were even used for years afterward.
 Some of the inventions that proved to be of great use as weapons include chariots, sickle swords
and bronze socket axes that gradually evolved into the piercing axes.

15. Code of Ur-Nammu

 The oldest surviving law code produced towards the end of the third millennium BCE was
written on clay tablets in the Sumerian language. This code gives us an insight into how justice
prevailed in the ancient Sumerian society.
 Listed below are some laws followed under the Code of Ur-Nammu:

 A man must be killed if he commits a murder

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 A man will be killed if he commits a robbery

  A man must be imprisoned and asked to pay 15 shekels of silver if he commits a kidnapping

 If a slave marries a slave and if that slave is set free, he does not leave the house

 If a slave marries a native, he should hand over his first son to his owner.

 16. Board Game

 The royal game named Ur or The Game of Twenty Squares is a Sumerian version of the board
game from ancient Mesopotamia that existed around 2500 BCE. Its remains were founded by Sir
Leonard Woolley during 1920s.

Ancient Babylonian Civilization

 The ancient city of Babylon served as the center of Mesopotamian civilization for nearly two
millennia.
 Babylon is known to be derived from bav-il or bav-ilim meaning “Gates of the Gods”.
 The many biblical references to Babylon reveal much about it from the time of Hammurabi in
2000 BC to its downfall around 500 BC.
 The Babylonians were great builders, engineersand architects.
 The Babylonians used the innovations of the Sumerians, added to them, and built an empire
that gave the world, among other things, codified laws, a tower that soared above the earth,
and one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
 Geographically, the empire of Babylonia occupied the middle and southern part of
Mesopotamia. Situated between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, it stretched from the present-
day city of Baghdad south to the Persian Gulf.

1. The First Empire

 The Old Babylonian Empire, or First Babylonian Empire, is dated to c. 1894 BC – c. 1595 BC, and
comes after the end of Sumerian power with the destruction of the Third Dynasty of Ur.
 Over the next 1,500 years, the Mesopotamia city-states vied with each other for power and
influence. It was not until Hammurabi (ruled 1792-1750 B.C.E.) united most of this area after a
triumphant military campaign that the city of Babylon reached its first great glory. In the years
during and following Hammurabi's reign (known as the First Empire), Babylonian rulers
constructed temples, roads, and an extensive canal system. They also codified laws.
 The rule of the Babylonian kings contrasts favorably with the rule of the Assyrian kings who
destroyed the first Babylonian Empire and left a legacy of war and destruction. After Assyrian
dominance in Mesopotamia, which lasted from approximately 1400-600 B.C.E., the Babylonians
established a second great Empire.
 King Nabopolassar, a Chaldean, (Chaldea was a region of southern Mesopotamia), helped to
conquer the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in 606 B.C.E. and used the opportunity to establish his
own kingdom in Babylon.
 Nabopolassar's son, Nebuchadnezzar, succeeded his father in 604 B.C.E. During
Nebuchadnezzar's reign, the Tower of Babel reached its apex, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
were constructed, Babylonians destroyed the Great Temple in Jerusalem and 7,000 Jews were
brought back to Babylonia in captivity.
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2. Hanging Gardens of Babylon

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  King Nebuchadnezzar II built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the
World, for his wife Queen Amytis who missed her lush homeland.
 The gardens did not "hang" literally — that is, its plants or trees didn't dangle from ropes.
"Hanging" refers to the garden's terraces which overhung one another.
 But what makes a terraced garden special enough to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Babylon received little rain, and stone slabs needed to hold terraces in place were almost
nonexistent in the region. Ingenious engineers devised a chain pump that brought water from
the nearby Euphrates River to irrigate the gardens. Specially designed bricks kept the flora in
place.
 The result was a green oasis that today's scholars believe rose between 80 and 300 feet into the
air. The gardens were a lush mountain of foliage in the middle of a flat, dry desert.
 If the stories were true, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon may be considered as one of the
greatest engineering and architectural achievements of the world that is almost impossible to
replicate.

3. The Tower of Babel

 The Tower of Babel was a ziggurat, a pyramid-shaped temple built to a local god. The most
important god of Babylon was Marduk, who outshone all other gods in the Babylonian
pantheon.
 Construction on the Tower of Babel had begun about 1100 B.C.E., and when Nebuchadnezzar
finished it, the tower reached a height of 91 meters (295 feet). According to a tablet left by the
king, the tower was made of "baked brick enameled in brilliant blue."
 According to legend, the magnificent ziggurat known as the Tower of Babel needed constant
maintenance to keep the baked bricks from eroding away in the rain. When King Xerxes of
Persia took over Babylon in 478 B.C.E., the tower began its descent into history as a pile of
debris and broken bricks on the ground.

Ultimately, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon disappeared, and the Tower of Babel and the Babylonian
Empire were destroyed by the Persians around the year 478 B.C.E.

4. Lunar Calendar

 Devised a lunar calendar similar to that by the Sumerian and divided one year into 12 months
with each month divided into an alternate 29 and 30 days.
 The Babylonian calendar was a lunisolar calendar with years consisting of 12 lunar months, each
beginning when a new crescent moon was first sighted low on the western horizon at sunset,
plus an intercalary month inserted as needed by decree.

5. Sundials

 A sundial is a devise that tells the time of day by the position of the sun 3500 BC.
 Babylonians observed the periodic movement of the Sun and constructed the Sundial, which
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was the first version of a Wall clock or a hand watch.

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6. Code of Hammurabi

 King Hammurabi established firm laws called Hammurabi's Code. This was the first time in
history that the law was written down. It was recorded on clay tablets and tall pillars of stones
called steles.
 Hammurabi's code consisted of 282 laws. Many of them were quite specific, but were meant as
guidelines to be used in similar circumstances. There were laws governing commerce such as
wages, trade, rental rates, and the sale of slaves. There were laws governing criminal behavior
describing the penalties for stealing or damaging property. There were even laws governing
adoption, marriage, and divorce.

Ancient Africa
 Scientific achievements emerged at least 40,000 years ago.
 African accomplishments are lesser known and history of science is seldom recognized because
of the West’s indisposition to the African way acquiring scientific knowledge.
 Africans do not separate science from spirituality, religion, culture and everyday life.
 Not only do their scientistsact also as religious leaders but act also as religious leaders but
acquiring scientific knowledge for Africans did not rely solely on the rational / experimental
method.
 Scientific achviements of African were minimized by the lack of technological dominance.
 African scientists also failed to keep written records of their findings and any form of
documentation was ruined by the lack of proper storage facilities.

Ancient Egyptian Civilization

 Another early civilization famous for its legacy, located in North Africa.
 Aside from engeenering technology, the Egyptians have contributed other practical things that
the world now considers as essential.
 Was born along the Nile River which provide rich soil for agriculture.
 The land of Egypt was known as Kemet, meaning “Black Land” because of the rich dark soil along
the Nile River.

1. Paper or Papyrus

 One of the earliest contributions of Egyptian civilization; although Egypt was not the first to
develop a system of writing, they were able to to make writing easier for the world.
 Papyrus was a plant that grew abundantly along the Nile River in Egypt. They were able to
process the plant in order to produce thin sheets on which one could write down things.
 This invention was a major accomplishment in Egyptian record-keeping and communications.
People were able to send letters or correspondence anywhere in the world.

2. Blank Ink

 Egyptians invented ink by combining soot with different chemicals to produce ink of different
colors.
 The ink must withstand the elements of nature since it was used to record history, culture and
codified laws. It mus also be tamper-proof so that people could not simly tinker with those
written down by auth orities.
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3. Hieroglyphics

 Egyptians also developed a system of writing using symbols, known as hieroglyphics.

 Egyptians believed that this writing system was provided to them by their gods.
 This form of writing was the language that tells the world of the history and culture of the
ancient Egyptians.

4. Cosmetic Make-Up

 The Egyptians also invented the use of cosmetics; though cosmetics in the modern times are
used to improve and highlight the facial features of a person, their function in ancient Egypt was
both health and aesthetic reasons.
 The Egyptian invented eye makeup as far back as 4000 B.C. They combined soot with a lead
mineral called galena to create a black ointment known as kohl. They also made green eye
makeup by combining malachite with galena to tint the ointment.
 Both men and women wore eye makeup; believing it could cure eye diseases and keep them
from falling victim to the evil eye.

5. Wig

 At wigs were used to protect the shaved heads of the wealty Egyptians from the harmful rays of
the sun.
 At present, wigs are used to enhance the appearance of people who are balding or those who
 want to try new hai r trends.

6. Water Clock / Clepsydra

 This device utilizes gravity that affects the flow from one vessel to the other. The
amount of water remaining in the device determines how much time has elapsed since it is full.
In the process, the time is measured.
 The water clock was widely used as a timekeeping device during the ancient times.

7. The Pyramids

 Served as tombs for the kings and queen of Egypt.

 The oldest pyramid was erected for King Zoser between 2667-2648 BC. In fact, it is the first
monumental stone building designed and constructed that we know of.
 At some point between 2667 and 2648 BC, this step pyramid was constructed for Pharaoh Djoser
(Zoser), setting new standards for the burial rites of the Egyptian ruler. It still stands today, over
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4000 years later, making it the oldest remaining stone building in history.
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 Zoser Pyramid is a step Pyramid.

 Djoser (Zoser) Pyramid or the Step
Pyramid

 The Great Sphinx of Giza is a sculpture of a man with the body of a lion. It was called a “Sphinx”
by the ancient Greeks, as it resembled the ancient Greek mythical winged monster. To the
Arabs, it was known as Abu Al-Hol (which translates to “Father of Terror”).
 It was carved from the bedrock along the causeway that connected the Pyramid of Khafre to its
Valley Temple. This makes it likely that it was carved during Khafre’s reign (c. 2558–2532 BC). It
is also believed that the face of the Sphinx was based on Pharaoh Khafre’s own features.
 The Sphinx faces from west to east, and measures 73 meters (240 feet) long and 20 meters (66
feet) high.
 The face of the Sphinx appears to represent the pharaoh Khafre. The most famous Sphinx is the
Great Sphinx of Giza. It is one of the largest and oldest statues in the world. Archeologists
believe that it was carved around 2500 BC and that the head is meant to be the likeness of the
Pharaoh Khafra. The Great Sphinx faces the sunrise and guards the pyramid tombs of Giza.
 There may be no greater tribute to a society's ingenuity and vision than Egypt's Great Pyramid
of Giza.

8. Mummification

The Egyptians were so expert at preserving the bodies of the dead that after thousands of years we
know of the diseases they suffered such as arthritis, tuberculosis of the bone, gout, tooth decay, bladder
stones, and gallstones; there is evidence, too, of the disease bilharziasis (schistosomiasis), caused by
small, parasitic flatworms, which still exists in Egypt today. There seems to have been no syphilis or
rickets.

9. Breath Mints
 Ancient Egyptians devised a way to conceal the unpleasant aromas of the mouth sometimes
exudes.
 Egyptians invented the first mints, which were a combination of cinnamon, frankincense and
myrrh boiled with honey and shaped into pellets.

10. Bowling
 The bowlers strive to knock down pins at the end of the alley, Egyptian bowlers aimed for the
hole in the middle. Competitors stood at opposite ends of the lane and attempted to roll balls of
different sizes in the center hole and in the process also knock the opponent’s ball.
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11. Shave and a Haircut
 Perhaps the Egyptians were the first ancient people to fuss over their hair, or perhaps not. But
either way, they considered hair unhygienic. Thus, they cut their hair short or shaved their heads
and faces regularly. For much of their history, being clean-shaven was considered fashionable,
and being stubbly came to be considered a mark of poor social status.
 To that end, the Egyptians invented what may have been the first shaving implements, a set of
sharp stone blades set in wooden handles, and later replaced those with copper-bladed razors.
They also invented the barbering profession. The first barbers made house calls to wealthy
aristocrats' houses but tended to ordinary customers outdoors, seating them on benches
underneath shady sycamore trees.

12. The Door Lock

 The earliest such device, created around 4000 BC, basically was a pin-tumbler lock, in which a
hollowed-out bolt in the door was connected to pins that could be manipulated by insertion of a
key. When the key pushed upward on the pins, they slipped away from the bolt shaft, allowing it
to be withdrawn.
 One drawback of these ancient locks was their size. The biggest ones were up to 2 feet in length.

13. Shadoof or Shaduf

 It is an irrigation tool. It is highly efficient, and has been known since 3000 BCE.
 The shadoof is used to lift water from a water source onto land or into another waterway or
basin. The mechanism comprises a long-counterbalanced pole on a pivot, with a bucket attached
to the end of it.

14. Medicines

 Ancient Egyptians developed medicines to treat different kinds of illnesses.

 Ancient Egyptian medicine was mainly based on herbs especially vegetables and other foods.
Drugs were used in pills and ointment form and drops. Dressings and deodorant preparations
were also used.
 The earliest physician in ancient Egypt known by name Imhotep. Imhotep lived and worked
during the time of the 3rd Dynasty of Old Kingdom and served under the pharaoh Djoser
(reigned 2667-2648 BC) as his vizier or chief minister, high priest, chief builder and carpenter.

Indus Valley Civilization

 Ancient civilization located in present-day Pakistan and Northwest India.
 It was Bronze-Age civilization and the largest of the four urban civilizations of Egypt,
Mesopotamia, South Asia and China.
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 It flourished in the basins of the Indus River and the Ghaggar-Hakra River, one of the major rivers
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in Asia that coursed through Northwest India and Eastern Pakistan.

  In 1920, archeologists unearthed the ruins of the Indus civilization at the 4,600-year-old city of
Mohenjo-Daro.
 The term Harappan is sometimes applied to the Indus civilization after its type site Harappa, the
first to be excavated early in the 20th century in what was then the Punjab province of British
India and is now Punjab, Pakistan.

1. Shipyard

 The world's oldest shipyard has been found in Lothal. It is situated 80 km south of Ahmedabad in
Gujarat.
 A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired.

2. Cockfighting

 It was a pastime of the Indus Valley civilization in what today Pakistan by 2000 BCE.
 Cockfighting is a blood sport involving roosters ("cocks"), held in a ring called a cockpit. The first
documented use of the word gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game",
a sport, pastime or entertainment, was recorded in 1634,[1] after the term "cock of the game"
used by George Wilson, in the earliest known book on the sport of cockfighting in The
Commendation of Cocks and Cock Fighting in 1607.
 But it was during Magellan's voyage of discovery of the Philippines in 1521 when modern
cockfighting was first witnessed and documented for Westerners by the Italian Antonio Pigafetta,
Magellan's chronicler, in the Kingdom of Taytay.

3. Stepwells

 Earliest clear evidence of the origins of the stepwells is found in the Indus Valley civilization
archeological site at Mohenjo Daro in Pakistan and Dhola Vira, India.
 Stepwells (also known as vavs or baori) are wells or ponds with a long corridor of steps that
descend to the water level. Stepwells played a significant role in defining subterranean
architecture in western India from 7th to 19th century.

4. Public Bath

 According to John Keay, the "Great Bath" of Mohenjo Daro in present-day Pakistan was the size
of 'a modest municipal swimming pool', complete with stairs leading down to the water at each
one of its ends.
 Public baths originated when most people in population centers did not have access to private
bathing facilities. Though termed "public", they have often been restricted according to gender,
religious affiliation, personal membership, and other criteria. In addition to
their hygienic function, public baths have also been social meeting places. They have
included saunas, massages, and other relaxation therapies, as are found in contemporary day
spas. As the percentage of dwellings containing private bathrooms has increased in some
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societies, the need for public baths has diminished, and they are now almost exclusively used
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recreationally.
5. Grid Plans

 Rehman Dheri contains the earliest evidence of a grid-planned city in south Asia dated 3300
BC.
 By 2600 BC, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, and other major cities of the Indus Valley
Civilization, were built with blocks divided by a grid of straight streets, running north–south
and east–west. Each block was subdivided by small lanes.
 In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in
which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid.

6. Flush Toilet

 2800 BC is cited as having some of the most advanced, with toilets built into outer walls of
homes at Mohenjo Daro.

7. Public Litter Bins

 Archaeologists have found several brick containers that were strategically located along the
street junctions of Mohenjo-Daro specifically for garbage disposal.

8. Shampoo

 Pre-Harappan level of Banawali (2750-2500 BC), Haryana have revealed traces of a mixture of
shikakai with soap nuts and Amla (Indian Gooseberry) of what would constitute herbal
shampoo, exhibiting ancient roots of South Asian hygiene.

9. Mordant (Dye Fixing)

 Mordants for fixing dyes were used since the Indus Valley Civilization, it exhibited Indian mastery
over clothes dyeing which was unrivalled until the invention of western chemical dyes.
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10. Seven Stone

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  It is a team sport that originated in Southern part of India. The sport is a popular playground
game, played only at a recreational level. The sport goes by many names, including Pittu Garam
(meaning 7 stones), dikori, lingocha, pitto or Satoliya (Rajasthan).
 The game's object is to throw the ball at the pile of stones, knocking them over. Then, the
person who threw the ball must pick up all the stones and stack them back on top of each other.
The first person to stack all seven stones on top of each other wins the game.

11. Etched carnelian beads or sometimes bleached carnelian beads

 Are a type of ancient decorative beads made from carnelian with an etched design in white,
which were probably manufactured by the Indus Valley civilization during the 3rd millennium
BCE.

12. Finished Ivory Goods

 Finished Ivory products like kohl sticks, pins, awls, hooks, toggles, combs, gamesmen, dice, inlay
and other personal ornaments are considered to have its origin form Harappan sites.

13. Gemstones and Lapis Lazuli

 Lapis lazuli artifacts, dated to 7570 BCE, have been found at Bhirrana, which is the oldest site of
the Indus Valley Civilization.
 Lapis lazuli , or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious
stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. Lapis lazuli artifacts, dated to
7570 BC, have been found at Bhirrana, which is the oldest site of Indus Valley civilisation. Lapis
was highly valued by the Indus Valley Civilisation (7570–1900 BC). Lapis beads have been found
at Neolithic burials in Mehrgarh, the Caucasus, and as far away as Mauritania.[6] It was used in
the funeral mask of Tutankhamun (1341–1323 BC).

 A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, semiprecious stone, or simply gem)
is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or
other adornments.
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14. Sesame Oil

  Sesame seeds were one of the first crops processed for oil as well as one of the earliest
condiments. Sesame was cultivated during the Indus Valley Civilization and was the main oil
crop. It was probably exported to Mesopotamia around 2500 BC.

15. Pashmina
 Refers to, depending on the source, a term for cashmere wool of the Changthangi cashmere
goat, for fine Indian cashmere wool or a synonym for cashmere wool.
 Pashmina is considered the finest craftsmanship in the world which transforms the exceptionally
warm and delicate Cashmere threads to opulent accessories. The fleece of Changthangi Goat is
known as Pashm which is an Urdu word & has origins in Farsi. This goat is exotic and is only
found there, 15000 feet above sea level in Ladakh - Jammu and Kashmir, making the art of
Pashmina even rarer and revered all over the world. Pashmina has fascinated kings, royals, and
people all over the world by its magical allure and a traditional grace. Perhaps this was the
reason why we chose to showcase the exquisiteness and regal demeanor of this centuries old art
to the world

16. Needle’s Eye

 Needles found from Harappan sites indicates the practice of sewing during this time. Priest King
figurine from the site of Mohenjo-Daro wearing a robe with trefoil designs suggests that the art
of fabric decoration was in practice during the Indus Valley Civilization.

17. Saw

 A hand tool for cutting wood or other materials, typically with a long, thin serrated steel blade
and operated using a backward and forward movement.

18. English Bond

 This bond has an alternating stretching and heading courses, with the headers centered
midpoint of the stretchers and perpends in each alternate course aligned. Harappan
architecture in South Asia was the first use, anywhere in the world, of so-called English bond in
building with bricks.
 The primary building materials in Harappan cities were sun-dried and burnt bricks. A
standardized brick with a ratio of 4:2:1 appears to have been common across several cities. Brick
was generally laid using alternating rows of bricks laid lengthways and sideways, referred to
today as an “English bond.”
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19.Stoneware

 Earliest stoneware, predecessors of porcelain have been recorded at the Indus Valley Civilization
sites of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, they were used for making stoneware bangles.

20. Lost Wax Casting

 Lost-wax process, also called cire-perdue, method of metal casting in which a molten metal is
poured into a mold that has been created by means of a wax model. Once the mold is made, the
wax model is melted and drained away.
 The lost-wax technique is a process for making metal statues.

21. Button, ornamental

 Made from seashell—were used in the Indus Valley Civilization for ornamental purposes by 2000
BC. Some buttons were carved into geometric shapes and had holes pierced into them so that
they could be attached to clothing by using a thread.
 Ian McNeil (1990) holds that: "The button, in fact, was originally used more as an ornament than
as a fastening, the earliest known being found at Mohenjo-Daro in the Indus Valley. It is made of
a curved shell and about 5000 years old."

22. Bow Drill

Bow drills were used in Mehrgarh between the 4th and 5th millennium BC. This bow drill—used to drill
holes into lapis lazuli and carnelian—was made of green jasper. Similar drills were found in other parts of
the Indus Valley Civilization and Iran one millennium later.

23. Drainage System

 The Indus Valley Civilization had advanced sewerage and drainage systems. All houses in the
major cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro had access to water and drainage facilities. Waste
water was directed to covered gravity sewers, which lined the major streets.
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24. Distillation
  A terracotta distillation apparatus in the Indus Valley in West Pakistan dates from around 3000
BC and the earliest known of the distillation apparatus.

25. Cotton Industry

 The Indus cotton industry was well-developed and some methods used in cotton spinning and
fabrication continued to be used until the industrialization of India.
 In 1929, archeologists found rubbles of cotton at Mohenjo Daro dating between 3,250 and 2750
BCE, and cotton seeds at adjacent Mehrgarh, near the city of Quetta, dated back to 5000BCE
that makes Pakistan one of the first regions of cotton cultivation in the world.

26. Dentistry

 The evidence of dentistry being practiced as far back as 7000 BC. An IVC site in Mehrgarh
indicates that this form of dentistry involved curing tooth related disorders with bow drills
operated, perhaps, by skilled bead crafters. The reconstruction of this ancient form of dentistry
showed that the methods used were reliable and effective.

27. Touchstone

 A type of black stone formerly used to test the purity of gold or silver by the streak left on it
when it was rubbed with the metal.

28. Signboard

 One of the most significant discoveries at Dholavira was made in one of the side rooms of the
northern gateway of the city, and is generally known as the Dholavira Signboard.
 The letters of the signboard are comparable to large bricks that were used in nearby walls. Each
sign is about 37 cm (15 in) high and the board on which the letters were inscribed was about 3 m
(9.8 ft) long.
 The inscription is one of the longest in the Indus script, with one symbol appearing four times,
and this and its large size and public nature make it a key piece of evidence cited by scholars
arguing that the Indus script represents full literacy.
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 A four-sign inscription with large letters on a sand stone is also found at this site, considered the
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first of such inscriptions on sand stone at any of the Harappan sites.

 Ancient Greek (Aegean) Civilization
 Greece is an archipelago in the southeastern part of Europe also known as Hellas or Ellada,
which is “Greece” in Greek.
 Ancient Greece refers to a time between 800 BC and 500 BC after the so-called Greek Dark Ages.
 Known as birthplace of western philosophy.
 Contributed much to the world especially in the field of science and technology.

1. Alarm Clock

 The ancient Greece’s alarm clock used large complicated mechanisms to time the alarm.
 They made use of water (or sometimes small stones or sand) that dropped into drums which
sounded the alarm.
 Ctesibius is known for developing the water clock or clepsydra.
 Plato was believed to have utilized an alarm clock to signal the start of his lecture. His version
used four water vessels lined up vertically. The upper vessel supplied the water which dropped
to the vessel below it, which was set to be filled in a given time. After it was full, water was
siphoned off at a faster rate into the third vessel which would cause the expulsion of contained
air, creating a whistling noise. Afterwards, this vessel would empty towards the bottom vessel for
storage and reuse.

2. Water Mill

 Considered as one of the most important contributions of the Greek civilization to the world.
 Commonly used in agricultural processes.
 Considered better than mills powered by farm animals because they required less effort and
time to operate since farmer did not have to raise animals; they only required access to rivers or
flowing water.
 The watermill also known as the Perachora wheel was invented by ancient Greeks in 3rd century
B.C.E. This was invented for milling, shaping medal, and for beating flour.
 Philo’s Perachora wheel was the pioneering invention that contributed to the creation of water
mills.

3. Greek Democracy

 The ancient Greeks created the world’s first democracy. Athens started out with a monarchy,
advanced to an oligarchy, and then finally reached a democracy. The democratic government
consisted of 6,000 assembly members, all of whom were adult male citizens, and they voted on
issues throughout Athens. In order for a law to pass, the number of votes needed to be a
majority. But, in order to banish or exile someone, all 6,000 votes were needed.

4. The Alphabet
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 Derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, the Greek alphabet was the first alphabet in the
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western sense of the word, featuring distinct letters for vowels and consonants. It was
developed after the Dark Ages and consisted of 24 letters ordered from alpha to omega.
  The word "alphabet" actually originates from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha
and beta. Many letters of our modern alphabet originated in ancient Greece, like the letters A,
B, E, and O. The Greek alphabet originally had a single form for each letter, but eventually
created upper- and lower-case letters.

5. The Library

 The first library in the world, the Library of Alexandria, was actually built in Egypt. However, at
the time Egypt was under Greek control after submitting to Alexander the Great’s rule. The
Macedonians spread the Greek way of life to all of their conquered lands, including Egypt. After
Alexander’s death, there was a power struggle and the Kingdom of Egypt came under the rule of
Alexander’s general, Ptolemy.
 Ptolemy ordered the construction of a library to contain over 700,000 scrolls of work. There was
also a rule that all ships passing through the Alexandrian harbor had to declare if they had any
works of science or philosophy. If they did, the work was copied and placed in the library, and
the original was returned to the captain.

6. The Olympics

 The Olympic Games lasted from the 8th century BCE to the 4th century BCE before dying out.
They were so named because they started in the city of Olympia in ancient Greece.
 They were held every four years in honor of the king god, Zeus, and participants came from
ancient Greek city-states and their colonies.
 Prizes for winning were fame and glory. Statues of winners were erected and sometimes
winners' faces were put on coins.

7. Architecture

 The most famous example of Greek architecture is the Parthenon, a former temple located on
the Acropolis.
 Its most distinctive feature are its many columns: seventeen on the sides and eight columns at
either end, inside of which is a second row of six columns.
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8. The Lighthouse

 The first lighthouse in the world was located in the Greek-controlled Egyptian city of
Alexandria. The structure was called the Lighthouse of Alexandria, or the Pharos of Alexandria.
 Taller than the Statue of Liberty, it was the second tallest structure of its day (only the Great
Pyramid of Giza was taller).

9. Standardized Medicine

 The Greeks were the first to create a standardized system of medicine, including diagnosis,
prognosis, and medical ethics.
 The manner in which the medical practice is carried out today, in terms of diagnosis and
sometimes of treatment, is very similar to that of the ancient Greeks. These ancient
advancements in medicine were largely instituted by Hippocrates, who is often called the
"father of medicine."
 The Hippocratic Oath is a historical sworn statement by physicians in which they swear by the
names of a number of healing gods to uphold specific ethical standards. These include principles
such as medical confidentiality and non-maleficence.
 Hippocrates was the first medical practitioner to categorize illnesses as acute, chronic,
endemic, and epidemic. He was also the first to introduce terms such as exacerbation, relapse,
resolution, crisis, paroxysm, peak, and convalescence.
 When it came to broken bones, hemorrhoids, and other ailments, Hippocrates and his followers
came up with advanced treatments that reduced pain and sped up recovery. He employed the
use of cauterization and excision to treat hemorrhoids, and in some cases these methods are still
used today.

10. Trial by Jury

 The citizens of ancient Athens were the first to employ trial by jury.
 Jurors were required to be male citizens of Athens, and a mechanism known as dikastaí ensured
that no person could select jurors for their own trial.

11. The Theater

 The word "theater" is derived from the Greek word "theatron," meaning the seating section of
outdoor arenas where people watched plays.
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 The first western theater originated in Athens, and was, like many other ancient Greek theaters,
a semi-circular structure cut into a hillside capable of seating 10,000 to 20,000 people.
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12. Greek Philosophy

 The most renowned contribution of the Greeks to Western civilization.

 Plato, Aristotle and Socrates questioned human existence and how world came to be.
 Pythagoras was known for the Pythagorean Theorem, which used to measure distance and
space and believed that number is the only objective concept in the understanding of reality.
 Thales of Miletus regarded as the first Western philosopher and mathematician, became
popular for his precise prediction of the solar eclipse on May 28, 585 BC; he calculated of the
height of pyramids, description of the position of Ursa Minor, (also known as the Little Bear, is a
constellation located in the far northern sky) and the finding of the Milesian School.
 Hippocrates, considered as the Father of Western Medicine, Hippocratic Oath formulated after
his death, is an oath of ethics taken by physicians and medical practitioners to promise to uphold
values and ethics in the practice of medicine.

13. Odometer

 Early odometer was used to measure the distance covered by a vehicle; paved the way for the
advancement of transportation and construction of roads.
 It is attributed to Archimedes of Syracuse during the First Punic War.
 An odometer for measuring distance was first described by Vitruvius around 27 and 23 BC,
during the First Punic War, although the actual inventor may have been Archimedes of Syracuse
(c. 287 BC – c. 212 BC).

Roman Civilization
 It was considered to be the cradle of politics and governance during the period.
 Perceived to be the strongest political and social entity in the west.
 Aside from their contributions in politics, a lot of discoveries and inventions still relevant today.

1. Newspaper

 One of the major contributions of the Romans.

 The first newspaper, known as gazettes, contained announcements of the Roman Empire to the
people.
 These gazettes were engraved in metal or stone tablets and then publicly displayed.
 Scholars commonly credit the ancient Romans with publishing the first newspaper, Acta Diurna,
or daily doings, in 59 BCE. Although no copies of this paper have survived, it is widely believed to
have published chronicles of events, assemblies, births, deaths, and daily gossip.

2. Bound Books or Codex

 A codex (plural: codices) is an ancient book that is made of sheets of vellum, parchment,
papyrus, or other materials, which are bound together and typically contain written text or
images. The codex is the ancestor of the modern book, and is thought to have been invented by
the ancient Romans.
 According to sources, Julius Caesar started the tradition of stacking up papyrus to form pages of
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a book.
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 Later on, they were able to provide covers to protect the papyrus.
  The earliest covers were made of wax but later on replaced by animal skin which proved to be
stronger and longer lasting.
 With the papyrus pages bound together and covered by animal skin, the ancient Roman Empire
was able to produce first book or codex.

3. Roman Architecture

 One of the most visual contributions of the ancient Roman Empire to the world.
 Roman architecture was considered a continuation of Greek architecture, hence, the
resemblance.
 Roman architecture was still regarded as pioneering since the Romans were able to adapt new
building and engineering technology on architectural designs established in the past.
 Roman architecture is known for concrete-domed buildings, the innovative use of the arch, the
Amphitheatre design, the basilica, the triumphal arch, and residential apartment blocks.
 Concrete is known for its durability due to the volcanic ash present in the mixture.
 Appius Claudius Caecus built the first Roman aqueduct called Aqua Appia in 312 BC, it
transported water to Rome from different bodies of water and the precursor of Rome’s
developed sewage system, sanitation management and public baths.

 The Romans also constructed the great architectural feats, the two of are Colosseum – the
largest amphitheater ever built and the Pantheon – a former Roman temple.

Colosseum Pantheon

4. Roman Numerals

 Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual
way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written
with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, each letter with a fixed integer value.
 Romans devised their own number system specifically to address the need for standard counting
method that would meet their increasing communication and trade concerns.
 The Roman numeral system uses only seven symbols: I, V, X, L, C, D, and M. I represents the
number 1, V represents 5, X is 10, L is 50, C is 100, D is 500, and M is 1,000. Different
arrangements of these seven symbols represent different numbers.
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5. Hypocaust System
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  The hypocaust system (hypocaustum in Latin) was a heating system used in wealthy Roman
homes and Roman baths and the closest thing to central heating today. The hypocaust was a
system that circulated hot air under the floor and surrounding walls.
 The hypocaust system was an early underfloor heating that worked similarly to modern-day
central or radiant floor heating. These systems distributed heat from an underground fire
throughout a space beneath the floor raised by a series of concrete pillars.

6. Medical Tools

 Romans weren’t just about spears and daggers; they also developed precision medical
instruments that influenced many modern-day surgical tools. The design of some tools, such as
the vaginal speculum, did not change significantly until the 19th and 20th centuries.
 Romans also used tools such as forceps, syringes, scalpels, and bone saws made by specialist
manufacturers that resemble their 21st-century equivalents.
 The physician Galen was the first to describe and diagnose symptoms of different diseases and
their corresponding treatments. His medical books were considered the standard for many
years.
 Surgical instruments such as the rectal speculum, bone levers and cupping vessels were used by
Roman physicians in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. They were typically made of lead,
steel or bronze.

7. Roman Roads

 Romans built roads that weren’t just a mix of gravel and rocks. The Romans used a combination
of dirt and gravel with bricks made from hardened volcanic lava or granite, making the roads
immensely strong no matter the weather.

 They also constructed perfectly straight roads with gutters and slight banking them. The banking
and gutters ensured water and debris didn’t sit on the road after it rained.

8. Julian Calendar

 In 46 B.C., Julius Caesar introduced a new form of a calendar system that had 12 months and
used a cycle of three years of 365 days, followed by a year of 366 days (leap year). The Julian
Calendar also moved the beginning of the year from March 1 to January 1.
 The Julian calendar was more accurate and remained in use until 1582 when the Gregorian
calendar was introduced to correct that the year is not exactly 365 and ¼ days long.
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9. Early Form of Apartment

 Due to population pressures, Rome was perpetually in need of more space for housing. Instead
of building new homes outward, architects proposed stacking six to eight apartment blocks
around a staircase and central courtyard.
 The result was apartments or "insulae" (islands), named as such because they occupied whole
blocks, with roads flowing around them like water. By the fourth century A.D., there were
around 45,000 insulae in Rome.
 The higher-value apartments on the lower floors were called cenacula, while the apartments for
poorer tenants on higher floors were called cellae.

10. Postal Service

 Around 20 B.C. Emperor Augustus established the cursus publicus, a system by which messages
and notices could be transferred between provinces with the help of horses and vehicles such as
the horse cart called rhedæ.
 The average speed of a mounted messenger over the Roman road system was about 50 miles
(80km) per day. With their vast network of well-engineered roads, the Roman postal service was
a success.

11. Naval Tools

 The Corvus ("Crow") was a moveable bridge used to board an enemy ship. When attached, the
Romans could even engage in combat across the structure. The Roman engineers invented
the Corvus to have the upper hand in naval battles by turning naval battles into more of a land-
based kind of affair.

 Despite its advantages, the bridge had setbacks — for example, it couldn't be used in rough seas.
By the end of the First Punic War, Rome no longer used the Corvus. By 36 B.C., the Roman navy
used a different device to facilitate boarding attacks, a harpoon a winch system known as
the harpax.
 The harpax made it possible to harpoon an enemy ship before being winched alongside for
boarding. It was first used, so we are told, at the Battle of Naulochus in 36 B.C. The tool,
described by Appian as "the grasp," was a piece of wood that was five cubits long, fastened with
iron, and equipped with rings at both ends. Compared to the Corvus, the harpax had a clear
advantage because it was lighter.
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12. Testudo

 The Roman army was well-known for its various battle formations. Testudo, meaning
"tortoise," is a Latin word that describes a formation effective against projectiles or
missiles.

 This formation required the Roman soldiers to position their shields to form a roof-like
barrier above their heads. The soldiers in the front would use their shields to create a
wall.

13. Siege Warfare

 Romans didn’t invent siege warfare, but their contributions towards broadening its scope and
perfecting the techniques were vital.
 Employed Ballista, a long-range artillery to penetrate enemy frontiers. Ballista (the
Greek ballistra) was a kind of heavy crossbow, projecting missiles (arrows, stone balls, stones,
beams with iron), with average weight from 30 to 100 kg, on flat track over a distance of 200 –
400 meters (shots up to over 1000 meters)

 Adopted Greek Fire, a combustible weapon capable of propelling bombs at opponent. Greek
fire was an incendiary weapon used by the Eastern Roman Empire beginning AD 672. Used to set
enemy ships on fire, it consisted of a combustible compound emitted by a flame-throwing
weapon.

Chinese Civilization
Considered to be the oldest civilization in Asia, if not the world.
Known as the middle Kingdom, China is located on the far east Asia.

1. Silk

 The cocoons of silkworms are used to produce the luxurious fabric known as China silk. The
cultivation of silkworms and the weaving of silk have long been traditions practiced by the
Chinese people.
 It one of the things that connected Far East China to the world.
 Although silk is naturally produced by silk worms, the Chinese were the ones who developed the
technology to harvest the silk and process it to produce paper and clothing.
 Silk trade opened China to the outside world, making way for cultural, economic and scientific
exchanges.
 Silk, one of the oldest fibers, originated in China as early as 6,000 years ago. The earliest
evidence of silk was discovered at Yangshao culture site in Xiaxian County, Shanxi Province, China
where a silk cocoon was found cut in half, dating back to between 4000 and 3000 BC. Chinese
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people mastered sophisticated silk weaving tech and closely guarded secret, and the West had
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to pay gold of the same weight for the silks. In ancient times the silk was a very important item
 made in China and for many centuries businessmen transported this precious item from China to
the West, forming the famous Silk Road.

2. Tea Production

 Tea is a beverage produced by pouring hot or boiling water over crushed or shredded dried tea
leaves.
 It was believed that the first tea was drunk by a Chinese emperor.
 Tea production was developed when an unknown Chinese inventor created a machine that was
able to shred tea leaves into strips. Because of this invention, the Chinese were able to increase
their production of tea and trade with other nations.
 Tea production developed by the ancient Chinese may have resulted in making tea as one of the
most popular beverages in the world today.
 According to old Chinese legend, tea was first discovered by Shennong, Chinese Father of
Agriculture, around 2,737 BC. In the Tang Dynasty (618 － 907) tea became a popular drink
enjoyed by all social classes. Cha Jing (or The Book of Tea), written by Lu Yu in the Tang Dynasty,
explicated ways to cultivate tea, tea drinking and different classifications of tea in details. The
book is considered as the world’s first monograph about tea. And the world’s oldest and largest
living tea tree can be found in Lin Cang, China, about 3,200 years old.

3. Great Wall of China

 Considered as the only man-made structure that could be seen from outer space.
 It is said to be the largest and most extensive infrastructure that China built.
 It was constructed to keep out foreign invaders and control the borders of China.
 Made with stone, brick, wood, earth and other materials, it showcased the extent of Chinese
engineering technology at that time.
 It was the pride of China and their crowning glory.

4. Gunpowder

 It is one of the most interesting inventions in China, it was developed by Chinese Taoist
alchemists about 1000 A.D. who aimed to achieve immortality.
 The mixed charcoL, sulfur and potassium nitrate but instead of creating an elixir of life, they
accidentally invented a black powder that could actually generate large amounts of heat and gas
in an instant.
 It is also used in fireworks during important celebrations in China.
 Gunpowder is the first explosive to have been developed.
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 The earliest possible reference to gunpowder appeared during the Eastern Han dynasty when
the alchemist Wei Boyang, also known as the "father of alchemy", wrote about a substance with
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gunpowder-like properties.
5. Movable Type Printing 960-1279 AD

 Woodblock printing was already a widely used technique in the Tang Dynasty. However, this kind
of printing tech was expensive and time-consuming.
 Until the Song Dynasty (960-1279), a man named Bi Sheng (990–1051) invented movable type
printing, making it quicker and easier. He first carved individual characters on pieces of clay and
then harden them with fire. These movable type pieces were later glued to an iron plate to print
a page and then broken up and redistributed for another page.
 This kind of printing tech rapidly spread across Europe, leading up to the Renaissance, and later
all around the world.

6. Compass

 A compass is a navigational instrument that shows directions.

 The compass was invented by Chinese between the 2nd century BC and 1st century AD.
 It was first used in Feng Shui, the layout of buildings. By 1000 AD, navigational compasses were
commonly used on Chinese ships, enabling them to navigate.
 Arab traders sailing to China might learned of the tech and brought it to the West.

7. Alcohol 2000 BC－1600 BC

 The inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula were widely believed to be the first brewers.
 However, in 2013, a 9000-year-old pottery found in Henan province revealed the presence of
alcohol, 1000 years before Arabian.
 Alcohol is known as Jiu in Chinese and is often used as a spiritual offering to Heaven and the
Earth or ancestors in ancient China.
 Study shows that beer with an alcoholic content of 4% to 5% was widely consumed in ancient
China and was even mentioned on oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty (1600BC–1046
BC).

8. Mechanical Clock 725 A.D.

 The world’s first mechanical clock -Water-driven Spherical Birds – was invented by Yi Xing, a
Buddhist monk in 725 A.D..
 It was operated by dripping water which powered a wheel that made one revolution in 24
hours. Hundreds of years later, the inventor Su Song developed a more sophisticated clock called
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the Cosmic Empire in 1092, 200 years earlier before the mechanical clock was created in Europe.
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9. Umbrella

 The inventions of umbrella can be traced back as early as 3500 years ago in China. Legend has it,
Lu Ban, a Chinese carpenter and inventor created the first umbrella.
 Inspired by children using lotus leaves as rain shelter, he created umbrella by making a flexible
framework covered by a cloth.

10. Acupuncture

 The oldest Chinese medicine book “Neijing”, also known as “The Classic of Internal Medicine of
the Yellow Emperor”, shows that acupuncture was widely used as a therapy in China much
before the time it was written.
 Besides, various kinds of acupuncture needles were discovered in the tomb of Prince Liu Sheng
who died around 200 B.C.
 This is a further proof that acupuncture was already in use in China more than two thousand
years ago.

11. Iron smelting

 Archaeological evidence revealed that iron smelting technology was developed in China as early
as 5th century BC in the Zhou Dynasty (1050 BC－256 BC).
 During The Spring & Autumn and Warring States periods (776-221 BC) China went into a
flourishing period for iron smelting. In the Han Dynasty (202 BC －220 AD) central government
monopolized the iron smelting, seeing remarkable development.

12. Porcelain

 Porcelain is a great invention of ancient China. The earliest porcelain emerged in Shang Dynasty
(1600– 1046 BCE) and matured during the Tang Dynasty (618- 906).
 During the Song Dynasty (960–1279), porcelain production technology reached an
unprecedented height due to its focus on shape and the tactile experiences of the glaze.
 Chinese porcelain was highly prized in the world and many artworks had been introduced to
the West through the Silk Road.
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13. Earthquake Detector

 According to court records of the later Han Dynasty, a seismograph was created by the brilliant
inventor Zhang Heng (78-140 AD) in 132 AD.
 Its function is to determine the direction of an earthquake. In 138 AD, this instrument indicated
an earthquake occurring in Longxi a thousand kilometers away. It was the first time that
mankind to detect an earthquake. Modern seismographs only began development in 1848 in
Europe.

14. Rocket

o China is hometown of rockets, ancient Chinese inventors created rockets by applying counter-
force produced by ignited gunpowder.
o According to history, in 228 A.D. the Wei State already used torches attached to arrows to guard
Chencang against the invading troops of the Shu State. Later the Song Dynasty (960-1279) had
adapted gunpowder to make rockets.
o A paper tube stuffed with gunpowder was attached to an arrow which can be launched by a
bow. This kind of ancient rockets and improved ones were widely used in military and
entertainment activities in China.

15. Bronze

 The skill of produce bronze was mastered by ancient Chinese by 1700 B.C. The Shang Dynasty
(1600–1046 B.C.) and Zhou dynasties (1046-256 BC) brought China into the Bronze Age and the
making of bronze wares reached its peak in this period.
 Bronze was mainly used to make weapons, bronze tools and ritual vessels at that time.
Compared to counterparts in other regions of the world, the Chinese bronze wares stand out for
their inscriptions and delicate decorative patterns.

16. The Kite

 The kite was developed around 3,000 years ago by ancient Chinese. The earliest kites were made
of wood, called Muyuan (wooden kite).
 In early times kites were mainly used for military purposes such as sending a message,
measuring distances, testing the wind and signaling.
 Over time kite flying developed into playthings and kite flying is now enjoyed worldwide.
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17. The Seed Drill

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  The seed drill is a device that plants the seed into soil at a uniform depth and covers it. If
without this device farmers had to plant the seeds by hand, resulting in waste and uneven
growth.
 According to records, the Chinese using of seed drills can be dated back to the 2nd Century BC.
The device made farmers’ job easier and highly improved the agricultural output in China.

18. Row Crop Farming

 In other parts of the world, farmers still scattered seed onto the fields randomly.
 While ancient Chinese started planting crops in rows from the 6th century BC.
 They planted individual seeds in rows, thus reducing seed loss and making crops grow
faster and stronger. This technology was not used in the western world until 2200 years
later.

19. Toothbrush

 The bristle toothbrush was invented in 1498 by Chinese who made toothbrushes with coarse
horse hairs attached to bone or bamboo handles.
 It was later brought to the new world by Europeans.

20. Paper Money

 Paper money were first developed by the ancient Chinese, who started using folding money at
the end of the 8th or beginning of the 9th century AD.
 Paper bills were originally used as privately issued bills of credit or exchange notes. A merchant
could deposit his cash in the capital, receiving a paper “exchange certificate” which he could
exchange for metal coins in other cities.
 Jiaozi was a form of promissory note which appeared around the 11th century in the Sichuan
capital of Chengdu, China. Numismatists regard it as the first paper money in history, a
development of the Chinese Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE).

Maya Civilization
 Considered as the most scientifically advanced individuals in Mesoamerica (a historical region
and cultural area in North America that spans territoties from Mexico to Guatemala, Belize,
Honduras and El Salvador.
 The Maya are an indigenous people of Mexico and Central America who have continuously
inhabited the lands comprising modern-day Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco, and
Chiapas in Mexico and southward through Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras.

1. Astronomy

 The Maya studied the heavenly bodies and recorded information on the development of the
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sun, the moon, Venus, and the stars. Despite the fact that there were just 365 days in the Haab
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year, they knew that a year was slightly longer than 365 days, calculating it to be 365.2420 days
(the true approximation is 365.2422). This is more precise than the estimation of 365.2425
 which is used by the Gregorian calendar, meaning that the Maya calendar was more accurate
than our own.
 Maya astronomers worked out that 81 lunar months constituted 2,392 days. This puts the
length of the lunar month at 29.5308 days, astoundingly close to the modern estimation of
29.53059 days. They also worked out the 584-day cycle of Venus with a slight difference of only
two hours.
 The Maya studied Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury and recorded celestial information like
obscuration, or the path of one planet in front of the other. Maya astronomers were very
accurate and way ahead of their European counterparts.
 Maya astronomy is the study of the Moon, planets, Milky Way, Sun, and astronomical
phenomena by the Pre-Columbian Maya Civilization of Mesoamerica.

2. Ball Courts

 The Maya loved their games, and had ball courts in every city, much like present-day stadia. The
games were of extraordinary significance to the Maya and were frequently played during
religious celebrations, lasting for up to 20 days. The courts were situated at the foot of
sanctuaries to pay tribute to the gods and goddesses.
 Most, but not all, Mayan cities had ball courts, many more than one. Thirteen hundred ball
courts are scattered throughout Mesoamerica and all of them have the same I shape, that is,
two sloping walls for the ball to bounce on, a long narrow playing field and two end zones.
 3. Chocolate Drink

 The ancient Maya was the first to discover the many uses of the cacao bean between 250 and
900 AD. They mixed the cacao bean with pepper and cornmeal to make a fiery chocolate drink.
Sugar was rare in those days, which was a blessing considering there was no dental care to
speak of.
 As a consequence, the Maya did not suffer from sugar-related conditions such as diabetes or
obesity. However, sugary modern-day chocolate and chocolate drinks can be traced back to the
Maya.
 Cacao beans were also used as glue by being boiled and mixed with different bases, and were
even considered valuable enough to be used as currency.
 Mayans worshipped xocolatl (or bitter water) made with crushed cocoa, cornmeal and chili
pepper.

4. Hallucinogenic Drugs

 The Maya took great pride in their customs and traditions. Every occasion was feted in a grand
way, and people with special powers known as shamans conducted rituals for the gods.
 The shamans took stimulating drugs to induce trance-like states during these rituals in order to
make contact with the spiritual world. These substances affected the body in such a way that
pain was not felt, and energy was increased.
 A number of these substances have subsequently been used as pain relief in modern medicine.

5. Law and Order

 In the Maya Empire, laws were standardized across every state and were applicable to all levels
of society. If someone broke the law, they would go to court where punishments were meted
out according to the crime. Victims of theft were personally involved in the process of justice.
 Murder was uncommon because the punishment was so extreme. If you were found guilty of
murder, you would face execution and reparations from the victim’s family in terms of goods or
land. The families could be granted a house, goods, cattle, or land, which might leave the
perpetrator’s whole family with nowhere to live as a consequence of a guilty verdict.

6. Mathematics
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 The Maya had an extremely accurate numerical system. It had only three symbols: 0 (shell
shape), 1 (a dab) and 5 (a bar). They used these three symbols to express numbers from 0 to 19;
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 numbers after 19 were composed vertically in groups of 20, using place markers. The Maya,
therefore, used a base 20 or vigesimal numbering system.
 The use of place markers and 0 made this system much the same as the one we use today. With
the base-20 system, the second position was worth 20 times more than the numeral, the third
position had 202 or 400 times the value, etc. The Maya likewise used shorthand to express
extensive numbers like 2.4.1.9.9 where the numbers 2, 4, 1, 9, and 9 are coefficients before
forces of 20. Similarly fascinating is that the Maya had built the concept of 0 into their
numbering system by 36 BC.

7. Maya Art
 While not an innovation in itself, Mayan art is widely applauded around the world. Maya art was
very modern in flavor. The Maya created artwork from a variety of materials including wood,
jade, obsidian, and earthenware, and decorated stone landmarks, stucco, and walls.
 Woodcuts were common but only a few examples still survive. Stone sculptures are much more
common today, the most celebrated among them, from Copan and Quirigua, are remarkable for
their complexity of detail.

8. The Maya Calendar

 The famous Mayan calendar was based on a date system used in Mesoamerican societies.
However, it was the Maya who standardized this system into a modern calendar.
 The Maya calendar uses three distinctive dating frameworks: the Tzolkin (divine timetable), the
Haab (common calendar), and the Long Count. The Tzolkin joins a cycle of 20 named days with
another cycle of 13 numbers to deliver 260 distinct days. There are a few hypotheses for the
260-day Tzolkin including it being founded on the human growth timeline, the agrarian system
of the district, and the positioning of the planet Venus.
 The Haab was the sun-based calendar with 365 days. It was made up of a year and a half with 20
days in each month, and five additional days which were known as Wayeb and were considered
to represent a dangerous time.
 The Long Count was a non-repeating calendar starting from the beginning of the Mayan period.
It counted single days in a system of base 20 and base 18 to make the calendar match the
estimated 360 days of the year.

9. Mayan Writing System

 Out of all the ancient Americans, the Maya invented the most advanced form of writing, known
as “glyphs.” Glyphs are used to describe or represent a word, sound or even a syllable through
pictures or symbols. History suggests that the Maya used around 700 different glyphs, and
astonishingly 80 percent of the language is still understood today.
 The written word, known as the Maya script, is accepted to be the most comprehensive writing
system in Mesoamerica.
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10. Rubber
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 Experts have found that the Maya knew how to make elastic quite some time before Charles
Goodyear, the tire giant, firmly established the material in the mid-19th century. Alongside
 other Mesoamerican societies, the Maya made elastic from latex and mixed it with other plant
substances to make elastic items with various properties, including bouncy balls.
 The Maya took the latex from trees and blended it with the juice from vines to make elastic. The
earliest use of elastic in Mesoamerica has been dated to 1600 BC, many centuries before
vulcanization was invented. The Maya, similar to other Mesoamerican societies, used bouncy
elastic balls to play their popular ball games.
 Like the present, the Maya made natural rubber using latex. This Mayan invention comes from
the milky fluid of local caoutchouc trees. They mixed the latex with the juice of morning glory
vines, which made the substance less brittle.

Olmec Civilization
 The earliest known Mesoamerican civilization.
 Olmec civilization is commonly thought to be the “mother culture” of many other cultures that
appeared in the region in later years.
 The Olmec were the first great Mesoamerican civilization. They thrived along Mexico’s Gulf
coast, mainly in the present-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco, from about 1200 to 400 B.C.

1. Artworks

 The Olmec civilization produced the earliest sophisticated art in Mesoamerica and their
distinctive style provided a model for later civilizations in the region, like the Maya and the
Aztec.
 Olmec art is most famous for colossal sculpture in volcanic stone and intricate works in jade.
 Hallmark of Olmec art is the incredible attention to detail which can be found in not only
miniature works in jade but also in monumental stone sculptures.
 The Olmecs were the first inhabitants of the Americas to construct monumental
architecture and the first to develop a sophisticated style of stone sculpture.
 Olmec artists were revolutionary for their time and they produced some of the most outstanding
artworks created in ancient America.
 In addition to human subjects, Olmec artists were adept at portrayals of anthropomorphic
creatures and animals; and apart from their mastery in sculpture, they had command over the
art of cave painting.
 Monumental stone representations of human heads sculpted by the Olmec, known as
the Olmec colossal heads, are the most famous legacy of their civilization. They show the head
and face of a helmeted man with distinctly indigenous features.

Colossal Sculpture Monumental Sculpture Cave Painting

2. EARLIEST KNOWN MESOAMERICAN PYRAMID

 The four major city-temple complexes that the Olmec build were San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, La
Venta, Tres Zapotes and Laguna de los Cerros. Following the decline of San Lorenzo around 900
BC, La Venta became the most prominent Olmec center.
 The central building at La Venta is a structure known as The Great Pyramid. Constructed almost
entirely out of clay, it is the earliest known Mesoamerican pyramid. It is estimated that it was
constructed between 1000 BC and 400 BC. Even today, after 2500 years of erosion, the Great
Pyramid rises 34 m (112 ft) and contains an estimated 100,000 cubic meters of earth fill.
 It was the largest Mesoamerican structure of its time. The Great Pyramid was originally a
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rectangular pyramid with stepped sides and inset corners. Its current conical shape is probably
due to hundreds of years of erosion.
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3. LONG COUNT CALENDAR

 The ancient Maya civilization of Mesoamerica are renowned for their mathematical and
astronomical knowledge. Among other things, they had developed the concept of zero centuries
before the Europeans; and had a sophisticated and complex calendar.
 The Long Count calendar used by the Maya was a non-repeating calendar representing the
number of days since a mythical creation date. As the six artifacts with the earliest Long Count
calendar dates were all discovered outside the immediate Maya homeland, several researchers
believe that this calendar predated the Maya and was possibly the invention of the Olmec.
 The Long Count calendar requires the use of zero as a place-holder. Hence it is also speculated
that the Olmec may have devised the concept of zero.

4. Produce Rubber

 The word Olmec means “rubber people”. The Olmec extracted latex from rubber trees ( Castilla
elastica ) growing in the region and mixed it with juice from morning glory vines to produce
rubber several millennia before vulcanization was developed in the 19th century.
 Among other things, they used it to create bouncy rubber balls to play the
famous Mesoamerican Ballgame. The rules of the game are not known with certainty. It is
speculated that two teams were involved. The aim of the offense was to move the ball towards
the opposition and into a ring about 25 feet above the playing field. The aim of the defense was
to force the offense to lose control and to allow the ball to touch the ground. The Olmec are
often credited with inventing the Mesoamerican Ballgame but this has not been established
with certainty.

RUBBER BALL BALLGAME OF THE OLMEC CIVILIZATION

5. WRTING SYSTEM

 In the late 1990s, a writing-tablet-sized block of serpentine was discovered from a site near San
Lorenzo. Known as the Cascajal Block, it shows a set of 62 symbols, 28 of which are unique. A
large number of prominent archaeologists have hailed this find as the “earliest pre-Columbian
writing”.
 The Cascajal Block is dated to the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan phase of the Olmec civilization,
which ended around 900 BC.
 The Cascajal Block may thus represent the earliest writing system of Mesoamerica making the
Olmec the first civilization in the Western Hemisphere to develop a writing system.
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6. THE COMPASS

 An artifact, known as M-60, was found at the Olmec site of San Lorenzo. It has been dated by
radiocarbon methods at 1400 BC to 1000 BC. It has been established that M-60 would be fully
operational as a lodestone floater compass.
 The analysis of M-60 thus indicates that the Olmec may have discovered the geomagnetic
orienting properties of lodestone, as did the Han Chinese. Thus, they probably used the
geomagnetic lodestone compass earlier than 1000 BC. This predates the Chinese discovery of
the compass by more than a millennium. Given the incalculable importance of the magnetic
compass, this might be one of the greatest achievements of the Olmec.

Aztec Civilization
 Persisted two hundred years before Spaniards conquered their lands.
 Lasting about 200 years, the Aztec Empire was the last great civilization of Mesoamerica (the
region from modern northwestern Mexico to the Central American country of El Salvador)
before Europeans conquered the land.

1. Chewing Gum
 The Aztecs also used chicle (gum that consists of the coagulated milky latex of the sapodilla tree)
and even had rules about its social acceptability. Only kids and single women were allowed to
chew it in public, notes Mathews. Married women and widows could chew it privately to
freshen their breath, while men could chew it in secret to clean their teeth.

2. Guacamole

 The name comes from an Aztec dialect by way of Nahuatl āhuacamolli which accurately
interprets avocado puree.
 Avocados had been first cultivated in South Central Mexico around 10,000 years ago. In the early
1900s, avocados often glided by the name alligator pear. This is one of the Aztec technology and
inventions.

4. Antispasmodic Medication

 The Aztecs practiced superior medication. They used a kind of antispasmodic treatment –
medication that would forestall muscle spasms and calm down muscle tissues, which can have
been useful throughout the surgical procedure.
 The Passionflower was used for this objective, a flower which nonetheless grows in Mexico as
we speak. The ardor flower remains to be used as we speak as a natural treatment, believed to
assist with insomnia, epilepsy, and high blood pressure.

5. Chinampa

 Chinampa, also called floating garden, small, stationary, artificial island built on a freshwater
lake for agricultural purposes. Chinampan was the ancient name for the southwestern region of
the Valley of Mexico, the region of Xochimilco, and it was there that the technique was—and is
still—most widely used.
 Invented in central Mexico around 600 CE. Chinampa is a way utilized in Mesoamerican
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agriculture which relied on small, rectangular areas of fertile arable land to develop crops on the
shallow lake beds within the Valley of Mexico.
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 They are constructed upon wetlands of a lake or freshwater swamp for agricultural functions,
and their proportions guarantee optimum moisture retention.
  The earliest fields which were securely dated are from the Middle Postclassic interval, 1150 –
1350 CE. Chinampas had been used primarily in Lakes Xochimilco and Chalco close to the springs
that lined the south shore of these lakes.

6. Vanilla

 Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily obtained from pods of the
Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (V. planifolia).
 According to in style perception, the Totonac individuals, who stay on the east coast of Mexico
within the present-day state of Veracruz, had been among the many first individuals to
domesticate vanilla, throughout the period of the Aztec Empire (across the 15 th century).
 Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés is credited with introducing each vanilla and chocolate to
Europe within the 1520s.

7. Tobacco smoking

 Tobacco smoking is the follow of burning tobacco and ingesting the smoke that’s produced. The
smoke could also be inhaled, as is completed with cigarettes, or just launched from the mouth,
as is usually executed with pipes and cigars.
 It is believed to have begun as early as 5000–3000 BC in Aztec, Mesoamerica, and South
America.

8. Sauna

 A sauna, or sudatory, is a small room or construction designed as a spot to expertise dry or moist
warmth periods, or an institution with a number of those amenities. The steam and excessive
warmth make the bathers perspire.
 The temazcal was the first-ever sweat lodge, utilized by many cultures in Mesoamerica. This is
one of the Aztec inventions.

18. Metate

 A metate (or mealing stone) is a type or variety of quern, a ground stone tool used for
processing grain and seeds. In traditional Mesoamerican cultures, metates are typically used by
women who would grind nixtamalized maize and other organic materials during food
preparation (e.g., making tortillas).
 The particular angles of the metate body enable a proficient methodology of turning grains into
flour.

13. Pulque

 Pulque, or octli, is an alcoholic beverage comprised of the fermented sap of the maguey (agave)
plant. This is one of the Ancient Aztec inventions.
 It is conventional to central Mexico, the place it has been produced for millennia. It has the color
of milk, considerably viscous consistency, and a bitter yeast-like style.
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11. Popcorn
  This “Aztec invention” actually got here alongside long before the time of the Aztecs. However,
it was the Aztecs that launched it to the remainder of the world.
 Groups such because the Zapotec (of Mexico) and Moche (of Peru) popped their very own corn
lengthy before the times of the Aztecs.
 But when the Spanish arrived, Hernan Cortes noticed popcorn for the first time. It was used as a
decoration on headdresses, and to adorn their god Tlaloc, the god of maize and fertility.

12. Balloon Animals

 The Aztecs are believed to have made the first balloon animals using cat bowels. These balloons
animals were however not for fun and entertainment; they were sacrifices presented to Aztec
Gods. Aztecs would clean out the bowels, turn them inside out and then sew them intact using a
unique vegetable thread.
 The Aztecs (1300 to 1521) created balloon sculptures out of cat intestines to present to their
gods as a sacrifice.

INCA CIVILIZATION

 Also known as the Incan Empire, was the largest Mesoamerican civilization.
 The Inca’s official language is called Quechua.
 The civilization emerged in the 13th century and lasted until it was conquered by the Spanish in
1572.
 The Inca Civilization flourished in ancient Peru between 1400 and 1533 CE. The
Inca Empire eventually extended across western South America from Quito in the north to
Santiago in the south. It was the largest empire ever seen in the Americas and the largest in the
world at that time.
 Inca, also spelled Inka, South American Indians who, at the time of the Spanish conquest in
1532, ruled an empire that extended along the Pacific coast and Andean highlands from the
northern border of modern Ecuador to the Maule River in central Chile.

1. Freeze-Drying Technique (Refrigeration)

 The Inca's storage was known as Qullqa ("deposit, storeroom"). The Inca empire had tens of
thousands of qullqas, letting them store more food than any other culture at the time. The
cause for this is most likely the region's agricultural unpredictability. Qullqas were built
around cities and political centers, as well as along roadways. In times of crop failures and
food shortages, they offered food and other necessities to Inca authorities and soldiers on
the march, as well as laborers and the general public.
 Charqui, or dried beef, and Chuo, or freeze-dried potato, were among the commodities kept
in Inca storehouses. This is considered as one of the major achievements of the ancient Inca
civilization. The Inca exploited the cold temperatures of the Andes at night to freeze frost-
resistant potato cultivars, which they then exposed to the day's bright sunshine. Chuno was
particularly long-lasting and could be stored for up to four years in the storehouses. The Inca
are credited with being the first to create the freeze-drying technology.

2. Terraced Farming

 The Inca Empire put a great deal of effort into creating agricultural systems that looked
promising. Terrace farming, in which farmlands are shaped like steps, is one such practice. This
strategy aided the Incas in effectively dealing with erosion caused by the region's high rainfall.
They built barriers around and around the farmlands as well. Those walls, in effect, worked as
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radiators for the crops, retaining heat during the day and releasing it at night to save the crops
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from dying of frostbite. The Inca's farm terraces were extremely beneficial in preventing erosion
as well as mitigating the deadly impacts of landslides.
3. Brain Surgery

 They didn’t exactly perfect it, but the Incas are on the record for developing an effective form of
brain surgery. They found out how to save the lives of wounded men by reducing the
inflammation caused by serious head injuries. They even incorporated anesthetics in the form of
tobacco, alcohol, and coca.
 As you might imagine many of these early patients didn’t make it through the process. They
were easy prey for complications both from injuries and from the operations. But after several
hundred years of practice, it’s believed that the Incas had refined their technique to the point
that they achieved a 90% success rate.
 Today, trepanation is known as a craniotomy. The Incas performed trepanations using bifacial,
obsidian tools to create incisions in patients' skulls. In later years, bronze and copper tools were
used for these same procedures.

4. Accounting System

 The Incas had an ingenious record keeping system known as Khipu or Quipu which was
unlike anything ever conceived by other civilizations. The system utilized a thick rope with a
number of alpaca or llama wool strings of different colors and lengths tied into knots around
it. This clever method is thought to have been used for keeping track of stocks, supplies,
debts and population numbers, perhaps using the earliest ever form of the decimal system.
 Detailed information was recorded on the threads, probably by using different colors or
different knots. The color of the strings defined what kind of item was being counted. For
example, purple strings might represent pieces of cloth, while yellow strings might represent
gold bars. The Incas used quipus (pronounced KEE-poos) to record inventory, such as how
much grain was in a storehouse.

4. Rope Bridges or Suspension Bridges

 The Incas had plenty of good roads, but how did they travel across the steep canyons or fierce
rivers of their extensive empire? The answer is through an impressive rope bridge design that
was terrifyingly perilous to construct.
 Inca engineers would shoot arrows across a canyon or river to a colleague waiting on the other
side who then secured the rope into place. The colleague would then have the terrifying task of
climbing down the treacherous precipice to ensure the structure was sound. Many died in the
process, but were honored for doing so, as this infrastructure was instrumental in the empire’s
expansion.
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5. Communications Network
  They didn’t exactly invent the internet, but the Inca’s communication system was
remarkable nonetheless!

 Citizens were employed by the state to take up positions every mile along major roads
and work as relay runners to pass messages and deliveries across great distances.

 A series of rest houses called Tambos were built along these routes to store food and
provide shelter, something of utmost importance to the unlucky few who were chosen
to carry nobles’ vast distances on their shoulders using raised platforms.

 The Inca Civilization had young runners called “Chaquis” they went from one relay station to
another. They carried messages that passed around until it would reach the person. At this rate
it went 250 miles per day. This was because Chaquis had to be the fittest men in the community.
The messenger would run by the chaquis and would tell him the message after the Chaquis
knew the message very well they would leave the tired messengers on the relay station.

6. Fortifications and buildings

 The Incas developed superb architecture and engineering techniques without the use of the
wheel and modern tools. Their buildings have proved earthquake resistant for 500 years and
today they serve as foundations for many buildings. The Incas were skilled stonemasons; they
used granite and limestone to build their cities and forts to protect them.
 One great example of a fort is Ollanta Tambo. Inca Pachacuti built it and Manco Inca refortified
it after the conquistadors had invaded Cusco, Ollanta Tambo served as a temporary capital of
the Inca Empire.
 The most magnificent community the Incas built is the citadel of Machu Picchu built between
the mountains of Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu.

Ollanta Tambo Machu Picchu

END
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