Emily Jane Buccat

Introduction

Ancient history is the summation of events from the period where there was no human activity records
and writings along with the period when there are records of the human activities. This period has
witnessed the greatest wars of Bharat Varsha that is India as the whole country and also some efficient
human civilization like Harappan civilization. This era was witness by people from 60,000 BC to 650 AD.
The archaeologists also disclose the methods and techniques used for power conservation and
agricultural methods. They also have explored the tools used by the people made up of stone, bronze
and iron materials. The fall of an ancient era was evident after certain events and they are as follows
Roman Empire, Han Dynasty, Gupta Empire, Carolingian Revival and The Dark Ages

Inventions:

1. Paper
As early as 3000 B.C., Egyptians had developed a technique for making paper from the pith of
the papyrus plant, a common sight along the bank of the Nile. Long strips were woven together
and weighted down to bind them into a strong, thin sheet. The Egyptians also invented pens
made of cut reeds, which were strong enough to write on the papyrus, and mixed soot or other
organic material with beeswax and vegetable gum to make ink. These ancient papermakers
knew what they were doing: Many of these papyrus sheets inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphics
remain intact and readable, even after more than 5,000 years.

2. Eye makeup
Ancient Egyptians knew all about the power of a smoky eye. Way back in 4000 B.C., they started
making kohl to line their eyes by mixing soot with galena, a mineral with a metallic bluish, gray
or black hue. In some ancient paintings, Egyptians are depicted wearing green eye makeup, a
shade they achieved by mixing another mineral, malachite, with the galena. Both women and
men wore kohl eye makeup in ancient Egypt. They believed it had healing properties, as well as
the power to protect the wearer from the evil eye.

3. Concrete
The frighteningly durable substance known as opus caementicium, or Roman concrete, first
emerged some 2,100 years ago, and would make possible the architectural frenzy that began
with Augustus, the first Roman emperor, in 27 B.C. The Romans mixed limestone with volcanic
ash to form a mortar, then packed this thick substance together with chunks of brick or volcanic
tuff to form the basic material for roads, bridges, aqueducts, buildings and other structures—
including such enduring behemoths as the Pantheon and the Colosseum. Today’s scientists have
concluded that Roman concrete, though weaker than modern cement, is astonishingly long
lasting, remaining relatively intact even after centuries of exposure to seawater and other
damaging elements.
4. Newspaper
The Acta Diurna (or “daily acts”), which first appeared around 131 B.C., served as a gazette of
political and social happenings in ancient Rome. News of events such as military victories,
gladiatorial bouts and other games, births and deaths and even human-interest stories were
inscribed on metal or stone and posted in areas with heavy foot traffic, such as the Roman
Forum. Later on, during the first consulship of Julius Caesar, the Acta Senatus began chronicling
the activities of the Roman Senate. The Acta Diurna, which continued publication under the
Roman Empire (after 27 B.C.), can be considered the prototype for the modern newspaper.

5. Chocolate
This all-important invention comes from the beans of the cacao tree, which was cultivated more
than 3,000 years ago by the Maya, Aztec and Toltec peoples of ancient Mesoamerica. These
civilizations used the tree’s fruit, the cocoa bean, to prepare a frothy beverage they considered
an energy drink, mood enhancer and aphrodisiac all in one. The Maya worshiped the cacao tree
as sacred, and cocoa beans grew so valuable they were used as currency. In the 16 th century,
Spanish conquistadores seeking gold and silver in the New World brought chocolate back to
Europe with them, launching a craze that—let’s be honest—never really ended.

6. The Alarm Clock

One of the most commonly used gadgets these days is the alarm clock, and it too had its origins
in ancient Greece. Over time, the alarm clock has undergone a number of changes and
improvements from the mechanical alarm to modern gadgets like cell phones, which come with
an inbuilt alarm.

But the first alarms used by the ancient Greeks were nothing like today. The Hellenistic engineer
and inventor Ctesibius (285–222 BC) fitted his clepsydras or water clock with a dial and pointer
to indicate the time, and added an elaborate alarm system which involved pebbles dropping on
to a gong, or the blowing of a trumpet by forcing bell jars down into water and taking the
compressed air through a beating reed at pre-set times. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato
(428–348 BC) was said to possess a large water clock with an unspecified alarm signal similar to
the sound of a water organ. He used it at night, possibly for signaling the beginning of his
lectures at dawn.

7. Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. It has played an important role in travel
and navigation since ancient times. Even though the earliest known evidence of cartography
points towards ancient Babylon as early as the ninth century BC, the Greeks took what they had
at their disposal and brought cartography into a new light. Anaximander was one of the first
pioneer cartographers to create a map of the world. Born between 611 and 610 BC, he made
important contributions to the science of astronomy and geography.
 Anaximander is mentioned in Aristotle’s work, who categorized him as a pupil of the physical
school of thought, propounded by Thales. Anaximander included all inhabited areas of the world
in his map. The map appeared in tablet form and featured Ionia in the center. It was bounded
on the east by the Caspian Sea and stretched to the Pillars of Hercules in the west. Middle
Europe borders the map in the north while Ethiopia and the Nile feature at the southern end.
Anaximander made immense contributions in the fields of cartography and geography and his
map of the world was indeed a marvelous achievement of that time.

8. The Marathon
In 490 B.C., as the story goes, a Greek soldier ran from Marathon to Athens, a distance of just
over 26 miles, to bring news of the Athenian victory over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon.
After delivering his message, the soldier promptly died. Over the centuries, his story became
conflated with that of another, more famous, Greek soldier: Pheidippides. Before the Battle of
Marathon took place, Pheidippides ran from Athens to Sparta to warn other Greeks of the
Persian invasion, reportedly covering some 250 kilometers of uneven terrain in only two days.
Unfortunately, Sparta was in the middle of a religious celebration when he arrived, and the
Spartans were unable to mobilize for war until it was too late; the battle was already over. The
first modern marathon took place at the revived Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 and was won
—fittingly—by a Greek runner, Spyridon Louis.

9. Zero
For all its importance, it may surprise you to learn that zero is a relatively recent concept in
human history, though it still has its roots in ancient times. The idea to use a zero-like symbol as
a placeholder—to show the difference between 10 and 100, for example, or to show the
absence in one column of another number (e.g. 2015)—emerged sometime after 300 B.C., when
the ancient Babylonians adapted the Sumerian counting system. Half a world away, in ancient
Mesoamerica, the Maya came up with the idea of zero as a placeholder independently, around
A.D. 350. They used it in their elaborate calendar systems, but like the Babylonians, didn’t really
conceive of zero as a number in itself or use it in equations. The more complete vision of zero
didn’t emerge until the 7 th century in India, when the Hindu astronomer Brahmagupta wrote
rules for using zero in mathematical operations and equations, introducing the concept that
zero could be seen as a number of its own.

10. Roads and Highways

One of the main reasons behind ancient Rome’s impeccable and effective administration of such
a vast empire was the construction of one of the most sophisticated systems of roads in ancient
times. Roman roads and highways played a pivotal role in the rise of the Roman state,
expanding all across the Roman Republic and then the Roman Empire. In a period of about 700
years, they built about 55,000 miles of paved highways around the Mediterranean basin and
across Europe – a feat that ensured the fast and efficient movement of goods, soldiers, and
information across the entire empire. Roman roads usually followed a straight route across the
countryside, making travel efficient and fast. These expertly engineered routes were easy to
 navigate and the Romans were one of the first to use road signs and mile markers. They also
made sure the majority of highways were well protected and patrolled.

Discoveries

1. Discoveries in Modern Science

It would only be fair to say that, given the evidence, the ancient Greeks made some outstanding
contributions in various branches of science. They made some astounding discoveries in the
fields of astronomy, biology, and physics that broke with contemporary stereotypes. Many
ancient Greek intellectuals excelled in mathematics, physics, and astronomy.

Aristotle introduced the idea of the earth as a globe. He also classified animals and is often
referred to as the father of zoology. Theophrastus was the first botanist that we know of in
written history. The Pythagoreans not only made the earliest advances in philosophy and
geometry, but they also proposed the heliocentric hypothesis of the earth revolving around the
sun and not the other way around as was believed at that time. This idea was so ahead of its
time that it was regarded as blasphemy. Archimedes discovered that submerging a solid object
in water would displace the same amount of liquid as the object’s volume. The Greeks had so
much influence in the early concepts of science that most symbols used in physics and math
equations are derived from the Greek alphabet.

2. The Rosetta Stone, Egypt

This is the find that provided the key to our understanding of hieroglyphs, more than 1,000
years after knowledge of how to read the ancient Egyptian symbols had faded from memory.
Found by Napoleon’s army during the construction of a fort, this slab has a trilingual inscription
written in Greek, Demotic and hieroglyphs. The Greek writing was a way in for French
schoolteacher Jean-François Champollion, and in 1822 he published a full translation

3. Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 800 manuscripts found in 11 caves just 2km inland from
the Dead Sea and in the vicinity of Khirbet Qumran, an ancient settlement in the West Bank.

The texts are some of the earliest known Hebrew biblical documents, and date over a 700-year
period before the birth of Jesus Christ. They’ve provided incredible insight for biblical
translators, shining a light on what the Bible was like 2,000 years ago and how it was put
together by various individuals over many years.

4. Earliest Practice of Medicine

The ancient world did not fare too well when it came to the curing of disease. Back then,
diseases were supposed to be the gods’ way of punishing humans and all possible remedies
were surrounded by superstition. That all changed when Hippocrates of Cos started to collect
data and conduct experiments to show that disease was a natural process; that the signs and
 symptoms of a disease were caused by the natural reactions of the body to the disease process.
Born in 460 BC, Hippocrates was an ancient Greek physician of the Classical age and was
considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He was referred to as
the father of Western medicine in recognition of his lasting contributions to the field and was
the founder of the Hippocratic School of Medicine.

The most famous of his contributions is the Hippocratic Oath, which bears his name. It was this
document that first proposed an ethical standard among doctors. It covers many important
concepts which are still used today such as doctor–patient confidentiality.

5. Concept of Democracy
The idea of every citizen having equal opportunity and a say in government constitutes the
concept of democracy. It is one of the most widely used styles of governance in the modern
world. And even more fascinating is the fact that democracy also had its origins in ancient
Greece. In fact, the concept and the implementation of democracy can be traced back from the
present day to ancient Athens.

Although there is evidence that democratic forms of government, in a broad sense, may have
existed in several areas of the world well before the turn of the fifth century, it is generally
believed that the concepts of democracy and the constitution were created in one particular
place and time – in ancient Athens around 508 BC. For this reason, Athens is regarded as the
birthplace of democracy. This transition from exploitation by the aristocracy to a political system
where all members of society have an equal share of formal political power had a significant
impact on future civilizations.
Form of currency

In the Beginning: Barter

Barter is the exchange of resources or services for mutual advantage, and the practice likely dates back
tens of thousands of years, perhaps even to the dawn of modern humans. Some would even argue that
it’s not purely a human activity; plants and animals have been bartering—in symbiotic relationships—for
millions of years. In any case, barter among humans certainly pre-dates the use of money. Today
individuals, organizations, and governments still use, and often prefer, barter as a form of exchange of
goods and services.

9000 – 6000 B.C.: Cattle

Cattle, which throughout history and across the globe have included not only cows but also sheep,
camels, and other livestock, are the first and oldest form of money. With the advent of agriculture also
came the use of grain and other vegetable or plant products as a standard form of barter in many
cultures.

1200 B.C.: Cowrie Shells

The first use of cowries, the shells of a mollusc that was widely available in the shallow waters of the
Pacific and Indian Oceans, was in China. Historically, many societies have used cowries as money, and
even as recently as the middle of this century, cowries have been used in some parts of Africa. The
cowrie is the most widely and longest used currency in history.

1000 B.C.: First Metal Money and Coins

Bronze and Copper cowrie imitations were manufactured by China at the end of the Stone Age and
could be considered some of the earliest forms of metal coins. Metal tool money, such as knife and
spade monies, was also first used in China. These early metal monies developed into primitive versions
of round coins. Chinese coins were made out of base metals, often containing holes so they could be put
together like a chain.

500 B.C.: Modern Coinage

Outside of China, the first coins developed out of lumps of silver. They soon took the familiar round form
of today, and were stamped with various gods and emperors to mark their authenticity. These early
coins first appeared in Lydia, which is part of present-day Turkey, but the techniques were quickly
copied and further refined by the Greek, Persian, Macedonian, and later the Roman empires. Unlike
Chinese coins which depended on base metals, these new coins were made from precious metals such
as silver, bronze, and gold, which had more inherent value.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/news/8-inventions-we-owe-to-the-ancients

https://www.world-archaeology.com/great-discoveries/7-discoveries-that-changed-the-archaeological-
world/amp/

https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/student-advice/what-to-study/top-ten-archaeological-
discoveries

https://www.titlemax.com/discovery-center/money-finance/ancient-currency-coin-standards/

https://www.toppr.com/guides/general-knowledge/ancient-indian-history/pre-historic-period/