Historical Antecedents in the

Course of Science and Technology

GE-STS
Learning Outcomes
 Explain how science and technology
affected the society and environment and
vice versa;
 Identify inventions and discoveries that
changed the world over the course of
history; and
 Discuss the scientific and technological
developments in the Philippines
Ancient Times
 Transportation and navigation
 Communication and record-keeping
 Mass production
 Security and protection
 Health
 Aesthetics
 Architecture
Transportation
 Trying to go places and discover new
horizons
 Search for food and find better locations
for their settlements
 To trade their surplus goods in exchange
for things that they lacked
 Navigation
◦ Unfamiliar and strange areas of the world
◦ Return home
Communication
 To discover and occupy new places
 Facilitate trade and prevent possible
conflicts
 Record-keeping
◦ Remember the places
◦ Document the trades
◦ History and culture to establish their
identities as they tried to relate with other
cultures and civilizations
Mass Production
 Demand for food and other basic
necessities
 Technology that would enable them to
increase food supplies and other survival
needs without them travelling more or
working harder.
Security and Protection
 Weapons and armors
◦ Discovery of new places
◦ Establishment of new alliances with other
tribes
Health
 Conservation of life
◦ Harnessing the rich resources that the world
could provide
◦ Illnesses and diseases hampered the full
potential of a human being
◦ Science and technology
 Discovery of cures
 Prevention
Aesthetic
 Engineering
◦ Allowed humans to build structures that
would address their specific needs and wants
◦ Structures built during the ancient times still
exist today and continually awe people
Architecture
 Elaborate architectural designs
◦ Signs of technological advancement of a
particular civilization
◦ Status symbol among nations of how
advanced their technology is
◦ Establish the identity of a nation
 Developments in science and technology,
aside from affecting the lives of the
people, were the results of many prior
antecedents
 Out of necessity, people in ancient times
were able to discover and invent things
that would impact the lives of the modern
people
SUMERIAN CIVILIZATION
 Sumeria
◦ Southernmost tip of ancient Mesopotamia
◦ Sumerians
 known for their high degree of cooperation with
one another and their desire for great things
 Not contented with the basic things that life can
offer
 Develop many things connected with science and
technology
Cuneiform
 Major contributions of the Sumerians
 First writing system
 Utilizes word pictures and triangular
symbols
 Carved on clay using wedge instruments
 Allowed Sumerians to keep records of
things with great historical value or their
everyday life
Uruk City
Uruk City
 Considered to be the first
true city in the world
 Mud or clay from the river
mixed with reeds producing
sun-baked bricks
Great Ziggurat of Ur
 Mountain of God
 Sun-baked bricks
 Sacred place of their chief god
 Only their priests were allowed to enter
Irrigation and Dikes
 To bring water to farmlands
 To control the flooding of the rivers
 One of the world’s most beneficial
engineering works
 Enjoy year-long farming and harvesting,
which increased their food production
Sailboats
 main mode of transportation was through
waterways such as rivers and seas
 Boats
◦ Used to carry large quantities of products
◦ Able to cover large distances
◦ Not enough to accommodate more people and
products
 Essential in transportation and trading as
well as in fostering culture, information and
technology
Wheel
 Latter part of their history
 First wheels were not made for
transportation but for farm work and
food processes
 Wheel and axle
◦ Mass production was made easier
◦ Farmers were abele to mill grains with less
effort in less time
The Plow
 enable them to dig the ground where
seeds would be planted
 Invented to dig the earth in a faster pace
 Farmers could cultivate larger parcels of
land faster, enabling them to mass
produce food
Roads
 To facilitate faster and easier travel
 Developed the first roads
 Flow of traffic became faster and more
organized.
 Bitumen
◦ Black sticky substance similar to asphalt
◦ To smoothen the roads
 Very useful especially during the rainy season
when traveling in soft and muddy roads
proved to be too difficult
Babylonian Civilization
 Emerged near the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers
 Great builders, engineers and architects
 Hanging gardens of Babylon (one of the
seven wonders of the ancient world)
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
 Structure made up of layers upon layers of
gardens that contained several species of
plants, trees and vines.
 King Nebuchadnezzar II
 Queen Amytis
 If true, may be considered as one of the
greatest engineering and architectural
achievements of the world that is almost
impossible to replicate.
Egyptian Civilization
Located in North Africa
Engineering technology
Other practical things that
the world now considers as
essential
Papyrus
 Clay tablets
◦ Safe-keeping and transporting them were a major
problem
◦ Fragile, heavy and delicate to handle
 Papyrus
◦ Paper
◦ Plant that grew abundantly along the Nile River
◦ Lighter and thinner than clay tablets
◦ Easy to carry and store
◦ Less breakable
Ink
 Invented ink by combining soot with
different chemicals to produce inks of
different colors
 Must withstand the elements of nature
since it was used to record history,
culture and codified laws
 Must be tamper-proof so that people
could not simply tinker with those
written down by authorities
Hieroglyphics
 System of writing using symbols
 Egyptians believed that this writing system
was provided to them by their gods
 Language that tells the modern world of
the history and culture of ancient
Egyptians
 Carved at walls of pyramids and other
important Egyptian structures
Cosmetics
 Health
 Aesthetics
 Kohl
◦ to prevent and even cure eye diseases
◦ Created by mixing soot or malachite with
mineral galena
 Protected from evil
 Beauty was a sign of holiness
Wig
 Health
 Wellness
 Protect the shaved heads of the wealthy
Egyptians from the harmful rays of the sun
 Better than putting a scarf or any other head
cover since it allowed heat to escape
 Considered cleaner than natural hair
because it prevented the accumulation of
head lice
Clepsydra
 Water clock
 Utilizes gravity that affects the flow of
water from one vessel to the other
 Timekeeping device during the ancient
times
GREEK CIVILAZATION
 Archipelago in the southeastern part of
Europe
 Birthplace of western philosophy
 Major achievements/in-depth works on
philosophy and mathematics
 Contributed much in the fields of science
and technology
Alarm Clock
 Used large complicated mechanisms to
time the alarm
 Made use of water that dropped into
drums which sounded the alarm
 Plato
◦ Utilized it to signal the start of his lecture
◦ Four water vessels lined up vertically
Water Mill
 Commonly used in agricultural processes
like milling of grains
 Mass production of rice, cereals, flours
and the like became common
 Better than mills powered by farm
animals because it requires less effort and
time to operate
 Access to rivers of flowing water
ROMAN CIVILIZATION
 Stronger political and social entity in the
west
 Cradle of politics and governance during
the period.
 Roman Empire was so large
◦ Other civilization looked up to it as their
model in terms of legislation and codified laws
Newspaper
 Gazettes
◦ First newspaper
◦ Announcements of the Roman Empire to the
people
◦ Made before the invention of paper
◦ Engraved in metal or stone tablets and then
publicly displayed
 With the invention of paper
◦ Minutes of the proceedings of the roman senate
were done in shorthand
◦ Documents were edited and published on the
same day that they were recorded
◦ Romans enjoyed easy access to government
information
Bound Books or Codex
 Julius Caesar
◦ Started the tradition of stacking up papyrus to
form pages of a book
 Later on, they were able to provide
covers to protect the papyrus
 Covers made of wax but were later on
replaced by animal skin which proved to
be stronger and longer-lasting
Roman Architecture
 Continuation of Greek architecture
 Regarded as pioneering since they were
able to adapt new building and
engineering technology on architectural
designs established in the past
 Elaborate architectural designs were
preserved because they produced
sturdier and stronger infrastructure
Roman Architecture
 Creatively redesign old architectural
patterns to adapt to the new trends at
that time
 Engineering and architecture was fully
supported and funded by the Roman
government
◦ Churches (cathedrals and basilicas)
◦ Aqueducts
◦ Coliseums
◦ Amphitheaters
Roman Numerals
 Number system
 To address the need for a standard
counting method that would meet their
increasing communication and trade
concerns
 No longer widely used today due to its
inherent limitations
 Number of enthusiasts would still use it
due to its aesthetic and historical value
CHINESE CIVILIZATION
 Oldest civilization in Asia, if not the world
 Known as the middle kingdom
 Located on the far east of Asia
 Famous among other ancient civilizations
because of its silk trade
Silk
 Produced naturally by silk worms
 Production of paper and clothing
 Creation of a product for trade
 Silk trade opened China to the outside
world making way for cultural, economic
and scientific exchanges
 Bridged the gap between the western
world and the middle kingdom
Tea Production
 Beverage produced by pouring hot or boiling
water over crushed or shredded tea leaves
 First tea was drunk by a Chinese emperor
 Was developed when a Chinese inventor created
a machine that was able to shred tea leaves into
strips
◦ Wheel-based mechanism with sharp edges attached
to a wooden or ceramic pot
◦ Increase their production of tea and trade with other
nations
◦ Known for its tea exports aside from silk
Great Wall of China
 Largest and most extensive infrastructure that
the nation built
 Constructed to keep the foreign invaders and
control the borders of China
 Made with stone, brick, wood, earth and other
materials
 Showcased the extent of Chinese engineering
technology at that time
 So massive and strong that it literally divided
China from the rest of the world
 Put the nation among the powerful civilizations
during the ancient times
Gunpowder
 Most interesting inventions in China
 Developed by Chinese alchemists who aimed to
achieve immortality
 Mixture of charcoal, sulfur and potassium nitrate
 Elixir of life but accidentally invented a black
powder that could actually generate large
amounts of heat and gas in an instant
 Used in weapons to attack at a distance
 Used in fireworks during important celebrations
in China