EVIDENCES OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DURING ANCIENT TIMES A. Sumerian Civilization
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Sumer – cradle of the world’s earliest known civilization; ancient region in southern
Mesopotamia (southern Iraq); inhabited by various tribes from Central Asia (Sumerians) ·
Emergence of cities
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Cuneiform – Cuneiform – first writing system; a set of word pictures depicted in symbols made of
triangular marks ·
Wedge-shape tip + wet clay tablets t ablets and then sundried
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They wrote their history and culture
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Sexagesimal system – standardized measuring for counting ang and a form of place
notation; using the number 60 as base; divided circle into 360 deg and hour into 60 min and 60 sec ·
Intricate system of canals, dikes, wires and reservoirs
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Engraved cylinder seals, decorative inlays, bronze and copper statues and heads (w/ precious stones) of deities and kings
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Ziggurats – term for their magnificent palaces and temples
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Harps and lyres are recovered from excavation
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Houses are a one-storey mud structure made of bricks
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Woolen hangings, reed mats or skin rugs
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Potter’s wheel – believed
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Streets ( either foot or by donkey)
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Built the 1st known wheeled vehicle, made of solid wooden wheels on axles, now regarded
to be a sumerian invention
as the greatest mec hanical invention of all time ·
Complex but systematized technique of farming followed the pre pared farmer almanacs
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Seed plow – also sumerian invention
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Wool of sheep made into textiles woven into fine cloth
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Bleaching, dyeing, mixing pigments, preparing paints, cosmetics and perfume
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Invented the sailboat – brought goods to lands along Persian Gulf where precious stones, ivory and other luxury items can be obtained
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Sumerian doctors made use of assorted botanical, zoological, and mineralogical ingredients as materia medica in their Px
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Sumerian civilization was absorbed by Semitic people who migrated to Mesopotamia from from Arabia and founded the great empires of Babylonia, Assyria and Persia
B. Babylonian Civilization
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Babylonia – bordering Tigris and Euphrates rivers what now known as southern Iraq
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Assyria was in the northern boundary, the Ar abian desert on south and west and Persian gulf on southern border.
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Sumerian civilization – origin or foundation
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Babylon (capital) – commercial and religious center in the tigris-euphrates valley
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Promulgation of law code – greatest accomplishment of Hammurabi
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Nebuchadnezzar II ordered the construction of Hanging Gardens of Babylon (1 of the 7 wonders of the world) and the Isthar Gate
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System of bookkeeping, simple but adequate system of double entry accounting
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Adopted sexagesimal system
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Accurate predictions in solar and lunar eclipses
C. Egyptian civilization
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Situated in northeastern part of African continent
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Egypt is a desert country
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Agricultural economy
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Nile river (root)
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Divided into 2 parts: Lower Egypt in the north and Upper Egypt in the south (2x large)
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Agriculture was supproted by extensive irrigation systems and by taking advantage of Nile’s annual inundations
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Animal hunters with weapons and traps – early settlers
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@neolithic period, sketches of cattle and goats appeared (Change as nomadic hunters to farmland settlers)
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Eventually two main kingdoms were formed under MENES
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MANETHO, Egyptian priest and historian divided the span of Egypt history into 31 dynasties or families
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Scholars grouped that into 5 periods each lasting about 500 years
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Archaic period, Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom, Late Period
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Then conquered by Alexander the Great
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Old, Middle, New Kingdom – most important periods
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People were evidently skilled craftsmen (Tools, utensils, weapons made of metal as well as pottery)
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Weavers, used horizontal looms to weave linen
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Houses made of sun-dried mud bricks
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Temples and boats made of reeds
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Paper made of papyrus reeds; ink made in solid blocks to be mixed with water
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Hieroglyphics, egyptian writing in the form of pictorial symbols representing individual
objects or actions ·
Napoleon Bonaparte – invaded and intend making it a part of French republic
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Rosetta stone – found in Nile delta by french soldiers w/ inscriptions in three languages:
hieroglyphics, demotic (simplified common script of ancient egypt) and ancient greek ·
Time, calculate distances/directions, forecast, predict annual flooding of Nile river
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Earliest Egyptian calendar based on Sirius, brigthest star, and another base on phases of the moon with 29 and ½ days
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1st 365-day calendar was devised by IMHOTEP , in old kingdom
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Julius caesar brought it to rome and adapted it (Known in Roman empire as Julian calendar)
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1st to divide the day into 24 hrs
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Calculated time using a water clock , a conical earthen vessel with hrs equally marked off on the inside and spout at the bottom
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Canals – store floodwater; canals and ditches have outlet system
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Gauges – checking water levels
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Wheat and barley – made into bread and beer
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Potter’s wheel
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Drinking cups
