Ancient technology
In Nubia and ancient Kush, glazed quartzite and building in brick were developed to a greater extent than in Egypt.
Depictions of wheeled wagons found on clay tablet pictographs at the Eanna district of Uruk are dated between 3700 and 3500 BC.
They had a wide knowledge of mathematics including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, quadratic and cubic equations, and fractions.
These machines are the inclined plane, the wedge, and the lever, which allowed the ancient Egyptians to move millions of limestone blocks which weighed approximately 3.5 tons (7,000 lbs.)
Early construction techniques utilized by the Ancient Egyptians made use of bricks composed mainly of clay, sand, silt, and other minerals.
The Indus Valley civilization, situated in a resource-rich area (in modern Pakistan and northwestern India), is notable for its early application of city planning, sanitation technologies, and plumbing.
Many Greek, Persian and Chinese students studied here under great scholars including Kautilya, Panini, Jivaka, and Vishnu Sharma.
Ancient India was also at the forefront of seafaring technology - a panel found at Mohenjo-daro, depicts a sailing craft.
Ship construction is vividly described in the Yukti Kalpa Taru, an ancient Indian text on Shipbuilding.
Indian construction and architecture, called 'Vaastu Shastra', suggests a thorough understanding of materials engineering, hydrology, and sanitation.
The Four Great Inventions of China: the compass, gunpowder, papermaking, and printing were among the most important technological advances, only known in Europe by the end of the Middle Ages.
Major technological contributions from China include early seismological detectors, matches, paper, the double-action piston pump, cast iron, the iron plough, the multi-tube seed drill, the suspension bridge, natural gas as fuel, the magnetic compass, the raised-relief map, the propeller, the crossbow, the south-pointing chariot, and gunpowder.
Other Chinese discoveries and inventions from the Medieval period, according to Joseph Needham's research, include: block printing and movable type, phosphorescent paint, and the spinning wheel.
At the same time that the Age of Exploration was occurring in the West, the Chinese emperors of the Ming Dynasty also sent ships, some reaching Africa.
When Ferdinand Magellan's ships reached Brunei in 1521, they found a wealthy city that had been fortified by Chinese engineers, and protected by a breakwater.
The oldest and largest known qanat is in the Iranian city of Gonabad; after 2,700 years, it still provides drinking and agricultural water to nearly 40,000 people.
[23] The Yakhchāl is an ancient Persian refrigeration structure that was used to store ice and occasionally food in the hot summer months.
According to Chris Soelberg and Julie Rich, researchers in a university in Utah, wind catchers have been seen as far back as 3,300 years ago in Egypt, but they actually originated in Iran.
By igniting these materials, they generated poisonous gases that incapacitated defenders, marking one of the earliest examples of chemical warfare.
Evidence for this tactic includes the discovery of the remains of around 20 Roman soldiers near a city wall, believed to have been exposed to the gases.
While its exact function remains debated, many scholars suggest it may have been used for electroplating, a technique for coating objects with metals such as gold.
Nevertheless, they produced advanced engineering including above ground and underground aqueducts, quake-proof masonry, artificial lakes, dykes, 'fountains,' pressurized water,[29] road ways and complex terracing.
The Native Americans developed a complex understanding of the chemical properties or utility of natural substances, with the result that a majority of the world's early medicinal drugs and edible crops, many important adhesives, paints, fibres, plasters, and other useful items were the products of these civilizations.
Some inventions that are credited to the ancient Greeks are the following: bronze casting techniques, water organ (hydraulis), and the torsion siege engine.
Technologies invented by Hellenistic engineers include the ballistae, the piston pump, and primitive analog computers like the Antikythera mechanism.
Automata like automatic doors and other ingenious devices were built by Hellenistic engineers as Ctesibius and Philo of Byzantium.
Romans developed an intensive and sophisticated agriculture, expanded upon existing iron working technology, created laws providing for individual ownership, advanced stonemasonry technology, advanced road-building (exceeded only in the 19th century), military engineering, civil engineering, spinning and weaving and several different machines like the Gallic reaper that helped to increase productivity in many sectors of the Roman economy.
Because Rome was located on a volcanic peninsula, with sand which contained suitable crystalline grains, the concrete which the Romans formulated was especially durable.
Features of Roman urban life included multistory apartment buildings called insulae, street paving, public flush toilets, glass windows and floor and wall heating.
In Roman Egypt, Heron of Alexandria invented the aeolipile, a basic steam-powered device, and demonstrated knowledge of mechanic and pneumatic systems.
