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The Seventy Great Inventions Of The Ancient World
Stone choppers, eyed needles, camel saddles, chariots, and contraceptives: the past is paved with remarkable inventions. The latest book in this popular series takes us on an eye-opening and unusual journey through early human innovationsusome fundamental and others intriguing or bizarre. An international team of scientists, archaeologists, and historians reveals seventy of the most extraordinary inventions, from two-and-a-half million years ago up to the early medieval period.
The book begins with the basic technologies of stone, fire, woodworking, ceramics, metallurgy, glass, and weaving. We watch Stone Age flint-knappers at work and look over the shoulders of early metalworkers as they fabricate glittering ornaments in copper and gold. Some of the most fundamental questions of the past are addressed. How and where did agriculture evolve? How did Romans and others heat and plumb their dwellings? What roles did cooking, food preservation, and fermentation play in the development of ancient cuisine? How did the wheel and cart change human life? When did the first roads appear, and when did long-distance seafaring begin?
Later sections look at the origins of hunting, war and sport, art and science, and personal adornment. Weapons of war evolved from spears, bows, and arrows to swords, shields, catapults, and crossbows. The book examines the earliest human art traditions - body painting and tattooing - and traces the beginning of writing, the early use of codes and ciphers, and the origins of calendars and astronomy.
The book begins with the basic technologies of stone, fire, woodworking, ceramics, metallurgy, glass, and weaving. We watch Stone Age flint-knappers at work and look over the shoulders of early metalworkers as they fabricate glittering ornaments in copper and gold. Some of the most fundamental questions of the past are addressed. How and where did agriculture evolve? How did Romans and others heat and plumb their dwellings? What roles did cooking, food preservation, and fermentation play in the development of ancient cuisine? How did the wheel and cart change human life? When did the first roads appear, and when did long-distance seafaring begin?
Later sections look at the origins of hunting, war and sport, art and science, and personal adornment. Weapons of war evolved from spears, bows, and arrows to swords, shields, catapults, and crossbows. The book examines the earliest human art traditions - body painting and tattooing - and traces the beginning of writing, the early use of codes and ciphers, and the origins of calendars and astronomy.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published December 31, 2004
About the author
Brian M. Fagan
143 books280 followersBrian Murray Fagan was a British author of popular archaeology books and a professor emeritus of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 5, 2021
Is chocolate an "invention" whose importance in human history is on a par with irrigation? How about mummification, as compared to wheels and carts? Or body art as compared to surgery? Does it make sense for the same book to look at the development of ball games, sailing vessels, wigs, and the domestication of animals?
The basic concept of this book is to look at a few score of the most impactful inventions in human (pre)history, devoting a few pages to each. Rather than being organized chronologically, they are grouped into categories like "Technologies" (e.g. stone, bone, copper, iron, glass), "Shelter & Subsistence" (e.g. furniture, gardens, fermented beverages, drugs&narcotics), "Transportation", "Hunting, Warfare, & Sport", "Art & Science", and "Adorning the Person". I'm not sure how objectively one can determine which inventions were most impactful, but it certainly does give one the broad scope of human existence. There was a time before plows, there was a time before pottery, there was a time before coins, and it is an interesting thought experiment to look at what each of these changed about human existence.
Less clear is whether it's anything more than a thought experiment. If humans had used wooden coins 20,000 years ago, we wouldn't be likely to know it now. If Neanderthals used eyeshadow, I don't see how we would be able to tell. As we get closer to the present, the amount of data to work from gets bigger, but then we encounter different questions. When was "the wheel" invented? When it first appeared on a child's toy? When we used logs under a large stone to make it easier to move it into place to construct a henge? When we made a cart or wheelbarrow? When we finally thought of putting them on our luggage? 19th and 20th century law encouraged us to imagine "invention" as the act of an inspired instant, and a particularly clever or imaginative person, but nearly always it is something that has gradually developed over generations. That is, for sure, one of the things that this book helps make clear; the end of each invention's section has, not one, but half a dozen or more "key dates", for example for "Glass":
glazed stone 5th millenium BC, Near East
glass beads & amulets c.2500 BC, Mesopotamia
glass vessels c.1500 BC, Western Asia & Egypt
glass-blowing 1st century BC, Syria
window glass 1st century AD, Rome
The book has copious illustrations and photographs, and it's a pleasantly weighty and well-bound book. It's not one to read cover-to-cover in a night, for most people, but it's a nice choice for reading a couple pages every morning or every evening, just to add a bit of perspective to your life. Is there anything that has come about in the last ten years, that will merit inclusion in such a list a few centuries from now? No doubt at the moment it seems like the internet and ubiquitous computing will, but then in 1950 it seemed like nuclear power would. Regardless, it's a healthy and enjoyable dose of perspective in an all-too-concerned-with-right-now news environment.
The basic concept of this book is to look at a few score of the most impactful inventions in human (pre)history, devoting a few pages to each. Rather than being organized chronologically, they are grouped into categories like "Technologies" (e.g. stone, bone, copper, iron, glass), "Shelter & Subsistence" (e.g. furniture, gardens, fermented beverages, drugs&narcotics), "Transportation", "Hunting, Warfare, & Sport", "Art & Science", and "Adorning the Person". I'm not sure how objectively one can determine which inventions were most impactful, but it certainly does give one the broad scope of human existence. There was a time before plows, there was a time before pottery, there was a time before coins, and it is an interesting thought experiment to look at what each of these changed about human existence.
Less clear is whether it's anything more than a thought experiment. If humans had used wooden coins 20,000 years ago, we wouldn't be likely to know it now. If Neanderthals used eyeshadow, I don't see how we would be able to tell. As we get closer to the present, the amount of data to work from gets bigger, but then we encounter different questions. When was "the wheel" invented? When it first appeared on a child's toy? When we used logs under a large stone to make it easier to move it into place to construct a henge? When we made a cart or wheelbarrow? When we finally thought of putting them on our luggage? 19th and 20th century law encouraged us to imagine "invention" as the act of an inspired instant, and a particularly clever or imaginative person, but nearly always it is something that has gradually developed over generations. That is, for sure, one of the things that this book helps make clear; the end of each invention's section has, not one, but half a dozen or more "key dates", for example for "Glass":
glazed stone 5th millenium BC, Near East
glass beads & amulets c.2500 BC, Mesopotamia
glass vessels c.1500 BC, Western Asia & Egypt
glass-blowing 1st century BC, Syria
window glass 1st century AD, Rome
The book has copious illustrations and photographs, and it's a pleasantly weighty and well-bound book. It's not one to read cover-to-cover in a night, for most people, but it's a nice choice for reading a couple pages every morning or every evening, just to add a bit of perspective to your life. Is there anything that has come about in the last ten years, that will merit inclusion in such a list a few centuries from now? No doubt at the moment it seems like the internet and ubiquitous computing will, but then in 1950 it seemed like nuclear power would. Regardless, it's a healthy and enjoyable dose of perspective in an all-too-concerned-with-right-now news environment.
January 5, 2025
Rating: 3.5 stars
I think this is what is considered a coffee table book? The book is larger than usual, has loads of colour photos and illustrations, and 70 short chapters of (usually) 2-4 pages in length on a wide variety of topics such as basketry, glass making, weaving, smelting, stone architecture, agricultural tools, watermills, pumps, wheeled vehicles, camel saddles, bridges, sailing vessels, navigation, methods and tools for war and hunting, plumbing, water supply, skis, games, musical instruments, writing instruments, calendars, cartography, surgical instruments, cosmetics, etc. Each topic could become a whole book in itself, but this book provides a lovely broad and concise overview of the 70 great inventions of the ancient world, as selected by the editor. It provides something to think about and a starting off point for more research.
I think this is what is considered a coffee table book? The book is larger than usual, has loads of colour photos and illustrations, and 70 short chapters of (usually) 2-4 pages in length on a wide variety of topics such as basketry, glass making, weaving, smelting, stone architecture, agricultural tools, watermills, pumps, wheeled vehicles, camel saddles, bridges, sailing vessels, navigation, methods and tools for war and hunting, plumbing, water supply, skis, games, musical instruments, writing instruments, calendars, cartography, surgical instruments, cosmetics, etc. Each topic could become a whole book in itself, but this book provides a lovely broad and concise overview of the 70 great inventions of the ancient world, as selected by the editor. It provides something to think about and a starting off point for more research.
February 8, 2016
Incredible reference book. Excellent way to learn new things about what you thought was common place. Read a new invention a day and start the day off with something new. Highly recommended
August 28, 2010
Broken into categories of technology, shelter, transportation, hunting, warfare, art/science and jewelry....this books looks at inventions and how they came to be. The story behind the invention is fascinating. This author really knows how to write about history. OK....it isn't riveting like a novel but it's interesting.
July 19, 2020
I don't read non-fictions, but this one was very good. The writing and the illustrations ( in the edition I got ) were very entertaining
And I found this book as a useful and fun read
And I found this book as a useful and fun read
March 25, 2025
Halb tõlge! Tõlkija leiutab sõnu, nagu "libivõti" jmt. Sellised tõlkija väljamõeldud terminid teevad lugemise raskeks.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews