Ancient Egyptians were really smart people and their technology has had a massive impact on civilizations that came after them. So much so that a lot of their inventions are still in vogue around the world! You’ll be shocked to know about the things that they made in their primitive time!
Voxytalksy presents to you some really simple, yet worthwhile inventions made by the ancient Egyptians that are still in use today:
Written Language
The ancient Egyptians originally invented pictograms way back in 6000 BC! These pictograms used to represent simple illustrations about day-to-day Egyptian life, but soon, many new elements were added that were similar to alphabets and phonetic sounds. This way, the Egyptians invented the hieroglyphics, which were a complex mix of alphabets, ideograms and syllabic symbols to convey more complex collections of words to describe happenings at that period of time.
Sundial
It is also known as a ‘shadow clock’ which uses the shadow cast from an object from the Sun’s light to tell the time. The shadow clock was a simple machine which had a vertical stick or pillar that would cast a shadow based on the Sun’s position in the sky.
The time of the day was calculated based on the length, direction, and darkness of the shadow at different points of time in a day. Later, the Egyptians developed more complex Sundials that could also tell the longest day and the shortest day on the basis of which they could predict exactly when a solar eclipse would occur!
Makeup.
Egyptians are famous for inventing eye makeup around 4000 BC in which they used soot and Galena to make a mixture that was used as mascara or ‘kohl’ that we use even today. In their traditions, both male and female Egyptians applied makeup on themselves for various religious, medical and cultural reasons and it was based on social ranking.
Ox-Drawn Plow
The hand-drawn plow was used by the Egyptians around 4000 BC which they improved upon around 2000 BC by tying a team of oxen to it for generating a quicker and easier method to loosen the rocky yet fertile soil nearby the river Nile. In earlier designs, the horns of the oxen were strapped to the plow, and later, the body of the oxen was strapped to the plow for more efficiency. The ox-drawn plow is still in use in traditional agricultural farming techniques throughout the world!
Calendar
The Egyptians gave the world its first ever calendar in which there were twelve months in each year (365 days) and thirty days in each month. The year had three seasons — Akhet (inundation), Peret (growth) and Shemu (harvest) to help farmers identify the flood cycle of the Nile so that the farmers could plant and reap their crops accordingly.
Water Clock
The sundial was to harness the power of the Sun’s light, and the water clock helped the Egyptians to calculate the time at night and to determine the right time for religious rites to be performed at night. The water clock was a stone vessel that was shaped in the form of an inverted cone.
It had a tiny hole at its bottom to allow water filled inside it to drip it a slow pace. The vessel had markings on its side (twelve markings for each month) at equal intervals to help a person tell the time and lunar month based on the level of water.
Breath Mints
Early Egyptians invented the first-ever breath mints to solve their dental problems by mixing Cinnamon, Myrrh, and Frankincense that was boiled in Honey and shaped into pellets. This helped them to evade parasites in water and to keep their breath fresh.
Paper
The modern paper we see was developed by Cai Lun of China, but it is the ancient Egyptians who originally made primitive paper from the pith of the Papyrus plant. The word ‘paper’ also finds its origins in the Greek word ‘papyrus’ which means Papyrus. This paper was made from the fibrous pith of the papyrus plant which is a reed that grows in abundance along the marshy banks of the Nile. The mushy extract was then flattened into sheets that were used to make scrolls in which everything about Egyptians life, religious texts, literature, music, and battle conquests found mention.
Black Ink
When you make paper, you need ink to write on it – the early Egyptians used a mixture of beeswax, soot and vegetable gum to make the original black ink! They used ocher in the same mixture to achieve red-colored ink. The ink can still be read on ancient Egyptian scrolls and hieroglyphs that have lived on for centuries!
Wigs
The ancient Egyptians generally shaved their heads bald to escape the unrelenting heat from the Earth’s Equator (Egypt sits on the Equatorial line), but since baldness isn’t pleasing, the ancient Egyptians developed wigs from human hair, sheep wool, plant fiber, etc. for a better look. Not only did these wigs protect them from excessive sunlight, but also kept away insects from their heads since they were covered in plant resin and beeswax for a braided look. Moreover, the wigs were worn by both men and women as a social status.
So, didn’t this article just blow your mind? All these inventions were made thousands of years ago and are still in vogue! WOW!
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