- And you thought that your computer was advanced.
We live in age where we are more technologically advanced
than ever before, or are we?
As it turns out, our ancient ancestors
were much smarter than we thought,
and in fact, some of their inventions were so advanced
that they baffle modern day scientists.
Here are 10 ancient inventions that science can't explain.
Number one is the Antikythera mechanism.
Divers discovered the Antikythera mechanism in 1900
at the bottom of the Aegean Sea in a Roman shipwreck.
The bronze device was found in a small wooden box
and is made up of complex mechanical gears
with mysterious engravings.
It's believed that it was created
some time between 250 and 100 BC.
However, the technology is so advanced
that anything even remotely similar
wasn't discovered until over 1,000 years later,
when astronomical clocks were invented
during the 14th century.
Scientists believe that it was basically
an ancient analog computer,
but no one knows what it was used for.
The best guess is that it tracked astrological positions,
like the lunar calender and predicted events,
such as the seasons.
The only problem is that it would have been hundreds
of years before there was any scientific understanding
of the planets or even gravity.
Its true origin or how it even really worked
is still a mystery to this day.
Number two are the Stone Balls of Costa Rica.
Spread across the Osa region in southern Costa Rica
over 300 stone balls, known as Las Bolas,
have mystified archeologists for decades.
They were created between 600 and 1000 AD
and vary from only a couple inches
to over six feet in diameter and weigh up to 15 tons.
Each one of them is made from
gabbro, limestone, or sandstone.
They're nearly perfectly round
and would've been carefully sculpted
and sanded into a shape from much larger boulders.
The Diquis people, who are native to the area,
are likely the ones who made them.
However, nobody knows why or how
they were able to accomplish this.
One theory is that they were put
into lines leading to the chief's home,
but by the time the spheres were discovered in the 1930s,
they may have been moved.
Some believe that the balls were relics
left from the lost city of Atlantis,
while others tried blowing them up
in order to see if they contained hidden gold treasure,
but to this day, nobody has any answer
for why they even exist.
Number three is Greek fire.
Between the seventh and 12th century,
the Byzantine Empire was still in full swing
defending the remaining borders
of the once massive Roman Empire,
which often involved large Naval battles.
The Byzantines would use a system of tubes and siphons
to create a type of flamethrower capable of shooting
a flammable liquid chemical at their enemies.
There are numerous records,
including detailed drawings, of it being used.
The only problem is, no one knows what it was made from.
It's believed that it was a secret Byzantine formula
that only a few select very important people knew,
and it was so well hidden that it eventually died out
along with the rest of the Roman Empire.
The mystery chemical was said to cling to flesh
and could engulf a ship within minutes.
What made it especially deadly
was that it could burn in water.
Scientists have not been able to replicate
the effects of this mystery chemical
and to this day, it remains unsolved.
Number four is the universal antidote.
Scientists have dedicated their lives to creating antidotes
for some of the most deadly poisons on earth,
but what if there was one antidote to rule them all?
Mithridates VI was the king of Pontus from 120 to 63 BC,
and it was during this time that he developed
the mythical Antidotum Mithridaticum.
After his father was assassinated, Mithridates went rogue
and lived in the forest for seven years.
During that time, he experimented with different formulas
that would give him immunity from poisons.
He went as far as to ingest small amounts
of lethal venoms to test out his medicines.
The result was made from 54 different ingredients,
including chopped vipers, opium,
and small amounts of lethal poison and known antidotes,
which were mixed together in a flask
and left for two months.
History tells us that this liquid was incredibly valuable.
However, because it was so closely guarded,
the secret formula was never passed on.
Number five is Damascus Steel.
Damascus Steel was first discovered around 300 BC,
but all remaining traces of how the steel was forged
were lost by the 18th century.
The steel was named for the capital city
of Damascus in Syria where it was founded
and made into some of the world's deadliest swords,
including Viking swords.
The steel was known for its beautiful wave patterns
and was said to be able to bend 90 degrees
and bend back into place without breaking.
The indestructible material was made from wootz,
which is a combination of iron and steel
that would have been imported from Asia
and then melted with a mix of raw plant matter
to make a crucible steel.
It was an extremely advanced nanotechnology alchemy.
It's only thanks to modern scanning electron microscopes
that scientists even have an understanding
of what made the steel so strong,
but exactly how the swords smiths did this is still unknown.
Number six is Zhang Heng's seismoscope.
It may just look like a badass piece of ancient art,
but when Chinese inventor and astronomer,
Zhang Heng, created the seismoscope around 130 AD,
he actually invented the first known earthquake detector.
The bronze urn-shaped device was incredibly decorated,
with eight dragons attached to its sides
representing the eight basic directions
facing eight open-mouthed frogs which sat below them.
When it detected an earthquake,
the dragon representing the direction of the quake
would drop a ball into the frog's mouth.
It was amazingly accurate and could detect a quake
from hundreds of miles away, but what's truly incredible
is that this was done despite tectonic plates
not even being discovered yet.
Scientists have been trying to replicate this seismoscope
for centuries, even as recently as 2005, all unsuccessfully.
Even the mechanisms inside the vessel
and how the ball dropped are still unknown.
Number seven is the Great Pyramid of Giza.
One of the biggest mysteries of the ancient Egyptians
is the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The pyramid would have been finished around 2560 BC
and would have taken tens of thousands of workers
10 to 20 years to build.
It's the oldest and largest of the three Giza pyramids
and amazingly it's still largely intact, and for centuries,
it was the largest manmade object on earth.
It's made from 5.5 million tons of limestone,
8,000 tons of granite, and 500,000 tons of mortar.
Its base is 756 feet and when it was first built,
it would have been 481 feet tall,
but it's not the why it was built that remains a mystery.
In fact, researchers believe that it was actually a tomb
for the Fourth Dynasty pharaoh, Khufu,
but instead how it was built.
Now, there are numerous theories,
from using scaffolding, pulleys, ropes, or ramps
all the way to alien intervention,
but despite years of investigation,
no one can agree on how it was planned
or even how the blocks were put in place.
Number eight is the Baigong Pipes.
The Baigong Pipes are a series of ancient pipes
that run through Mt. Baigong in China.
It's believed that a team of American researchers
who were looking for dinosaur fossils
were the first to discover the series of pipes
before reporting them to officials.
The pipes range up to 16 inches in diameter
and run through the mountain and three of its caves.
Some of them run all the way to Tuosu Lake,
which is about 260 feet away from the foot of the mountain.
They're believed to be very, very old and made
from oxidized iron, silicon dioxide, and calcium oxide,
but not only is the purpose of these pipes a mystery,
but scientists are still completely baffled
by how they could have gotten there.
For context, Mt. Baigong is completely uninhabitable,
so an ancient civilization
would've had to make their way there
and had the technology developed enough
to make the pipes and drill through the rock.
It's extremely unlikely for them to be there,
but there they are.
Number nine is flexible glass.
Between 14 and 37 AD, during the reign
of Roman emperor Tiberius Caesar,
a glass maker invented vitrum flexible,
or unbreakable glass, that was so advanced,
we still don't understand it.
From the glass, he made a drinking bowl,
which he gave to the emperor.
Tiberius tested the bowl by throwing it on the ground
and amazingly, the glass didn't break
and only had a small dent.
He told the emperor that he was the only one
who knew the formula and technique for making the glass,
but like a lot of inventors ahead of their time,
instead of being praised and given heaps of cash,
things went in a very different direction.
Despite it being a groundbreaking discovery,
Tiberius was less than impressed because he was worried
that it would bring down the value of silver and gold,
so like any other reasonable dictator would do,
he had the glass maker beheaded and with his death
went the secret of the glass and its properties.
And number 10 is Saksaywaman.
Located on the outskirts of Cusco, Germany
is an ancient walled city known as Saksaywaman.
It was built on a hilltop between 900 and 1000 AD
by the Killke culture before it was expanded
during the 13th century under the Inca Empire.
But it's not what lies behind the walls
that's so interesting, but instead, the walls themselves.
The walls are made from massive carved limestone boulders
over 27 feet tall and weighing over 100 tons.
They would've been transported
from a quarry nearly two miles away,
and they are some of the strongest walls ever built.
That's because the stones fit together so perfectly
that not even a blade of grass can wedge between them.
Even more impressive is that mortar
wasn't even used to keep them together.
Some people have theorized
that the stones were carved all together,
but they're so oddly shaped and yet so precise
that scientists still have no idea
what technology would have been used
to calculate the angles,
just one of many mysteries that remain unsolved.
I really appreciate you guys watching this.
Thank you very much, and if you enjoyed it,
remember to hit that like button
and subscribe if you have not yet.
I'll have a brand new video for you tomorrow
at 12 west coast time, 3 eastern standard time,
so make sure you come by then.
Have a great day.