How Smart Were Our Ancestors?

When it comes to topics of history and archaeology, many people assumes that we are generally smarter than our ancestors. Undoubtedly, the technological boom since the Industrial Revolution has transformed human society to an unprecedented level that no one in the past could ever imagine. For instance, we can now drive in the cars that do not need horses, fly in the air that was doomed to be impossible, chat with people on the other side of the world without yearning for the epistle to arrive. Everything that we do now is inconceivable for our ancestors. However, the question remains: Are we truly smarter? In this post, we are going to investigate some of the most mysterious ancient objects that seems to defy what our ancestors were capable of.

  1. The Voynich Manuscript

“cumque in mea Bibliotheca Sphinx quaedam, Scripturae incognitorum characterum inutiliter occupasset locum,

Ex pictura herbarum, quarum plurimus est in Codice numerus, imaginum diversarum, Astrorum, aliarumque rerum, faciem chymicorum arcanorum referentium, conjicio totum esse medicinalem”

In 1639, in a letter to the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher in Rome, Georgius Barschius, a Prague citizen, wrote the above paragraph describing his possession of an enigmatic book that “was written in an unknown script and was profusely illustrated with pictures of plants, stars, and alchemical secrets” (Voynich). Later known as the Voynich Manuscript, this book contains one of the most encrypted messages in the world. Not only did Kircher fail to translate the book for Barschius, current professional cryptographers also have no clue about what is going on the vellum.

A page from Voynich Manuscript, which is undeciphered to this day. Credit: Yale University

According to Wikipedia, Voynich Manuscript has been carbon-dated to the early 15th century (1404-1438) and may be composed during the Renaissance era. Almost all pages in the manuscript are illustrated with drawings, a lot of drawings, which have been categorized in the following six sections:

Herbal Section:

The drawings in this section are mostly herbs. Some of them appear to be realistic depictions, while others do not resemble any known plant on Earth. Credit: voynich.nu

 

Astronomical Section:

This section contains Sun, Moon, stars, and many other zodiac symbols. Credit: voynich.nu

 

Cosmological Section:

Filled with circular drawings. Credit: voynich.nu

 

Biological Section:

This is by far the creepiest section in the book. One can see “some possibly anatomical drawings with small human figures populating systems of transporting liquids.” Credit: Wikipedia Commons

 

Pharmaceutical Section:

Containers with leaves and roots. Credit: voynich.nu

 

Recipes Section:

Over 300 short-paragraphs, each noted with a star in the margin. Credit: voynich.nu

At our first glance, Voynich Manuscript seems to serve a medical reference of some sort. However, the perplexing illustrations, along with the uncrackable language of the text, obscure the purpose for which it was intended. Is it a mad man’s diary, or is it a masterpiece of literature? We may never know.

 

  1. Baghdad Battery

Do you remember back in my first post I talked about the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient computer discovered in Greek? If you thought that was incredible, do you know that ancient people might have also used battery, more than 1000 years before Count Alessandro Volta invented the first electrical battery that we are familiar with today. This ancient battery is called Baghdad Battery. As the name suggests, Baghdad Battery was first discovered in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, by German archaeologist Wilhelm Konig in 1938. This artifact consists of “a ceramic pot, a tube of one metal, and a rod of another,” as shown in the picture below (Wikipedia).

A painting of Baghdad Battery. Credit: Wikipedia Commons

The jar has been speculated to be about 2000 years old. While supporting experiments have demonstrated that it is possible to generate electrical current by a reconstruction of the jar filled with grape juice, critics point out that Baghdad Battery may be just a container for papyrus scrolls.

A scientific illustration of how Baghdad battery works. Credit: unmeseum. org

Therefore, is this really a battery? It is a strong possibility. If it turns out to be true, Count Volta may not need to be worried, because we will probably not erase his name from electrical potentials in our physics textbooks.

 

  1. Sword of Goujian

Imagine an ancient sword, found in a tomb over 2000 years old, that still has an extremely sharp blade and shows no trace of rust, as if it is defying the passage of time. In 1965, a team of archaeologists discovered one such sword in Hubei, China, along with 2000 other artifacts.

Sword of Goujian at Hubei Provincial Museum. Credit: Wikipedia Commons

Named the Sword of Goujian, this legendary sword is as important to the Chinese people as King Arthur’s Excalibur to the west, because of its connection to Goujian, a famous emperor in Chinese history who “reigned over the Yue State during the Spring and Autumn Period (771-476 BC)”. This was a time of wars, chaos, and revolutions. “The Spring and Autumn Period was renowned for military expeditions; these conflicts led to the perfecting of weapons to the point that they were incredibly resistant and deadly, taking years to forge and lasting for centuries.” The story of Goujian, in particular, marked an epic comeback that was praised by later generations, and his personal weapon was the Sword of Goujian.

The characters carved on the sword are translated to ” [Belonging to] King Goujian of Yue, made for [his] personal use.” Credit: Wikipedia Commons

 

Works Cited

 

Voynich Manuscript:

http://www.voynich.nu/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript

 

Baghdad Battery:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Battery

http://www.unmuseum.org/bbattery.htm

 

Sword of Goujian:

http://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-other-artifacts/goujian-ancient-chinese-sword-defied-time-003279

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_of_Goujian

One thought on “How Smart Were Our Ancestors?

  1. rsp5212

    I am a firm believer in the fact that our ancestors were absolutely brilliant. Although it is true that we created technology that they could not, I don’t believe that this makes us smarter. People have been making observations about complicated topics even before the technology that we now use today was in existence. In fact, I believe that they may even have higher mental capabilities than we do because they did not have any technology to rely on!

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