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Electricity:
(The ancient use of electricity)
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The use of electricity before the 20th century has been proven beyond
refute by the numerous examples of 'batteries' found in the middle-east,
dating from approx 250 BC. These are the earliest absolute proofs of the
use of electricity, although they represent the result of objective
experimentation at a time when there seems little or no purpose for it.
At present, there seems to be only one candidate for such
a science, which is the electroplating of objects with fine layers
of gold or silver. The earliest potential example of this art is from
Sumeria, at about 2,000 BC, over a thousand years earlier than the
discoveries of any batteries, offering more questions than answers over
the presence of these electroplated objects.
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A Chronology of electrical discoveries.
2,500 -
2,000 BC - The oldest example of the use of electricity is the Copper Vases, electroplated with silver were
once to be found in the
Baghdad museum. They had been excavated from Sumerian sites in southern
Iraq. (9)
Electric Cells
(The 'Baghdad batteries') - (2,250 - 1,350 BP)
(Click here for more about the Baghdad batteries)
Egypt - The
renowned astronomer Sir J. Norman Lockyer, who studied ancient Egyptian
temples and tombs in depth, In his Dawn of Astronomy, in 1894,
pointed out an enigma of the time—when he wrote:
"In all freshly-opened
tombs there are no traces whatever of any kind of combustion having taken
place, even in the inner-most recesses. So strikingly evident is this that
my friend M. Bouriant, while we were discussing this matter at Thebes,
laughingly suggested the possibility that the electric light was known to
the ancient Egyptians."
Unconfirmed electroplated objects
were reportedly found in Egypt by the 19th Century French Archaeologist August Mariette. Excavating in the area of the
sphinx at Ghiza. Mariette came upon
a number of artefacts at a depth of 60ft. In the 'Grand Dictionaire
Universal du 19th Siecle', he describes the artefacts as "pieces of gold jewellery
whose thinness, and lightness make one believe they had been produced by electroplating"
(9)
India - In the Prince's Library of
Ujjain in India, there is a well preserved document called the 'Agastya
Samshita', which dates back to the first millennium BC. It contains a
detailed description not only of how to construct an electric battery/cell,
but also, how to utilize the battery to 'split'
water into its
constituent gasses. (9)
The text runs as follows:
“Place a well-cleaned copper plate in an
earthenware vessel. Cover it first by copper sulfate and then moist
sawdust. After that put a mercury-amalgamated-zinc sheet on top of an
energy known by the twin name of Mitra-Varuna. Water will be split by
this current into Pranavayu and Udanavayu. A chain of one hundred jars
is said to give a very active and effective force.”
South America - Two 90ft Sq.
Sheets of 'Mica' were found sandwiched between horizontal courses of a
pyramid in Bolivia at
Tiahuanaco
early in the 20th century. One was broken up and sold to the electrics
industry, the other remains in situ. (Mica is an electric conductor). The
nearest source of Mica is hundreds of miles away in the Amazon basin.
320 BC - A Ptolemaic
inscription describes how wooden flagstaff's, 30m tall, were placed in front
of temples and capped with a sheath of copper, and used to 'Cut the
lightning from the sky'. (9)
China - 265-31 BC - An
Aluminium 'Girdle' was recovered from the tomb of the Chinese general 'Chu',
which is made from an alloy of 85% Aluminium, 10% Copper and 5% Manganese.
The only known viable method of producing aluminium from Bauxite is in an electrolytic process, after Alumina (The Aluminium Chloride component of the
ore) is dissolved in molten 'Cryolite', patented in the last century. (Note
- The Baghdad batteries (above), are not sufficient for this process, as
a substantial dynamo-generated current is required).
2nd Century AD
- Pausanius
wrote that the 'Temple of Minerva had a light that could burn for over a
year'. (Ref: 9)
354-430 AD
- St. Augustine claimed that in an Egyptian temple dedicated to Isis (Venus), a lamp burned
which neither wind nor water could extinguish. (Ref: 9) He said of it:
That in Egypt...“There was, and still is, a temple of
Venus, in which a lamp burns so strongly in the open air that no storm or
rain extinguishes it.” He blamed the cause of this marvellous lamp,
which was likely an arc light, on the miracles of the “black arts” performed
by demons and men.
13th Century AD -
When the Sepulcher of Paris was opened near Rome in the early 1400's, it was
found to be still lighted by a lantern, which had presumably been alight for
over 2,000 yrs. (9)
13th Century AD - Eliphas
Levi, in his 'Histoire de la Magie', records the story of a
mysterious French Rabi named Jechiele, who was an advisor to Louis IX.
Jechiele's contemporary's reported that he often astounded the King with his
"Dazzling lamp that lighted itself".
The lamp possessed no oil or
wick, and Jechiele placed it in front of his house for all to see.
Interestingly, another device he was reputed to have had was a door knocker
that was ale to produce an electric shock.
(Ref: 9)
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The Baghdad batteries..
Railway
construction in Baghdad in 1936, uncovered a copper cylinder with a rod of
iron amongst other finds from the Parthian period. In 1938, these were
identified as primitive electric cells by Dr. Wilhelm Konig,
then the director of the Baghdad museum laboratory, who related the
discovery to other similar finds (Iraqi cylinders, rods and asphalt
stoppers, all corroded as if by some acid, and a few slender Iron and Bronze
rods found with them). He concluded that their purpose was for electroplating
gold and Silver jewellery.
The Object he
first found (left), was a 6-inch high pot of bright yellow clay containing a
cylinder of sheet-copper 5 inches by 1.5 inches. The edge of the copper
cylinder was
soldered with a
lead-tin alloy comparable to today's solder. The bottom of the
cylinder was capped with a crimped-in copper disc and sealed with bitumen or
asphalt. Another insulating layer of Asphalt sealed the top and also held in
place an iron rod suspended into the centre of the copper cylinder.
Two separate experiments with
replicas of the cells have produced a 0.5-Volt current for as long as 18
days from each battery, using an electrolyte 5% solution of Vinegar, wine or
copper-sulphate, sulphuric acid and citric acid, all available at the time.
(One replica produced 0.87-Volts).
Unfortunately, the Baghdad
batteries are now lost following the looting of the Baghdad museum in
2003.
This article appeared in the Guardian on Thursday April 22 2004.
The situation in Iraq makes the fate
of the 8,000 or so artefacts still missing from the National Museum of
Baghdad ever more uncertain. Among them is an unassuming looking, 13cm
long clay jar that represents one of archaeology's greatest puzzles -
the Baghdad battery. The enigmatic vessel was unearthed by the German
archaeologist Wilhelm Koenig in the late 1930s, either in the National
Museum or in a grave at Khujut Rabu, a Parthian (224BC-AD226) site
near Baghdad (accounts differ). The corroded earthenware jar contained
a copper cylinder, which itself encased an iron rod, all sealed with
asphalt. Koenig recognised it as a battery and identified several more
specimens from fragments found in the region.
He theorised that several batteries would have been
strung together, to increase their output, and used to electroplate
precious objects. Koenig's ideas were rejected by his peers and, with
the onset of the second world war, subsequently forgotten.
Following the war, fresh analysis revealed signs of
corrosion by an acidic substance, perhaps vinegar or wine. An American
engineer, Willard Gray, filled a replica jar with grape juice and was
able to produce 1.5-2 volts of power. Then, in the late 1970s, a
German team used a string of replica batteries successfully to
electroplate a thin layer of silver.
About a dozen such jars were held in Baghdad's
National Museum. Although their exact age is uncertain, they're
thought to date from the Sassanian period, approximately AD225-640.
While it's now largely accepted that the jars are indeed batteries,
their purpose remains unknown. What were our ancestors doing with
(admittedly, tiny) electric charges, 1,000 years before the first
twitchings of our modern electrical age?
Certainly the batteries would have been
highly-valued objects: several were needed to provide even a small
amount of power. The electroplating theory remains a strong contender,
while a medical function has also been suggested - the Ancient Greeks,
for example are known to have used electric eels to numb pain.
Of particular interest to the electroplating theory
are the Copper Vases, electroplated with silver which were also once to be found in the
Baghdad museum. They had been excavated from Sumerian sites in southern
Iraq, dating 2,500 -2,000 BC. (9)
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