4 Lost Technologies In Ancient History | Unveiled

4 Lost Technologies from Ancient History

Today’s world boasts some incredible tech that, in the eyes of ancient humans, would have made us seem closer to gods. Among other things, we’re now capable of traveling to the other side of the world in a single day, communicating in an instant with anyone else on the planet, and controlling machines on other planets in the solar system. Given our level of seeming advancement, then, it’s hard to believe that there are also some ancient ideas that we no longer have access to.

But, this is Unveiled, and today we’re exploring four lost technologies from ancient history.

Full disclosure: three quarters of this video isn’t especially friendly… but given that the history of humankind is largely shaped by the history of war, perhaps that’s not surprising.

For example, our first lost technology is Greek fire… a liquid, projectile weapon widely used by the Byzantine empire between the seventh and thirteenth centuries. Clearly designed to invoke instantly hellish scenes, it was fired at enemies, would immediately explode upon contact with a target ship, and then set the entire landscape ablaze. Indeed, one of the most incredible features of Greek Fire, and what most contributed to its infamous reputation, was that it could continue burning after it came into contact with water.

Imagine, if you will, that you’re sailing towards an ancient city. Perhaps you’re preparing to attack, perhaps wires have been crossed and you actually come in peace… but suddenly fire starts raining from the skies. Your ship is lucky enough to dodge the scorching missiles direct, but then the sea itself erupts into flames, and you’re trapped in a burning, boiling, blistering ocean. Your chances of survival quickly and ruthlessly plummet, all thanks to Greek Fire. And it wasn’t just a visual spectacle, either, as it also released a deafening roar when used. Add into the mix a choking blanket of smoke that’s said to have covered the sea throughout, and it’s little wonder that Greek Fire is so often compared to something you might otherwise have seen erupt from a dragon.

Unsurprisingly, too, many historians credit Greek Fire as being a key ingredient to the longstanding success of the Byzantine empire. It was just so difficult to fight against. But the exact composition of this terrifying substance is today unknown… and despite many attempts over the centuries to do so, no one has yet been able to recreate it. Also known as sea fire, roman fire, war fire, and sticky fire (because the burning liquid literally clung to victims) really we should all be thankful that it isn’t still around… yet Greek Fire has today morphed into a thing of legend.

The same can be said for our second lost technology: Damascus Steel. This was a specific steel type used to make incredibly tough and devastatingly sharp weapons up to around the early-eighteenth century, across West Asia and the Middle East. Believed to have been forged from ingots of another material, Wootz steel, Damascus steel has been studied at length in recent years, mainly because of the apparent presence of carbon nanotubes within it - an otherwise modern technology. Its high-carbon structure appears to have been crucial to its success, ensuring that Damascus Steel weapons were not only very tough, but also extremely flexible.

At their height, these weapons were the best of the best for on-the-ground fighting. Although they were also famous for their unique appearance, and particularly for the wavy patterns that adorned any blade. In the centuries since it was widespread, there have again been many attempts to recreate Damascus Steel for the modern world. But, so far, with no success… and contemporary versions have taken to artificially etching in the wavy patterns, to give their blades the illusion of being originals. The secret to manufacturing true Damascus Steel remains hidden, though, perhaps never to be discovered again.

For today’s third lost technology, the history of its use in the real world is much more… up for debate. Both Greek Fire and Damascus Steel are ancient (if baffling) products, yes, but historians are pretty confident that they did at least exist. With the Archimedes death ray, however, it’s believed the plans were there… but was it ever truly built in the first place?

When you hear that title - Archimedes death ray - you might first imagine something from a sci-fi space drama, but actually we’re heading back to the ends of Ancient Greece for this one, and the third century BC. And, really, this alleged device was little more than a collection of mirrors… it’s just that, if it ever did work, then it’s said to have been capable of transforming the sun itself into a weapon with the capacity to destroy pretty much anything. Ships, cities, people, the lot. Think of that classic kids’ TV character using a magnifying glass to burn an unsuspecting ant. That’s what we’re talking about here, just on a much larger scale. Many, many more mirrors, built and angled in just the right way, to concentrate as much sunlight as possible onto a single point. And, voila, instant death.

But, all of that said, the Death Ray (planned as it may have been) may never have actually worked… with researchers calculating that it might not have been possible for it to create the heat required to cause the death, damage and destruction claimed. There are also precious little accounts of it from the time, with the first records emerging some hundreds of years later. Still, many have tried to replicate it, regardless, and some have even been mildly successful… although, nobody (thankfully) has managed a true death ray, just yet.

So, so far we’ve covered a dragon-like fire weapon, an indestructible super blade weapon, and an alleged instant kill weapon powered by the sun… but, for our final lost technology, we’re pulling a full 180 away from all the most terrible things life has to offer, to one of the most beautiful - music.

There are, of course, many ways to produce music, but it could be that one of our best ever instruments has now been lost forever. The Stradivarius violin. These violins (and other stringed instruments) were named after their Italian creator, Antonio Stradivari, who lived across the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. And, unlike with the other technologies in this video, there are still examples of these things, in the modern world… with approximately 650 authentic Stradivarius instruments surviving today. It’s a technology that is still considered lost, however, because we no longer know the exact method for creating them. So, no matter how musically perfect a Stradivarius may sound, we’re on borrowed time to enjoy them.

Over the years, we’ve certainly tried to make new ones... but to no avail. And there has been much speculation as to what exactly gave these violins such an unbeatable sound quality. One widely suggested possibility was that Stradivari had used a special varnish to somehow improve the sound… but that has been ruled out by modern research. Another common idea is that the cooler climate of Stradivari’s time may have led to a denser wood, and then again to a better sound. Naturally, there are also doubters who deny that there’s anything particularly special about a Stradivarius violin to begin with… and that celebration of them is merely the result of the placebo effect over many listeners. But, regardless, it seems that humankind will never be making them quite the same again.

And finally, let’s close this video with the honourable mention perhaps no-one expected… concrete. Of course, it’s hard to take even a few steps outside without running into something that uses this building material, so there’s surely zero grounds to claim that it is a lost technology, too? Well, it isn’t, and it is… because what we don’t have any more is Roman concrete. It’s known that modern concrete is nowhere near as durable as Roman concrete was, which explains why so many Roman structures are still at least partly standing. In a couple thousand years’ time, will the same be said of modern buildings? It’s thought unlikely, and despite our best efforts we’re yet to confirm the secret formula that makes Roman concrete so reliable. It could be that the mixture offers a unique blend of volcanic ash and seawater, according to some theories, but in general it would seem that concrete - like the violin - just isn’t as good these days!

But what most ties all these technologies together? Whether they’re for waging war or making music, they all give us a glimpse into the lives of those living centuries and millennia before us… and they remind us that, no matter how much we think we know today, it’s always possible to learn from the past. Who knows, maybe a couple thousand years from now future humans will discover an amazing technology from our present day that had also disappeared over time. It probably won’t be concrete, but it might be something else. And those are four lost technologies from ancient history.