The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World

Natural History, Dec, 2004 by Laurence A. Marschall

The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World, edited by Brian M. Fagan (Thames & Hudson; $40.00)

As a gift for the lover of antiquities, consider this anthology of illustrated essays by forty-two authorities on the ancient world. The well-crafted essays cover just the kinds of topics one might expect, from the invention of the stone axe to the development of agriculture to the earliest water wheels. Less utilitarian artifacts, such as the earliest board games, musical instruments, and recreational drugs, also rate chapters of their own.

One surprising discovery is that many inventions still in use today turn out to be surprisingly ancient: A foldout bed more than 3,000 years old graced the tomb of King Tutankhamen. An array of tumbler door locks dates back to Roman times. A set of dentures from 700 B.C. was discovered in Tuscany. The texts make it clear that clever innovation is the hallmark of our species, not just of post-industrial society. But why, one might ask, are there only seventy great inventions represented here, and not, say, twenty-five, or two hundred, or a thousand? Other books from the same publisher--including The Seventy Great Mysteries of the Ancient World and The Seventy Wonders of the Modern World--may hold the (none too profound) answer.

LAURENCE A. MARSCHALL, author of The Supernova Story, is W.K. T. Sahm Professor of Physics at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, and director of Project CLEA, which produces widely used simulation software for education in astronomy.