Technology of the Gods: The Incredible Sciences of the Ancients Read online

  Bottom: An interpretive drawing of the ancient relief.

  Top: Part of an 18th Dynasty papyrus scroll allegedly depicting sacred baboons worshipping the sun. Note that the device bearing this “sun” and the object itself occlude the “mountains” so that they represent a solid opaque structure. The sun would not move in front of a mountain, as in this drawing.

  Bottom: A small, stone sphinx holds an orb in each hand.

  Top: A Van de Graaff Generator.

  Bottom: A Wimshurst static electrical device.

  Djed column with ankh and orb at the top.

  A diagram of how the static generator might have worked.

  Top: The pyramids at Meroe in Sudan.

  Below: The rock sketch of an unusual device, possibly a weapon of some kind, or a missile?

  Top: A relief from Akhetaton shows priestesses holding small Djed-like torches that could be electrical devices.

  A coin from Tyre in Phoenicia showing a snake wrapped around an egg.

  Right: Priestesses with orbs over their heads—an electric light or crystal lens, rather than the sun?

  Top: The chambers and passages of the Great Pyramid.

  Bottom: Theoretical configurations for the massive limestone door that hid the entrance to the pyramid. Moses was said to have entered the pyramid by pushing on the door; he then removed the Ark of the Covenant.

  Moses is blinded by the Ark of the Covenant.

  The Ark of the Covenant and the Tabemacle in the Wilderness.

  The Ark of the Covenant inside Solomon’s Temple.

  An Assyrian crystal lens from 700 BC.

  A Bablylonian “Grail Tree.”

  The Thummim or Urim was a crystal set in precious metals.

  A Spanish monstrance, 16th c.

  Platinum artifacts found at the lost city of Coaque in Ecuador by Robin Moore and Howard Jennings. Photo from their 1974 book The Treasure Hunter.

  5.

  Ancient Flight & Aerial War

  Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains.

  —Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

  No experiment is ever a complete failure.

  It can always be used as a bad example.

  —Johnny Carson

  Ancient Rockets to Ancient Flight

  Throughout history there have been tales of flight—from flying carpets to Ezekial’s fiery wheels within wheels. Within the myths and legends of ancient history there are countless stories of flying people, flying chariots, flying carpets, and other tales usually dismissed as fantasy and legend.

  In his book Wonders of Ancient Chinese Science,135Robert Silverburg says that Chinese myths tell of a legendary people, the Chi-Kung, who traveled in “aerial carriages.” In the ancient Chinese chronicle Records of the Scholars it is recorded that the great Han Dynasty astronomer and engineer, Chang Heng, made a “wooden bird” with a mechanism in its belly that allowed it to fly nearly a mile. Propellers seem to be described in a book written about 320 by Ko Hung, an alchemist and mystic: “Some have made flying cars with wood from the inner part of the jujube tree, using ox leather straps fastened to revolving blades so as to set the machine in motion...”135

  The development of modern spaceflight can be traced to the early use of gunpowder in China, including experimentation with manned rockets. Charcoal and sulfur had long been known as ingredients for incendiary mixtures. As early as 1044 the Chinese learned that saltpeter, added to such a mixture, made it fizz even more alarmingly. We do not know who first learned that if you grind charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter up very fine, mix them very thoroughly in the proportion of 1:1:3.5 or 1:1:4, and pack the mixture into a dosed container, it will, when ignited explode with a delightful bang. It has been suggested that experimenters, believing that salt made a fire hotter because it made it brighter, tried various salts until they stumbled on potassium nitrate or saltpeter.

  The rocket probably evolved in a simple way from an incendiary arrow. If one wanted to make a fire arrow burn fiercely for several seconds using the new powder, one would have to pack the powder in a long thin tube to keep it from going off all at once. It would also be necessary to let the flame and smoke escape from one end of the tube. But, if the tube were open at the front end, the reaction of the discharge would be in the direction opposite to the flight of the arrow and would make the missile tumble wildly. If the tube were open to the rear, on the other hand, the explosion would help the arrow on its way.

  Early on it was discovered that with a discharge to the rear the arrow did not even have to be shot from a bow. The forward pressure of the explosion inside the tube would move the device fast enough.

  The Chinese created all manner of rocket-powered arrows, grenades and even iron bombs, very similar to those in use today. The first two-stage rocket is credited to the Chinese in the 11th century AD with their “Fire Dragon” rocket. While on its way to its target, the “Fire Dragon” ignited fire arrows that flew from the dragon’s mouth. An early two-stage cluster bomb rocket.

  When the Mongol army attacked Kaifeng—once the capital of the Sung but now that of the Gin Dynasty—in 1232, the armies of the Gin checked the invincible Mongols for a while by using secret weapons. One called “heaven-shaking thunder” was an iron bomb lowered by a chain from the city’s walls to explode among the foe. The other, an early rocket called an “arrow of flying fire,” whistled among the Mongols with much noise and smoke and stampeded their ponies. 27

  The stampeding of horses, or worse yet, war elephants, was one of the primary uses of the early war rockets. It is known that war rockets were used not only in ancient China, but also in ancient India and Southeast Asia. These countries traditionally fought with heavily armored war elephants. A few exploding rockets into the middle of troop of mounted soldiers could send an entire army into chaos.

  Celtic design of a flying horse.

  A curious incident along this line is told by Frank Edwards in Stranger Than Science.19 He says that Alexander the Great’s invasion was stopped at the Indus River by an odd historical event: “Flying Shields” or discoid aircraft were buzzing the groups of war elephants that were part of Alexander’s invasion army, and made them stampede. Alexander’s gen erals refused to continue with the invasion of the Indian subcontinent, probably the richest, and most civilized group of states in the world at the time. Alexander turned back to Asia Minor and was soon poisoned in Baghdad.

  Meanwhile, gunpowder was used in the making of rockets, Roman candles, bombs, and even manned craft.

  Russell Freedman in his book 2000 Years of Space Travel42 tells the tale of the daring Chinese inventor named Wan Hoo who is credited with launching the first rocket-powered vehicle. Around 1500 AD he built a sturdy wooden framework around a comfortable chair. To the framework he attached 47 skyrockets, and atop it he fastened two large kites. The he strapped himself to the chair.

  When he raised his hand, servants carrying blazing torches advanced toward the vehicle and ignited the skyrockets. “A moment later there was a mighty blast, followed by an impressive cloud of black smoke. Wan Hoo vanished, leaving behind but a legend.”

  There is evidence that bombs and gunpowder were used at the time of Christ and before. However, strictly speaking, it was not yet “gunpowder” because the gun had not been invented. For instance, according to L. Sprague de Camp in The Ancient Engineers,27 at some date in the third century AD an otherwise unknown Marchus or “Mark the Greek,” wrote Liber ignium, or The Book of Fire. Marchus told how to make explosive powder by a mixture of “one pound of live sulfur, two of charcoal and six of saltpeter.” This would give a weak explosion. In the 13th century, Albertus Magnus gave the same formula as Marchus, while Albertus’ contemporary Roger Bacon recommended “seven parts of saltpeter, five of young hazelnut wood and five of sulfur.” This would also produce some; thing of a bang.27

  About 1280 AD the Syrian al-Hasan ar-Rammah wrote The book of fightingon Horseback and withWar Engines. Ar-Rammah told of the importance of sal
tpeter for incendiary compounds and gave careful directions for purifying it. He also told of rockets, which he called “Chinese arrows.” The Chinese also created the first Roman candles, flame throwers and mortars say modern, scholars. Early Roman candles had alternate packings of loose and compressed powder, along with a few nails or small stones, so that as the powder burned down from the muzzle, the solid lumps were thrown out and burned as they flew.27

  The Roman candle was as close as the Chinese came to the invention of the gun. The invention of the real gun is an obscure and disputed event, generally thought to have taken place in Germany. The “Chronicle of the City of Ghent” for 1313 states that “in this year the use of guns (bussen) was found for the first time by a monk in Germany.” A manuscript published in 1326, Walter de Milemete’s De officiis regun, shows a primitive gun called a vasa or vase. This is a bottle-shaped device shooting massive darts. An Italian manuscript of the same year mentions guns. In the 1340s, Edward III of England and the cities of Aachen and Cambrai all paid bills for guns and powder.27

  Some of the earliest guns were thin “barrels” of wood strengthened by iron hoops, or of copper and leather. Guns soon evolved into cannon, rifles and hand guns. The latter at first were small cannon lashed to poles, which the gunners held under their arms like lances at rest. Cannon evolved into long guns for direct fire and very short guns, called mortars from their shape, for high-angle fire. For a time, balls of iron or lead were used in hand guns and balls of stone in cannon.

  Iron cannon balls soon replaced those of stone, because iron is much denser than stone and iron balls therefore carried more kinetic energy for a given bore. Now cannon had to be made stronger and of smaller bore, because if a cannon designed for stone balls were fired with an iron ball of the same size, the gun would burst. Grenades were already in use in the Middle East by the time of the Crusades, and the Knights Templars (and other crusaders) were said to have brought this technology back to Medieval Europe.

  Meanwhile the hand gun in its turn improved until it outshone the cannon. The flintlock musket, became cheap enough for any citizen to own, simple enough for him to use, and deadly enough to enable him to face professional soldiers with a nearly equal footing. Thus the stage was set for the fall of kings and the setting up of republics. The common man, with this new technology, need not be afraid of thugs or thieves anymore, nor drunken soldiers or others who might threaten him and his family because he was of larger stature and carried a long, heavy sword. The pistol was the great equalizer, a deadly weapon that women could use effectively as well. As it was said popularly at the turn of the 20th century, “God created man, but Sam Colt made all men equal.”

  Icarus

  Prehistoric Aircraft: From Airplane Models to Flying Chariots

  The development of modern weapons was immediately followed by the development of aviation. This was initially quite successful and sparked the imagination of the entire world. By the mid-1800s balloons were a common sight in most major cities of the world. Powered flight, designed after the shape of bird’s wings, came shortly afterwards.

  But what of ancient flight? Were the Wright brothers really the first to fly through the air on a powered vehicle? Clearly Wan Hoo would argue the point if he could.

  When American scientists expressed surprise at the sophistication of the Antikythera Device by saying that it was “like finding a jet plane in the Tomb of King Tut,” they weren’t far off the mark. Models of what appear to be jet planes have been found in tombs in Colombia, and in Egypt as well.

  Several small delta-winged gold “jets” can be found in the Colombian government’s Gold Museum in Bogota. The small models are thought to be at least 1,000 years old, if not more. They are variously said to be models of bees, flying fish or other animals, however, unlike any known animal, they have vertical and horizontal tail fins.

  When these zoomorphic objects were photographed in a V-formation with nine original artifacts, they looked amazingly like a squadron of delta-wing jets! Sanderson says in Investigating the Unexplained8that a similar object was on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The label said it was “probably meant to represent a flying fish.”

  Like the bulldozer in Panama, these gold zoomorphic models were dated as probably from 800 to 1,000 years old. Gold is indestructible, however, and all the gold jewelry and coinage from ancient times still exists today in one form or another. In many cases it has been melted down and reformed into gold bars or new jewelry. Other metals will eventually corrode and oxidize, but, as pointed out previously, gold jewelry or trinkets could be traded for hundreds, even thousands, of years.

  In 1898 a model was found in an Egyptian tomb near Sakhara. It was labeled a “bird” and cataloged object 6347 at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Then in 1969 Dr. Khalil Messiha was startled to notice that the bird not only had straight wings, but also an upright tailfin. To Dr. Messiha, the object appeared to be a model airplane.

  Flying Fish or Ancient Airplane?

  Colombian gold “jet” from top.

  It is made of wood, weighs 39.12 grams and remains in good condition. The wingspan is 18 cm, the aircraft’s nose is 3.2 cm long and the overall length is 14 cm. The extremities of the aircraft and the wingtips are aerodynamically shaped. Apart from a symbolic eye and two short lines under the wings, it has no decorations nor has it any landing legs. Experts have tested the model and found it airworthy.

  After this sensational discovery, Egypt’s Minister for Culture, Mohammed Gamal El Din Moukhtar, commissioned a technical research group to put other “birds” under the microscope. The team, nominated on Dec. 23,1971, consisted of Dr. Henry Riad, Director of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquity; Dr. Abdul Quader Selim, Deputy Director of the Egyptian Museum for Archaeological Research; Dr. Hismat Nessiha, Director of the Department of Antiquities; and Kamal Naguib, President of the Egyptian Aviation Union. On January 12,1972, the first exhibition of Ancient Egyptian model aircraft was opened in the Hall of the Egyptian Museum for Antiquities. Dr. Abdul Quader Hatem, Representative of the Prime Minister, and the Air Minister Ahmed Moh presented fourteen ancient Egyptian model “aircraft” to the public.

  Another curious exhibit at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo is a large display of boomerangs found in the tomb of King Tutankhamen. While boomerangs may not be models of ancient aircraft, they demonstrate that the Egyptians were highly interested in the mechanics of flight, as few devices operate like a boomerang after being thrown. A number of Egyptian reliefs show Egyptians hunting with boomerangs, and the curved flying sticks have been found in Florida, Poland, Texas and of course, Australia. Boomerangs may well have been distributed around the world by the ancient Egyptians or some previous culture.

  Says Tomas in We Are Not the First:24 One of the first aeronautical designers in the world was Daedalus. He constructed wings for his son Icarus and himself but in piloting his glider the boy flew too high and fell into the sea which is now called the Icarian Sea. The Wright brothers were more fortunate 4,500 years later because the basis for aviation technology had already been developed before them.

  It is erroneous to think that Daedalus belongs to mythology. His colleagues—the engineers of Knossos—constructed water chutes in parabolic curves to conform exactly to the natural flow of water. Only long centuries of science could have produced such streamlining. And the streamline is also an essential part of aerodynamics, which Daedalus might have mastered.

  Friar Roger Bacon left a mysterious sentence in one of his works: “Flying machines as these were of old, and are made even in our days.” A statement like that, written in the thirteenth century, is enigmatic, indeed. First of all, Bacon affirmed that engines flying in the air had been a reality in a bygone era, and secondly, that they existed in his day. Both possibilities seem to be farfetched and yet history is replete with legends as well as chronicles of airships in the remote past.

  Perhaps more striking are the Chinese annals which relate that Emperor Shun (c. 2
258-2208 BC) constructed not only a flying apparatus but even made a parachute about the same time as Daedalus built his gliders.24

  There was also Emperor Cheng Tang (1766 BC) who ordered a famous inventor named Ki-Kung-Shi to design a flying chariot. The primeval aviation constructor completed the assignment and tested the aircraft in flight, supposedly reaching the province of Honan in his flying machine, possibly a glider. Subsequently, the vessel was destroyed by imperial edict as Cheng Tang was afraid that the secret of its mechanism might fall into the wrong hands.

  Circa 300 BC, the Chinese poet Chu Yuan wrote of his flight in a jade chariot at a high altitude over the Gobi Desert toward the snow-capped Kun Lun Mountains in the west. Says Tomas, “He accurately described how the aircraft was unaffected by the winds and dust of the Gobi, and how he conducted an aerial survey.”24