Ancient Mesopotamia Engineering

Ancient Engineering Era (8,000BC- 500 AD)

• This is the third lecture within the context of Engineering History and Technology

Mesopotamia

• Around 8000 BCE, Mesopotamia was inhabited by nearly 500,000 people
• Mesopotamia translates to "The land between the two rivers"

The Scratch Plow

• Is a vee-shaped tree branch for pushing and pulling
• Used to loosen the top 3-5 cm of soil for planting

Sickles

• Artifacts resembling sickles, consisting of sharp-edged flint inserted in slots of curved wood, served as proof of progressively efficient tool development for harvesting

Pottery

• Around 5000 BCE, first thermally-induced material transformation occurred during the Agricultural Revolution
• Campfire heat discovery to irreversibly harden clay, resulting in pottery

Adobe Brick

• Mixing straw with moist clay, then molding the mixture into a regular shape and allowing it to dry, resulted in the creation of a useful adobe brick for building walls

Mortar

• Following adobe brick production, there was the commencement of mortar creation circa 5000 BCE
• Consisted of sand and powdered limestone
• Mixed with water, functioning as both wall plaster and brick bonding agent

The Discovery of Metal Copper Ornaments

• A charcoal-fuelled fire happened to be located on exposed copper ore, yielding a red-brown liquid that cooled into a light-brown globule
• Smelting was discovered leading to progression: N(t){Cu-ores} → E(t){smelting, shaping} → D(t){copper ornaments}

Bronze Tools

• Development advanced beyond copper smelting
• Copper ore mixed with black tin ore in a draft-blown fire inadvertently resulted in a hardy and chip-resistant new metal
• Expressed as N(t){Cu, Sn} → E(t){draft heating, shaping} → D(t){bronze tools}

Bronze Age

• This new metal provides additional material possibilities in creating devices
• Introduced the Bronze Age around 3500 ВСЕ and thus following the Stone Age

The Sumerians

• Beginning approximately 4500 BCE, the Sumerians settled in the lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates River
• They exhibited an interest in making ingenious devices, notably enhancing pottery, weaving, and creating kiln-fired pots and bricks

Sumerians

• Were the first to be organized to erect ceremonial structures
• Improved agrarian productivity by the construction of stone and brick lined irrigation canals
• About 3500 BCE, settlements expanded, resulting in city-states, grand terraced buildings, and rulers appearing as priest-kings

Two Important Inventions

• Formula for the wheel: N(t){wood} → E(t){shaping, assembling} → D(t){wheel}
• Formula for clay tablets: N(t){clay, reeds} → E(t){standardization, notation} → D(t){clay tablets}
• The above mentioned inventions, established transportation engineering and Information Technology, approximately 5500 years ago

Summary of Sumerians Contribution (~4500 BCE→~3000 BCE)

• Agriculture: Involved irrigation, planting, and harvesting
• Domestics: Included spinning, weaving, and improvements in pottery,
• Communication: Was achieved through cuneiform script, clay records, and accounting
• Metals: Copper ornaments and bronze tools
• Structures: Wheels and carts, rafts, and large ceremonial buildings,
• Time: Cyclic seasons and lunations
• Organization: Priests/Kings, religious rituals, and hierarchical organizations

Structures and Symbols

• The peoples of Sumer and Egypt erected some of the earliest monumental engineering structures

Irrigation - Sumer

• By approximately 3500 BCE, irrigation channels stretched for more than 50 km
• Some were deepened and expanded to serve as limited storage
• Stone dams retained floodwater for future use

Irrigation - Egypt

• Variation in land height direction was used to direct the Nile river water
• Clever devices, like the shadoof and Saquia (an animal powered vertical wheels with tilting water containers mounted along the rim), helped raise water

Large Structures - Sumer

• Sumerian Ziggurats stood at 26 m high with ground base measures of 60x70 m2
• Layers of stone capped with the shrine at the very top

Large Structures - Egypt

• Egypt erected oversized brick and stone walled tombs and pyramids (150 m high with a base of 230x230 m2)

Ancient Engineers (Builders)

• Sumer: Gudea built in 2300 BCE
• Egypt: Imhotep built in 2900 BCE

Other Civilizations

• Populations established in the Yellow River Valley of present day China(ca. 2000 BCE)
• These clustered peoples proved influential for its early discoveries: ink (~2000 BCE); lodestone magnet (~1000 BCE); paper (~200 BCE); porcelain (~500 CE)

Minoan

• The Minoan culture began on the island of Crete around 2000 BCE
• These Bronze Age Cretans knew a unique system of writing
• Skilled in bronze tool making and wooden ship building
• Knew the construction of stone buildings and were ruled by kings
• Even installed indoor plumbing and sewage discharge

Other Civilizations

• Between about 2000 BCE and 500 BCE, empires arose and vanished in the Middle East, including Babylonia, Assyria, and Persia
• This resulted in mingling of cultures, expanding trade along Mediterranean shores
• Coinage was invented by the Hittites in present-day eastern Turkey

The Windlass

• The windlass or capstan was first witnessed around 1400 BCE in the Middle East
• It's ranked as next in importance to the wheel

The Greek

• The Greeks(ca.600 BCE) had engineering developments that emerged:
  • Iron smelting replaced bronze for tools and weapons

Greek Temples

• Temples were of good-looking make, open-air theatres, marble and bronze sculptures, public squares, court yards, and impressive housing communities emerged

Greek ships

• A Greek navy was established
• Vessels showcased single-sail ships with multi-tiered rowers
• The fore ram helped pierce enemy ships

The Romans

• The Roman’s engineering practice was efficient for large-scale construction and in support of military-political objectives
• During their about ~600 years, dominated the Mediterranean and western Europe
• Built and maintained an all-weather network of 100,000 km of all-weather roads linking for ~4000 towns and cities

The Romans

• Built grand public structures
• The Colosseum in Rome held holding 80,000 spectators—the largest structure of its kind until the 1900s
• Pantheon, the largest circular dome structure

Roman Aqueduct

• Design evolution began with the Roman arch
• Further led to Roman viaduct/aqueduct structures of varying length multiple tiers
• Endured, still remains ruins, some still in use

The Romans

• Built walled defensive structures
• Improved offensive and siege weaponry
• Refined hand weapons and body armor

Material-Use Evolution

• Stone Age began about 10^6 BP
• Bronze Age began around 3500 BCE
• Iron Age about 1500 BCE
• Steel Age around 1860 CE