Some ancient cultures managed to develop some bafflingly complex and sophisticated inventions using techniques and knowledge that seemed to come out of nowhere, and in some cases weren't ...

Many "modern" inventions actually have precedents dating back more than 1000 years, to ancient Greek and Roman times.

Ancient Greece's charismatic philosophers define the civilization's legacy in popular memory. Often forgotten are the technological inventions that set Greece apart from other societies during ...

Numerous ancient cultures used perfumes, including the Egyptians, Chinese, Arabs, and Hindus. In 2003, archaeologists on Cyprus discovered the oldest known perfume factory, which dates back over ...

Those seeds from Ohalo II have grown into entirely new shapes by the time they are uncovered in these new inventions, called villages, and by around 9,000 years ago this new human-friendly type of ...

2. Paper Another ancient invention still in use today is paper. Paper was invented by the ancient Chinese around the 2nd century BCE, in their quest for improved writing materials.

What do snow goggles, suspension bridges, and lacrosse have in common? They are all innovations that were created by Native Americans thousands of years ago that we still use today.

This article was originally published with the title “Curious Inventions of Ancient Times” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 8 No. 23 (June 1863), p. 355 doi:10.1038 ...