Ancient Technology that may or may not be Ahead of its Time, or Even True

[TIN_MAN]

The Houfeng Didong Yi

Engineered during the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD) by Zhang Heng, a distinguished astronomer, cartographer, mathematician, poet, painter, and inventor (78 to 139 AD).

Guess what it is.

-Will

It's an earthquake detector.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Seismoscope. I remember reading about it when I was a child.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Seismoscope. I remember reading about it when I was a child.

That's pretty damn cool. I still thought I had a good guess till the reveal

 

[Will The Serious]

It told the direction of the earthquake center by dropping a ball into one of the frogs' mouths. Genius.

-Will

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

It told the direction of the earthquake center by dropping a ball into one of the frogs' mouths. Genius.

-Will

pretty damn genius yes

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Hey not ancient, ancient but 1960s Nixie calculators

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[publiusr]

CRTs are actually still available

A CRT Display For Retro Weather Forecasting

It would be hard to find any electronics still in production which use CRT displays, but for some inscrutable reason it’s easy to find cheap 4-inch CRTs on AliExpress. Not that we’re complaining, o…

hackaday.com

The Land Camera returns

In Film, What’s Old May Still Be New Again

We recently published an affectionate look at a Polaroid Land camera, whose peel-apart instant film is long out of production except for a very few single exposure packs form a boutique manufacture…

hackaday.com

The coolest slide rule

Slide Rule By Helix

It is no secret that we like slide rules around the Hackaday bunker, and among our favorites are the cylindrical slide rules. [Chris Staecker] likes them, too, and recently even 3D printed a versio…

hackaday.com

The CRT would be great for the tiny box at Spock’s TOS station

 

[Will The Serious]

https://greekreporter.com/2025/06/19/ctesibius-ancient-greek-tech-genius/
Ctesibius (285bce - 222bce)

Possibly the first librarian of Alexandria.

Known as the father of pneumatics. He wrote the first treatises on compressed air, air pumps, and the elasticity of air.
Then there was the water organ.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Pretty cool.

-Will

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

https://greekreporter.com/2025/06/19/ctesibius-ancient-greek-tech-genius/
Ctesibius (285bce - 222bce)

Possibly the first librarian of Alexandria.

Known as the father of pneumatics. He wrote the first treatises on compressed air, air pumps, and the elasticity of air.
Pretty cool.

-Will

That's pretty neat

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

The following videos contain a pretty convincing argument (which has been demonstrated experimentally) of how ancient civilisations could have used natron to soften and shape granite and other quartz-based rocks, and they could have cast artificial stone using the resulting waterglass slurry (presumably containing mica) as an adhesive. Natron has been used for various other purposes for several thousand years as has mica, Supposedly, potash, potassium hydroxide and/or sodium hydroxide can alternatively be used,

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

It probably doesn't explain how the bronze-age Egyptians were sawing granite blocks, however, as we have several examples of attempts where they failed. The finishing and polishing of granite surfaces would also need explanation. I'm not convinced that the techniques were used to create the Moai on Rapa Nui. Those might have been done the hard way.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Not so much ancient but whatever happened to recumbent bicycles and why didn't those ever take off. They are super cool and fun to ride

 

[Will The Serious]

Too low for good visibility and gravity doesn't assist the peddler when they're really cranking hard up a hill.

-Will

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Too low for good visibility and gravity doesn't assist the peddler when they're really cranking hard up a hill.

-Will

Oh I never tried a hill I rode one a long while back and on modest ground that's not too high they were fun... OK do agree about hills though might prove a challenge. Mine had a orange flag on a pole so cars could have seen it, or rather the one I borrowed. Not actually mine as they were also ridiculously pricey