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Ancient Egypt Technology.It wasn't so much a case of how much ancient Egypt technology was available, but how it was used. The pyramids and temples could be mistaken for architecture of a much later time period. A time where many more resources and advanced machinery was available. Simple ramps, sleds and levers are the most obvious method for large scale pyramid construction, despite the fact that ramps were dismantled and the evidence of their existence is slim. It was careful planning and patient, back-breaking heave-ho that got the pyramids up.
Ancient Egyptians were not in a hurry. They built monuments and whole cities dedicated to pharaohs and deities. Those kind of projects did not go up overnight like they seemingly do in modern cities such as Dubai. There were no cranes, trucks or computerised this and that to fast track the job. Instead they had basic straight-rules and plumb-bobs for keeping things square and planning their designs. Cutting the limestone blocks in the quarries with primitive hammer - chisel setups, drills and saws would have made production sloooooow. And speaking of time ... just how did the ancient Egyptians keep a track of it? With a clock of course. Two types of clock actually. Find out more about
ancient Egyptian clocks here.
Agriculture was the mainstay to the economy of ancient Egypt. Which is quite incredible considering the amount of desert occupying the Egyptian landscape. Though the use of ancient irrigation techniques and technology the Egyptians were able to level the playing field. Or should that be water the growing fields. The shaduf, together with canals, moved the water to where it was required. What is a shaduf? The shaduf is a bucket, bag or basket at the end of a pole. It balances on a frame and has a heavy weight attached at the other end. The user pulls down to fill the bucket from the water source (the Nile) and lets the weight pull the bucket of water up. It is then swung, or pivoted, around to the higher ground and emptied into a canal that went out to the field of crops. The fields were then reaped with that historically well known piece of farming technology, the ever-faithful sickle.
Ancient Egypt technology was simple when it came to gold mining. Alluvial sands found on river beds were sifted through woolly fleece-lined bags held and shaken by two men. The earthy sand would pass through and the heavier metal (gold) was caught in the fleece. Inland, gold was mined with fire-setting. There was no explosive technology, so to crack the rock the Egyptians lit a fire on the face of the rock to heat it up and then caused a sudden temperature change with cold water to shock and shatter it.
So all in all ancient Egypt technology was pretty basic stuff. But they certainly knew how to use what they had to it's fullest potential. Even papyrus was simple technology made through a straight forward process, but it's uses allowed the Egyptians to advance well beyond what may have been expected for ancient times. Take a look at some more aspects of technology in ancient Egypt.
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