history of mankind is quite impressive we have come a long way but it's undeniable that the ancient civilizations that existed before us are all brilliant and amazing they built many incredible things and some of their inventions were far too advanced for their time archaeologists and historians can easily explain most of the ancient inventions but there's still a plethora of mysteries and questions out there most of the time people attribute unexplainable things to extraterrestrial beings but maybe it's about time we gave our ancestors more credit from the damascus steel to the ancient flying machine here are 15 oldest technologies that scientists can explain [Music] number 15 damascus steel the damascus steel is perhaps one of the most mysterious materials to date centuries ago it was known as root steel and it was known as the finest steel on the entire planet it was first produced in india and they were later on transported to damascus syria where the fine materials were created into swords these weapons are known for their beautiful patterns and their superior physical characteristics the damascus steel was highly valued because it is both hard flexible and sharp just imagine this remarkable sword is so sharp and flexible that it was said that it could easily split a feather mid-air now what makes this material so different until today no one can replicate the damascus steel the secret recipe of this blade has been lost for many years there are some damascus blades and knives out there but it isn't really similar to the original blade that was created back then metallurgists today keep trying to perfect the recipe of the steel while smiths continue to try and forge the perfect blade of course people have tried to read historical writings to try and solve the mystery behind the damascus blades legend has it that the best blades were forged in dragonblood while some say that donkey urine helps some medieval smiths also allegedly recommended adding the urine of redheaded boys or that of a goat that only ate ferns for three days i guess all of these made sense before but thanks to modern science we know now that these superstitions actually don't affect the blades number 14 iron pillar of delhi until now the iron pillar of delhi still astonishes many people not only because of its existence but because of its resistance to rust the 23-foot high pillar stands in the cut-up complex of delhi and it's one of the most curious metal objects in the world at first glance it looks like any other pillar around the world but it's actually very interesting the origin of this pillar is still unclear but the deeply incised inscription written in brahmi script indicates that the pillar was erected by king chandra to celebrate his victory in battle the huge pillar was supposed to honor the hindu god vishnu although there were two gupta rulers named chandra it was strongly believed that the king behind the pillar is chandra ii who ruled from 375 to 415 ce making this pillar more than 1 600 years old this pillar has been exposed to heat dust and the cold the changing weather should be enough to make iron succumb to rust throughout the years but the iron pillar of delhi stood the test of time it's a metallurgical wonder that showcases the brilliance of the smiths and workers in india more than a thousand years ago number 13 feistus disc in crete at first glance you might think that this is just another ancient artifact in reality this disc boggled the minds of historians and archaeologists since it was discovered in 1908 in crete the feistus disk is estimatedly 4000 years old created in the middle or late minoan bronze age and no one really knows its purpose it was considered an enigma with symbols that no linguist or historian were familiar with it's one of the greatest archaeological mysteries to this day the disc is only 5.9 inches in diameter and both sides are stamped with symbols while some of the symbols were similar to those found in the ancient minoan language linear a and linear b this set of symbols proved to be another difficult feat to decipher considering linear a is still not decoded some experts still tried to propose an explanation for this mysterious disk some linguists compared the symbols to ancient indo-european languages and they deduced that the inscriptions contain a religious text to a goddess of love it may contain a hymn before the goddess and the disc may have been used to seek the blessing of the goddess however we're still unsure how much of these translations are true in fact some scientists and experts even take into account that there's a possibility that the disc isn't authentic perhaps we'll have to wait for a few more years before we can truly decipher the contents of the feistus disc number 12 greek fire we know all too well how destructive fire can be and our ancestors knew about the power of fire all too well before the invention of napalm the byzantine empire already created one incendiary weapon during the 7th century a.d the byzantine military was aided by the greek fire many accounts about this weapon were written and oftentimes it's described as the sea fire or liquid fire that was so powerful it's inextinguishable by water some sources also claim that the greek fire only gets stronger the more you spill water into it over a thousand years ago this weapon was extremely deadly the greek fire is behind the many military victories of the byzantine empire it's no wonder that its recipe became a well-guarded secret it was said to have been invented by a man named kalinikos who was a greek architect and engineer that escaped from arab captors he seeked refuge to the byzantines in an exchange he created the greek fire to wade the empire's defense against the approaching arab armies this history is still debated until today but regardless of who invented the weapon and why it's still undeniably valuable we still don't really know the exact composition of the greek fire but we do know that it became the key component of the byzantine empire's many victories number 11 zhang hang seismograph if the renaissance flourished because of the creations of leonardo da vinci zhang heng would be his counterpart in ancient china more than 2 000 years ago he was an inventor engineer astronomer and scientist he created one of the most mysterious and remarkable ancient creations he created this ancient seismograph and this is certainly one of the creations that was way ahead of its time today this mysterious artifact is now being stored in the shashand seismic station well i guess not really since it's just a replica of the actual seismograph back in ancient china people weren't really aware that the movement of tectonic plates caused earthquakes people believed that the devastating earthquakes were caused by the unbalance of yin and yang as well as god's displeasure with the current dynasty zhang heng however was different he believed that the wind and air are responsible for earthquakes which led him to invent the seismoscope this device enabled him to know the direction of an earthquake over 100 miles away the device involves a lot of skill and precision the device would drop a bronze ball from one of the eight tube dragon heads and the ball would drop into one of the frogs below this represents the direction the seismic wave was traveling this might sound simple but for the device to be accurate the mechanism inside should be precise inside the device is a crank and a right angle lever that would raise the corresponding dragon head depending on the tip of the earth's movement the thing is the actual artifact is long gone and no one has been able to replicate the original mechanism of the device ever again number 10 voynich manuscript filled with mysterious symbols and mind-boggling illustrations of different herbs the voynich manuscript has been one of the many discoveries that left archaeologists scratching their heads since it was discovered in 1912 this manuscript remained a mystery and somehow became a cult phenomenon the language in which the text in the manuscript was written is an unknown language or code some of the illustrations were recognized to be drawings of medicinal plants but there's also a mixture of zodiac symbols alien plants women and strange objects in the manuscript overall the illustrations don't really seem to fit them and the unknown text doesn't help with our understanding of the book one theory was proposed by a history researcher and this is perhaps the most logical explanation for the voynich manuscript it appears that the voynich manuscript is a book written as a guide for women's health the writer seem to have incorporated a lot of herbal medicines to medical practices in the book so much so that it won't be surprising that there is some inaccurate information here and there furthermore there are also some allegedly copied images in the manuscript there's a huge possibility that the book was written to be given as a gift for a specific person but there's also a large possibility that the book was merely a result of someone trying to plagiarize the contents of another manuscript number 9 roman dodecahedron upon seeing the dodecahedron for the first time you probably think that it's just some rusted metal ornament it's quite understandable because unlike other ancient artifacts the roman dodecahedron doesn't really have anything remarkable about it however this hollow object made of bronze is actually a mysterious artifact 100 of these objects were found in areas that have been part of the roman empire and until today researchers still can't figure out their significance and purpose all of them have 12 flat faces each embellished with a series of knobs we know that they're made sometime between the second or third century but we don't know their exact origin who made them what are they for and why are there no records regarding these things some famous explanations include the object being a candlestick holder a flower stand a staff decoration a fortune telling device a bizarre dice or simply a children's toy i can't really say which theory i believe in but the fact that the dodecahedron was found in many places must mean that it was used as something significant right number eight nuclear wars they say history repeats itself but perhaps we fail to realize just what this truly means the concept of the nuclear bomb first started in the 1930s and before that our ancestors just stuck to their weapons when they're in war but what if mankind is just in a never-ending loop where history just repeats itself what if even before the first nuclear bomb was dropped in japan our ancestors already conceptualized this weapon you'd be surprised to know that there have actually been indian texts describing the effects of an atomic explosion furthermore when the site of harappa and mohenjo-daro was excavated the place revealed skeletons of people just lying down as if they failed to enter their houses or seek help unlike pompeii the people's deaths weren't attributed to volcanic eruption the most surprising fact is that the skeletons appear to contain radioactive substances in fact it rivals that of hiroshima and nagasaki according to researchers it appears that an entire city was just wiped out by one massive explosion with all the radioactivity on the site could this mean that a nuclear weapon was actually launched in ancient times or is there another coincidental reason that is just waiting to be uncovered number 7. nimrud lens the nimrod lens is a piece of rock crystal that was discovered at the assyrian palace of nimrud now modern day iraq in 1850 the lens is made from natural rock crystal and it's slightly oval in shape to give you a bit of an idea about it it would be equivalent of a magnifying glass with three times magnification no one really knows its original purpose but we're sure that it's some sort of lens some researchers claim that the 3 000 year old artifact was actually used as a magnifying glass or a burning glass to start and ignite a fire however some people believe that it might be part of the world's oldest telescope but this claim has little evidence to back it up there are also people that believe the nimrud lens is simply just a piece of rock crystal and nothing more it may have accidentally been cut into an oval shape which made it resemble a lens in fact the british museum claims that there's a huge possibility the nimrun lens has little to no practical use at least for people at the time it may have been polished and cut coincidentally what do you think number 6. antikythera mechanism the antikythera mechanism is a bronze artifact that spent around 2 000 years submerged in the ocean when it was discovered by divers exploring the antikythera wreck in 1901 many people found this mechanism confusing for so long the sophisticated mechanism remained a mystery no one knows their origin and their purpose however recent x-ray imaging in the 1970s and 1990s revealed that the device might have been once used to replicate the motion of the heavens unlike most of the astronomical artifacts found before the antikythera mechanism is far too advanced for its time no other artifact in its time can rival the antikythera mechanism it's very similar to modern gears and it also has a brilliant design at some point the antikythera mechanism was dubbed as an ancient computer while some claimed that this might be a piece of technology from an ancient alien spaceship the mechanism may be a calendar and an astronomical tracker at the same time judging from the knowledge and materials available to our ancestors thousands of years ago it's quite impressive that they were able to conceptualize and actually create this mechanism number five stone spheres of costa rica an isla del cano in costa rica lies over 300 stone spheres just imagine how confused the first explorers were when they stepped foot on the island and saw stone balls scattered around the area with no people in sight today no one really knows what these fears are for and who made them but there is one theory regarding their origin and purpose according to some researchers the area where the stone spheres are located was once home to the extinct decays culture these stones are like the ancient counterparts of statues and relics that are meant to honor and remember something these fears may have been placed in lines along the houses of chiefs but the reason why the ancient culture chose spheres of all shapes remains unknown and now it's time for today's topic you probably imagined how the future civilizations would view us if they ever came across one of our creations it's really hard to determine the use of an object without a clue about the people that used them while many artifacts had importance and significance it's not really outlandish to imagine that some of them were created merely to be displayed and looked at this artifact in the picture is actually said to be a vajra which was an ancient indestructible weapon that was carried by the vedic god indra which is the counterpart for zeus's thunderbolt the materials and labor dedicated to the creation of these artifacts are intensive so you'd really wonder if they were merely used as ornaments or perhaps they were used as actual weapons as well what do you think of this artifact as always comment down below with the hashtag today's topic and let us know your opinion about what we just showed on screen with that said let's keep things moving before we go on like this video smash the subscribe button and click the notification bell right now number 4. malta's hypogeum halciflini what you're seeing is one of the world's best preserved prehistoric sites this is malta's hypogeum hausaflini it dates back six thousand years ago and the whole site is a necropolis it's also believed to be the oldest prehistoric underground temple in the whole world aside from its arduous creation the subterranean chambers also create a curious acoustic effect the entire palace has a unique acoustic property which enables any sound to be magnified a hundred fold we don't know if this was intentionally created by the creators of the hypogeum but there's a huge possibility considering that it was used as a ritual site just imagine how much work it took just to carve out this entire labyrinth to this day how the people back then managed to conceptualize such a design is a question truly the hypogeum is shrouded and mysterious oh and did i also mention that aside from the incredible acoustics they also found elongated skulls in this place and of course an underground chamber wouldn't be complete with a plethora of paranormal activity stories number three eola pyle the eola pile is created by the ancient engineer heron this invention is dubbed to be one of history's greatest forgotten machines and for good reason its name literally translates to wind ball and it's a device that appears to function as a steam engine or a reaction steam turbine this is very impressive considering heron conceptualized this device about 1 800 years before the industrial revolution the device consists of a hollow sphere mounted on top of a kettle underneath there would be a vessel filled with water and as the water inside gets heated up the steam would rise to the tubes and enter the hollow sphere the steam would then escape in the directional nozzle attached to the ball causing it to rotate just think how far advanced this was in its time of course it was quite pointless and illogical for many people in the past but i think heron would have been happy to know that his concept actually makes sense for people living in the future although sadly we never really confirmed what exactly he was trying to do with this device heron simply wrote how to build one and how it operates he kind of failed to mention its significance but it's still impressive nonetheless number two 2. lycurgus cup color-changing mugs are nothing new today but more than 1 600 years ago they're absolutely unknown this is the reason why the lycurgus cup is very impressive this cup appears to be jade green when lit from the front but once you illuminate the glass from behind it turns blood red this weird property puzzled scientists for many years until researchers found a clue in 1990 researchers in england examined the glass further and they discovered that the roman artesians back then were brilliant nanotechnology pioneers they managed to incorporate glass with particles of silver and gold in the right size to achieve this color-changing effect how cool is that back then this was already an amazing feat but you see no one really knows why exactly this cup was made you see it may have been just a simple fancy design but there's a possibility that this cup was used to detect liquids number one ancient flying machine for our last entry let's take a look at an ancient concept of a flying aircraft the ancient indian civilizations contributed a lot of things in the field of mathematics and so it's no wonder that their history also revealed a lot of impressive concepts in other fields the vimana is one of the many concepts and it's perhaps the most mysterious among all of them vamanas were said to be able to fly within the earth's atmosphere much like the modern airplane there have been several plans and concepts and manuscripts pertaining to vimanas and each one of them are impressive in fact they were very far ahead of their time they weren't simply shapes drawn to sketch an object but instead they are actually like ancient blueprints people believe that perhaps the people that drew the illustration saw alien spacecraft which might explain the modern and futuristic appearance of the plans no one really knows the truth behind these ancient flying machines and how people back then came up to these brilliant ideas which of these discoveries is the most impressive and do you know of any other mysterious ancient discoveries let us know your thoughts in the comments below also check out our other cool stuff showing up on the screen right now and i'll see you in the next video take care everybody