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Ancient Technology So Advanced It Defies History

On some occasions human innovation has greatly outpaced the society in which it was created

Andrew Martin
4 min readOct 5, 2021

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With each passing moment, humans develop more and more intricate technology with the goal of making life easier. While many of these innovations often inform others and lead to gradual improvements, there are also times when incredible things seemingly appear out the blue and much earlier than might seem possible. Here are three ancient inventions that were so advanced for their time, they quite literally defy history.

Seismoscope: When earthquakes occur, the bigger they are the more potential they have to be incredibly devastating to large areas and populations. Accordingly, any way they can be predicted or known about as quickly as possible is best. Today, all manner of technology is used to track and record the tremors of Earth. However, the first-known device to take on such important tasks was actually invented nearly 2,000 years ago.

The seismoscope was first unveiled around 132 CE by Zhang Heng, a historian, inventor and the Royal Astronomer for the Han Dynasty. Determined to design something that would provide information about devastating earthquakes as quickly as possible, his invention was a large bronze barrel that was nearly six feet in diameter…

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Andrew Martin
Andrew Martin

Written by Andrew Martin

Dabbler in soccer, history, investing & writing. Master’s degree in baseball history. Passionate about history, diversity, culture, sports, film and investing .

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