Baffling Inventions That Science Can't Explain

Greek fire
During the seventh century, the Byzantine Empire was under attack by invaders from the east of the Mediterranean. Luckily, they had a secret weapon, known as Greek fire, which was sprayed from the safety of Byzantine decks onto enemy ships, propelled by a device that’s never been recreated, but referred to as a “siphon” in ancient literature.

The most mind-boggling aspect is that Greek fire could continue to burn, even on water. Scientists still don’t know what it was made out of. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the ancient incendiary weapon disappeared, never to be used again.



Damascus steel
Many modern knives and swords claim to be made using Damascus steel, but none are truly the same as the Damascus steel of legend. During the Crusades, reports started appearing that documented a superior steel from the Levant that was unbelievably sharp and flexible, and yet still impossible to damage.

It was once described as an alloy that “could slice through a floating handkerchief, bend 90 degrees and flex back with no damage.” To this day, no one has been able to replicate the original recipe.



Antikythera mechanism
In 1901, a strange mechanical device was found at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. This item is now known as the Antikythera mechanism, and it dates from second-century Greece.

While it is believed to be an astronomical calculation device of some sort, no one knows who built it, or how they built it, considering that technology of a similar complexity wasn’t seen again for nearly a thousand years.



The first seismoscope
Zhang Heng’s seismoscope was created in China circa 132. It is thought to be the first machine of its kind, and was able to detect earthquakes with surprising accuracy. The technology used was far ahead of its time, and historians still aren’t sure how this leap was possible.

Each dragon represents a principal compass direction, and a ball would fall out of one of the dragon’s mouths into the mouth of its corresponding frog, indicating in which direction seismic activity was happening.

The iron pillar of Delhi
In Delhi, India, a massive iron pillar stands at 23 ft, 8 in (7.21 m) tall, and has since the fourth century. What makes this particular pillar interesting is that it is completely free of rust, even after more than a millennium of exposure to the elements.

Scientists to this day are baffled by the pristine condition of the iron pillar. Some believe its lack of rust is due to the arid climate of Delhi, while others credit the unique mineral composition of the iron used for its construction.



The Aeolipile
While the Age of Steam wasn’t kicked off by Thomas Newcomen and his steam engine until 1776, an ancient Greek inventor by the name of Heron Alexandrinus invented his own pneumatic steam engine back in the first century CE.

The technology was groundbreaking, but severely underappreciated, and wasn’t put to any practical use at the time. This first steam engine was admittedly very weak, and only produced a minimal amount of torque.



The Voynich manuscript
The Voynich manuscript is one of the most mysterious books in history, and has been stumping even the best cryptologists since its discovery in 1912. It has been dated back to the 15th century, but that’s about all that is known for certain about the book.

While no one can say for certain, most experts believe the manuscript originated in Italy during the Renaissance. It’s written in a language that has been proven impossible to decode, and it's filled with seemingly-scientific drawings of flora that are not known to exist in the natural world.



Lycurgus Cup
The Lycurgus Cup is thought to have been made during the fourth century, somewhere in the Roman Empire. When the cup was brought to the British Museum of London, the curators there were amazed by its ability to change colors and opacity depending on which direction the light hit it from.

When lit from the front, the cup is a dark red color, but when lit from the back, it glows green. Researchers have since concluded it was made using a primitive form of nanotechnology, but how the ancient Romans developed this technology remains a mystery.



Ancient atomic warfare
The Mahabharata is believed to be a non-fictional account of a long and ancient war between two Indian tribal families. Some moments of violence and devastation in the book sound eerily similar to the aftermath of an atomic explosion, claiming millions of lives within days after the use of weapons called astra in the original Sanskrit, which roughly translates to “launchers.”

This, of course, seems impossible, but when studies were done in the region of India where these battles took place, they found an inexplicably high rate of cancer and birth defects among the ancient denizens. Neither scientists nor historians have been able to shed any light on this mystery.



More at the link   ...   https://www.msn.com/en-au/lifestyle/smart-living/baffling-ancient-inventions-science-still-can-t-explain/ss-AA10tH7v?rc=1&ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=84633b60246d4a8aaaca21c470cbb73c#image=32

Very interesting...i love old stuff like this.   I haven't been to your link yet but most definitely will.

I've thought about this for a long time....scientists now say that they have uncovered the secret.   Then why don't we use it.   Planned obsolescence?

https://gambrick.com/is-old-concrete-stronger-than-new-concrete/

it is said the secret is volcanic ash and seawater.