Ancient peoples are sometimes not given enough credit for their abilities and accomplishments. A good example of this is how astonished we are when we find ancient technology that shouldn't have existed, at least according to modern day thought. What is even more astonishing is when we find something that is almost modern in nature. Ancient flame throwers were found that date back over 3,000 years or more. It seems that some armies were actually equipped with them. They were sort of a manual version of the flame thrower of today. Picture a flame throwing device that had a bicycle pump handle on it. You push the pump handle in and flame shoots out the front for a distance of about anywhere from 5 feet to maybe 25 feet. At first it was thought that maybe finding one of these weapons was just a freak thing and maybe only one existed but when more were found, that cemented it, we knew now that the ancients had used them.

What about other weapons? It seems that the ancients had invented cannons before gunpowder. But how could this be possible? How could you fire a cannon without it? Hey these guys were very smart. The ancient Greeks figured out that steam power could accomplish the task. They built a cannon that had one end that went into a fire and had a sort of metal flange on it. The other end of the cannon had a board over it holding in the projectile. When the got the cannon hot enough, a little cold water was poured on the rear end causing an explosion which sent the projectile through the board and onto the target. When this was tested recently it worked perfectly. Can you imagine it, those incredibly smart ancient Greeks had a cannon about 3,000 years ago.

Ancient Flame Thrower
Graphic Source: Clipart.com modified picture

The ancient Romans were no slouches either. As we all know, they were the engineers and builders of the ancient world. They were the first to use cement on a massive scale. This made it possible to build huge structures that were incredibly strong. This can be easily seen in their huge domed ceilings. But the Romans were not content with this, they had bridges to build and bridges stand in water where their cement couldn't be used. So what did the ancient Romans do? They experimented with cement until they developed cement that dried under water. Who would have thought that this would be possible? This break through made it possible to build all sorts of structures that rested on cement foundations in water.

There is a debate going on about Noah's Ark. One side states that it would have been impossible for Noah and his family to have built the ark because he didn't have the technology needed. They go on to state that a wooden ship could only be about 300 feet long at the most and this would require iron strap reinforcement so the ship didn't break apart. The other side says he did it and the bible is the proof. Not only that, but wooden ships have been found that were ancient Chinese that measure 450 feet long and 150 feet wide, these are the biggest wooden ships ever found. No iron strapping has been reported in these ships. The ships date back to about 1400 A.D. Would it have been possible for Noah and his family to have accomplished ship building on such a grand scale as required by the ark? I think that one has to remember that Noah as guided by God and if that premise is accepted than anything was possible. Aside from this, the Chinese did show that huge wooden ships could be built, although many people still don't think that they were. These Chinese ships were the same length as the ark but twice as wide. No one knows how long it took to build the ark but some say that Noah was 480 years old when he started on it and he and his family finished it when he was 600 years old.

Is there even more ancient technology that was used on earth that may have disappeared? If one believes the ancient Mahabharata, there was a race of people thousand upon thousands of years ago that were more powerful than we are today and they used nuclear weapons to wipe out their enemies. Here is a couple of paragraphs from this ancient text illustrating my point:

Gurkha, flying in his swift and powerful Vimana, hurled against the three cities of the Vrishnis and Andhakas a single projectile charged with all the power of the universe. An incandescent column of smoke and fire, as brilliant as ten thousand suns, rose in all its splendor. It was the unknown weapon, the iron thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death, which reduced to ashes the entire race of the Vrishnis and Andhakas.

The corpses were so burnt they were no longer recognizable. Hair and finger nails fell out, Pottery broke without cause. ... Foodstuffs were poisoned. To escape, the warriors threw themselves in streams to wash themselves and their equipment.

Are these descriptions of a nuclear attack or just an uncanny coincidence? I think that there is too much coincidence here as even radiation is referred to in the poisoning of food and hair and finger nails falling out.

Finally, did the ancient Egyptians know about previous super cultures? It would seem that they knew something. One has just to look at some of their temple drawings to see likenesses of jet planes and helicopters and even electricity being used. Where could they have gotten these ideas from? The ancient Egyptians even had model gliders that flew perfectly and they were pretty common.

Relief from ancient temple at Abados in Egypt. Notice helicopter at top let and jet plane at right middle along with unknown craft.
Photo Source: Public Domain

So what does all this amount to? In a nut shell, we aren't so hot. We might even be the second or third manifestation of humans on this planet. As far as the ancients go, they were a heck of a lot more technically advanced than we currently give them credit for. Some day we might even find something that will really rock our socks as they say. Wouldn't it really be something if somehow an ancient race discovered time travel and many of the things we are finding were derived from us? Well I don't want to start to get silly, so I will leave you with this question, could some technological advanced ancient race, from this planet, be waiting for us somewhere in space?