Did you ever wonder where an object or item, we use today, came from? While many of our objects or items are modern some have a history that might surprise you.

The flush toilet is believed to have been invented over 4,000 years ago around the year 2,000 BC by the Minoans in Crete. Some of the Roman toilets had a flush system. This is one of those inventions that seems to have been lost again or people just didn't want to bother with installing pipes, because it disappeared and people were using chamber pots throughout Europe until relatively recent times. Why anyone would want to use a stinky chamber pot instead of a flush toilet is beyond me.

The fish hook or something similar, is said to have been invented almost 10,000 years ago, about 7,500 BC. It was a crude form of the one we use today. I think bone was used in the first hook but I am not completely sure and I don't think anyone is. A sharpened stick with the right angle could have been used also. This must have been one giant leap in technology. Can you imagine trying to spear a fish while it was swimming or catch it in your hands? The catch must have increased ten fold.

One of the most important inventions was the wheel. It is said to have been invented around 6,500 BC by the Sumerians. Not all agree that it was the Sumerians however. The oldest wheel found is from 3,500 BC and some believe the wheel was invented around 8,000 BC in Asia somewhere. The wheel may be second only to the invention of fire which some think was discovered around 400,000 BC. Fire was necessary to purify and preserve food but the wheel allowed mobility in the early days. Today the wheel has many other uses. Just look at most machines, they usually contain at least one wheel.

Another important invention, not to say that some of these inventions are not important, was the loom. The loom was a great idea that made it easier to create cloth for clothing. It is believed that the ancient Egyptians invented it around 4,400 BC. Actually looms were to play a part in developing computers. As looms advanced over thousands of years people began to notice that maybe you might be able to program a loom to create a certain weave or pattern. Joseph-Marie Jacquard invented the first programmable loom in 1801 and by 1812 there were 11,000 of these looms in use. That loom used a punch card just as the early computers did.

Tools had been around for a long time before Bronze was invented, but Bronze was the first metal invented that could hold an edge. Prior to this copper was used. No one knows when the very first Bronze tool appeared but it is estimated that it was around 3,600 BC and it was in Asia. Some say that Bronze was developed around 3,500 BC by the Sumerians but lets not split hairs. By the way Bronze is a mixture of copper and tin. Historians believe that Bronze may have been discovered by accident. They think that ores rich in copper and ores rich in tin mixed in a fire and accidentally created Bronze.

Where would we be today without black ink? We would be where the ancient Egyptians were before they invented it in 3,200 BC. What I really like about the ancient Egyptians is the fact that they were splendid record keepers and many facts are available from their writings. But it was the ancient Greeks that are given credit to have invented a writing stylus which was sometimes made of metal, bone or ivory. They used their stylus to write on wax covered tablets much as we write on paper with our ball point pens. By the way, the Chinese are sometimes given credit for the invention of black ink. The Chinese were said to have invented it in 2,697 BC and it is what we commonly call today Indian Ink.

The dome was a great advance in building. Some archeologists date the dome back to 2,500 BC and give credit to the Cretans. I always wonder about these things. Could a structure with a dome have existed before this but have disappeared into the ravages of time? I think with all these things we have to take the dates and the credit with a grain of salt and remember that new discoveries may alter our information.

It is said that the Babylonians were the first ones to use Windmills. They used them to pump water to irrigate their crops. So far the scientists have traced this practice back to 1,700 BC. Some archeologists disagree with this and date the windmill to 500-900 AD and locate it in Persia. This is quite a difference. To complicate this matter a Chinese vase has been found from around 3,000 BC with a picture on it that many say is a windmill. The Babylonian windmill was said to resemble a revolving door, not the traditional windmill we think of when we picture the Dutch windmills.

Do you like ice cream? I bet you didn't know that it was invented over 2,400 years ago by the Persians. Better check the date on it before you eat it. Nero liked his ice cream topped with fruit. It must have been tough to keep it frozen, I would love to know how they did that. Nero was supposedly having it shipped from the mountains somewhere.

When we think of complicated musical instruments like organs, we think that they are relatively new. This is not necessarily true. The first hydraulic organ was said to have been built in 165 BC. Yes that's right BC! Ctesibius of Alexandra is given the credit for it's construction. The organ was powered by water. Ctesibius of Alexandria was a genius that knew the power of water and air, including compressed air. He was way ahead of his time but unfortunately all his records were lost.

Stenography is a new science having been invented just in the last few hundred years, right? Wrong. The Romans invented shorthand in 63 BC. Those Romans never cease to amaze me with their practical inventions. When Caesar wanted to cross the Rhine River the Romans built the first pontoon bridge to accomplish the task.

Coffee is a drink that a lot of us enjoy. It only became popular in this country after 1773 but it was discovered about 850 AD in Abyssinia. It became popular on the Arabian Peninsula around the fifteenth century. It is believed that it became popular there since the Muslims were forbidden to drink alcoholic beverages by the Koran and found coffee a stimulating substitute. Coffee spread to Europe and by the mid 1700s there were over 300 coffee houses in London alone.

Warfare was advancing also. The first bomb was said to have been invented in 1522 AD. I wonder how they dropped it, just kidding. They used to attach it to objects. The first bayonet was made in 1641 AD in France. A crude machine gun was invented by James Puckle in 1718 AD.

When you go to the service station and pump up that tire think of Otto von Guericke, he invented the air pump in 1650 AD. I am sure he didn't have any tires to pump up though, and when you go to the dentist you can thank John Greenwood who invented the first dental drill in 1790 AD. Before this a pick was used, ouch!

A construction feat that ranks right up there with the arch and dome was the invention of the first suspension bridge. James Finley built it in 1800 AD. It was built across Jacob's Creek in Pennsylvania and was 69 feet long.

Maybe I will continue this topic in the future, I think that it is quite interesting and I hope that you do also.