Encyclopedia of society and culture in the ancient world ( PDFDrive ) 649

598 inventions: Asia and the Pacific ASIA AND THE PACIFIC BY KIRK H BEETZ Tracing inventions, especially when they are from illiterate cultures, can be difficult For example, ancient Australians, Indians, and Europeans all used the boomerang to hunt small game Who invented it? The answer is that they each did, separately from the others How they invented the boomerang is a mystery that puzzles engineers to this day because of its complex aerodynamics Another example is the bronze making of the Shang Dynasty of China (ca 1500–ca 1045 b.c.e.): Did the Shang invent bronze making independently? The answer is that they probably did not The techniques for making bronze probably were imported from the Near East Ancient cultures were far more connected than modern people may realize, with inventions that were useful moving across great distances over hundreds of years The inventions of ancient China are far better known than for the rest of ancient Asia and the Pacific because the Chinese wrote about their inventions, and archaeologists have been able to trace when certain inventions arose For Oceania archaeologists are fairly sure that the ancients invented harpoons with teeth pointing backward so that the harpoon would stick and not be shaken loose, but when or exactly where they arose is not known People of the Philippines probably invented the yo-yo as a device for hunting game; a hunter could hide up a tree and send a heavy yo-yo spinning down onto his prey Still, the details for when the yo-yo was invented are so vague that it could have been invented elsewhere and been taken to the Philippines, where it survived because it remained useful For Korea and Japan the rarity of written records hampers historians’ efforts to identify their inventions Both were notably creative in the manufacture of ceramics, but Korea’s great era of invention in ceramics came in the 1100s c.e., long after the ancient era Japan’s ceramics were among the best of the ancient world, but what archaeologists have so far found of advances in ancient Japanese technology consist of innovations developed first in China and then transferred to Japan through Korea On the other hand, there is one well-known Japanese invention that predates 200 c.e.: the zori, sandals with a strap next to the big toe that attaches to the sole and a strap that arcs over the top of the foot This invention is worn throughout the world and is often called “flip-flops.” In most of the ancient world, technology was learned by being passed down from master to student Over several generations the knowledge would become tradition that each new student was expected to learn This tended to discourage inventions, because innovation would seem like tampering with unwritten laws for the manufacturing of goods This meant that changes in technology were usually minor adjustments in technique, as when Indian metalworkers of the Maurya Dynasty (321–185 b.c.e.) of India figured out how to make iron that resisted rust Moreover, passing on knowledge by word of mouth meant that innovations could be lost, as was the case for making white ceramics during the Warring States Period (453–221 b.c.e.) of China, which was not reinvented until the 700s c.e The Chinese developed an appreciation of scientific research for its own sake, and inventors were often celebrated figures In fact, the Chinese developed the practice of pure research, meaning learning about the natural world simply for the sake of acquiring knowledge They believed that learning about the natural world contributed to a person’s moral development The impetus for research resulted in significant inventions before they even became notably useful For instance, the Chinese knew that lodestone was magnetic and that when from a string the lodestone would point north and south By the 400s c.e they had carved lodestone into the shape of a spoon called sinan that was used to help miners know the direction in which they headed It was several hundred years before the device was adapted for navigation by the Chinese, becoming a compass The Chinese were also good at taking an invention and reinventing it to make it more useful For instance, the Scythians of central Asia invented the stirrup for horseback riding in the 380s b.c.e It consisted of a loop of leather in which a foot was inserted, giving a rider stability In about the 100s c.e the Chinese transformed this into a metal loop with a flat bottom that allowed horseback riders to stand up in the stirrups and remain stable while fi ring arrows or throwing spears Thus, in hunting and battle the Chinese stirrup gave riders an advantage they would not have had with the leather stirrup Another Chinese innovation for horseback riding was the padded saddle in the fi rst century c.e Not only did it make riding more comfortable, it also enabled people to stay in the saddle for longer periods and cut down on the number of sores and injuries to the backs of riders Many Chinese inventions were practical, and while they may seem obvious now, they were world changing when they were introduced For example, the Chinese invented the wheelbarrow in the first century c.e It was basically a cart with only one wheel in front, but it was a remarkable laborsaving device that allowed farmers and construction workers to work faster and move heavier loads than they could by carrying them It allowed a worker to quickly move loads that might have taken two men to move before For ships the Chinese invented the sternpost rudder for steering in about 200 b.c.e In the 400s c.e they created transverse bulkheads When a ship had a leak, the transverse bulkheads allowed sailors to seal off the leaking section of the ship and thus keep the ship afloat For land transportation the Chinese invented carts with two shafts in the first century b.c.e The shafts went outside instead of down the middle in front of the cart, making it possible to use only one horse or other draft animal to pull a cart rather than the two a single shaft would usually require Two of the most widely used inventions have been silk and paper At present no one knows for sure when silk