Hidden History: Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries (28 page)

In 1978, Egyptologist Dr. Arne
Eggebrecht, at the time director of the
Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum in
Hildesheim, Germany, constructed a
replica of the Baghdad Battery and
filled it with grape juice. This replica
generated 0.87 volts, which he used to
electroplate a silver statuette with
gold; the layer deposited being a mere
1/10,000 of a millimeter thick. As a result of this experiment, Eggebrecht
speculated that many ancient items in
museums that are presumed to be
manufactured from gold may instead
be gold-plated silver. More replicas of
the Baghdad artifact were made in 1999
by students under the supervision of
Dr. Marjorie Senechal, professor of
mathematics and the history of science
at Smith College in Massachusetts.
The students filled one replica jar with
vinegar, and it produced 1.1 volts.
Judging by these experiments, the
Baghdad Battery was obviously able to
produce a small current, but what
would it have been used for?

The most popular theory is the one
originated by Konig, that when these
cells were connected together in a series, the current generated would have
been enough for electroplating metals.
Konig found Sumerian copper vases
plated with silver, dating back to 2500
B.C., which he speculated could have
been electroplated using similar batteries to that discovered in Khujut
Rabu, though no evidence of Sumerian
batteries has ever been found. Konig
pointed out that craftsmen in modernday Iraq still use a primitive electroplating technique to coat copper jewelry with a fine layer of silver. He
thought it possible that the method
was in use in the Parthian period and
had been passed on down the years. In a slightly different form, the technique is known today in a process
called gilding, where a layer of gold or
silver is applied to a piece of jewelry.

Another theory regarding the electrical use of the batteries is that they
were used medicinally. Ancient Greek
and Roman writings indicate that
there was a fairly sophisticated knowledge of electricity in the ancient
world. The Greeks mention how pain
could be treated by applying electric
fish to the feet; sufferers would stand
on an electric eel until the inflamed
foot became numb. Torpedo or electric
rays possess two electric organs behind their eye, and discharge 50 to 200
volts at 50 amps, which they use as a
weapon to stun small prey that swim
above them. The Roman writer
Claudian described how a torpedo was
caught on a bronze hook and emitted
an effluence which spread through the
water and up the line to give the fisherman a shock. It is recorded that Roman doctors would attach a pair of
these electric rays onto a patient's
temples in order to treat a range of illnesses, from gout to headaches. Ancient Babylonian doctors are also
known to have used electric fish as a
local anesthetic. The ancient Greeks
also discovered one of the earliest examples of static electricity; when they
rubbed amber (in Greek, electron)
against a piece of fur, they found that
the amber would afterward attract
feathers, dust particles, and pieces of
straw. However, although the Greeks
noticed this strange effect, they had
no idea what caused it and probably
regarded it as a mere curiosity. But
not everyone is convinced of the practicality of the battery for the treatment
of pain.

The main problem with the theory
of medicinal use is the very low voltage the battery produces, which some
doubt would have had any noticeable
effect on anything other than very minor pain. Again though, if a series of
these batteries were connected together, there could have been enough
electricity generated. Staying with an
medicinal/electrical explanation for
the Baghdad Battery, Paul T. Keyser
of the University of Alberta in Canada,
has postulated another use for the battery based on finds of bronze and iron
needles discovered with the other battery-like devices unearthed at
Seleucia, not far from Babylon. His
suggestion, published in a 1993 paper,
is that these needles may have been
used for a kind of electro-acupuncture,
a treatment already in use in China at
the time.

Some researchers favor a ritual use
for the Baghdad Battery. Dr. Paul
Craddock, an expert in historical metallurgy from the Department of Scientific Research at the British Museum,
has proposed that a group of these
ancient cells connected together may
have been concealed inside a metal
statue. Worshippers coming into contact with the idol would get a small
electric shock, similar to that of static
electricity, possibly when giving the
wrong answer to a question posed by
the priest. Perhaps this mysterious
tingling effect would have been
thought of by the worshippers as evidence of magic, and the power and
mystique of the particular priest and
temple would thus be greatly enhanced. Unfortunately, unless such
statues are actually recovered, a ritual
use for the cells remains just another
fascinating theory.

Despite the repeated tests with
replicas of the Baghdad Batteries,
skeptics argue that there is no proof
that they ever functioned as electric
batteries. They note that the ancient
people supposedly responsible for this
technology, the Parthians, were known
as great warriors, but not regarded for
their scientific achievements. Skeptics
also point to the fact that despite the
extensive historical records we have
concerning this area and period, there
is no mention of anything connected
with electricity anywhere. There are
also no archaeological finds from the
Parthian period that have been proved
to be electrogilded, and no evidence
of wires, conductors, or more complete
examples of ancient batteries. Some
researchers have also disputed the
results from experiments with replicas of the battery, claiming that they
have been unable to duplicate the results themselves. Dr. Arne Egge-
brecht's experiments in particular,
have come under fire. According to Dr.
Bettina Schmitz, a researcher at
Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum (the
same institution where Eggebrecht
did his 1978 experiments with reproductions of the battery), there are no
photos or written documentation of
the experiments which Eggebrecht
undertook.

A favored alternative explanation
of those skeptical of the electrical battery theory is that the jars acted as
storage vessels for sacred scrolls, perhaps containing rituals of some sort
written on organic material such as
parchment or papyrus. If such organic
materials had rotted away, the sceptics claim, they would leave a slightly

acidic organic residue, which would
explain the corrosion on the copper
cylinder. They believe that an asphalt
seal such as that on the Baghdad Battery, while not particularly practical
for a Galvanic cell, would be perfect
as a hermetic seal for storage over an
extended period.

That the Baghdad Batteries would
be inefficient compared to to modern
devices, even when several were connected together, is not in doubt. But
the fact remains that the device does
actually function as an electric cell.
What is probable is that, similar to the
ancient Greeks with amber, the makers of the object did not properly understand the principle involved. But
this is not unusual. Many innovations,
such as gunpowder and herbal medicines, were developed before their fundamentals were soundly grasped.
Nevertheless, even if the Baghdad artifact is one day proved to be an ancient electric battery, it would not be
evidence of any genuine comprehension of electrical phenomena 2,000
years ago. The question now remains
whether the Baghdad Battery was an
isolated find. Can its manufacturers
have been the only people in antiquity
to discover-probably by accidentelectricity? Obviously there is a need
for further evidence, whether literary
or archaeological, because based on
current knowledge, it is likely that the
battery is indeed a unique find. Tragically, in 2003, during the war in Iraq,
the Baghdad Battery was looted from
the National Museum, along with thousands of other priceless ancient artifacts. Its current whereabouts are
unknown.

Photograph by Dan Huby (public domain).

The Uffington White Horse, as seen from the air.

The cutting of huge figures or
geoglyphs into the turf of English hillsides has been going on for more than
3,000 years. There are 56 hill figures
scattered around England, with the
vast majority on the chalk downlands
of the southern part of the country.
The figures include giants, horses,
crosses, and regimental badges.
Though the majority of these glyphs
date within the last 300 years or so,
there are a few that are much older.
The most famous of these is perhaps
the mysterious Uffington White Horse
in Berkshire, recently redated and
shown to be even older than its previ

ously assigned ancient pre-Roman,
Iron Age date. More controversial are
the Cerne Abbot Giant in Dorset and
the enigmatic Long Man of Wilmington
in Sussex. What was the purpose of
these giant figures? Who carved them?
And how have the oldest examples survived for perhaps thousands of years?

The method of cutting the figures
was simply to remove the overlying
turf to reveal the gleaming white
chalk below. However, the grass
would soon grow over the glyph again
unless it was regularly cleaned or
scoured by a fairly large team of people.
One reason that the vast majority of hill figures have disappeared is that
when the traditions associated with
the figures faded, people no longer
bothered or remembered to clear away
the grass to expose the chalk outline.
Furthermore, over hundreds of years
the outlines would sometimes change
due to the scourers not always cutting
in exactly the same place, thus changing the shape of the original glyph.
The fact that any ancient hill figures
survive at all in England today is testament to the strength and continuity of
local customs and beliefs which, in one
case at least, must stretch back at
least a millennium.

The oldest and most famous hill
figure in England is the 360 feet long
and 131 feet high Uffington White
Horse, located 1.5 miles south of the
village of Uffington on the Berkshire
Downs. This unique stylized representation of a horse consists of a long,
sleek back, thin disjointed legs, a
streaming tail, and a bird-like beaked
head. The elegant creature almost
melts into a landscape rich in prehistoric sites. The horse is situated on a
steep escarpment, close to the Late
Bronze Age (c. seventh century B.C.)
hillfort of Uffington Castle and below
a long-distance Neolithic track called
the Ridgeway. The Uffington Horse is
also surrounded by Neolithic and
Bronze Age burial mounds. It is only 1
mile from the Neolithic chambered long
barrow of Wayland's Smithy, and not
far from the Bronze Age cemetery of
Lambourn Seven Barrows. The carving
has been placed in such a way as to make
it extremely difficult to see from close
quarters, and, as with many geoglyphs,
it is best appreciated from the air.
Nevertheless, there are certain areas

of the Vale of the White Horse, the
valley containing and named after the
enigmatic creature, from which an adequate impression may be gained. Indeed, on a clear day the carving can be
seen from up to 18 miles away.

The earliest documentary reference to a horse at Uffington is from the
1070s, when "White Horse Hill" is mentioned in the charters from the nearby
Abingdon Abbey, and the first reference to the horse itself is soon after,
in 1190. However, the carving is believed to date back much further than
that. Due to the similarity of the
Uffington White Horse to the stylized
depictions of horses on first century
B.C. Celtic coins, it had been thought
that the creature must also date to
that period. However, in 1995 Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL)
testing was carried out by the Oxford
Archaeological Unit on soil sediments
from two of the lower layers of the
horse's body, and from another cut
near the base. The result was a date
for the horse's construction somewhere
between 1400 and 600 B.C. In other
words, it had a Late Bronze Age or
Early Iron Age origin. The latter end
of this date range would tie the carving of the horse with occupation of the
adjacent Uffington hillfort, and may
perhaps represent a tribal emblem or
symbol marking the land of the inhabitants of the hillfort.