Lesson 2.

Cradles of Early Science

Our investigation of the development of science and its interaction with civilization
and society has now reached the stage where contact was established between the
civilizations of the "Old World" and those of the "New World." From this point on the
history of civilizations and science is a global history, in which every new development
affects all continents. Before we enter this global history, it is appropriate to establish the
state of knowledge and the role of science in the civilizations of America, civilizations that
were isolated from the accumulated knowledge of Africa, Asia and Europe.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to have:

1. Described how early civilizations exhibited their own development of science of

technology;
2. Synthesized the significance of the contributions of early science to today’s
society; and
3. Traced back the major events/programs of science and technology in the
Philippines under the different periods in the history.

2.1 Mesoamerica

There were three great peoples of the early Americas: the Mayas, the Aztecs, and the
Incas. In this lesson, you will study the cultures of these peoples and explore their unique
achievements.

The history of these civilizations stretches from very ancient times to just a few
centuries ago. Mayan civilization dates back to 2000 B.C.E. It reached its height in what is
called the Classic period, from about 300 to 900 C.E. The Aztecs and the Incas built their
empires in the two centuries before the Spanish arrived in the 1500s. Scholars have
learned about these cultures in various ways. They have studied artifacts found at the sites
of old settlements. They have read accounts left by Spanish soldiers and priests. And they
have observed traditions that can still be found among the descendants of the Mayas,
Aztecs, and Incas. The more we learn about these cultures, the more we can appreciate
what was special about each of them. The Mayas, for example, made striking advances in
writing, astronomy, and architecture. Both the Mayas and the Aztecs created highly
accurate calendars. The Aztecs adapted earlier pyramid designs to build massive stone
temples. The Incas showed great skill in engineering and in managing their huge empire. In
this lesson, you will study these and other achievements of the Mayas, the Aztecs, and the
Incas. You will focus on three main areas of culture: science and technology, arts and
architecture, and language and writing. The civilizations of the Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas
made impressive cultural achievements in the areas of science and technology, arts and
architecture, and language and writing. The peoples of Mesoamerica adapted their
environment to suit their needs by building artificial islands, causeways, terraces and
roads.

The ancient Maya civilization existed in present-day Mexico and Central America
from 2600 BC until the Spanish arrived in the 16th century. Part of the Mesoamerican
culture, which included various indigenous tribes in the region, the Maya made important
discoveries in the areas of science and cosmology which enabled them to create a complex
calendar system. They were gifted designers and architects who built grand structures
including royal residences, galactic observatories, sanctuary pyramids, straight roads, and
canals. The Maya also invented elastic a long time before the process of vulcanization, or
rubber-making, was discovered. Other innovations included the creation of immense
underground repositories to store water during the dry season.

Mayan civilization lasted for more than 2,000 years, but the period from about
300 A.D. to 900 A.D., known as the Classic Period, was its heyday. During that time, the
Maya developed a complex understanding of astronomy. They also figured out how to
grow corn, beans, squash and cassava in sometimes-inhospitable places; how to build
elaborate cities without modern machinery; how to communicate with one another using
one of the world’s first written languages; and how to measure time using not one but
two complicated calendar systems.

The Maya incorporated their advanced understanding of astronomy into their

temples and other religious structures. The pyramid at Chich é n Itzá in Mexico , for
example, is situated according to the sun’s location during the spring and fall equinoxes.
At sunset on these two days, the pyramid casts a shadow on itself that aligns with a
carving of the head of the Mayan serpent god. The shadow forms the serpent’s body; as
the sun sets, the serpent appears to slither down into the Earth.
Remarkably, the ancient Maya managed to build elaborate temples and great
cities without what we would consider to be essential tools: metal and the wheel.
However, they did use a number of other “modern” innovations and tools, especially in
the decorative arts. For example, they built complicated looms for weaving cloth and
devised a rainbow of glittery paints made from mica, a mineral that still has
technological uses today.
 Until recently, people believed that vulcanization–combining rubber with other
materials to make it more durable–was discovered by the American Charles Goodyear in
the 19th century. However, historians now think that the Maya were producing rubber
products about 3,000 years before Goodyear received his patent in 1843. How did they
do it? Researchers believe that the Maya discovered this process accidentally, during a
religious ritual in which they combined the rubber tree and the morning-glory plant.
Once they realized how strong and versatile this new material was, the Maya began to
use it in a variety of ways: to make water-resistant cloth, glue, bindings for books,
figurines and the large rubber balls used in the ritual game known as pokatok.

The Aztecs adapted many ideas from earlier groups, including their calendars and
temple-pyramids. But the Aztecs improved on these ideas and made them their own.

One of the Aztecs’ most remarkable technological achievements was the

construction of their island city, Tenochtitlá n. The Aztecs enlarged the area of the city by
creating artificial islands called chinampas. Today, flower farmers in Xochimilco, near
Mexico City, still use chinampas. Tourists enjoy taking boat trips to see these “floating
gardens.” Just as impressive as the chinampas were the three causeways that connected
Tenochtitlá n to the mainland. The causeways were often crowded with people traveling in
and out of the capital. During the rainy season, when the waters of the lake rose, the
causeways also served as dikes.

To manage time, the Aztecs adapted the Mayan solar and sacred calendars. The 365-
day solar calendar was especially useful for farming, since it tracked the seasons. Priests
used the sacred 260-day calendar to predict events and to determine “lucky” days for such
things as planting crops and going to war. One of the most famous Aztec artifacts is a
calendar called the Sun Stone. Dedicated to the god of the sun, this beautifully carved stone
is nearly twelve feet wide and weighs almost twenty-five tons. The center shows the face of
the sun god. Today, the Sun Stone is a well-known symbol of Mexico.

Like the Aztecs, the Incas often borrowed and improved upon ideas from other
cultures. But the Incas faced a unique challenge in managing the largest empire in the
Americas. Maintaining tight control over such a huge area was one of their most impressive
accomplishments.

The Incas built roads across the length and width of their empire. To create routes
through steep mountain ranges, they carved staircases and gouged tunnels out of rock.
They also built suspension bridges over rivers. Thick rope cables were anchored at stone
towers on either side of the river. Two cables served as rails, while three others held a
walkway. In agriculture, the Incas showed their technological skill by vastly enlarging the
system of terraces already in use by earlier Andean farmers. The Incas anchored their step-
like terraces with stones and improved the drainage systems in the fields. On some
terraces, they planted different crops at elevations where the plants would grow best. To
irrigate the crops, the Incas built canals that brought water to the top of a hillside of
terraces. From there, the water ran down, level by level. People in South America still grow
crops on Incan terraces. The Incas also made remarkable advances in medicine. Incan
priests, who were in charge of healing, practiced a type of surgery called trephination.
Usually, the patient was an injured warrior. Priests cut into the patient’s skull to remove
bone fragments that were pressing against the brain. As drastic as this sounds, many
people survived the operation and recovered full health.

2.2. China

Chinese civilization, one of the most ancient in the world, has many remarkable
achievements to offer in the area of the physical sciences and mechanical engineering.
Chinese scientific discoveries and technological inventions cover almost the whole
spectrum of the sciences, from mathematics, physics, mechanical engineering and
astronomy, to geophysics, biology, botany, medicine, pharmaceutics, chemistry, et al. The
ancient Chinese scientists were the first to observe the sunspots, they researched magnetic
phenomena, but also calculated, as did the ancient Greeks, the precise value of the ratio of
the circumference to the diameter of a circle. The compass, gunpowder, paper, moveable
type, bronze and iron casting, the seismograph, crossbow, iron plowshare, wheelbarrow,
and the stern rudder were all, without exception, inventions of the Chinese.

China is one of the first countries in the world to have done astronomical research.
Documents indicate that astronomical observations date as far back as some 4,000 years
ago during the time of the legendary Emperor Yao. There are written records dating from
the 16th century BC about sunspots, comets, meteors, novas, the sun, the moon and five of
the planets, as well as star catalogues, star charts etc. In the fields of astronomical theory
and _instruments, the ancient Chinese established the famous theory of cosmography and
invented such brilliant astronomical instruments as the armillary sphere and the
simplified armillary sphere. In calendrical science, the protocalendar came into being in
China between the 16th and the 11th century BC. Having been improved and perfected
through the ages, it is still being used today.

The compass is one of the four great inventions of ancient China. The “Sinan”
(literally “south governor”) of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) was composed of a piece
of lodestone carved in the shape of a ladle, which always pointed south, and a square
bronze plate representing the earth. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) a new kind of
compass appeared, made by the method of artificially induced magnetism, and was widely
used in seafaring. Also in the Song Dynasty, Shen Kuo discovered magnetic declination,
whereas in the West it was not until some 400 years later that Christopher Columbus made
the same discovery.
 China was the first country in the world to practice sericulture and make silk. As
early as 6,000 or 7,000 years ago, people realized that hemp and pueraria (kudzu) fiber
could be used as raw materials for textiles. In the 16th century BC (Shang Dynasty), woven
pattern technology and "Braid embroidery" appeared.

Invented by the Chinese people in the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-25 AD),
papermaking is one of the four great inventions of ancient China. After the 7th century,
Chinese papermaking technology was gradually introduced to Korea, Japan, the Arab
countries and the European continent. Printing, also one of the four great inventions of
ancient China dates back to the 7th century AD Much later, in the mid-11th century, Bi
Sheng invented printing with movable types. This resulted in a complete printing process
of movable type design and manufacture, typesetting and printing.

2.3. Asia

 India

One of the oldest civilizations in the world, the Indian civilization has a
strong tradition of science and technology. Ancient India was a land of sages and
seers as well as a land of scholars and scientists. Research has shown that from
making the best steel in the world to teaching the world to count, India was actively
contributing to the field of science and technology centuries long before modern
laboratories were set up. Many theories and techniques discovered by the ancient
Indians have created and strengthened the fundamentals of modern science and
technology. While some of these groundbreaking contributions have been
acknowledged, some are still unknown to most.

Little needs to be written about the mathematical digit ‘zero’, one of the most
important inventions of all time. Mathematician Aryabhata was the first person to
create a symbol for zero and it was through his efforts that mathematical operations
like addition and subtraction started using the digit, zero.

India gave the ingenious method of expressing all numbers by means of ten
symbols – the decimal system. In this system, each symbol received a value of
position as well as an absolute value. Due to the simplicity of the decimal notation,
which facilitated calculation, this system made the uses of arithmetic in practical
inventions much faster and easier.

Indians, as early as 500 BCE, had devised a system of different symbols for
every number from one to nine. This notation system was adopted by the Arabs who
called it the hind numerals. Centuries later, this notation system was adopted by the
western world who called them the Arabic numerals as it reached them through the
Arab traders.

The Fibonacci numbers and their sequence first appear in Indian

mathematics as mātrāmeru, mentioned by Pingala in connection with the Sanskrit
tradition of prosody. Later on, the methods for the formation of these numbers were
given by mathematicians Virahanka, Gopala and Hemacandra , much before the
Italian mathematician Fibonacci introduced the fascinating sequence to Western
European mathematics.

Binary numbers is the basic language in which computer programs are

written. Binary basically refers to a set of two numbers, 1 and 0, the combinations of
which are called bits and bytes. The binary number system was first described by
the Vedic scholar Pingala, in his book Chandahśāstra, which is the earliest known
Sanskrit treatise on prosody ( the study of poetic metres and verse).

The chakravala method is a cyclic algorithm to solve indeterminate quadratic

equations, including the Pell’s equation. This method for obtaining integer solutions
was developed by Brahmagupta, one of the well known mathematicians of the 7 th
century CE. Another mathematician, Jayadeva later generalized this method for a
wider range of equations, which was further refined by Bhā skara II in his Bijaganita
treatise.

Excavations at Harappans sites have yielded rulers or linear measures made

from ivory and shell. Marked out in minute subdivisions with amazing accuracy, the
calibrations correspond closely with the hasta increments of 1 3/8 inches,
traditionally used in the ancient architecture of South India. Ancient bricks found at
the excavation sites have dimensions that correspond to the units on these rulers.

A pioneering steel alloy matrix developed in India, Wootz steel is a crucible

steel characterized by a pattern of bands that was known in the ancient world by
many different names such as Ukku, Hindwani and Seric Iron. This steel was used to
make the famed Damascus swords of yore that could cleave a free-falling silk scarf
or a block of wood with the same ease. Produced by the Tamils of the Chera Dynasty,
the finest steel of the ancient world was made by heating black magnetite ore in the
presence of carbon in a sealed clay crucible kept inside a charcoal furnace.

Written by Sushruta in 6th Century BC, Sushruta Samhita is considered to be

one of the most comprehensive textbooks on ancient surgery. The text mentions
various illnesses, plants, preparations and cures along with complex techniques of
plastic surgery. The Sushruta Samhita ’s most well-known contribution to plastic
surgery is the reconstruction of the nose, known also as rhinoplasty.
 The first cataract surgery is said to have been performed by the ancient
Indian physician Sushruta, way back in 6th century BCE. To remove the cataract
from the eyes, he used a curved needle, Jabamukhi Salaka, to loosen the lens and
push the cataract out of the field of vision. The eye would then be bandaged for a
few days till it healed completely. Sushruta’s surgical works were later translated to
Arabic language and through the Arabs, his works were introduced to the West.

Long before the birth of Hippocrates, Charaka authored a foundational text,

Charakasamhita, on the ancient science of Ayurveda. Referred to as the Father of
Indian Medicine, Charaka was was the first physician to present the concept of
digestion, metabolism and immunity in his book. Charaka’s ancient manual on
preventive medicine remained a standard work on the subject for two millennia and
was translated into many foreign languages, including Arabic and Latin.

 Middle East Countries

From ancient history till the sixteenth century, the Near East was leading the
world in technological innovation and advance. This is not to minimize the
importance of Chinese civilization and its great contributions to the world; but what
we want to point out is that the overall contribution of the Near East to human
progress in general until the sixteenth century, surpasses anything that was
achieved anywhere else in the world. This was true during the ancient civilizations
of Egypt and Mesopotamia, as it was true during the Hellenistic and the Roman
periods. What is called the Greco-Roman heritage was built on the great civilizations
of the Near East. Furthermore, the major achievements in science and technology
that are called Hellenistic and Roman were mainly Near Eastern achievements due
to the scholars and artisans of Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia.

The pre-Islamic civilizations of the Near East and of all the lands extending
from Central Asia and northern India to Spain were inherited by Islam; and under
the influence of Islam and of the Arabic language, the science and technology of
these regions were greatly developed and advanced.

During the rise of Islamic civilization, Europe was still at an early stage in its
technological status. Charles Singer, in the second volume of A History of Technology,
observes that "the Near East was superior to the West. For nearly all branches of
technology, the best products available to the West were those of the Near East.
Technologically, the West had little to bring to the East. The technological movement
was in the other direction".[2]

Despite these facts, the influence of the medieval Arab-Islamic civilization in

formulating the Western tradition and in providing the foundation for its science
and technology is hardly recognized in the mainstream of modern Western
 literature, except for an occasional reference. There is a resistance by the
mainstream of Western historians in acknowledging this influence.

2.4. Africa

Despite suffering through the horrific system of slavery, sharecropping and the Jim
Crow era, early African-Americans made countless contributions to science and technology
(1). This lineage and culture of achievement, though, emerged at least 40,000 years ago in
Africa. Unfortunately, few of us are aware of these accomplishments, as the history of
Africa, beyond ancient Egypt, is seldom publicized.

Sadly, the vast majority of discussions on the origins of science include only the Greeks,
Romans and other whites. But in fact most of their discoveries came thousands of years
after African developments. While the remarkable black civilization in Egypt remains
alluring, there was sophistication and impressive inventions throughout ancient sub-
Saharan Africa as well. There are just a handful of scholars in this area. The most prolific is
the late Ivan Van Sertima, an associate professor at Rutgers University. He once poignantly
wrote that “the nerve of the world has been deadened for centuries to the vibrations of
African genius”.