1. Egyptian Technology CHW3M

2. Agriculture Basically the same system as Mesopotamia  Ox-drawn plough  Irrigation canals Later innovations introduced in the Roman period:  Ox-drawn waterwheel  Wheel-drawn threshing machine

3. Industry Made a lot of stuff our of plant material like flax, papyrus, wood, etc.  Rope, baskets, mats, writing material, clothing, furniture Mined and worked metals, gems, and stone (granite, limestone, sandstone)

4. Military Not a huge priority until the Middle Kingdom  Standing army  Chariots

5. Military The influence of the Hyksos kings  Foreign kings who controlled Egypt during the “intermediate time” between the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom (so around 1600 BCE) Horse-drawn chariots, copper arrowheads, cast daggers, scimitar, compound bow

6. Military By the late New Kingdom  Leather body armour with metal scales  Quilted leather/linen armour for horses and charioteers  Iron weapons don’t really take hold until the Roman Period

7. Writing Hieroglyphics developed about 3000 BCE  May have been based on Mesopotamia  Each pictogram represents a word/idea  Evolved into a phonetic form of writing (symbols represent sounds) Kind of painstaking to write, so over time new forms of writing evolve  Hieratic and Demotic are cursive scripts that were quick and easy to write, widely used in record keeping late in Egypt’s history

8. Writing The Romans basically outlawed the reading and writing of hieroglyphics Within a short amount of time, hieroglyphics carved into temples or on artifacts were indecipherable Key discovery: Rosetta Stone in 1799  Record from Greek period with same info give in hieroglyphics, demotic, and Greek

9. Construction technology Limited (no wheels or pulleys) but the accomplished incredible feats of architecture  Possibility that they created artificial stone using natron, aluminum, and silicon?

10. Medicine The mummification process provides for a good opportunity to learn about anatomy Egyptian doctors were the first specialists, like eye doctors or stomach doctors Performed surgeries, set broken bones, treated illnesses like kidney stones, smallpox

11. Medicine But remember the primacy of religion in Egypt  Prayers/incantations are the preferred method of treating illness and injury Also weird ideas, like using a leaf shaped like a particular body part as the cure Used animal blood, fat, organs and bones as treatments Common treatment for childhood illnesses: swallow a whole skinned mouse

12. Time Good calendar system, not based on moon but on annual flooding of the Nile 365 days in a year, 12 months each of 30 days + 5 days tacked on at the end 24 hours in a day, no minutes or seconds though

13. Math Base 10 system (like ours) with 7 different symbols, one for each tenfold increase Not the most efficient system for writing big numbers  EX: Good at geometry (obviously) but otherwise pretty basic math (Babylonians were better)

14. Activity Using the handout and the numerical symbols on page 95, write your name and the date