26World’s First Museum
In 1925, archaeologist Leonard Woolley discovered the world’s first museum in the palace of Princess Ennigaldi. It was created in 530 BCE with the newest artifact dating nearly 700 years older than the pavement it rested upon, and most of the items were carefully stored and labeled.
27. Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver. It was used as early as the 3000 BCE in Egypt, as an exterior coating to the pyramidions atop pyramids and obelisks. The first metal coins ever made were of electrum and for a few decades, the Nobel Prize medals were too.
28. The first vending machine was invented in Ancient Egypt in 215 BCE and sold holy water. It worked by the use of levers meaning a coin would open a tap, letting water out.
29. In the 300 BCE a ship was built by the Egyptian Pharaoh that could carry up to 7400 men. It is considered by one to be the largest human powered vessel ever built.
30. Asphalt is not a modern material. Regular production of asphalt is known from the 3rd millennium BCE. The Babylonians even used it to fasten carved eyes to statues.
