Older than expected complex machines

2004/06/17 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Teknologia

According to one study, the Chinese of yesteryear used advanced technology in jewelry. To this conclusion have come the jade rings of about 2,500 years ago.

Until now it was thought that the first complex machines appeared later. However, according to the new research, it may have been used centuries ahead of schedule.

The jade rings that have been examined were used in burials, all of them with spiral stripes. Each stretch has a width of 0.2 millimeters and the figures are formed with great precision. This accuracy indicates that they are not manually made.

Researchers believe that stretch marks were built with a device similar to the current record player. In this device, according to them, there was a vertical needle attached to a rotating base, and the rotation movement of the base was combined with the linear movement of the needle.

So far, complex machines combining two types of movement were considered to have begun to be used three centuries later, and the first writings mentioning such devices are 2,000 years ago.