Ancient Impossible (2014–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - Power Tools - full transcript

Narrator: What incredible
power tool did the ancient

Egyptians use to create this

mysterious cylinder known as
Core 7?

How that happens in granite,

it almost seems impossible.

Narrator: How were they able

to build instruments so precise

they could create the greatest

treasure of the ancient world?

The work in this is
awe-inspiring.

Narrator: How were they able



to craft the world's first
multi-tool?

And it's staggering to think

that it's almost 2,000 years
old.

Narrator: And how did the

ancient Chinese build a mega

machine that would start the

world's first industrial
revolution?

Monuments more colossal than

our own, ancient super weapons

as mighty as today's,

technology so precise it defies
reinvention.

The ancient world was not
primitive.

Their marvels are so advanced,

we still use them now.



Travel to a world closer than

we imagine, an ancient age

where nothing was impossible.

Behind all the incredible

ancient monuments is something

even more amazing-

the tools that built them.

Today we possess extraordinary

power tools that can slice into

the hardest rocks, grind down

the toughest metal, and carve
into mountains.

But what of the ancient
Egyptians?

The monuments they left behind

are awe-inspiring and have

somehow been built from

limestone, sandstone, and even
granite.

Is it possible the ancients had

tools more advanced than our
own?

Could the answer lie in this

ancient, mysterious Egyptian
artifact?

It is known as Core 7.

Made of granite, it is beyond
what we imagine.

Its very existence appears

impossible to explain.

This might not be visually as

titillating as one of the gold

death masks or something

encrusted in jewels, but from

the point of view of being able

to understand the technology of

the ancient Egyptian culture,
this is pure gold.

Narrator: Core 7 now resides

2,000 Miles from Egypt, in the

petrie museum in London.

And it's one of the most

remarkable objects in their vast
collection.

This reveals more about

ancient Egyptian technology than

virtually anything we've seen.

Technologically, it reveals

things that we would never have

known without a sample like
this.

This shows that they possessed

the ability to do advanced

technical material cutting

really on a level that not only

matches anything that we could

do today but surpasses it and

surpasses it in ways that we
still can't explain.

Narrator: Experts have
subjected Core 7 to the most

detailed scientific
investigation.

But all this does is raise more
questions.

How could ancient Egyptians
have possibly made this?

It's a fairly unprepossessing

looking object, but it's the

"how" that is so intriguing.

It's actually an incredible feat

and something that the Egyptians

only achieved using techniques

that are unknown to us.

Narrator: All we know for

sure is where this miraculous

object was discovered.

Core 7 was uncovered in 1881 by

the archeologist flinders petrie

in the khafre valley temple,

near the foot of the pyramids of
Giza.

It soon became clear that this
was a unique find.

But what was it?

Could the answers lie in a close

study of the temple where it was
found?

Now around every archway, I

find these sort of indentations

where this is where the door

would have joined right in here.

And there's a bit of a socket

here, a round socket that could

have just been made by bashing a
rock into the granite.

These are very interesting, but

on this site, there's another

hole, a place where the door

would have joined in that's
even more intriguing.

Narrator: Could this
mysterious hole be the place

where Core 7 came from?

You can see if you look up in
there.

A tool clearly drilled out that
hole.

In a lot of other door bolts,

what we see is more of a kind of

a ball joint, something that

could have been just pounded out
with a rock.

But this really seems to be
drilled.

It's clearly been cut in by
something quite cylindrical but

how that happens in granite, I
mean, is a mystery to me because

this is such a hard stone, and
the Egyptians really didn't have

anything which could cut granite
like that.

I mean, it almost seems
impossible, how they cut this hole.

Core 7 was cut from a red

granite lintel by the ancient

Egyptians in khafre's valley

temple to make a door pivot.

This is Core 7.

For the workmen who cut it, it

was just rubbish to be thrown
away.

But this rubbish is evidence of

ancient technology people still

think is impossible.

Narrator: To further

investigate the amazing mystery

that is Core 7, we have to look

at the tools we know the

Egyptians possessed.

This well-preserved wall

painting may provide a vital

clue to the tools of the
Egyptians.

It depicts a man sawing with

what appears to be a metal tool.

The hardest metal they had in

any real quantity at that time
was copper.

The stone used in these massive

constructions is mainly

sandstone and limestone.

Could copper tools have cut

through these rocks to create

the ancient monuments of Egypt?

In a stone quarry in Somerset,

England, we are going to put

this to the test.

But how strong is copper in
cutting stone?

There's a scale of hardness

going from 1 down to 10 which is

Mohs hardness scale.

1 is talc, and 10 is diamonds.

Now, limestones and chalks and

marbles are typically around

about 3, 4, but copper is also
about 3.

Narrator: Could a copper saw

be just hard enough to cut
through limestone?

We are actually cutting a

groove but at considerable loss
of the copper.

So it's possible, just possible

to use copper tools, chisels to
cut limestone.

Narrator: But Core 7 is made

of granite, one of the hardest

rocks in the world.

Granite is made of quartz and

feldspar, and both of those are

very hard materials, and they're

down at 7 on the Mohs scale, so

it's impossible to take copper

and cut quartz with it.

It's impossible, scientifically
impossible.

Narrator: But the evidence of

the tools of the ancients is in
front of our eyes.

Core 7 was not the only granite
object in Egypt.

The burial chambers and

sarcophagi of the pyramids at

Giza and even statues were made
of granite.

The ancients had the power to

carve granite structures.

But this doesn't explain how

something as intricate as Core 7
was created.

One of the most obvious things

about Core 7 is its spiral
grooves.

We're incredibly fortunate

that this was found by someone

like petrie, someone who was

curious, someone who's a

scientist, someone for whom no

detail was too trivial.

And for him, the grooves that

were cut in here, the evidence

of the type of technology that

was possessed by this society.

Narrator: The mysterious cut

marks scored onto its surface

are evidence that a circular
tool was used.

And a clue to what that tool

might be comes from a

wall painting from the tomb of
Rekhmire.

It shows two men with what

appears to be a copper-tipped
bow drill.

But still, can such a tool

really cut into granite?

In a granite-cutting factory in

England, we have given workmen a

precise copy of the bow drill

from the wall painting to see if

they can cut a granite core of
their own.

To help the soft copper drill

bit cut into the granite, they

have added grit to the base of

the drill, and water as a
lubricant.

Copper's a very soft metal.

It's the abrasive grit that

we're gonna use to turn round

and score the granite.

That's what will cut the
granite.

We don't seem to be actually

getting very far with it.

We maybe scored it, but I don't

think we've gone very deep at
all.

Ok, shall we stop?

Let me have a look, pull it out.

Narrator: Eventually the bow

drill did begin to make an

impression on a block of

granite.

But looking more closely at the

original Core 7 shows that using

a bow drill to cut a core is

leading the investigation down a
dead end.

So what's so impossible about
Core 7?

Look at these grooves.

They spiral around Core 7.

This is what you get from a

modern drill, not a bow drill

that goes back and forth.

This is the pattern you'd get

from a continuous drill.

Whereas this saw-tooth pattern

is what you would get from a

back-and-forth drill.

Narrator: A drill that would

replicate the continuous spiral

cut marks of Core 7 is a drill
like this.

This is a 50-millimeter core

drill bit, diamond ring

impregnated into a steel.

We use this for drilling holes

in a variety of materials, but

predominately this type is used
for granite.

Narrator: A modern tool like

this powered by electricity

turns at 1,600 revolutions and

cuts four inches of granite per
minute.

Here's the granite core that

the core drill has just drilled.

We can create this in four or
five minutes.

Over 4,500 years ago the
technology and the materials

they would have had looks quite
impossible to turn round and

create the same sort of thing.

Narrator: The very existence
of Core 7 suggests that somehow

the Egyptians must have had a
tool that at the very least

matched this 21st-century power
drill.

Narrator: Our world is filled

with amazing power tools and
machines.

Yet what incredible tools were

the ancient Egyptians using more

than 4,000 years ago?

They were able to sculpt

limestone, sandstone, and even

granite into some of the most

astonishing monuments on the
planet.

What were the incredible tools

that achieved these remarkable
feats?

We are on a journey to find out,
and our search has led us to

England and the mysterious
artifact called Core 7.

This small granite cylinder is a
mystery.

But how was it made?

It seems to show that the

ancient Egyptians had tools that

were simply impossible.

In Hereford, England, we're

going to try to get close to

such a tool for the first time-

a human-powered drill that can

reproduce these remarkable cut
marks.

So what I've done is to build

a version of the hand-turned

tube drill, but I've put it

within a frame so that we can

actually achieve a lot more

pressure than would be available

if just people were just simply
leaning on it.

Narrator: The only way to
make the copper drill bit cut

into granite is to add grit.

Richard is adding emery, harder

than the grit the Egyptians were
thought to have used.

So really in a sense, this is

one step on from the bow saw.

It's the same principle.

Narrator: The emery powder
embeds itself into the copper

metal, making it into a far more
powerful cutting tool.

So with this windlass system
it can either be rotated

continuously in one direction,

which of course would be
necessary to produce a spiral.

Narrator: Despite this

remarkable recreation, working

vigorously for half an hour

produces barely a mark.

To cut a hole into granite

producing a cylinder like Core 7

now seems even more impossible.

Core 7 still remains an
enigma.

We still haven't really fathomed

the helical marks on the side of
this core.

Narrator: And there is a
further revelation.

An analysis of the distance

between the grooves shows

something truly astonishing.

One of the key diagnostics on

analyzing a cut like this is to

look at the rate of the cut as

it advances through, how many

threads per inch essentially

have been created on here by
the cutting tool.

And one of the easiest ways to

count that is by simply taking a

piece of cotton thread and

wrapping it around inside the
grooves.

And this is absolutely amazing
because if we were to cut

something like this with a
modern tool, we would expect

that it would take hundreds and
hundreds of rotations of the

drill to penetrate this amount.

Narrator: The space between
the grooves shows us that the

drill must have been pushed into
the granite with even more force

than today's most powerful tools
are capable of.

The depth that the grooves are

cut into the granite can tell us
even more.

To be this deep suggests they

used something like a diamond in

a clockwise rotating drill.

There's no evidence, except this
core, to suggest the ancient

Egyptians had this technology.

Perhaps this plug of granite
shouldn't exist, but however

impossible it is, the ancient
Egyptians made it.

To think that this was
created perhaps 4,500 years ago

using ancient Egyptian

technology is incredible to us.

In fact, this is almost an
impossible ancient object.

Narrator: It is so advanced
that it raises the remarkable

thought that maybe it has come
from a place that defies

understanding, beyond the
abilities of humans.

Over the years there have

been many wild speculations that

aliens, for example, were

responsible for making objects
like this.

We don't need those extreme
theories.

Narrator: Despite multiple
tests, Core 7 refuses to give up

any clues as to the design of
the power tool that created it.

The experts believe the rational

explanation behind it must

simply be lost to history.

The ancient Egyptians were

perfectly capable of skillfully

producing stone work such as
this.

And just 'cause we don't

understand how it was made

doesn't mean that we need to

resort to wild speculation.

Narrator: Although we have no

evidence of how Core 7 was

drilled from granite, could the

elusive and incredible tool that

created it have been fitted with

a bit embedded with diamond, the

hardest material on earth?

The Roman writer pliny the elder

mentions a mysterious material

called "Adamas," when describing

tools for cutting the hardest

rocks and stones.

Could Adamas really have been
diamond?

Perhaps it was.

But still, that was 2,500

thousand years after the

Egyptians sculpted Core 7 from
granite.

People have been looking at

this for decades and still,

there's no definitive answer.

Perhaps we'll never know.

Narrator: With so little

solid evidence, it seems the

ancient tool that produced this

remarkable artifact must remain

beyond our understanding.

Core 7 remains one of the most

impossible mysteries of the
ancient world.

Narrator: With huge power

tools that match the strength of

our own, the ancients were able

to construct buildings that are

memorials to their genius.

But how exactly did they do it?

Their records, from temple

paintings to the objects

themselves continue to raise
questions.

What tools did they possess?

How were they able to use them

to create objects of astonishing

scale and beauty?

At Cairo museum are housed some

of the greatest treasures of the

ancient world, amongst them the

remarkable death mask of king
Tutankhamen.

It was in 1922 that

archaeologist Howard Carter

discovered the tomb of the

pharaoh Tutankhamen.

Sliding off the cover of this

ancient sarcophagus, Carter laid

eyes on an extraordinary object

that had been hidden for over
3,000 years.

It is easy to be awestruck by

the skill needed to manipulate

solid gold into this
extraordinary mask.

But skill is nothing without the
tools to go with it.

To try to get close to seeing

what tools were used, a unique

experiment is undertaken.

In this sculptor's workshop in

Wales in the UK, a remarkable

recreation of the making of the

famous death mask is underway.

The tools they used to

produce this aren't that

dissimilar to the kind of tools

we use nowadays to work with
metal.

They would have worked with

bronze tools, but fundamentally,

they were working with hammers

and chisels and that's it, and

just to a very, very fine
degree.

Narrator: There is no written

record of how the mask was made.

But it appears the craftsman

would have to start by making an

alabaster sculpture of

Tutankhamen's face to work from.

It seems a sheet of metal would

then be molded to the sculpture

by gently tapping it.

So this process of molding

the metal over the shape of the

head can take a long time.

This is it after many hours'

work, and you see we are

beginning to see a much greater
degree of definition.

Narrator: Pieces like this

then need to be soldered
together.

How would the Egyptians have
managed this?

It's a mystery.

So what we want to get is to
this stage.

There's still roughness on it.

You can still see the joins.

The next stage now, we're then

going to have to go over these
with a hot iron.

Narrator: With heated tools,

you can smooth the surface.

It's a hugely delicate process

with no room for error.

But researchers wonder if the

Egyptians used this hot-tool
technique?

The fact is we simply don't
know.

The next process then is

polishing it's essentially

sandpaper and files and rasps to

get the absolutely perfect

mirrored finish that the

Egyptians achieved.

Narrator: The craftsmen of

the time didn't have metal files

as we know them today.

They did have a kind of

sandpaper made from sycamore
bark.

To achieve this finish with the

tools they had is astonishing.

You are humbled by this piece

of artwork.

The work in this is literally
awe-inspiring.

Narrator: The Egyptians

clearly knew how to manipulate

small tools to create objects of

astonishing beauty.

Not only were tools used for

great art, but the ancients were

also able to create tools to use

on themselves.

The sparse records left behind

continually give us new clues.

This is an astonishing wall
painting.

It seems to show ancient

Egyptian eye surgery in action.

Incredibly, the ancients did

have tools capable of surgical
precision.

And this recent discovery is one

of those tools.

From the Roman era, it is so

similar to tools used today it

seems almost impossible.

Incredibly, its job is to remove

the cataract in the eye.

Cataracts are caused when you

get a buildup of protein behind

the lens in the human eye.

So you can imagine this is the

lens of an eye, the cataracts

build up behind this lens and

stop the light from getting

through clearly onto the
retina.

So the result is that the

individual would experience a

kind of cloudiness impairing
their vision.

Narrator: Throughout the

ancient world, physicians used

needles for intricate eye
surgery.

In recent years, archaeologists

have uncovered a range of Roman

tools designed for this

incredibly delicate operation.

So this is a Roman cataract
needle.

It's an extraordinary precision

instrument, beautifully made,

effective and simple.

It is an absolutely fantastic
instrument.

It is a treasure in its own

right because of the information
it brings us.

It's simple, but it's effective,

and it's been in people's eyes.

Narrator: To cure a cataract,

the ancients developed a

technique known as couching.

Surgeons would expertly insert

the needle into the back of the

eye to cut away the cataract.

One slip could have caused

permanent blindness.

Light floods back into the
eyeball.

He's lost the focusing

mechanism, not that he knew he

had it, but it's a successful
operation.

He can see much better than he
saw before.

And let's not forget this is

in the days before penicillin,

before anesthetic, and yet they

had the wherewithal to try and

attempt to solve this problem.

Narrator: But the innovation

didn't stop there.

On the bed of a river in
Montbellet, France,

archaeologists came upon an

incredible find- a cache of

needles that only began to

reveal their secrets when
x-rayed.

They were the next generation of

medical implements whose design

was 2,000 years ahead of their
time.

Incredibly, they're remarkably

similar to the tools used by eye

surgeons today.

And the clue here is in the

built-in suction tube.

So this modern-day cataract

needle has been developed over

many, many years.

During my surgery, this fine

ultrasonic needle is taken and

placed through the incision into

the eye, and then the ultrasonic

power is used to break up the

cataract, and then it's also

sucked up through the same

needle and taken away.

Narrator: Incredibly, the

Romans performed eye operations

in just the same way, the

needle being part of a hollow

tube and the cataract being

literally sucked up through this

tube by the mouth of the doctor.

But then this technology was
forgotten.

For nearly 2,000 years it seems

we ignored the genius of the

ancients and lost our way.

As we move through into the

medieval ages, we then see

surgeons using a very sharp
knife.

A big cut was made right across

the eye and then the lens was

essentially squeezed out of the
eye.

And since then, we've gone back

to smaller and smaller and

smaller incisions into the eye

down to almost the same size as

this needle would create into
the eye.

To think that 2,000 years ago

the Romans were using an

instrument like this to remove

cataracts is absolutely amazing.

Narrator: It's an

astonishingly delicate

construction, a needle within a

tube, constructed with

microscopic accuracy.

It seems impossible, but how

might a tube so thin have been
made?

Something as important and

delicate and precise as this

would probably be the peak of

their sort of level of
construction.

The ancient engineers knew that

heating and then cooling a metal

changed its molecular structure

to make it softer and easier to
work.

It was incredibly sophisticated.

This level of precision

probably wouldn't be seen again

in Europe until much, much

later, another thousand years

until the early clock and

instrument makers of the

14th and 15th century.

Narrator: It was a tool that

was both beautiful and one that

had to be made with astonishing
precision.

It would be really important

that this thing worked properly.

You're sticking this in

somebody's eye, effectively.

It's got to be accurate.

It's got to work.

Narrator: The Romans created

the perfect tool to save a

person's sight, and yet we can

never know why this technology

was lost for nearly a thousand
years.

But imagine what our world would

have been like if it were not.

Narrator: The ancients didn't

just produce power tools capable

of tackling the construction of

giant monuments.

They were ingenious enough to

make tools that were capable of

even the most delicate surgical
operations.

And their superb craftsmanship,

tools and technology even extend

to something that we take for

granted today, the pocket
multi-tool.

At the Fitzwilliam museum, in

Cambridge, England,

archaeologist Mary-Ann Ochota is

here to examine the only

surviving example of its type,

unearthed from a site in the

Roman mediterranean.

This is an absolutely

ingenious tool, and it's

staggering to think that it's
1,800 years old.

This would have been cutting-

edge, modern technology for a

wealthy traveler to carry.

Narrator: The reason this

tool exists today is because it

was built to impress from a

metal that could survive being

buried for almost 2,000 years.

It's in fantastic condition

because it's made of silver.

You might not be able to check

in to the best hotel or find the

best place to eat.

You need all the gadgets that

you require with you.

This gives you a spoon, it gives

you a fork, it gives you a

knife, gives you a spike, a tiny
spatula.

It means that you've got all

those really useful functional

items tucked away in your pocket

but when you pull it out, it's
made of silver.

This is no average utility
knife.

Narrator: Almost 1,800 years

before its reinvention in the

west, the Roman multi-tool was a

stunning example of the same

craftsmanship that went into

creating Roman surgical tools.

This solid silver reproduction

shows the level of skill they
possessed.

It did everything a modern

multi-tool would do, but some

would say better and more

elegantly.

These tools, these
multi-tools that were

mass-produced became popular in

the 1880s with soldiers as a

really functional tool they

could keep in their pocket that

would enable them to prepare

food in the field and also

maintain their weapon.

The big difference is its Roman

predecessor isn't just about
function.

It's incredibly well-tooled.

It's incredibly beautifully

engineered.

This is also about prestige,

it's about eating well when

you're on the road.

It's about being able to look

after yourself, and it's also a

little bit about showing off.

It just goes to show how ahead

of their time the ancient Romans
really were.

Narrator: Once again, the

ancients created an impossibly
modern tool.

Many believe no-one could

possess tools as powerful as
ours today.

But the first century a.D. Was

the height of the Roman empire.

Could they have had tools just

as advanced as our own?

Their empire was littered with

buildings built from marble.

But how did they do this?

Maybe a clue can be found in

Ephesus, on the coast of what is
now Turkey.

This raw material was the making

of Ephesus, which was second

only to Rome in size.

A huge trading centre, its own

buildings were sliced from the

precious stone, marble, on a
colossal scale.

This fabled city has been

closely studied by archaeologist

Darius Arya.

This is a place that was in

close proximity to grand

quarries of marble.

And this place had an appetite
for marble.

For centuries and centuries all

the way into the 6th and 7th
centuries a.D.

Narrator: The quarries of

Ephesus produced enough marble

to build the temple of Artemis,

since lost to history and one of

the seven wonders of the ancient
world.

They even built a road of solid

marble 2,500 feet long.

The temple was on this amazing

road, as was a great theater

which could hold 25,000
spectators.

But with simple tools like saws,

it was a huge challenge to

produce marble on such an

industrial scale.

Well, it's a very laborious,

tedious process because you've

got two guys that are cutting
blocks of stone.

Very long process, very labor-
intensive.

Narrator: How could mere hand

tools produce enough marble to

build an empire?

Here in Turkey is an intriguing
clue.

Could this image, on a

sarcophagus lid from the 3rd

century a.D., be a marble-
cutting machine?

Is it evidence of a water-

powered tool that would be the

driving force of industry for

the next 2,000 years?

Narrator: Steel and skyscrapers
are how we build today.

But marble was the material of

choice in the ancient world.

But the demand for marble to

build the monuments was so

great, how could workers with

mere hand saws respond?

The lid of a sarcophagus from

the 3rd century a.D. Might show

us the answer, the first

evidence of a giant industrial
saw.

This power tool is driven by

something that looks like a

modern water wheel.

If true, then remarkably, it's

evidence of one of the first

engines, something that has

powered tools up to the

beginning of the 20th century.

Engineer dick strawbridge has

come to compare the ancient

technology with this watermill

in Hereford, England.

There's been a water wheel

here for over 800 years.

It's a great way of capturing

the energy for the water.

Further upstream, the water's at

a high level, and then we've got

a low level here.

As the water drops, it turns

this huge, big wheel.

There's about a ton of water at
8 feet.

That's a massive amount of

turning that it does.

Go back to Ephesus, and we're

talking 1,500 years ago, and

somebody said, "I've got a
water wheel.

You know, I've got a problem.

I want to saw marble."

Great thing about it- you get

rid of all that back-breaking
work.

You can actually cut marble on

an industrial scale.

That would have given them such

an advantage when it came to

building, and building with

marble is so beautiful.

The whole industry powered by

water- what a great idea.

Narrator: Incredibly, they

had the technology to do this in

Ephesus 1,500 years ago with

water wheels powering

marble-cutting machines churning

out marble from quarries across
the city.

The wooden water wheels of

Ephesus have since turned to

dust, but there is evidence of

them, if you know where to look.

Here we are at the beginning

of the process.

What we have here is the part

of the system where the water

flows down and hits a water
wheel.

And this is about 13 feet up.

And the water would come

cascading down, hitting a water

wheel in wood.

We don't have the water wheel,

but we do have the slot in which

it was placed.

Narrator: These water-powered

marble-cutters built an empire.

But they had to evolve.

Ancient builders needed to adapt

the tools to create the look of

solid marble, but without the
cost.

They can't just always have

solid columns and solid big

blocks of marble.

They need another solution.

Well, as early as the 4th

century b.C. We're told that we

have the invention of marble

veneer- cutting big blocks of

stone into thin marble slabs.

Here is an example of just how

thin those panels are.

Just a few mere millimeters.

In this case here what you see

is they've taken a block of

stone, and they've cut it open

and then they've mirrored it so

you've got the same pattern

appearing on both sides.

Narrator: The genius of the

ancient engineers was to adapt

their water-driven tools into

power saws precise enough to cut

solid marble into veneers less

than half an inch thick.

What is the saw in this case?

Sometimes we have reference to

them being made out of metal.

In this case here the

archaeologists say they were

made of wood.

But ultimately, it's the

relentless efficiency of the

back and forth motion, and

ultimately the estimates are

that it was 12 times as

efficient as two guys cutting

the same block.

Narrator: Based on the

evidence from Ephesus, we have

built a reconstruction of this

game-changing saw.

Steve wolf has come to see it in
action.

This is exciting.

I've traveled a long way to see
this.

It's 1/3 scale.

The original would have been

nine feet tall, a colossal piece

of equipment, very powerful for

cutting stone.

Narrator: For possibly the

first time in history, this tool

uses two pairs of parallel metal

saws to cut marble veneers from
a solid block.

That means that we would have

had four saw blades, each of

them nine feet long, all of them

simultaneously cutting away on

here generating valuable marble

to sell and saving a tremendous

amount of labor in the process.

Narrator: Marble production

had moved from sweat and muscle

power using manual saws into a

process using massive industrial
power tools.

These were the power tools

needed to keep up with a period

of building that was exploding

throughout the ancient world.

But an astonishing find in

jerash in present-day Jordan

shows how the innovation in

power tools never slowed even as

the Roman empire began to
shrink.

In the temple of Artemis are two

limestone drums, each with four

identical parallel cuts.

What tool could have done this?

This is what we believe it could

have looked like...

A multi-bladed powerhouse to

mass-produce veneers.

The power from the water wheel

cranked a pair of giant saws,

each connected to two sets of

four blades that sliced their

way through marble.

The water-driven marble saw is

one of the most important power

tools ever created, a tool that

helped build and then survived

beyond the mighty Roman empire.

Narrator: Modern foundries

run power tools 24 hours a day,

hammering out products for our

modern industrial world.

But a thousand years ago in the

east, China was also proving

there was nothing that was

beyond them.

In the 11th century, huge cities

had begun to develop as centers

for trade, industry and
commerce.

A human swinging a hammer was

never going to be enough.

The answer was to adopt a power

tool that was so far ahead of

its time, it is still used in

the aerospace industry today.

In southeastern China,

archaeologists have discovered a

working example of this

extraordinary 2,000-year-old
tool.

The hydraulic trip hammer.

It used a water wheel and

gravity to transform ancient
agriculture.

Richard windley has built a

model of this revolutionary
power tool.

Now, in the shaft there are a

number of pegs.

Each time one of these pegs hits

one of these pivoted levers...

It trips.

Hence the name "trip hammer."

The hammer drops under the

weight of the hammer head, and

that force is imported onto the

grain which are in these cups.

The fact that this is going

continuously, they could have

even run 24 hours a day.

It's very, very effective.

Narrator: Each hammer could

generate 100 pounds of force.

It meant that all eight hammers

would operate with 800 pounds of

force in a single rotation.

Suddenly one machine replaced

ten workmen, working 24 hours a
day.

The genius was in using a simple

water wheel to turn a shaft to

repeatedly drive the hammers.

It's a device which is

actually turning rotary motion,

and we're actually getting an up

and down motion.

So we're transferring rotary

into a sort of linear action.

So it was not until about the

14th and 15th century did drop

hammers and trip hammers first
appear.

The Chinese were way, way ahead

in terms of their technology.

Narrator: At first, it was

used to hammer wheat into flour.

But soon, it moved beyond

agriculture and was the power

tool that ignited the Chinese

industrial revolution.

The ancient texts tell us that

the mega tool was soon adapted

from crushing grain to pounding

metal in industrialized metal
workshops.

Could that ancient Chinese tool

have done the impossible and

predated the power tools of the

modern foundry by 2,000 years?

Wolverhampton, England.

In this foundry, these tools are

evidence that very little has
changed.

The only real difference is

that you have an electric motor

on the top of this machine

rather than a water wheel.

The falling weight is 2,000 lbs

and we can drop it from 10 feet.

So that's 20,000 foot pounds in
each blow.

If a normal person were to use a

sledgehammer, this would produce

at least 2,000 times what a

sledgehammer would.

Without this piece of kit, there

would be no airplanes flying.

There would be no cars or

lorries on the road.

So it is absolutely fundamental

to transport.

Narrator: 2,000 years ago,

the Chinese power tool got there
first.

And the genius of its design

means that its modern

counterpart is still punching

out vital components that keep

our world running today.

Tools we think of as modern

invented thousands of years in

the past, ancient tools to cut

into the human eye, a tool from

ancient Egypt so advanced, we

are still unable to understand
its genius.

Nothing was impossible for the
ancient world.