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The ancient Greeks experimented with electrical charges by rubbing amber
with fur, but they didn't really comprehend the forces they were manipulating.
According to the history books, it wasn't until the 16th and 17th centuries
that Europeans began to develop a meaningful understanding of electricity
and how it worked. Yet an archaeological find in Iraq, outside of Baghdad,
in the 1930s unearthed a clay jar whose inner construction resembled what
could only be described as an electrical battery. Dubbed the "Baghdad Battery,"
a replica of the jar, when filled with an acidic electrolyte— fermented
fruit juice— was capable of generating approximately 1.5 volts. Was
electricity known and manipulated in the most distant antiquity? Was the
Ark of the Covenant an example of this technology— technical knowledge
lost to the passage of time?
Whether the search for the Ark is a search for the divine or a search
for ancient wisdom, those who seek to unravel its mysteries can only speculate
as to its true nature.
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A Technological Mystery
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