A flint hand-ax made more than 250,000 years ago...A kiln (c.3500 B.C.) in operation...A water clock (c. 200 B.C.)...A complex crane, six times the height of a man, used by ancient Roman builders...These and many more complicated inventions are included in this lively history of technology in the ancient world, from its origins in the "chipped stone industries" of the Paleolithic period to the sophisticated tools and machines already in use when Rome fell in the 5th century A.D. Examined in fascinating detail are the inventions of navigation and overland transportation, of city construction and water works, of war and domestic life and luxury. Although the focus is on Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece & Rome, there are side glances at ancient China, India & pre-Columbian America, and a glimpse of the mechanical curiosities in the museum of Alexandria--including such oddities as the Roman "vacuum" flask and a Chinese seismograph.