Did the ancient Iraqis have electricity?

[faceless]

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/Dhswv-oAKJ8"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="https://www.youtube.com/v/Dhswv-oAKJ8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

I just saw this clip in an old edition of Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World (1980) and was surprised I'd not heard about it before. I'm aware of the idea that the Ark of the Covenant was little more than an electrical capacitor, but this is probably more interesting because it seems to be a normal object.

[luke]

i used to have that arthur c clarke book when i was a kid! frogs in rocks, loch ness, ufo's etc - great book i don't remember these battery things, but i have read about them somewhere else before - really interesting, if they were like batteries, what were they powering?! and how did they know?!

[ que xfiles music .... ]

maybe the aliens told them after they built the pyramids

[faceless]

it turned out that this clip was just a preview of the next episode, so I'll try and get the whole clip done. The suggestion is that they used the power for electrolysis (is that the right word?) to make gold adhere to silver figurines.

[6ULDV8]

Along the same lines yet OLDER, both Aztec & Egyptians burried devices in tombs made from Lemons with copper plates in them, these can be seen as being 'Organic power cells'.

[pirtybirdy]

That was very interesting. Thanks!

[alan1254]

Yes they proberbly had it then , but most Iraqis dont have it now!