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ROCK carvings in Russian Karelia, possibly 5000 years old, show skiers hunting animals. Wheeled battlewagons were used in Mesopotamia between 2600 and 2400 BC. Archaeologists found a Z-type folding bed in the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen (1332-1322 BC). The mixer tap? Romans invented cast bronze valves that allowed hot and cold water to be mixed. The waterproof umbrella was invented by the Chinese in the 4th century.

Brian Fagan’s The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World presents humanity’s inventiveness from the early Stone Age up until the early medieval period and will interest readers of all ages. The illustrations are wonderful.