People Share Things That Are Way Older Than We Think, and Here Are 20 of Their Shocking Findings

As we grow old, a lot of other things grow old with us. It is shocking to learn that your favorite cartoon you grew up with has been created almost a hundred years ago. It just makes you feel old sometimes. However, learning about things that are older than what people think it’s pretty fascinating.

To add more to this topic, a reddit user u/kakou64, asked a question saying What’s older than we think ? And stirred quite some debate on the internet. Over 23k people engaged in this question sharing their knowledge over this topic. As a result, we here at Earthwonders, learned some pretty interesting facts as well.

Therefore we compiled a list of some of the facts that shocked us the most, and we are sharing it here with you today. Scroll down below to check them out, and let us know in the comments if you know any other fascinating fact relating to this question.

1.

Alpha Omega, Buwaro

The electric car. What is likely the first human-carrying electric vehicle with its own power source was tested along a Paris street in April 1881 by French inventor Gustave Trouvé. The first crude electric car was built in the 1830s but it was essentially a semi-functioning model.

The electric car was a direct competitor to gasoline powered vehicles until the 1920s when roads got better, people started driving further than the range of an electric car, and the world started finding major oil reserves.

2.

itskirbygriffin

Van Gogh’s Starry Night was painted in the same year that Nintendo was founded.

3.

krystalvstheworld

The earliest flush toilets were used by the people of the Indus Valley Civilization (existing from approx. 3300 BC – 1700 BC). Almost every home in the ancient cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa had a flush toilet connected to a common sewage system.

4.

jazzman0116

The ancient Romans (well, the wealthy ones) had central heating in their homes. You can actually still see the pipes in some of the buildings at Herculaneum!

5.

VictorBlimpmuscle

Social media – wealthy ancient Romans had a system where they used slaves as scribes and messengers in order to share gossip and art/poetry and news updates with friends in their social circle.

6.

squeeeeenis

Stonehenge.

It predates the oldest Pyramid in Egypt by nearly 300 years.

7.

DarkSyrupp

The first carbonated drink to be sold to the public was invented by Swiss watchmaker and amateur scientist J. J. Schweppe in 1783, who sold his delicious “sparkling water” to thirsty customers in Geneva. In just seven years, he was doing business so fast that he moved the factory to London and introduced a new flavor, sparkling lemon, to stand out from competitors who were trying to imitate his drink.

8.

given2fly_

The Aux connector that we still use for headphones and speakers was invented in 1877. There have been improvements since, but the basics of it are pretty much the same.

9.

Aqquila89

Wristwatches. Queen Elizabeth I got one in 1571.

10.

princess_mothership

I was really surprised to discover when Oxford university was founded. They don’t know the year for sure, but they know there was definitely teaching going on there in 1096.

11.

TheSilentShane

Oreos. I was shocked to learn that Oreos predate chocolate chip cookies, sliced bread, and my 100 year old Great Grandmother.

12.

BeaneathTheTrees

13.

[deleted]

Brain Surgery In 1997, archaeologists discovered an ancient tomb in the French village of Ensisheim from 5,000 BC, which contained the decomposing body of a 50-year-old man with holes in his skull. After a thorough examination, it was determined that the holes, located near the frontal lobe, were caused by a type of surgery, not by forced trauma, and the operation appears to have been successful because the wounds healed before the patient’s death. To this day, however, researchers cannot say for sure what exactly the surgery was trying to fix.

14.

KidHarvey

Escalators have been around since 1859, though they were called rotating stairs.

15.

trespuntoslikespider

16.

4dseeall

Beer is thought to be older than bread.

It’s much easier to fill a jar with wheat and water, let it ferment, and brew beer than it is to grind grain, mix it, and bake it.

17.

Andromeda321

18.

MessedUpVoyeur , PhoneJazz

19.

dvdh_03

Touch screen in cars. That has been around since 1986

20.

scannon

Sharks. As a species they’re older than the rings of Saturn.

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20 Historians Share The Biggest ‘Go To Hell Moments’ In History, And It’s Way More Interesting Than What We Learned In School

The culture and lifestyle of the people in the past were probably very different from ours, but badassery has always been there in every culture. Yes, historical people were pretty savage too!

This Reddit thread shares some of the biggest ‘go to hell’ moments in history that are quite interesting to know. Scroll below to read them and enjoy learning history!

More info: Reddit

#1

Image source: ComBlockWither, Samuel Sianipar

Symphony No. 7 (Shostakovich) was played in besieged Leningrad. And it was broadcasted on the radio, so nazi soldiers could hear it.

Imagine hearing “F**K YOU” from a city that you thought was already dead.

#2

Image source: akiba305, Jason Leung

In the late 1980s Nintendo and Sony developed a CD add-on for the Super Nintendo. Nintendo then pulled out of the partnership and opted to work with Phillips instead and released the CD-i.
This move was highly frowned upon because Nintendo had decided to ditch a fellow Japanese company over a foreign one. So Sony picked up the pieces of the project and tried to partner with Sega. The board of directors turned the idea down saying “that’s a stupid idea, Sony doesn’t know how to make hardware. They don’t know how to make software either. Why would we want to do this?”
At the end Sony released a game system by the name of Playstation in 1994 to compete with the Nintendo 64 and outsold their former partners nearly 3:1 plus it marked the first time that Nintendo wasn’t top dog since they released the NES.

#3

Image source: CircusMasterKlaus, wikipedia

The story of Khutulun, who was Genghis Khan’s great-great-granddaughter. She said she would marry whomever could beat her in a wrestling contest. If she won though, they had to give her 100 horses.

She died unmarried, with 10,000 horses.

#4

Image source: ShivasKratom3, Chris Curry

British prisoner of war in Nazi germany stitches a quilt. The Nazis put it out for show. Hidden in Morse code stitched in were the words “f**k hitler” and “god save the Queen”

#5

Image source: -Solarsoul-, Nastya Dulhiier

The first cell phone. The first call ever made from a cell phone was to a competitor’s landline. Big d**k energy

#6

Image source: JitteryBug, wikipedia

This is more petty, but when Taft bragged to his friends via telegram about scaling a mountain on horseback, that it was a few thousand feet, clear weather, all in all not too difficult, his friend replied, “HOW IS HORSE?”

#7

Image source: Amenra7, wikipedia

How about the moment slaves in Haiti realized they outnumbered their captors almost 10 to 1, revolted, and ultimately won their independence.

#8

Image source: NuggetBiscuits69

In the 1970s the small town of Vulcan, West Virginia asked for state funding to replace a bridge into town. The state legislature refused to grant Vulcan the funding they needed. Instead the town appealed to the Soviet Union for aid. After hearing about the request, the state legislature immediately granted over $1 million for the town to build a new bridge.

If a small town in WV asking for soviet funding in the middle of the Cold War isn’t a big middle finger to the state government, then I don’t know what is.

#9

Image source: -Inaros

Galvarino: Chilean warrior who had both his hands cut off by the conquistadors for raising arms against the Spanish. Instead of letting himself serve as a message of helplessness in the face of the invaders the crazy bastard strapped swords to his stumps and went on the warpath.

#10

“Stop sending people to kill me! We’ve already captured five of them, one of them with a bomb and another with a rifle… If you don’t stop sending killers, I’ll send a very fast working one to Moscow and I certainly won’t have to send another.”

Tito to Joseph Stalin

Image source: nb150207

#11

Image source: Mr_Henslee, wikimedia

So when France exiles Napoleon Bonaparte (the first time), they didn’t think to change out military personnel. So he basically rolls up to the first French outpost he gets to, says “‘sup” and begins reassembling an army. By the time he gets to Paris, he’s got enough forces that France is like “well. Welcome back.”

#12

Image source: Corteran, wikipedia

When Robert E. Lee decided to side with the South in the Civil War, to spite him the North used his property as a graveyard.

It is now Arlington National Cemetary.

#13

Image source: BridlingMage117, wikipedia

Sparta to Phillip II

Phillip wrote to Sparta that if he marches into Sparta he will raise the land, burn the crops, rape the women, and just destroy the city. Sparta replies back with a single word.

“If”

#14

Image source: TeAforempires, Nikolay Bruni

Olga of Kiev. When her husband died, the country that killed him assumed they’d just take over and force her into marriage.

She straight up killed the dignitaries that were sent to tell her she had to marry – multiple times, in the most intense way possible.

She then travelled to where her husband had been killed and basically burnt the place to the ground – again, in the most hardcore, amazing way.

They made her a freaking saint. Worth the read on Wikipedia!

#15

Image source: Billyjeter, wikipedia

Ferruccio Lamborghini was a rich man owning his company that built tractors, he talked to Ferrari about the imperfections of his car and how to improve them and they basically laughed at a young tractor mechanic trying to tell them about sport cars, so he decided to start making luxury sport cars to compete with Ferrari and thus, the rivalry was born. So i’d say the middle finger of this guy to Ferrari was pretty noticeable.

#16

A pirate known as jean lefitte had a bounty of $500 put on him by a governor. So he put a $5000 bounty on the governor

Image source: The-big-ouch

#17

Image source: JazzPhobic, wikipedia

The Achaemenid Empire had trouble conquering Egypt in the early part of their War so they decided to use the very embodiment of their holy figure against them. They literally had soldiers carry cats with them and painted cat heads on their shields so the Egyptians couldn’t fight back due to their beliefs and surrendered.

They literally pulled a “your god is our frontline”.

This is known as the Battle of Pelusium.

#18

Image source: BrittleBandit, wikimedia

When Otto von Bismarck was about 50, he was walking down a street when a man ran up to him and shot him five times. Otto then turned around and began to beat the absolute s**t out of him until some armed guards come to help him. When they inspected Otto for wounds, they found that all 5 hit, but they all either just grazed him or bounced off his ribs. Literally the iron chancellor.

#19

“I’d rather go to hell, with my noble ancestors, than to go to heaven and join the likes of you…”

Norse King tried to be converted to Christianity on threat of burning in hell for paganism

Image source: ShivasKratom3

#20

Image source: a_saddler, wikipedia

Caesar in his youth, before he became famous, was captured by pirates off the coast of Italy and held hostage.

He promptly befriended the pirates, getting drunk and shared stories while they waited for the ransom to be paid.

Later, after he was released, he went back to find and capture the same pirates, and ordered their deaths because they requested an insultingly low ransom for a man of his stature.




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