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.
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.
Van Gogh’s Starry Night was painted in the same year that Nintendo was founded.
3.
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.
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.
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.
Stonehenge.
It predates the oldest Pyramid in Egypt by nearly 300 years.
7.
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.
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.
Wristwatches. Queen Elizabeth I got one in 1571.
10.
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.
Oreos. I was shocked to learn that Oreos predate chocolate chip cookies, sliced bread, and my 100 year old Great Grandmother.
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13.
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.
Escalators have been around since 1859, though they were called rotating stairs.
15.
16.
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.
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19.
Touch screen in cars. That has been around since 1986
20.
Sharks. As a species they’re older than the rings of Saturn.
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