1,200 Year Old Phone?

In the vast collection of The Smithsonian lies what is believed to be the first telephone that dates back to over 1,200 years.The gourds with a string connected to them resembles the old tin can phones that kids used to play with before all of this I-crap.It comes from of the earliest cultures in Peru know as the Chimu Empire. Many say their culture is heavily influenced by the masterful ceramic culture known as the Moche.

The Chimu were awesome at metallurgy, specifically in making cups or chalices.They were a hydraulic society governed by a complex bureaucracy, judging from their knowledge of canals and irrigation that allowed them to thrive.

The object, while it looks like a phone could not even be a phone.Its not like they are finding these everywhere in archaeological digs.In fact only one has been found.It may have been a device used to predict earthquakes by listening to distant vibrations in the ground, or it may be as simple as being a child’s toy.

While it is seemingly out of place is not entirely impossible that a person from the Chimu Empire could have designed it before Alexander Graham Bell.I mean its almost racist to  even concede that these people were primitive when they clearly possessed forms of technology that is forgotten today.

If it is an ancient telephone then credit should be given to where it is due, if it isn’t then native people should still be considered more seriously as having the same capabilities and contributions as the white man and other races throughout history.

 

Baldwin, N.(2013). There’s  1,200 Year- Old- Phone In the Smithsonian Collections. Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/theres-a-1200-year-old-phone-in-the-smithsonian-collections-180947641/?no-ist