ABSTRACT
The Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Canaanites constructed monumental buildings and elaborate cities using tools that we might consider rudimentary. Construction on such a grand scale required inventiveness, ingenuity, resourcefulness, and knowledge of mathematics, geometry, and physics. Engineering 61and construction methods today use modern adaptations of ancient techniques as well as machines such as the pulley, crane, scaffolding, screw, wheel, wagon, drill, and chisel. The difference is that modern machines are fueled by petrol and run by diesel engines and electricity. The technique, physics, mathematics, and engineering behind the modern machines were initially worked out in antiquity and then adapted for modern use. This chapter will discuss simple machines such as the pulley and crane as well as presses, sledges and rollers, scaffolding, and surveying and measurement.
