The 'ancient battery' from Iraq most likely held scrolls.

200 · 1938 · apart: 1738 years

Wilhelm König proposed in 1938 that it was a galvanic cell, but no wires or devices were found with it, and similar jars were used to store papyri.

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The event

• The 'Baghdad Battery'c. 200 · Khujut Rabu, near Baghdad. A Parthian or Sasanian jar held a copper cylinder and an iron rod, much like a galvanic cell. Replicas filled with vinegar give a fraction of a volt, but no wires were found, and most scholars think it simply stored scrolls.

2nd century · 20th century

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