A 2,000-year-old battery? An ancient clay pot found in Iraq has archaeologists puzzled about what it was used for

Independent researcher Alexander Bazes has delved into the debate about the purpose of a puzzling ancient artifact known as the ‘Baghdad battery’. In a new study of the 2,000-year-old clay pot, he proposes that what some argued could be a single electrochemical cell, actually had an inner and outer cell, which together, could provide much more juice than previously thought.

However, not everyone is convinced that this artifact, which was discovered nearly one hundred years ago in Iraq, was a primitive galvanic battery, a technology that, as far as is known, wasn’t invented until 1800.

Argument that the ‘Baghdad battery’ was a battery

The ‘Baghdad battery’ was found in 1936 and consisted of fragments of a clay jar which was believed to have had a copper vessel inside that surrounded an iron rod. In Bazes’ experiment, he made a reconstruction of the artifact that functioned as a battery.

Previous reconstructions had achieved about 0.5 volts, but in his experiment, he managed to produce almost three times that, a little more than 1.4 volts.

The key to this was the clay jar itself. Being unglazed, this allowed it to function as a porous separator between an electrolyte and the surrounding air. In combination with the copper vessel, these parts made up the outer cell. The inner cell consisted of the iron rod within the copper vessel.

“If this artefact were truly a battery — and I could be wrong of course — then my experiment shows the most effective and convenient way it could have been used as one,” Bazes told Chemistry World.

Unfortunately, testing any theories or looking for potential chemical clues on the actual object are impossible at this time. The artifact was lost during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

However, one person who has studied the Baghdad battery, University of Pennsylvania archaeologist and Penn Museum curator William Hafford, told Chemistry World that he doesn’t find the theories that it was a primitive battery convincing.

He explained that similar artifacts discovered in the region appear to have been used as magical devices for ritual purposes. People would put a written prayer or curse inside the object and then seal the jar with bitumen.

After that “they were usually buried in the ground because you were giving them to the chthonic [underworld] deities,” he shared.

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