Did ancient humans really use glue during the frozen ice age? Archaeologists' research confirms this. On the European continent at that time, Neanderthals and mammoths were neighbors who bowed their heads and looked down. At that time, mammoths with huge size and strong cold resistance were bullies, and other animals would stay away from them when they saw them, but these rampaging animals eventually became Neanderthals' Chinese food.
So what made Neanderthals so brave? The answer is weapons. It turned out that some clever Neanderthals discovered the adhesiveness of natural tar, so they tried to coat this black sticky substance on the tied stones and sticks to make their weapons more durable and lethal. It is because of the appearance of this weapon that Neanderthals made it possible to hunt mammoths, and Neanderthals usually used this tar to repair damaged weapons. It was this simple cross weapon that allowed Neanderthals to enjoy mammoth meals from time to time.
In addition to coal tar, they will use another adhesive, which is very simple and easy to obtain. What is chewing gum? If there is a wound on the peach tree in summer, it will naturally secrete some resin, which will become sticky after solidification.
It is said that this can be used to bond stones and wood to make more lethal weapons. Before that, they tied the wood and stone firmly together with a rope, but when they used it, they found that it was still not tied tightly and the stone could easily fly out. Therefore, we use resin extracts such as coal tar or gum to make adhesives, and then combine stones and wood more closely. This can well enhance the lethality of weapons. In addition, it is said that the ancients chewed in their mouths when they had nothing to do, which may be the earliest primitive chewing gum.
Of course, ancient legends about adhesives are far more than that. It is said that in September of 199 1, a pair of explorers who entered the Oz Valley in the Alps accidentally found a frozen body. Due to the long-term cold of ice and snow, the body has become a mummy, so explorers gave it a name, the Oz Iceman. Experts speculate that this should be a prehistoric human who lived 5000 years ago. Some weapons, a bow, a bag full of arrows and a bronze axe were also found next to the Oz Iceman. The key parts of these weapons are bonded together with asphalt. Surprisingly, despite thousands of years, these bonded parts are still as strong as ever.
Next, let's know another natural adhesive, that is beeswax.
20 14 August, a news shocked the whole world. The beard on the gold mask of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun was actually knocked off by the staff of the Egyptian Museum. Tutankhamun's golden mask is of great significance to the study of ancient Egypt, and its production technology is a treasure of human civilization.
The Egyptian museum quickly organized personnel to repair it. I didn't expect a small decision to ruin the whole mask. It turned out that the repairman of the mask used the modern chemical synthetic glue used in daily life when bonding the mask. The chemical glue had corrosive effect, but the beard changed color when it was attached to the mask. So the staff of the Egyptian museum had to ask for help from all over the world.
Soon, a German research institute accepted the task. Instead of trying to repair it, they analyzed the original adhesive on the mask in detail and found that the substance that bonded the beard of the gold mask turned out to be beeswax. This discovery gave the restorer an idea. Based on the principle of repairing the old as before, they used beeswax-like materials and cooperated with ancient techniques, and the beard finally returned to the golden mask. Not only that, these twists and turns also reveal more ancient Egyptian civilization for people. Archaeologists also found that when making some mummies, the ancient Egyptians painted asphalt on the gap between the bodies and coffins to isolate the air and achieve the purpose of long-term preservation.
So what kind of adhesive did people use in ancient China?
China has a vast territory and rich products, and the types of natural adhesives are also very complicated. Besides the beeswax and gum mentioned above, we also have other things that can be used as adhesives. One of the most famous is what we call raw lacquer.
This is the method that we ancient people in China have been using to this day. 1973, with the excavation of Hemudu site in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, a dark red wooden bowl attracted the attention of archaeologists. Although its surface is mottled, its color is as conspicuous as ever.
After repeated research, scientists believe that this dark red wood grain surface is coated with a layer of natural paint. It can be seen that our ancestors knew how to collect and use raw lacquer at least 5000 years ago. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, raw lacquer was widely used to make exquisite handicrafts, and with the proper adhesion of raw lacquer, many small things, jewels and various pigments could be fixed, so there was a saying that it was inseparable.
Besides these adhesives mentioned above, what else did the ancients use?
Although raw lacquer is widely used, it is rare. People naturally need a more convenient adhesive in their daily life. So making simple paste has become people's first choice. Now we can't prove when paste was born, but people think that paste should be invented by some housewives in the early stage of agricultural civilization. Nowadays, every Spring Festival, a pot of sticky and hot paste, a pair of Spring Festival couplets and a window with festive window grilles are all memories of many people's home.
Another great invention of the ancients is to put this glutinous rice and lime together, which has high strength, corrosion resistance and durability. The glutinous rice cake is also the original creation of Chinese civilization. This adhesive, which is made of glutinous rice slaked lime and crushed sandstone, makes the ancient buildings in China more stable and durable. When building the Ming Great Wall, in order to make this defensive wall indestructible, craftsmen used glutinous rice mortar, and its manufacturing process was extremely time-consuming and laborious. Artisans dig mountains, burn lime, and then boil glutinous rice. Finally, these raw materials should be mixed together and stirred evenly. Glutinous rice mortar is coated on the surface of each brick and filled in the gaps between bricks. When it dries, it becomes the strongest adhesive between bricks. After thousands of years of wind and rain, their bonding strength will not decrease significantly. Even if the wall collapses, the bonding of glutinous rice mortar is still unbreakable.
Since the19th century, the demand for adhesives has become more and more urgent, both in the industrial field and in daily life. People often complain that the traditional natural adhesive relay is not durable enough. Why can't chemists invent some more powerful glues?
It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that their appeal was really answered. 1905, an unexpected discovery by an American chemist, finally opened the revolution of synthetic glue by artificial chemistry. This chemist is Baekeland, known as the father of plastics. /kloc-0 One day in 905, Baekeland tried to put phenol and formaldehyde together. He was surprised to find that after heating, the two substances in the flask reacted quickly and gradually turned into yellow jelly. This substance, like gum, stuck firmly to the bottle wall. Baekeland tried to wash it off with water, but it was useless. Later, he baked at high temperature and tried to melt, but the substance became a ball.
This can not help but give Baekeland an idea. It is not afraid of water, and high temperature will not make it melt. Isn't this a good new material? It took Baekeland two years to find out all the characteristics of this substance. Because it is very similar to natural resin, it was named phenolic resin. It can be said that it is the earliest synthetic polymer material, and later it was widely used as an adhesive. At the beginning of the 20th century, the invention of phenolic resin blew the horn of the chemical synthesis adhesive revolution, and various adhesives emerged one after another.