Reading this title in the “Life in the Ancient World” makes you realize how much was known in ancient times and how much was lost when these civilizations crumbled. Looking at the Roman Aqueducts which more than 2000 years later can still carry water is amazing and learning that a type of printing press was developed in China in the eleventh century. Today we still use gunpowder, stirrups and compasses all developed by the Chinese more than a thousand years ago.