TOEFL Integrated Writing Practice Test 041Clay Jars

In 1938, an archaeologist in Iraq obtained a set of clay jars that had been excavated two years earlier by villagers building a railroad line. The jars, around 2,200 years old, each contained a copper cylinder surrounding an iron rod. The archaeologist suggested that these vessels were ancient electric batteries and even demonstrated that they could produce a small electric current when filled with certain liquids. However, it is unlikely that these vessels were actually used as electric batteries in ancient times.

First, if the vessels were truly used as batteries, they would have needed to be connected to electrical conductors like metal wires. However, no evidence of any metal wires was found near the vessels—only the jars themselves were excavated.

Second, the copper cylinders inside the jars closely resemble copper cylinders found in the ruins of Seleucia, an ancient city nearby. It is known that the cylinders from Seleucia were used to hold scrolls of sacred texts, not to generate electricity. Since the cylinders found with the jars are of the same shape, it is highly likely they also served as containers for scrolls. The absence of scrolls in the jars could be explained by their having disintegrated over time.

Finally, what practical use could ancient people have had for the electricity supposedly generated by the vessels? They had no devices that relied on electricity. As batteries, the vessels would have been entirely useless to them.