08/10/2015
Interesting facts about Locksmiths #2
The Egyptians made the first lock
The oldest known lock was found by archeologists in the Khorsabad palace ruins near Nineveh. The lock was estimated to be 4,000 years old. It was a forerunner to a pin tumbler type of lock, and a common Egyptian lock for the time.
This simple tumbler lock was probably invented around 1000 BCE, although a date of 2000 BCE has also been proposed. Many sources believe this lock was invented in Egypt, though locks of this type have been found in ruins in Iraq that predate those found in Egypt. After its invention and its movement into Egypt, the lock made its way into Greece. Here this new system was a great improvement over the previous locks, which were simply a board drawn across a door. From Greece the lock moved into Europe.
Source: www.smith.edu
