A Visual History of Light

This is a quick visual history of human-created light sources over the past ~400,000 years, from wood fires to candles to the electric light. In 3,000 BCE, the “rushlight” candle was invented in Ancient Egypt. It is made of a pithy stalk of rush soaked in animal fat. In 1500 BCE, Babylonian/Assyrian lamps were created from olive or sesame oil. They had a linen wick and were fashioned from stone, terracotta, metal or shells. In 100 CE, the Romans created the tallow candle, which has a small wick with a thick, hand-formed layer of tallow. One of the more interesting inventions along the way was the moonlight tower. In the early days of electric lights, mimicking the bright light of the Moon was one of the ways that towns chose to light their streets. Check out this two-minute video.

Source: Kyle Westways / Weekend Briefing –  

The Atlantic