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Abstract
The primary objective of the paper is to review histories of early known mirrors and lenses. Squinting/pinholes/slit apertures provided initial visual enhancements; quiet pools of water served as early mirrors. Manufactured mirrors appeared during the Stone Age 8000 years ago in Çatal Höyük in Anatolia within modern Turkey. The next generation mirrors were Mesopotamian and Egyptian. Oldest lenses, extraordinary in quality and complexity with built-in illusion, were in use in Egypt 4575 years ago. Simpler lens forms appeared between 3932(?)–3500 years ago, probably in the Levant/Eastern Mediterranean basin. The main outcomes are: (1) civilized societies had mirrors by about 4000 years ago, including China, India (e.g. Lothal) and New World societies. (2) Siberia and China had different mirror designs than Western areas. (3) Only crystalline materials were used in New World mirrors. (4) The author located an Egyptian lens in Boston having original lens design, this extended this lens' utilization by ca. 800 years to 3070–2656 years ago. These histories are fascinating!
Acknowledgements
Dr Christine Lilyquist, Lila Acheson Wallace Curatorship in Egyptology, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, greatly assisted the author in the study of the face/remaining eye/lens element which was dated during the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt. In early fall, 2004, the author first encountered this most fascinating artifact at Boston's MFA. The author very much appreciates Dr Lilyquist's help in this matter! And he appreciates added details supplied to him by Curator Dr L. Berman of MFA through Dr Lilyquist.
Pamela Seiving, Nirmala Krishnan Jana and Kasim Nazeer Badhusha kindly provided data and reprint materials associated with early developments of Indian mirror and lens optics.