The famous Antikithera Device, a corroded mass of bronze found in a shipwreck and dated to around 60 AD has, for example, been identified only in recent years as the first known analog computer.
Similarly, the Lighthouse at Alexandria, built by the Ptolemaic Dynasty during the Hellenistic period to guide shipping into port along an otherwise flat and featureless coast is another case in point.
A fire was kept burning day and night on it’s top, so that the glow by night and smoke by day could be seen by ancient mariners from far out at sea, and one writer refers that a mirror was placed behind the fire to direct it’s glow, saying that it had the peculiar property of “making distant ships look closer”.
What the mirror was made of, whether glass or bronze, we don't know, but the reference hinted that the principle of the telescope may have long been known in Egypt.
The Egyptians however were fine glass workers, and small glass bottles and other personal items, often of glass with a greenish tinge, have been found in tombs, and when glass blowing was introduced during the Roman period a number of big vases and phials were produced, notably at Fayum.
Glass had been used in an ornamental fashion as far back as 1,300 BC when glass paste was used in decorating features of the funerary mask of Tutankhamun.
However, a strange discovery was recently made in connection with that mask, which is on display in Room 3 on the first floor of the Cairo Museum.
While undergoing its annual cleaning by Chief Conservator Dr Abu Zymble, Dr Zymble noticed that a small part of the left eye had been slightly dislodged.
The eyes in the mask are made of an obsidian pupil inset in a background of milky quartz, realistically slightly tinged red in the corners, but what had happened was that a hitherto unsuspected lens, or window of clear quartz, had been layered on the surface of each eye.
Acting on a hunch, Dr Zymble had the lenses examined by an optician, who determined that each conformed to the optical formula needed to correct chronic short sightedness in the very young.
Examination of the silver sarcophagus of Psusennes 1, twenty first Dynasty, reined 1045 - 994 BC, which was discovered at Tanis in the Delta by Pierre Montet in 1940 revealed similar lenses over the eyes, also designed to correct the vision of a short sighted person.
Further inspection has found similar lenses on the eyes on some other sarcophaguses, notably Ramses 11 and Ahmes Nefertari, but not on those of Queen Ahhotep or of Maatkara.
This discovery has sparked a spirited debate amongst Archaeologists, some of whom maintain that it was necessary for the deceased to be able to read the complicated instructions in the book of the dead which were commonly inscribed or painted on the walls of tombs in order to pass through the perils of the afterlife and that this optical aid would have been a necessary survival aid.
In fact, enemies of the deceased often gouged out the eyes from painted representations or funeral masks of their dead foe to destroy his or her chance of survival in the afterlife.
They could then neither read the Book of the Dead, nor see the food and drink offerings.
Contrarily, others maintain that the lenses were purely decorative and do not believe the Egyptians had any knowledge of optics, corrective or otherwise.
However, all the lenses so far tested fall squarely within the range familiar to modern opticians dealing with short sighted patients.
It seems now that further research by Dr Zymble has put the matter beyond doubt.
Dr Zymble re-examined the “mystery” canopic jar found in the tomb of Psusennes, this jar having been the cause of much speculation, as the other canopic jars had contained all the King's vital organs, while this surplus one was totally empty.
Montet had noted that it had a small inset glass base 42mm in diameter, while there was also a 15mm glass insert in the push-in lid but had assumed this was some new decorative feature.
However, Dr Zymble found that the glass base was convex and the inset in the push in lid was concave, and by adjusting the distance he pushed the lid into the jar he was able to use it as a ten-power Galilean telescope.
Any suggestion that it was not used in this way is countered by the decorative design on the jar, which shows the constellation of Orion, a star grouping sacred to the Egyptians and most significantly, clearly shows the four stars of the Trapezium which could not be identified without such optical aid. There is also evidence of a much larger telescope.
In fact, fragments of glass at the top of the 20cm square “ventilation shafts” leading from the King's chamber in the heart of the Great Pyramid to the outside of the structure are now considered the possible remains of very long focus Galilean telescopes, like ƒ/524, situated so that the ka of the dead King could observe the (then) pole star Thuban from inside his tomb.
In fact there is now growing speculation that the entire Great Pyramid was designed as nothing more than a VERY solid mounting for a very long focus telescope for the deceased King to commune with the heavens, a fact which should upset the pyramid power and alien pyramid construction freaks considerably.
High power Galilean telescopes can only avoid chromatic aberration by being very long.
Following on this discovery, a careful re-examination of many other items in the Cairo Museum is now under way along with possible re-interpretation of well known items.
For example, the faces of many Egyptians on statues, Sarcophaguses, and paintings shows what appears to be a painted feature around the eyes - see photo, and hitherto believed to be cosmetic eye shadow.
There are now a growing number of archaeologists who now believe that this may be a stylistic representation of persons wearing spectacles during their lifetimes.
Although no spectacles have yet been identified among grave goods, there is the alternate possibility that the Egyptians invented contact lenses around 1400 BC.
It is believed, however, that a number of hitherto unidentified telescopes may yet be discovered, either among existing examples of grave goods or in future excavations.