Found near Baghdad in 1936, this clay jar holds a copper tube and an iron rod sealed in bitumen. One museum director said it was a battery, 1,600 years before Volta. Most archaeologists aren't convinced.
A clear-eyed overview of the artifact, the 1938 claim that it generated electricity, and why the question refuses to die.
A ceramic jar about 14 cm tall, a rolled copper cylinder and an iron rod, plugged with asphalt — dated somewhere between 250 BC and 650 AD.
The case for the battery idea: fill the jar with an acid like vinegar or grape juice and the copper and iron really can produce a small voltage.
Penn Museum archaeologist Brad Hafford pushes back: there's no wiring, no electroplated finds nearby, and far simpler explanations for what the jar was for.
A thorough takedown arguing the jar was most likely a container for sacred scrolls, and that the electrical story keeps getting recycled anyway.
For contrast: Alessandro Volta's pile, the first true battery, and the moment the world actually learned to store and release electric current.