In 1938 , German archeologist Wilhelm König discover a clay jounce in Khujut Rabu just outside Baghdad . The jarwas covered with a stopple made of asphalt , and isbelieved to be around2,000 years old . But the mo that interested a figure of archaeologist and scientists was the contents : an branding iron gat inside a copper cylinder . This got some people question : could it perhaps be an ancient battery ?

König was the first to suggest that the jolt was used as an ancient battery , 18 centuries before thefirst true batterywas formulate .

While the approximation was certainly a jump in the imagination , the jounce would crop as a battery . After World War II , engineer Willard Gray took a replica of the Baghdad Battery , filled it with grapeshot juice , and was able to produce1.5 - 2 volts of electricity . Nothing to save household about , but definitely a charge . Subsequent experiment have confirmed the setupcouldproduce power if the possessor had the cognition and grapeshot succus necessary .

EvenMythbusters tested the theoryin a controversial sequence of the show . The squad took 10 reproduction jars and filled them with lemon yellow as the electrolyte . The jolt produce just 0.5 V on their own , but when hook together they deal to produce 4.5 volts , which they deemed made the myth plausible . The controversial part of the episode took place at the conclusion when Adam Savage volunteered to be blow out of the water by the battery . Instead , as a prank , the Baghdad battery wasswitched out for a much higher voltage battery , result in literal big tactile sensation between Adam Savage and the human being who came up with the prank .

While the grounds that the jarscouldproduce charge is intriguing , it does n’t mean that this is how they were used 2,000years ago , or peradventure fewer as there are questions about the geological dating of the jar ,   with some putting it at around225 CE .

It could be that the Parthians ( or the Sassanians , if subsequently go steady is correct ) knew about the force of the shock ( for example a pleasant zap or tingling ) without acknowledge the underlie reasons why it works .

Dr Paul Craddock , a metallurgy expert from the British Museum , hint a much more outlandish theory that the great unwashed could utilize it for a trick in a temple .

" The statue of a god could be wired up and then the non-Christian priest would require you questions , " Craddocktold the BBC .

" If you gave the wrong result , you ’d touch the statue and would get a minor shock along with perhaps a small mysterious blue flash of light . Get the answer in good order , and the trickster or non-Christian priest could unplug the batteries and no shock would go far – the person would then be convinced of the power of the statue , priest and the religion . "

No similar items have been found in the domain , suggesting that if they did have knowledge of batteries , proponents of the battery theory would have to explain why this cognition did n’t broadcast .

An option , and far more probable , account is that the jar was used to house scrolls , as it is similar to storage vesselsfound in nearby Seleucia . How much more likely is it ? As Professor Elizabeth Stone , an expert on Iraqi archaeologysaidin 2012 , not one archeologist she sleep together consider the jolt were batteries .

The jar itself waslooted during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq , get further study of it inconceivable .