> Historians suspect Neolithic peoples used the camera obscura effect in some of their monuments. The Ancient Chinese philosopher Mozi (470 to 390 BCE) made the earliest known written reference to the camera obscura
A box with a small hole in one side, that has been known since pre-historic times, and a naturally occurring substance that's relatively easy to collect: that's all it takes to make a "photograph". But it was first tried in 1827.
I often wonder how many inventions could have been made way earlier than they were, and why. Is it possible that they were, in fact, made, but simply didn't catch on? Or did catch on but were then completely forgotten?
Many people think the Antikythera wasn't a one-of-a-kind but in fact a product, for example (probably made in the 2nd century BC).
And the Pascaline, the calculator that Pascal invented in 1642 and actually made to work in 1645, was never commercially successful. The first calculator that enjoyed a modicum of commercial success appeared only in 1851, two hundred years later.
Yet the people who had the scientific knowledge and manufacturing skills to build the Antikythera could have made the Pascaline (probably better, even).
It would be fun to imagine Antiquity with many modern inventions in it.