Archeologists found the oldest known lock in the khorsabad palace ruins near nineveh.
History door locks.
It was a forerunner to a pin tumbler type of lock and a common egyptian lock for the time.
The earliest known lock and key device was discovered in the ruins of nineveh the capital of ancient assyria.
No one knows who invented the door only that it was first incepted somewhere in central egypt.
It consisted of the wooden post that was affixed to the door and a horizontal bolt that slid into the post.
History of locks and keys spans the entire range of our modern human civilization.
This lock worked using a large wooden bolt to secure a door which had a slot with several holes in its upper surface.
The lock was estimated to be 4 000 years old.
The first recorded history of doors was found in egyptian tomb paintings 4000 years ago.
Locks such as this were later developed into the egyptian wooden pin lock which consisted of a bolt door fixture or attachment and key when the key was inserted pins within the fixture were lifted out of drilled holes within the bolt allowing it to move.
The ancient romans also pioneered the earliest combination locks transforming the key from.
Learn more about their incredible journey here.
As everest and yale launch a revolutionary new smart lock we look back at the history of locks and keys from wooden locks in ancient egypt to 21st century keyless locks.