| There is a vast underground oil reserve in | | | | Persians realized that this thinner |
| the Middle East region of the world. It has | | | | substance, which they called "naft", could be |
| been in use for over 6,500 years. In ancient | | | | very useful in battle. Persian archers dipped |
| times, it seeped to the surface in sticky | | | | their arrows, sending flaming missiles toward |
| black pools and lumps. Oil springs, bitumen | | | | their enemies. Later in the century, |
| seeps and oil-bearing rock made petroleum | | | | Byzantine warriors developed explosive fire |
| readily available all over the region. | | | | bombs called "Greek Fire" made from bitumen, |
| | | | sulfur and quicklime. |
| Stone Age dwellers used bitumen (pitch or | | | | |
| tar) to seal cracked pots and water | | | | Ancient Egyptians mummified their dead with a |
| containers. They also used it to fasten | | | | mixture of salt, beeswax, cedar resin and |
| arrowheads to their shafts. In what is now | | | | bitumen. Scholars believe that the word |
| Iraq, people lived in the marshes. They used | | | | "mummy" comes from the Arabic word "mumya", |
| oil to make bricks and mortar for waterproof | | | | after the Mumya Mountain in Persia where |
| homes, helping them to survive floods. In | | | | bitumen was found. We didn't believe that |
| Babylonian times, entire civilizations used | | | | bitumen was used in mummification until |
| millions of these bricks to build their | | | | recent chemical analysis proved that it was |
| cities. The "black gold" trade was the | | | | used to preserve bodies during the Ptolemaic |
| driving force of this industrialization | | | | period. Before that, we thought that the word |
| throughout the Middle East. | | | | "mummy" came from the black appearance that |
| | | | the remains took on after being exposed to |
| People eventually realized that they could | | | | the air. |
| use bitumen to coat their reed boats, inside | | | | |
| and out, sealing out water. This idea, called | | | | Oil that was used in ancient times was |
| caulking, was eventually spread and used on | | | | usually found on the surface. The Chinese |
| wooden boats all over the world. The bitumen | | | | were the first to drill for oil. They |
| would stain the sailors' clothes, adopting | | | | actually made drills from bamboo dipped in |
| them the nickname, "tars". This practice of | | | | iron. They drilled for salty brine water |
| caulking was used right up until modern days | | | | which they needed to preserve food and to |
| when metal and fiberglass hulled boats took | | | | make medicines. When they drilled deeply |
| the place of wooden ones. | | | | enough, they found oil. We don't know if they |
| | | | actually used the oil that they found, but |
| In the beginning, people only used the sticky | | | | they did use the natural gas to boil the |
| bitumen form of oil for gluing and | | | | brine to extract the salt. Large companies |
| waterproofing. They believed that the thinner | | | | such as Western Pipeline Corp use the same |
| forms of oil were too flammable and thin to | | | | basic idea to drill for oil today. |
| be useful. By the 6th century BCE, the | | | | |