People and places once known existed but are now forever lost in history. Civilizations rose and fell. The powerful ruled over the weak, only to be overthrown by an empire with more military might. Kings brought jewels and gold from faraway lands and had to stop people from taking them back.
Humans have always been obsessed with stealing valuables from others and keeping valuables for themselves since the beginning of time. Because of this, there has been almost a one-sided arms race in which one needed to know how to get things and stop other people from taking them. The setting is ideal for the lock’s development. Locksmith Sutton Coldfield
Locks have been used for a very long time because people have needed them. They are nearly as old as civilization itself, and the majority of early cultures devised novel strategies for storing their treasures safely.
We probably will never find out who developed locks. Digged-up old locks are all we have to go on. There was no acknowledgement of their inventors, and older locks weren’t just lost to time; there was also no evidence that they were ever the first locks.
We do know where these early locks were manufactured and what they looked like. Even though we don’t know any specific inventors, we know who invented locks and why. In a more contemporary sense, we also know who invented locks.
The earliest locks were made by the ancient Egyptians
The Fertile Crescent in the ancient Near East. In civilizations like Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, this is where the earliest human records are made.
Historians believe that locks may have been used in Mesopotamia as early as 6,000 years ago, roughly 600 years before writing was invented. In ancient Egypt, they were somewhat common. Locks were probably created by someone around that time and place, although who invented them is unknown.
Even though there wasn’t the same technology, locks back then shared many of the same fundamentals as modern locks. They used pins that were inserted into a bolt and were entirely made of wood (although the Egyptians eventually started making some of them out of brass).
The comb-like series of points on the key would push the pins upward when inserted, releasing them from the bolt and allowing it to be slid away from the door.
In Dur-Sharrukin, which means Sargon’s Fortress, the earliest known lock was discovered. This city was built in Khorsabad, Iraq, for King Sargon II of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Sargon II’s death in a battle meant that the city never got finished. After ascending to the throne, Sargon’s son abandoned the project.
Since this city was built around 700 B.C.E., they are not the oldest locks still in use. Locks were not invented by Sargon II. If they did exist in 4000 B.C.E., locking mechanisms were about as old as King Tut was to Sargon II. And to Sargon, King Tut was as old as Joan of Arc is to us!