Throughout all of human history, massive feats of construction and engineering have been accomplished. However, none of these incredible projects could ever have been accomplished without the extensive use of tools and machinery. These indispensible inventions include everything from the earliest of hand tools to the latest and greatest pieces of technology in the modern world. However, one need which has persistently been a central part of human civilization throughout history is the need to lift objects heavier than humans themselves can lift to heights which humans cannot reach. Today we like to think of large structures made of steel trusses and consisting of motors and single operators, but cranes have not always been this way.

As early as the Roman Empire, humans have been using crane like machines to lift heavy objects to incredible heights. Just because these machines are far in the past does not mean that they are inferior to modern equivalents. In fact, many of these ancient cranes were more powerful than all but the largest modern cranes. The most common of these ancient cranes was known as a treadwheel crane. These cranes, usually constructed of wood, were powered by humans and often consisted of complex pulley and cable systems. As seen in the image below, these machines would have a large wheel, akin to a wheel you might find in your pet hamsters cage, in which humans would walk in order to power the crane.

The addition of the treadwheel onto the pre existing lifting machines made construct significantly more efficient. This distinction is best seen in comparing Egyptian constructions to Roman construction. During the construction of the pyramids, it took approximately 50 men to hoist 5,500 pounds blocks up the earthen ramps. In contrast, the treadwheel cranes utilized in Roman construction projects enabled a single person to lift objects weighing up to 6600 pounds. That means that a single person working on a project in the Roman Empire could lift more than 50 workers in ancient Egypt. The Romans constructed cranes utilizing multiple operators which could even lift as much as 200,000 pounds!

These ancient lifting machines largely disappeared after the Roman Empire and did not reappear until around the 13th century in Europe. At this point the cranes underwent another round of improvements and upgrades. The recent boom in the construction of immense cathedrals across all of Europe reignited the need for lifting heavy objects to new heights. Everywhere a new cathedral with large spanning roofs was to be built, a treadwheel crane would be built as well. Without these incredible devices, much of the ancient world as we know it would never have existed. All of Rome’s infamous architecture would have never been completed without the work donee by treadwheel cranes and modern cranes owe many of their ‘basic’ designs to the early days of human powered construction.