Case file · High strangeness
The 'Baghdad battery'
In 1938 Wilhelm König, at the Iraq Museum, described a clay jar with a copper cylinder and iron rod from Khujut Rabu near Baghdad, and suggested it was a galvanic cell.
1938 CE · 33.25, 44.53 · status: disputed
The account
Replicas filled with vinegar or grape juice produce half a volt to about two volts, and the jar became a staple of 'ancient technology' books and TV. It is usually dated to the Parthian or Sasanian period. The jar went missing from the Iraq Museum after the 2003 looting. (See the theory 'Was the Baghdad battery an ancient battery?'.)
The sceptical view
No wires, conductors or electrical devices were found with it, and similar jars held sacred scrolls. Most archaeologists think it was a storage vessel.