WHave you ever wondered how advanced the technology was in terms of security devices, in antiquity when the events described in the Games of Thrones occurred?
Well, as locksmith professionals, who constantly pursue the most recent technological developments in our field, although they are also curious about the older types of locks that people used, we are quite curious even about the locks that could have been used in Fiction stories, like the game of thrones.
The locks have more than 4,000 years of stock, according to the old studies, and since then the craftsmen and locksmiths have been developing new mechanisms that allow making the doors, entrances, and exits more and safer. In the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance, you were based on the series Game of Thrones, modern locks and different mechanisms were developed that kept the doors protected from most of the great dangers of those times. In the series, we can see different locks on doors of different sizes. But to know a little more about this, let’s first know a little about how the locks were created.
Origin of the Locks
The origin of the locks we know today is a simple horizontal wooden pin that, leaning on the back of the door, was made to slide along a guide to fit them into a hole made in the jamb. To operate this pin from outside it was necessary to use a metal bar with a handle, this was the primitive key.
To prevent the pin from slipping, what was done was a vertical hole in the upper part of the female and a wedge was placed. The key he did was move the wedge and lift it to release the pin.
It is believed that the lock was invented in China more than 4,000 years ago, although it was used in Egypt and Babylon. At this time it was when they began to use the models that served as an example for modern locks. These models were made of wood, they had a wooden key with small metal extensions on one end.
These extensions fit with a set of small metal pins inside the body of the lock. When the key was inserted, its ends and pins fitted in such a way that the mechanism of the lock was released and rotated. It was enough for a key python to be too short or too long for the latch to not retract.
The Oldest Locks Are Known To Mankind
The oldest type of lock that archaeologists have managed to find (in the area where Iraq is now). The mechanism of that primitive lock was based on the use of a wooden bolt with some holes in its upper surface. These locks were used about four thousand years ago.
Around that time, or a little later, another type of lock was invented and used in ancient Egypt. As in the case of the aforementioned locks, the main difference between these locks and the locks that were used later (and which are still being used today) is that those locks were made of wood and not of metal.
The fact is that the wooden locks also opened and closed with wooden keys. The locks used in ancient Egypt can be considered a prototype of the pin-type drum locks we use today.
Ancient Locks, Used In the Western World
The most popular type of ancient blockade used in the western world is the protected blockade, which dates from the late 9th century AD (therefore, the blockades we expect to be used in Game of Thrones are the oldest, wooden).
These locks were made of metal, but there was no significant technological progress in terms of locks design in Europe until the industrial revolution occurred.
Middle Ages
The locksmiths of the middle Ages endeavored to invent an inviolable lock since, after the invention of firearms, thieves broke the locks easily. The locks, in addition, began to be used indoors to replace guardians.
Although it is thought that it was in the monasteries and parcels where the door locks were first used in an extended manner, using a mechanism known as The mechanism does not use pins, it is known as “The key to the guardian”, its operation is based on a carved key with which it is inserted and turns in a carved lock with slots and extensions. The key must fit perfectly for the mechanism to open.
In the Middle Ages, the artisans also designed locks with exquisite details, although the reliefs and perforations were often not related to their operation.
The Indians adopted the “Hindu puzzle lock”, had the shape of a bird, the keyhole was hidden in one of the wings, to open it they had to order the puzzle. This mechanism was replaced in the fifteenth century by a bolt. It was at this time that they also began to settle in the chests.
In the Renaissance the lock became a work of art, little by little they were more elaborate and complicated, every detail was important, they were manufactured by the goldsmiths were made in a rectangular box, inside were several locks that were operated with a key.
In the 17th century, locks were manufactured that could be opened from the inside as well as from outside.
Because of its complex mechanism many kings were interested in its manufacture, they had their workshops as Louis XIII and Louis XVI (France).
In the 19th century, cast iron was replaced by cast iron at the beginning of industrialization.
In conclusion, until new archaeological discoveries are found to prove otherwise and there are old locks made of metal from the pre-2000 era, it would be logical to expect to see the characters of Game of Thrones using primitive wooden locks and wooden keys. Due to the transition of the eras in which the series takes place, it can be said that the locks implemented are a combination of the locks created between the Middle Age and the Renaissance.