I’d give laser pointers to Neanderthals. Even if they did figure out some useful application for them (maybe hunting?) they’d run out of batteries eventually.
A cube of pure tungsten. So when they pick it up they cant believe how heavy it is.
To fuck with? Contraceptives, obviously!
After further consideration, I would also give them a Solar-Powered TV that plays nothing but a Video of Hatsune Miku doing Fortnite Dances
A copy of Windows Vista
Go to that greek dude who invented the steam engine and give him the idea to make a train
Humanity - civilised Greeks or not - didn’t have the metallurgical knowledge to be able to build locomotives and rails out of strong enough materials yet. Ancient Greece basically coincides with the Bronze age.
You’d have to not only bring (knowledge of) steam locomotive tech, but also every single bit of iron tech required to build one. You could skip the requirement for rails by opting for a steam traction engine, not a full locomotive, but those are far closer together in technological ability.
None of this factors in the propensity for steam boilers to explode, which you may or may not consider important.
There’s a reason we were still using beasts of burden (horses, oxen, etc.) for traction until the 19th century.
A coke bottle
Drop it from an airplane. Bet they would then say among themselves:
God Must Be Crazy!
Slinky
Meth
Sharpies. Think off all the confused scientist that have to explain sharpie marks under acient paintings.
Toothpaste. Try making that out of saltpeter and bronze!
Nuclear bombs.
That would fuck with them so hard.
Those little Roman devices nobody can figure out.
Antikythera mechanism?
No, those little dice things nobody can figure out at all. They’re octagonal with a little ball on each corner.
That’s Greek and we have a pretty good understanding of them.
I think the person you’re replying to is referring to these odd little dodecahedrons that we keep finding in former Roman provinces, but for which we’ve found no documentation as to what they were for, if anything.
It’s how the Greeks played Minecraft.
Rubiks cube.
Walkie-talkies would be fun. They’d figure out how to use them pretty quickly and what they could use them for. At the same time they’d be completely like magic to them.
Let’s give some ancient peoples a couple books on modern maths and calculus. Really fuck with the development of tech.
