What were some uses for magnets ages ago?

Answer 1

Magnets in the long ago were a novelty. They were fun to play with and wonder at. After all, how did they work? The primary useful product of applied magnetism is the magnetic compass needle. Other than that, they were not used for many things. The mechanism by which they worked was not understood, and that severly limited their usefulness. In science, we are constantly amazed by the next phenomenon that is presented, but it is in understanding the underlying science that we can really bring to bear some serious thought power to figure out how to apply it.