Timeline Of Historic Inventions

The timeline of historic inventions is a chronological list of particularly important or significant technological inventions and their inventors, where known.

Paleolithic

The dates listed in this section refer to the earliest evidence of an invention found and dated by archaeologists (or in a few cases, suggested by indirect evidence). Dates are often approximate and change as more research is done, reported and seen. Older examples of any given technology are often found. The locations listed are for the site where the earliest solid evidence has been found, but especially for the earlier inventions, there is little certainty how close that may be to where the invention took place.

Lower Paleolithic

The Lower Paleolithic period lasted over 3 million years, and corresponds to the human species prior to the emergence of ''Homo sapiens''. The original divergence between humans and chimpanzees occurred 13 ( Mya), however interbreeding continued until as recently as 4 Ma, with the first species clearly belonging to the human (and not chimpanzee) lineage being ''Australopithecus anamensis''. This time period is characterized as an ice age with regular periodic warmer periods – interglacial episodes.
* 3.3-2.6 Mya: Stone tools – found in present-day Kenya, they are so old that only a pre-human species could have invented them. The otherwise earliest known stone tools (Oldowan) were found in Ethiopia developed perhaps by ''Australopithecus garhi'' or ''Homo habilis''
* 2.3 Mya: Earliest likely control of fire and cooking, by ''Homo habilis''
* 1.76 Mya: Advanced (Acheulean) stone tools in Kenya by ''Homo erectus''
* 1.5 Mya: Bone tools in Africa.
* 900-40 kya: Boats.
* 500 kya: Hafting in South Africa.
* 400 kya: Pigments in Zambia
* 400-300 kya: Spears in Germany likely by ''Homo heidelbergensis''
* 350-150 kya: Estimated origin of language

Middle Paleolithic

The dawn of ''Homo sapiens'' around 300 kya coincides with the start of the Middle Paleolithic period. Towards the middle of this 250,000-year period, humans begin to migrate out of Africa, and the later part of the period shows the beginning of long-distance trade, religious rites and other behavior associated with Behavioral modernity.
* kya: The trade and long-distance transportation of resources (e.g. obsidian), use of pigments, and possible making of projectile points in Kenya
* 279 kya: Early stone-tipped projectile weapons in Ethiopia
* c. 200 kya: Glue in Central Italy by Neanderthals. More complicated compound adhesives developed by ''Homo sapiens'' have been found from c. 70 kya Sibudu, South Africa and have been regarded as a sign of cognitive advancement.
* 170-83 kya: Clothing (among anatomically modern humans in Africa). Some other evidence suggests that humans may have begun wearing clothing as far back as 100,000 to 500,000 years ago.
* 164-47 kya: Heat treating of stone blades in South Africa.
* 135-100 kya: Beads in Israel and Algeria
* 100 kya: Compound paints made in South Africa
* 100 kya: Funerals (in the form of burial) in Israel
* 90 kya: Harpoons in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
* 77 kya: Beds in South Africa
* 70-60 kya: Oldest arrows (and evidence of bow-and-arrow technology), and oldest needle, at Sibudu, South Africa

Upper Paleolithic to Early Mesolithic

50 ka has been regarded by some as the beginning of behavioral modernity, defining the Upper Paleolithic period, which lasted nearly 40,000 years (though some research dates the beginning of behavioral modernity earlier to the Middle Paleolithic). This is characterized by the widespread observation of religious rites, artistic expression and the appearance of tools made for purely intellectual or artistic pursuits.

* 49–30 ka: Ground stone tools – fragments of an axe in Australia date to 49–45 ka, more appear in Japan closer to 30 ka, and elsewhere closer to the Neolithic.
* 47 ka: The oldest-known mines in the world are from Eswatini, and extracted hematite for the production of the red pigment ochre.
* 45 ka: Shoes, as evidenced by changes in foot bone morphology in Eurasia. Bark sandals dated to 10 to 9 ka were found in Fort Rock Cave in the US state of Oregon in 1938. Oldest leather shoe (Areni-1 shoe), 5.5 ka.
* 44–42 ka: Tally sticks (see Lebombo bone) in Eswatini
* 43.7 ka: Cave painting in Indonesia
* 37 ka: Mortar and pestle in Southwest Asia
* 36 ka: Weaving – Indirect evidence from Moravia and Georgia. The earliest actual piece of woven cloth was found in Çatalhöyük, Turkey.
* 35 ka: Flute in Germany
* 33-10 ka: Star chart in France and Spain
* 28 ka: Rope
* 26 ka: Ceramics in Europe
* 23 ka: Domestication of the dog in Siberia.
* 19 ka: Bullroarer in Ukraine
* 16 ka: Pottery in China
* 14.5 ka: Bread in Jordan

Agricultural and proto-agricultural eras

The end of the Last Glacial Period ("ice age") and the beginning of the Holocene around 11.7 ka coincide with the Agricultural Revolution, marking the beginning of the agricultural era, which persisted until the industrial revolution.

Neolithic and Late Mesolithic

During the Neolithic period, lasting 8400 years, stone remained the predominant material for toolmaking, although copper and arsenic bronze were developed towards the end of this period.
* 12-11 ka: Agriculture in the Fertile Crescent
* 12–11 ka: Domestication of sheep in Southwest Asia (followed shortly by pigs, goats and cattle)
* 11-8 ka: Domestication of rice in China
* 11 ka: Oldest known surviving building – Göbekli Tepe, in Turkey
* 9000 BC: Mudbricks, and clay mortar in Jericho.
* 8000–7500 BC: Proto-city – large permanent settlements, such as Tell es-Sultan (Jericho) and Çatalhöyük, Turkey.
* 7000 BC: Alcohol fermentation – specifically mead, in China
*7000 BC: Sled dog and Dog sled, in Siberia.
* 7000 BC: Tanned leather in Mehrgarh, Pakistan.
* 6500 BC: Evidence of lead smelting in Çatalhöyük, Turkey
* 6000 BC: Kiln in Mesopotamia (Iraq)
* 6th millennium BC: Irrigation in Khuzistan, Iran
* 6000-3200 BC: Proto-writing in present day Egypt, Iraq, Serbia, China and Pakistan.
* c. 5500 BC: Sailing pottery depictions of sail boats, in Mesopotamia, and later ancient EgyptThe sea-craft of prehistory, p76, by Paul Johnstone, Routledge, 1980
* 5000 BC: Copper smelting in Serbia
* 5000 BC: Seawall in Israel
* 5th millennium BC: Lacquer in China
* 5000 BC: Cotton thread, in Mehrgarh, Pakistan, connecting the copper beads of a bracelet.
* 5000–4500 BC: Rowing oars in China
* 4500–3500 BC: Lost-wax casting in Israel. In or the Indus Valley
* 4400 BC: Fired bricks in China.
* 4000 BC: Probable time period of the first diamond-mines in the world, in Southern India.

* Around 4000 BC: Paved roads, in and around the Mesopotamian city of Ur, Iraq.
* 4000 BC: Plumbing. The earliest pipes were made of clay, and are found at the Temple of Bel at Nippur in Babylonia.
* 4000–3500 BC: Wheel: potter's wheels in Mesopotamia and wheeled vehicles in Mesopotamia (Sumerian civilization), the Northern Caucasus (Maykop culture) and Central Europe (Cucuteni–Trypillia culture).
* 3630 BC: Silk garments (sericulture) in China
* 3500 BC: Probable first domestication of the horse in the Eurasian Steppes.
* 3500 BC: Wine as general anesthesia in Sumer.
* 3500 BC: Seal (emblem) invented around in the Near East, at the contemporary sites of Uruk in southern Mesopotamia and slightly later at Susa in south-western Iran during the Proto-Elamite period, and they follow the development of stamp seals in the Halaf culture or slightly earlier.
* 3400-3100 BC: Tattoos in southern Europe

Bronze Age

The beginning of bronze-smelting coincides with the emergence of the first cities and of writing in the Ancient Near East and the Indus Valley. The Bronze Age starting in Eurasia in the 4th millennia BC and ended, in Eurasia, c.1300 BC.
* c. 4650 BC: Copper-tin bronze found at the Pločnik (Serbia) site, and belonging to the Vinča culture, believed to be produced from smelting a natural tin baring copper ore, Stannite.
* bef. 3500 BC: ploughing, on a site in Bubeneč, Czech Republic. Evidence, c. 2800 BC, has also been found at Kalibangan, Indus Valley (modern-day India).B. B. Lal, ''India 1947–1997: New Light on the Indus Civilization''
* c. 3300 BC: City in Uruk, Sumer, Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq).
* c. 3300 BC: Writing – Cuneiform in Sumer.
* bef. 3200 BC: dry Latrines in the city of Uruk, Iraq, with later dry squat Toilets, that added raised fired brick foot platforms, and pedestal toilets, all over clay pipe constructed drains.
* bef. 3000 BC: Devices functionally equivalent to dice, in the form of flat two-sided throwsticks, are seen in the Egyptian game of Senet. Perhaps the oldest known dice, resembling modern ones, were excavated as part of a backgammon-like game set at the Burnt City, an archeological site in south-eastern Iran, estimated to be from between 2800 and 2500 BC. Later, terracotta dice were used at the Indus Valley site of Mohenjo-daro

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