A World of Inventions
Our human ancestors started innovating nearly 2.5 million years ago
Our human ancestors started innovating nearly 2.5 million years ago
Our human ancestors started innovating nearly 2.5 million years ago. They developed stone tools, discovered fire and formed small communities. Today, their ways of life can be gleaned from rock paintings and archaeological evidence. The following list (by no means exhaustive) chronicles some of the most important innovations that took shape over the eras. The Stone Age AROUND 2.5 MILLION YEARS AGO TO 3,000 BCE
Divided into three periods – Paleolithic (Old Stone Age), Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age), and Neolithic (New Stone Age) – the Stone Age is marked by the use of tools by our early human ancestors and the eventual transformation from a culture of hunting and gathering to farming and food production.
The end of the Paleolithic period (about 2.5 million years ago to 10,000 BCE) marked the end of the last Ice Age, which resulted in the extinction of many large mammals, rising sea levels and climate change.
During the Mesolithic period (10,000 BCE to 8,000 BCE), humans used small stone tools, which were also modified as spears and arrows. They often lived nomadically in groups near rivers and other bodies of water. Agriculture was introduced during this time, which led to more permanent settlements in villages.
During the Neolithic period (8,000 BCE to 3,000 BCE), ancient humans moved from being hunter-gatherers to focusing on agriculture and food production. They domesticated animals and cultivated cereal grains, and made tools to work on the land and plains.
Needlework 50,000–30,000 BCE
Evidence has shown that the first European early modern humans wore closely hand-stitched and decorated clothing and boots.
Footwear 15,000 BCE
Cave drawings from Spain and France show people with animal skins and furs wrapped around their feet.
Bricks 9000 BCE
The 9000 BCE dwellings of Jericho were constructed from mud bricks
Use of Tobacco 6,000 BCE
Grown natively in North and South America, tobacco was believed to be a cure- all for pain relief. People chewed tobacco to alleviate a toothache. It was even used as a dressing for wounds. From as early as 1 BCE, American Indians began using tobacco in religious and medicinal practices.
Graffiti 30,000 BCE
In the form of cave paintings, the earliest forms of graffiti were made with bones and pigments for paint, and used for ceremonial and ritual purposes. It may be a “bad word” for some societies today, but it was the first way people told stories, passed on knowledge and probably the first means of communication.
Domestication of dogs 12,000 BCE
The first animals to be domesticated by humans were dogs, and domestication likely occurred in Europe, Mesopotamia or China.
Irrigation 6,000 BCE
The earliest known use of the technology dates to the 6th millennium BCE in Khuzestan, southwest of present-day Iran.
Beer 6,000 BCE
Recipes for at least 20 types of beer have been found on Babylonian clay tablets. Beer was also used as a daily wage for workers.
Cotton 5,500 BCE
The earliest evidence of the use of cotton was found at the Neolithic site of Mehrgarh in Pakistan, where it was preserved in copper beads.
Oars 5,000–4,500 BCE
Wooden oars with canoe-shaped pottery were discovered in a Hemudu culture site at Zhejiang, in modern China.
Roads 4,000 BCE Paved roads, in and around the Mesopotamian city of Ur, Iraq, are among the earliest known.
Lead Smelting 6,500 BCE
The earliest known cast lead beads were found in the Çatal Höyük site in Anatolia, Turkey. Ancient smelting was done using lead ore and charcoal in outdoor hearths and furnaces.
Wheel 3,500 BCE
The earliest wheels, made in Mesopotamia, were used as potter’s wheels.
Use of Opium 3,400 BCE
The opium plant was cultivated for its use as the most potent form of pain relief. Some of the earliest known writings are on clay tablets from Assyria referring to its medicinal properties.
Sanitation 3,300 BCE
Water had taken on a religious significance and was seen as a purifying element for both body and soul. So it was not uncommon for people to be required to cleanse themselves before entering a sacred area. This has been dubbed the Age of Cleanliness because toilets and sewers were being invented and used throughout the world.
Writing 3100 BCE
Sumerian also became the earliest known written language – evidenced by archaeological records of marked clay tablets, which show a writing system based on pictures, now known as pictograms.