Early Technology

* Olduvai stone technology (Olduwan) 2.5 million years ago (scrapers; to butcher dead animals)
* Acheulean stone technology 1.6 million years ago (hand axe)
* Fire creation and manipulation, used since the Paleolithic, possibly by Homo erectus as early as 1.5 Million years ago
* (Homo sapiens sapiens - modern human anatomy arises, around 200,000 years ago.)
* Clothing possibly 100,000 years ago.
* Stone tools, used by Homo floresiensis, possibly 100,000 years ago.
* Ceramics ca. 25,000 BC
* Domestication of Animals, ca. 15,000 BC
* Bow, sling ca. 9th millennium BC
* Microliths ca. 9th millennium BC
* Copper ca. 8000 BC
* Agriculture and Plough ca. 8000 BC
* Wheel ca. 4000 BC
* Gnomon ca. 4000 BC
* Writing systems ca. 3500 BC
* Bronze ca. 3300 BC
* Salt
* Chariot ca. 2000 BC
* Iron ca. 1500 BC
* Sundial ca. 800 BC
* Glass ca. 500 BC
* Catapult ca. 400 BC
* Horseshoe ca. 300 BC
* Stirrup first few centuries AD

History of Technology

The history of technology is the history of the invention of tools and techniques, and is similar in many ways to the history of humanity. Background knowledge has enabled people to create new things, and conversely, many scientific endeavors have become possible through technologies which assist humans to travel to places we could not otherwise go, and probe the nature of the universe in more detail than our natural senses allow.

Technological artifacts are products of an economy, a force for economic growth, and a large part of everyday life. Technological innovations affect, and are affected by, a society's cultural traditions. They also are a means to develop and project military power.