Editing History of technology (section)

=== Prehistory ===
{{Human timeline}}
{{Main|Prehistoric technology}}

==== Stone Age ====
{{Main|Stone Age}}
[[File:Prehistoric Tools - Les Combarelles - Les Eyzies de Tayac - MNP.jpg|thumb|left|A variety of stone tools]]
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During most of the '''[[Paleolithic]]''' – the bulk of the Stone Age – all humans had a lifestyle which involved limited tools and few permanent settlements. The first major technologies were tied to survival, hunting, and food preparation. Stone tools and weapons, [[control of fire by early humans|fire]], and [[History of clothing and textiles|clothing]] were technological developments of major importance during this period.

Human ancestors have been using stone and other tools since long before the emergence of ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' approximately 300,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://anthropology.si.edu/humanorigins/ha/sap.htm |title=Human Ancestors Hall: Homo sapiens |access-date=8 December 2007 |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501101148/http://anthropology.si.edu/humanorigins/ha/sap.htm |archive-date=1 May 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The earliest direct evidence of tool usage was found in [[Ethiopia]] within the [[Great Rift Valley, Kenya|Great Rift Valley]], dating back to 2.5&nbsp;million years ago.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Environment and Behavior of 2.5-Million-Year-Old Bouri Hominids | last1=Heinzelin | first1=Jean de | journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |date=April 1999 | volume=284 | issue=5414 | pages=625–629 | doi= 10.1126/science.284.5414.625 | pmid=10213682 | last2=Clark | first2=JD | last3=White | first3=T | last4=Hart | first4=W | last5=Renne | first5=P | last6=Woldegabriel | first6=G | last7=Beyene | first7=Y | last8=Vrba | first8=E| bibcode=1999Sci...284..625D }}</ref> The earliest methods of [[stone tool]] making, known as the [[Oldowan]] "industry", date back to at least 2.3&nbsp;million years ago.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/336555.stm | title=Ancient 'tool factory' uncovered | access-date=18 February 2007 | work=BBC News | date=6 May 1999}}</ref> This era of stone tool use is called the ''[[Paleolithic]]'', or "Old stone age", and spans all of human history up to the development of agriculture approximately 12,000 years ago.

To make a stone tool, a "[[lithic core|core]]" of hard stone with specific flaking properties (such as [[flint]]) was struck with a [[hammerstone]]. This flaking produced sharp edges which could be used as tools, primarily in the form of [[chopper (archaeology)|choppers]] or [[scraper (archaeology)|scrapers]].<ref name="ea_archaeology">{{cite web|access-date=17 May 2008|url=http://ea.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?assetid=0019880-04|title=Archaeology|publisher=[[Encyclopedia Americana]]|author=Burke, Ariane |archive-url = https://archive.today/20080521022936/http://ea.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?assetid=0019880-04 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 21 May 2008}}</ref> These tools greatly aided the early humans in their [[hunter-gatherer]] lifestyle to perform a variety of tasks including butchering carcasses (and breaking bones to get at the [[Bone marrow|marrow]]); chopping wood; cracking open nuts; skinning an animal for its hide, and even forming other tools out of softer materials such as bone and wood.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Flaked Stones and Old Bones: Biological and Cultural Evolution at the Dawn of Technology|author= Plummer, Thomas|journal= American Journal of Physical Anthropology|publisher=[[Yearbook of Physical Anthropology]]|year=2004|volume= Suppl 39|issue=47|pages= 118–64|doi= 10.1002/ajpa.20157|pmid= 15605391|doi-access= free}}</ref>

The earliest stone tools were irrelevant, being little more than a fractured rock. In the [[Acheulian]] era, beginning approximately 1.65&nbsp;million years ago, methods of working these stones into specific shapes, such as [[hand axe]]s emerged. This early Stone Age is described as the [[Lower Paleolithic]].

The [[Middle Paleolithic]], approximately 300,000 years ago, saw the introduction of the [[prepared-core technique]], where multiple blades could be rapidly formed from a single core stone.<ref name="ea_archaeology" /> The [[Upper Paleolithic]], beginning approximately 40,000 years ago, saw the introduction of [[pressure flaking]], where a wood, bone, or antler [[punch (engineering)|punch]] could be used to shape a stone very finely.<ref>{{cite book|title=Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge|author= Haviland, William A.|publisher=[[The Thomson Corporation]]|year=2004|isbn=978-0-534-62487-3|page=77}}</ref>

The end of the last Ice Age about 10,000 years ago is taken as the end point of the [[Upper Paleolithic]] and the beginning of the [[Epipaleolithic]] / [[Mesolithic]]. The Mesolithic technology included the use of [[microliths]] as composite stone tools, along with wood, bone, and antler tools.

The later Stone Age, during which the rudiments of agricultural technology were developed, is called the [[Neolithic]] period. During this period, polished stone tools were made from a variety of hard rocks such as [[flint]], [[jade]], [[jadeite]], and [[Greenschist|greenstone]], largely by working exposures as quarries, but later the valuable rocks were pursued by tunneling underground, the first steps in mining technology. The polished axes were used for forest clearance and the establishment of crop farming and were so effective as to remain in use when bronze and iron appeared. These stone axes were used alongside a continued use of stone tools such as a range of [[Projectile point|projectiles]], knives, and [[Scraper (archaeology)|scrapers]], as well as tools, made from organic materials such as wood, bone, and antler.<ref>{{Cite book|first1=Zsuzsanna|last1=Tóth | editor1-first=Alexandra |editor1-last=Anders | editor2-first=Zsuzsanna |editor2-last=Siklósi | year=2012 | title=Bone, Antler, and Tusk tools of the Early Neolithic Körös Culture | contribution=The First Neolithic Sites in Central/South-East European Transect, Volume III: The Körös Culture in Eastern Hungary | location=Oxford | publisher=BAR International Series 2334 }}</ref>

Stone Age cultures developed [[Prehistoric music|music]] and engaged in organized [[Prehistoric warfare|warfare]]. Stone Age humans developed ocean-worthy [[outrigger canoe]] technology, leading to [[History of Papua New Guinea|migration]] across the [[Malay Archipelago]], across the Indian Ocean to [[Madagascar]] and also across the Pacific Ocean, which required knowledge of the ocean currents, weather patterns, sailing, and [[celestial navigation]].

Although Paleolithic cultures left no written records, the shift from nomadic life to settlement and agriculture can be inferred from a range of archaeological evidence. Such evidence includes ancient tools,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Lovgren|first1=Stefan|title=Ancient Tools Unearthed in Siberian Arctic|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0114_040114_siberianhumans.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040116062107/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0114_040114_siberianhumans.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 16, 2004|website=National Geographic News|publisher=National Geographic|access-date=7 April 2015}}</ref> [[cave painting]]s, and other [[prehistoric art]], such as the [[Venus of Willendorf]]. Human remains also provide direct evidence, both through the examination of bones, and the study of [[mummy|mummies]]. Scientists and historians have been able to form significant inferences about the lifestyle and culture of various prehistoric peoples, and especially their technology.