Editing Technology (section)

=== Ancient ===
{{Main|Ancient technology}}
{{Ancient technology}}
[[File:Wheel Iran.jpg|thumb|upright|The wheel was invented {{Circa|4,000 BCE}}.|alt=Photo of an early wooden wheel]]
[[File:Ljubljana Marshes Wheel with axle (oldest wooden wheel yet discovered).jpg|thumb|upright|Ljubljana Marshes Wheel with axle (oldest wooden wheel yet discovered as of 2024)|alt=Photo of Wooden Wheel with axle (oldest wooden wheel yet discovered)]]
After harnessing fire, humans discovered other forms of energy. The earliest known use of wind power is the [[sailing ship]]; the earliest record of a ship under sail is that of a Nile boat dating to around 7,000 BCE.<ref>{{Cite journal|author1-first=Donatella |author1-last=Usai | author2-first=Sandro |author2-last=Salvatori |title=The oldest representation of a Nile boat|journal=Antiquity|volume=81}}</ref> From prehistoric times, Egyptians likely used the power of the annual [[flooding of the Nile]] to irrigate their lands, gradually learning to regulate much of it through purposely built irrigation channels and "catch" basins.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Postel |first=Sandra |author-link=Sandra Postel |url=http://www.waterhistory.org/histories/nile/t1.html |title=Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last? |date=1999 |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0393319378 |chapter=Egypt's Nile Valley Basin Irrigation |access-date=25 September 2022 |archive-date=19 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119022630/http://www.waterhistory.org/histories/nile/t1.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The ancient [[Sumer]]ians in [[Mesopotamia]] used a complex system of canals and levees to divert water from the [[Tigris]] and [[Euphrates]] rivers for irrigation.<ref>{{cite book|last=Crawford|first=Harriet|author-link=Harriet Crawford|date=2013|title=The Sumerian World|location=New York & London|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0203096604|pages=34–43|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qSOYAAAAQBAJ&q=Sumerian+irrigation&pg=PA35|access-date=12 November 2020|archive-date=5 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205005423/https://books.google.com/books?id=qSOYAAAAQBAJ&q=Sumerian+irrigation&pg=PA35|url-status=live}}</ref>

Archaeologists estimate that the wheel was invented independently and concurrently in Mesopotamia (in present-day [[Iraq]]), the Northern Caucasus ([[Maykop culture]]), and Central Europe.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East|last=Potts|first=D.T.|year=2012|page=285}}</ref> Time estimates range from 5,500 to 3,000 BCE with most experts putting it closer to 4,000 BCE.<ref>{{Cite book|title=New Light on the Most Ancient East|last=Childe|first=V. Gordon|year=1928|page=110}}</ref> The oldest artifacts with drawings depicting wheeled carts date from about 3,500 BCE.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World|last=Anthony|first=David A.|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0691058870|location=Princeton|page=67}}</ref> More recently, the oldest-known wooden wheel in the world as of 2024 was found in the [[Ljubljana Marsh]] of [[Slovenia]]; Austrian experts have established that the wheel is between 5,100 and 5,350 years old.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukom.gov.si/en/media_room/background_information/culture/worlds_oldest_wheel_found_in_slovenia/|title=World's Oldest Wheel Found in Slovenia|last=Gasser|first=Aleksander|date=March 2003|publisher=Republic of Slovenia Government Communication Office|access-date=8 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826021129/http://www.ukom.gov.si/en/media_room/background_information/culture/worlds_oldest_wheel_found_in_slovenia/|archive-date=26 August 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The invention of the wheel revolutionized trade and war. It did not take long to discover that wheeled wagons could be used to carry heavy loads. The ancient Sumerians used a [[potter's wheel]] and may have invented it.<ref name="Kramer1963">{{cite book|last=Kramer|first=Samuel Noah|year=1971|orig-date=1963|title=The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IuxIdug8DBUC|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=978-0226452388|page=290|access-date=26 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808201642/http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Sumerians.html?id=IuxIdug8DBUC|archive-date=8 August 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> A stone pottery wheel found in the city-state of [[Ur]] dates to around 3,429 BCE,<ref name="Moorey1994">{{cite book|last=Moorey|first=Peter Roger Stuart|date=1999|orig-year=1994|title=Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: The Archaeological Evidence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P_Ixuott4doC|location=Winona Lake, Indiana|publisher=Eisenbrauns|isbn=978-1575060422|page=146|access-date=26 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017215042/https://books.google.com/books/about/Ancient_Mesopotamian_Materials_and_Indus.html?id=P_Ixuott4doC|archive-date=17 October 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> and even older fragments of wheel-thrown pottery have been found in the same area.<ref name="Moorey1994" /> Fast (rotary) potters' wheels enabled early [[mass production]] of pottery, but it was the use of the wheel as a transformer of energy (through [[water wheel]]s, windmills, and even treadmills) that revolutionized the application of nonhuman power sources. The first two-wheeled carts were derived from [[travois]]<ref name="Lay1992">{{cite book|last=Lay|first=M G |title=Ways of the World|publisher=Primavera Press|year=1992|location=Sydney|page=28|isbn=978-1875368051}}</ref> and were first used in Mesopotamia and [[Iran]] in around 3,000 BCE.<ref name="Lay1992" />

The oldest known constructed roadways are the stone-paved streets of the city-state of Ur, dating to {{Circa|4,000 BCE}},<ref name="Gregersen2012">{{cite book|last1=Gregersen|first1=Erik|title=The Complete History of Wheeled Transportation: From Cars and Trucks to Buses and Bikes|date=2012|publisher=Britannica Educational Publishing|location=New York |isbn=978-1615307012|page=130|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ldSbAAAAQBAJ&q=paved+road+in+Ur&pg=PA130|access-date=12 November 2020|archive-date=31 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331145500/https://books.google.com/books?id=ldSbAAAAQBAJ&q=paved+road+in+Ur&pg=PA130|url-status=live}}</ref> and timber roads leading through the swamps of [[Glastonbury]], England, dating to around the same period.<ref name="Gregersen2012" /> The first long-distance road, which came into use around 3,500 BCE,<ref name="Gregersen2012" /> spanned 2,400&nbsp;km from the [[Persian Gulf]] to the [[Mediterranean Sea]],<ref name="Gregersen2012" /> but was not paved and was only partially maintained.<ref name="Gregersen2012" /> In around 2,000 BCE, the [[Minoans]] on the Greek island of [[Crete]] built a 50&nbsp;km road leading from the palace of [[Gortyn]] on the south side of the island, through the mountains, to the palace of [[Knossos]] on the north side of the island.<ref name="Gregersen2012" /> Unlike the earlier road, the Minoan road was completely paved.<ref name="Gregersen2012" />[[File:Pont du Gard BLS.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Photograph of the [[Pont du Gard]] in France, one of the most famous [[Roman aqueduct|ancient Roman aqueducts]]<ref name="Aicher1995" />|alt=refer to caption]]
Ancient Minoan private homes had [[Tap water|running water]].<ref name="Eslamian2014">{{cite book|last1=Eslamian|first1=Saeid|title=Handbook of Engineering Hydrology: Environmental Hydrology and Water Management|date=2014|publisher=CRC Press|location=Boca Raton, Florida|isbn=978-1466552500|pages=171–175|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=USXcBQAAQBAJ&q=Minoan+flush+toilet&pg=PA174|access-date=12 November 2020|archive-date=10 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201210095408/https://books.google.com/books?id=USXcBQAAQBAJ&q=Minoan+flush+toilet&pg=PA174|url-status=live}}</ref> A bathtub virtually identical to modern ones was unearthed at the Palace of Knossos.<ref name="Eslamian2014" /><ref name="Lechner2012">{{cite book|last1=Lechner|first1=Norbert|title=Plumbing, Electricity, Acoustics: Sustainable Design Methods for Architecture|date=2012|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc.|location=Hoboken, NJ|isbn=978-1118014752|page=106|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0loW1G-Q5f4C&q=Minoan+flush+toilet&pg=PA106|access-date=12 November 2020|archive-date=31 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331145421/https://books.google.com/books?id=0loW1G-Q5f4C&q=Minoan+flush+toilet&pg=PA106|url-status=live}}</ref> Several Minoan private homes also had toilets, which could be flushed by pouring water down the drain.<ref name="Eslamian2014" /> The ancient Romans had many public flush toilets,<ref name="Lechner2012" /> which emptied into an extensive [[sewage system]].<ref name="Lechner2012" /> The primary sewer in Rome was the [[Cloaca Maxima]];<ref name="Lechner2012" /> construction began on it in the sixth century BCE and it is still in use today.<ref name="Lechner2012" />

The ancient Romans also had a complex system of [[aqueduct (bridge)|aqueducts]],<ref name="Aicher1995">{{cite book|last1=Aicher|first1=Peter J.|title=Guide to the Aqueducts of Ancient Rome|date=1995|publisher=Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc.|location=Wauconda, IL|isbn=978-0865162822|page=6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IEa04PmWXq0C&q=Pont+du+Gard|access-date=12 November 2020|archive-date=5 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205010425/https://books.google.com/books?id=IEa04PmWXq0C&q=Pont+du+Gard|url-status=live}}</ref> which were used to transport water across long distances.<ref name="Aicher1995" /> The first [[Roman aqueduct]] was built in 312 BCE.<ref name="Aicher1995" /> The eleventh and final ancient Roman aqueduct was built in 226 CE.<ref name="Aicher1995" /> Put together, the Roman aqueducts extended over 450&nbsp;km,<ref name="Aicher1995" /> but less than 70&nbsp;km of this was above ground and supported by arches.<ref name="Aicher1995" />