Editing Timeline of historic inventions

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{{More citations needed|date=November 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
<!-- Inventions need to be cited as being particularly important or significant, as in one of THE most important inventions ever, NOT just that it is an invention, or else it will be removed --->

The '''timeline of historic inventions''' is a chronological list of particularly significant technological [[invention]]s and their [[inventor]]s, where known.{{efn|Dates for inventions are often controversial. Sometimes inventions are invented by several inventors around the same time, or may be invented in an impractical form many years before another inventor improves the invention into a more practical form. Where there is ambiguity, the date of the first known working version of the invention is used here.}}  This page lists nonincremental inventions that are widely recognized by reliable sources as having had a direct impact on the course of history that was profound, global, and enduring. The dates in this article make frequent use of the [[Year#Abbreviations for "years ago"|units mya and kya]], which refer to millions and thousands of years ago, respectively.
{{History of technology sidebar}}

==Paleolithic==
{{further|Outline of prehistoric technology}}
The dates listed in this section refer to the earliest evidence of an invention found and dated by [[Archaeology|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, during which there many human-like species [[Human evolution|evolved]] including toward the end of this period, ''Homo sapiens''. The original divergence between humans and [[chimpanzees]] occurred 13 ([[Year#SI prefix multipliers|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]]''.  Some species are controversial among paleoanthropologists, who disagree whether they are species on their own or not. Here [[Homo ergaster]] is included under [[Homo erectus]], while [[Homo rhodesiensis]] is included under [[Homo heidelbergensis]].

During this period the [[Quaternary glaciation]] began (about 2.58 million years ago), and continues to today. It has been an [[ice age]], with [[Timeline of glaciation|cycles of 40–100,000 years]] alternating between long, cold, more glaciated periods, and shorter warmer periods – [[interglacial]] episodes.

* '''3.3 Mya – 2.6 Mya:''' [[Stone tool]]s - found in modern-day [[Kenya]] are older and only found on the archetype road. Ancient stone tools from [[Ethiopia]] ([[Oldowan]]) were hand-crafted by [[Australopithecus]] or related people.<ref name="de Heinzelin">{{cite journal | last1 = De Heinzelin | first1 = J | 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 | title = Environment and behavior of 2.5-million-year-old Bouri hominids | journal = Science | volume = 284 | issue = 5414 | pages = 625–9 | year = 1999 | pmid = 10213682 | doi=10.1126/science.284.5414.625| bibcode = 1999Sci...284..625D}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last1=Toth | first1=Nicholas | last2=Schick | first2=Kathy |year=2009 | contribution=African Origins | title=The Human Past: World Prehistory and the Development of Human Societies | edition=2nd | editor-first=Chris | editor-last=Scarre | location=London |publisher=Thames and Hudson | pages=67–68}}</ref>{{explain|date=October 2023}}
* '''2.3 Mya:''' Earliest likely [[Control of fire by early humans|control of fire]] and [[cooking]], by ''[[Homo habilis]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/06/invention-of-cooking-drove-evolution-of-the-human-species-new-book-argues/|title=Invention of cooking drove evolution of the human species, new book argues|date=1 June 2009|website=harvard.edu|access-date=26 March 2018}}</ref><ref name="Miller">{{Cite web|url=http://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/09-archaeologists-find-earliest-evidence-of-humans-cooking-with-fire|title=Until the Wonderwerk Cave find, Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, a lakeside site in , was considered to have the oldest generally accepted evidence of human-controlled fire.}}</ref><ref name="James">{{cite journal|last=James|first=Steven R.|date=February 1989|title=Hominid Use of Fire in the Lower and Middle Pleistocene: A Review of the Evidence|journal=Current Anthropology|url=http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/archaeology/Publications/Hearths/Hominid%20Use%20of%20Fire%20in%20the%20Lower%20and%20Middle%20Pleistocene.pdf|volume=30|issue=1|pages=1–26|publisher=University of Chicago Press|doi=10.1086/203705|s2cid=146473957|access-date=4 April 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151212084645/http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/archaeology/Publications/Hearths/Hominid%20Use%20of%20Fire%20in%20the%20Lower%20and%20Middle%20Pleistocene.pdf|archive-date=12 December 2015}}</ref>
* '''1.76 Mya:''' Advanced ([[Acheulean]]) stone tools in [[Kenya]] by ''[[Homo erectus]]''<ref>[http://www.earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/2839 "Anthropologists have yet to find an Acheulian hand axe gripped in a ''Homo erectus'' fist but most credit ''Homo erectus'' with developing the technology."]</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=An earlier origin for the Acheulian|first1=Christopher J.|last1=Lepre|first2=Hélène|last2=Roche|first3=Dennis V.|last3=Kent|first4=Sonia|last4=Harmand|first5=Rhonda L.|last5=Quinn|first6=Jean-Philippe|last6=Brugal|first7=Pierre-Jean|last7=Texier|first8=Arnaud|last8=Lenoble|first9=Craig S.|last9=Feibel|journal=Nature|volume=477|issue=7362|pages=82–85|doi=10.1038/nature10372|pmid=21886161|bibcode=2011Natur.477...82L|year=2011|s2cid=4419567}}</ref>
* '''1.75 Mya – 150 kya:''' Varying estimates for the [[origin of language]]<ref name="Uomini e72693">{{Cite journal |last1=Uomini |first1=Natalie Thaïs |last2=Meyer |first2=Georg Friedrich |date=2013-08-30 |editor-last=Petraglia |editor-first=Michael D. |title=Shared Brain Lateralization Patterns in Language and Acheulean Stone Tool Production: A Functional Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound Study |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=8 |issue=8 |pages=e72693 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0072693 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=3758346 |pmid=24023634|bibcode=2013PLoSO...872693U |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Perreault 2012">{{Cite journal |last1 = Perreault | first1 = C. | last2 = Mathew | first2 = S. | title = Dating the origin of language using phonemic diversity | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 7 | issue = 4 | pages = e35289 | year = 2012 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0035289 | pmid = 22558135 | pmc = 3338724| bibcode = 2012PLoSO...735289P| doi-access = free }}</ref>
* '''1.5 Mya:''' [[Bone tool]]s in Africa by ''[[Homo erectus]]'' and/or ''[[Paranthropus boisei]]''<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/human-ancestors-oldest-bone-tools | title=Human ancestors made the oldest known bone tools 1.5 million years ago | date=5 March 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1038/s41586-025-08652-5 | title=Systematic bone tool production at 1.5 million years ago | date=2025 | last1=de la Torre | first1=Ignacio | last2=Doyon | first2=Luc | last3=Benito-Calvo | first3=Alfonso | last4=Mora | first4=Rafael | last5=Mwakyoma | first5=Ipyana | last6=Njau | first6=Jackson K. | last7=Peters | first7=Renata F. | last8=Theodoropoulou | first8=Angeliki | last9=d'Errico | first9=Francesco | journal=Nature | volume=640 | issue=8057 | pages=130–134 | pmid=40044851 | pmc=11964934 | bibcode=2025Natur.640..130D }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://humanorigins.si.edu/early-humans-make-bone-tools|title= Early humans make bone tools|author= <!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|website= Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program|date= 17 February 2010|access-date= 3 March 2020|archive-date= 26 November 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201126123811/https://humanorigins.si.edu/early-humans-make-bone-tools|url-status= dead}}</ref>
* '''900 kya – 40 kya:''' [[Boat]]s<ref name="Plakias2010" >{{cite web
 | title = Plakias Survey Finds Mesolithic and Palaeolithic Artifacts on Crete
 | publisher = www.ascsa.edu.gr
 | url = http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/news/newsDetails/plakias-survey-finds-stone-age-tools-on-crete/
 | access-date = 28 October 2011
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rose |first=Mark |date=1998 |title=First Mariners - Archaeology Magazine Archive |url=https://archive.archaeology.org/9805/newsbriefs/mariners.html |access-date=2013-11-16 |website=archive.archaeology.org}}</ref>
* '''500 kya:''' [[Hafting]] in South Africa by ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]''<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wilkins|first=J.|author2=Schoville, B. J. |author3=Brown, K. S. |author4= Chazan, M. |title=Evidence for Early Hafted Hunting Technology|journal=Science|date=15 November 2012|volume=338|series=6109|issue=6109|pages=942–946|doi=10.1126/science.1227608|pmid=23161998 |bibcode=2012Sci...338..942W|s2cid=206544031}}</ref>
* '''500 kya – 450 kya:''' [[Woodworking]] construction in [[Zambia]] by ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]''<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Barham | first1 = L. | last2 = Duller | first2 = G.A.T. | last3 = Candy | first3 = I. | display-authors=etal | year = 2023 | title = Evidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago | journal = Nature | volume = 622 | issue = 7981 | pages = 107–111 | doi = 10.1038/s41586-023-06557-9| doi-access = free | pmid = 37730994 | pmc = 10550827 | bibcode = 2023Natur.622..107B | hdl = 10400.1/20204 | hdl-access = free }}</ref> (The [[List of oldest extant buildings|oldest known surviving buildings]] are made from stone and date back no more than 9,500 years.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Clare |first=Lee |year=2020 |title=Göbekli Tepe, Turkey. A brief summary of research at a new World Heritage Site (2015–2019) |journal=E-Forschungsberichte |publisher=[[Deutsches Archäologisches Institut]] |volume=2020 |issue=2 |pages=81–88 |doi=10.34780/efb.v0i2.1012}}</ref>)
* '''420 – 200 kya:''' [[Food storage]] in the form of uncracked bones saved for their marrow in [[Qesem cave]], Israel.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1126/sciadv.aav9822 | title=Bone marrow storage and delayed consumption at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel (420 to 200 ka) | date=2019 | last1=Blasco | first1=R. | last2=Rosell | first2=J. | last3=Arilla | first3=M. | last4=Margalida | first4=A. | last5=Villalba | first5=D. | last6=Gopher | first6=A. | last7=Barkai | first7=R. | journal=Science Advances | volume=5 | issue=10 | pages=eaav9822 | pmid=31633015 | pmc=6785254 | bibcode=2019SciA....5.9822B }}</ref>
* '''400 kya:''' [[Pigment]]s in Zambia by ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/733747.stm|title=BBC News – SCI/TECH – Earliest evidence of art found|website=BBC News|access-date=26 March 2018}}</ref>
* '''337 kya – 300 kya:''' [[Schöningen spears|Schöningen]] [[Spear]]s in [[Germany]]<ref>Kouwenhoven, Arlette P., [http://www.archaeology.org/9705/newsbriefs/spears.html World's Oldest Spears]</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Richter | first1 = D. | last2 = Krbetschek | first2 = M. | year = 2015 | title = The age of the Lower Paleolithic occupation at Schöningen | journal = Journal of Human Evolution | volume = 89 | pages = 46–56 | doi = 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.06.003 | pmid = 26212768 | doi-access = free | bibcode = 2015JHumE..89...46R }}</ref><ref>Richter, D. and M. Krbetschek. 2015: The age of the Lower Paleolithic occupation at Schöningen. Journal of Human Evolution 89, 46-56.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/homo-heidelbergensis-neue-wurfwaffe-aus-der-steinzeit-entdeckt-a-8c0454ed-2c82-448c-b0fa-c38e60eea69c |title=  Vogelkiller aus der Steinzeit  | publisher= SPIEGEL Akademie  | date= April 20, 2020 | author=Guido Kleinhubbert}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hutson |first1=Jarod M. |last2=Villaluenga |first2=Aritza |last3=García-Moreno |first3=Alejandro |last4=Turner |first4=Elaine |last5=Gaudzinski-Windheuser |first5=Sabine |date=November 2024 |title=Persistent predators: Zooarchaeological evidence for specialized horse hunting at Schöningen 13II-4 |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |language=en |volume=196 |pages=103590 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103590|doi-access=free |pmid=39357283 |bibcode=2024JHumE.19603590H }}</ref> likely by ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]'' or early Neandarthals.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Roebroeks|first1=Wil|last2=Soressi|first2=Marie|date=2016-06-07|title=Neandertals revised|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=113|issue=23|pages=6372–6379|doi=10.1073/pnas.1521269113|pmc=4988603|pmid=27274044|bibcode=2016PNAS..113.6372R |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Conard|first1=Nicholas J.|last2=Serangeli|first2=Jordi|last3=Böhner|first3=Utz|last4=Starkovich|first4=Britt M.|last5=Miller|first5=Christopher E.|last6=Urban|first6=Brigitte|last7=Van Kolfschoten|first7=Thijs|date=December 2015|title=Excavations at Schöningen and paradigm shifts in human evolution|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0047248415002432|journal=Journal of Human Evolution|language=en|volume=89|pages=1–17|doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.10.003|pmid=26653207|bibcode=2015JHumE..89....1C |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
* '''320 kya:''' The [[trade]] and long-distance (up to 50 miles) [[transportation]] of resources (e.g. obsidian), use of pigments, and possible making of projectile points in Kenya<ref name="NPR-593591796">{{cite news |last=Chatterjee |first=Rhitu |author-link=Rhitu Chatterjee |title=Scientists Are Amazed By Stone Age Tools They Dug Up In Kenya |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/03/15/593591796/scientists-are-amazed-by-stone-age-tools-they-dug-up-in-kenya |date=15 March 2018 |work=[[NPR]] |access-date=15 March 2018}}</ref><ref name="The Atlantic-555674">{{cite news |last=Yong |first=Ed |author-link=Ed Yong |title=A Cultural Leap at the Dawn of Humanity - New finds from Kenya suggest that humans used long-distance trade networks, sophisticated tools, and symbolic pigments right from the dawn of our species. |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/03/a-deeper-origin-of-complex-human-cultures/555674/ |date=15 March 2018 |work=[[The Atlantic]] |access-date=15 March 2018}}</ref><ref name="Brooks">{{Cite journal|title=Long-distance stone transport and pigment use in the earliest Middle Stone Age|journal=Science|volume=360|issue=6384|pages=90–94|year=2018|doi = 10.1126/science.aao2646|pmid=29545508|vauthors=Brooks AS, Yellen JE, Potts R, Behrensmeyer AK, Deino AL, Leslie DE, Ambrose SH, Ferguson JR, d'Errico F, Zipkin AM, Whittaker S, Post J, Veatch EG, Foecke K, Clark JB|bibcode=2018Sci...360...90B|doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Middle Paleolithic===
The evolution of [[early modern humans]] around 300 kya coincides with the start of the Middle Paleolithic period. During this 250,000-year period, our related [[archaic humans]] such as [[Neanderthals]] and [[Denisovans]] began to spread out of Africa, joined later by ''Homo sapiens''. Over the course of the period we see evidence of increasingly long-distance trade, religious rites, and other behavior associated with [[Behavioral modernity]].
* '''279 kya:''' [[Hafting]] and early stone-tipped projectile weapons in Ethiopia<ref name="SahlePLOS1">{{Cite journal |last1=Sahle |first1=Y. |last2=Hutchings |first2=W. K. |last3=Braun |first3=D. R. |last4=Sealy |first4=J. C. |last5=Morgan |first5=L. E. |last6=Negash |first6=A. |last7=Atnafu |first7=B. |editor1-last=Petraglia |editor1-first=Michael D |title=Earliest Stone-Tipped Projectiles from the Ethiopian Rift Date to >279,000 Years Ago |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0078092 |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=8 |issue=11 |pages=e78092 |year=2013 |pmid=24236011 |pmc=3827237 |bibcode=2013PLoSO...878092S|doi-access=free }}</ref>
* '''200 kya:''' Simple glue ([[adhesive]]) made of one kind of material, birch tar, in Central Italy by Neanderthals.<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Schmidt, P. |author2=Blessing, M. |author3=Rageot, M. |author4=Iovita, R. |author5=Pfleging, J. |author6=Nickel, K. G. |author7=Righetti, L. |author8=Tennie, C.|title=Birch tar extraction does not prove Neanderthal behavioral complexity|journal=PNAS|doi=10.1073/pnas.1911137116|pmid=31427508|volume=116|pmc=6731756|year=2019|issue=36|pages=17707–17711|bibcode=2019PNAS..11617707S |doi-access=free}}</ref>
* '''200 kya:''' [[Bed]]s in South Africa.<ref>{{cite news |title=200,000 years ago, humans preferred to sleep in beds |language=en |work=phys.org |url=https://phys.org/news/2020-08-years-humans-beds.html |access-date=6 September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=13 August 2020 |title=The oldest known grass beds from 200,000 years ago included insect repellents |work=Science News |url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/oldest-grass-beds-insect-repellent |access-date=6 September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wadley |first1=Lyn |last2=Esteban |first2=Irene |last3=Peña |first3=Paloma de la |last4=Wojcieszak |first4=Marine |last5=Stratford |first5=Dominic |last6=Lennox |first6=Sandra |last7=d'Errico |first7=Francesco |last8=Rosso |first8=Daniela Eugenia |last9=Orange |first9=François |last10=Backwell |first10=Lucinda |last11=Sievers |first11=Christine |date=14 August 2020 |title=Fire and grass-bedding construction 200 thousand years ago at Border Cave, South Africa |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abc7239 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=369 |issue=6505 |pages=863–866 |bibcode=2020Sci...369..863W |doi=10.1126/science.abc7239 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=32792402 |s2cid=221113832 |access-date=6 September 2020}}</ref>
* '''170 kya – 90 kya:''' [[History of clothing and textiles|Clothing]], among anatomically modern humans in Africa. Genetic evidence from body lice suggests a range of dates centering over 100 thousand years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1093/molbev/msq234 | pmid=20823373 | title=Origin of Clothing Lice Indicates Early Clothing Use by Anatomically Modern Humans in Africa |year=2011 |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution | volume=28 | pages=29–32 |pmc=3002236 | last1=Toups | first1=M. A. | last2=Kitchen | first2=A. | last3=Light | first3=J. E. | last4=Reed | first4=D. L.}}</ref> The first [[Bone tool|bone scrapers]] appropriate for scraping hides to make supple leather were found in Morocco dating to 90–120,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Hallett, Emily Y. |display-authors=et al. |date=16 September 2021 |title=A worked bone assemblage from 120,000–90,000 year old deposits at Contrebandiers Cave, Atlantic Coast, Morocco |journal=[[iScience]] |volume=24 |issue=9 |page=102988 |bibcode=2021iSci...24j2988H |doi=10.1016/j.isci.2021.102988 |pmc=8478944 |pmid=34622180 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="TG-20210916">{{cite news |last=Davis |first=Nicola |date=16 September 2021 |title=Scientists find evidence of humans making clothes 120,000 years ago - Tools and bones in Moroccan cave could be some of earliest evidence of the hallmark human behaviour |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/sep/16/scientists-find-evidence-of-humans-making-clothes-120000-years-ago |url-status=live |accessdate=16 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228095707/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/sep/16/scientists-find-evidence-of-humans-making-clothes-120000-years-ago |archive-date=28 December 2021}}</ref>
* '''164 kya – 47 kya:''' Heat treating of stone blades in South Africa.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1126/science.1175028 |pmid=19679810|title=Fire As an Engineering Tool of Early Modern Humans|journal=Science|volume=325|issue=5942|pages=859–862|year=2009|last1=Brown|first1=K. S.|last2=Marean|first2=C. W.|last3=Herries|first3=A. I. R.|last4=Jacobs|first4=Z.|last5=Tribolo|first5=C.|last6=Braun|first6=D.|last7=Roberts|first7=D. L.|last8=Meyer|first8=M. C.|last9=Bernatchez|first9=J.|bibcode=2009Sci...325..859B|hdl=11422/11102|s2cid=43916405|hdl-access=free}}</ref>
* '''135 kya – 100 kya:''' [[Bead]]s in Israel and [[Algeria]]<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1126/science.1128139 |pmid=16794076 |title=Middle Paleolithic Shell Beads in Israel and Algeria |year=2006 |journal=Science |volume=312 |issue=5781 |pages=1785–1788 |bibcode=2006Sci...312.1785V |last1=Vanhaereny |first1=M. |last2=d'Errico |first2=Francesco |last3=Stringer |first3=Chris |last4=James |first4=Sarah L. |last5=Todd |first5=Jonathan A. |last6=Mienis |first6=Henk K.|s2cid=31098527 }}</ref> — implying string or thread
* '''100 kya:''' Compound [[paint]]s made in South Africa<ref name="bbc.com-15257259">{{cite news |last=Amos |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Amos |title=A Cultural Leap at the Dawn of Humanity - Ancient 'paint factory' unearthed |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-15257259 |date=13 October 2011 |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=13 October 2011}}</ref><ref name="Washington Post-2011/10/12/gIQApyHrhL">{{cite news |last=Vastag |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Vastag |title=South African cave yields paint from dawn of humanity |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/african-cave-yields-paint-from-dawn-of-humanity/2011/10/12/gIQApyHrhL_story.html |date=13 October 2011 |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |access-date=13 October 2011}}</ref><ref name="Henshilwood et al. 2011">{{cite journal | last1 = Henshilwood | first1 = Christopher S. | display-authors = etal | year = 2011 | title = A 100,000-Year-Old Ochre-Processing Workshop at Blombos Cave, South Africa | journal = Science | volume = 334 | issue = 6053| pages = 219–222 | doi = 10.1126/science.1211535 | pmid = 21998386 | bibcode = 2011Sci...334..219H| s2cid = 40455940 }}</ref>
* '''100 kya:''' Funerals (in the form of [[burial]]) in Israel<ref name="lieberman2">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3tS2MULo5rYC&pg=PA163 |title=Uniquely Human page 163 |access-date=25 March 2011|isbn=9780674921832 |last1=Lieberman |first1=Philip |year=1993|publisher=Harvard University Press }}</ref>
* '''90 kya:''' [[Harpoon]]s in the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=A middle stone age worked bone industry from Katanda, Upper Semliki Valley, Zaire |date=28 April 1995 |last=Yellen |first=JE |author2=AS Brooks |author3=E Cornelissen |author4=MJ Mehlman |author5=K Stewart |journal=Science |volume=268 |pages=553–556 |issue=5210 |doi=10.1126/science.7725100 |pmid=7725100|bibcode=1995Sci...268..553Y}}</ref>
* '''70 kya – 60 kya''' in [[Sibudu Cave]] in South Africa by ''Homo sapiens'':
** [[Adhesive|Compound adhesives]]<ref name="Wadley">{{cite journal |pmid=19433786 |date=Jun 2009|author1=Wadley, L |author2=Hodgskiss, T |author3=Grant, M |title=Implications for complex cognition from the hafting of tools with compound adhesives in the Middle Stone Age, South Africa |volume=106 |issue=24 |pages=9590–4 |issn=0027-8424 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0900957106 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |pmc=2700998|bibcode = 2009PNAS..106.9590W|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Wadley|first=Lyn|title=Compound-Adhesive Manufacture as a Behavioral Proxy for Complex Cognition in the Middle Stone Age|journal=Current Anthropology|date=1 June 2010|volume=51|issue=s1|pages=S111–S119|doi=10.1086/649836|s2cid=56253913}}</ref>
** [[Arrow]]s and other evidence of bow-and-arrow technology<ref name="Lombard">{{Cite journal|title=Indications of bow and stone-tipped arrow use 64,000 years ago in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |journal=Antiquity |volume=84 |issue=325 |pages=635–648 |year=2010 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00100134 |vauthors=Lombard M, Phillips L|s2cid=162438490 }}</ref><ref name="Lombard M">{{Cite journal|title=Quartz-tipped arrows older than 60 kya: further use-trace evidence from Sibudu, Kwa-Zulu-Natal, South Africa |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |year=2011 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2011.04.001 |vauthors=Lombard M |volume=38 |issue=8 |pages=1918–1930|bibcode=2011JArSc..38.1918L }}</ref><ref name="Backwell2018">{{cite journal | last1 = Backwell | first1 = L | last2 = Bradfield | first2 = J | last3 = Carlson | first3 = KJ | last4 = Jashashvili | first4 = T | last5 = Wadley | first5 = L | last6 = d'Errico | first6 = F | year = 2018 | title = The antiquity of bow-and-arrow technology: evidence from Middle Stone Age layers at Sibudu Cave | journal = Journal of Archaeological Science | volume = 92 | issue = 362| pages = 289–303 | doi = 10.15184/aqy.2018.11 |doi-access=free| hdl = 11336/81248 | hdl-access = free }}</ref>
** [[Sewing needle]]<ref name="Backwell">{{cite journal | last1 = Backwell | first1 = L | last2 = d'Errico | first2 = F | last3 = Wadley | first3 = L | year = 2008 | title = Middle Stone Age bone tools from the Howiesons Poort layers, Sibudu Cave, South Africa | journal = Journal of Archaeological Science | volume = 35 | issue = 6| pages = 1566–1580 | doi = 10.1016/j.jas.2007.11.006| bibcode = 2008JArSc..35.1566B }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wadley |first1=Lyn |year=2008 |title=The Howieson's Poort industry of Sibudu Cave |journal=South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series |volume=10}}</ref> (implying thread of some kind)
* '''61 kya – 62 kya:''' [[Cave painting]] in [[Spain]] by [[Neanderthal]]<ref name=Hoffmann2018>
{{cite journal |author1=D. L. Hoffmann |author2=C. D. Standish |author3=M. García-Diez |author4=P. B. Pettitt |author5=J. A. Milton |author6=J. Zilhão |author7=J. J. Alcolea-González |author8=P. Cantalejo-Duarte |author9=H. Collado |author10=R. de Balbín |author11=M. Lorblanchet |author12=J. Ramos-Muñoz |author13=G.-Ch. Weniger |author14=A. W. G. Pike |year=2018 |title=U-Th dating of carbonate crusts reveals Neandertal origin of Iberian cave art |journal=Science |volume=359 |issue=6378 |pages=912–915 |doi=10.1126/science.aap7778|doi-access=free |pmid=29472483 |bibcode=2018Sci...359..912H |hdl=10498/21578 |hdl-access=free }} 
"we present dating results for three sites in Spain that show that cave art emerged in Iberia substantially earlier than previously thought. Uranium-thorium (U-Th) dates on carbonate crusts overlying paintings provide minimum
ages for a red linear motif in La Pasiega (Cantabria), a hand stencil in [[Cave of Maltravieso|Maltravieso (Extremadura)]], and red-painted speleothems in Ardales (Andalucía). Collectively, these results show that cave art in Iberia is older than 64.8 thousand years (ka). This cave art is the earliest dated so far and predates, by at least 20 ka, the arrival of modern humans in Europe, which implies Neandertal authorship."</ref>
* '''55.8–51.2 kya:''' [[Representation (arts)|Representational]] and [[Narrative art]] in [[Indonesia]] by ''Homo sapiens''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Oktaviana |first1=Adhi Agus |last2=Joannes-Boyau |first2=Renaud |last3=Hakim |first3=Budianto |last4=Burhan |first4=Basran |last5=Sardi |first5=Ratno |last6=Adhityatama |first6=Shinatria |last7=Hamrullah |last8=Sumantri |first8=Iwan |last9=Tang |first9=M. |last10=Lebe |first10=Rustan |last11=Ilyas |first11=Imran |last12=Abbas |first12=Abdullah |last13=Jusdi |first13=Andi |last14=Mahardian |first14=Dewangga Eka |last15=Noerwidi |first15=Sofwan |date=2024-07-03 |title=Narrative cave art in Indonesia by 51,200 years ago |journal=Nature |volume=631 |issue=8022 |language=en |pages=814–818 |doi=10.1038/s41586-024-07541-7 |pmid=38961284 |issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free |pmc=11269172 |bibcode=2024Natur.631..814O }}</ref>

===Upper Paleolithic to Early Mesolithic===
50 kya was long regarded as the beginning of [[behavioral modernity]], which defined the Upper Paleolithic period. The Upper Paleolithic lasted nearly 40,000 years, while research continues to push the beginnings of behavioral modernity earlier into the Middle Paleolithic. Behavioral modernity is characterized by the widespread observation of religious rites, artistic expression and the appearance of tools made for purely intellectual or artistic pursuits.
* '''49 kya – 30 kya:''' [[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.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2016-05-11/worlds-oldest-known-ground-edge-stone-axe-fragments-found/7401728|title=World's oldest known ground-edge stone axe fragments found in WA|date=11 May 2016|newspaper=ABC News|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref><ref>"Prehistoric Japan, New perspectives on insular East Asia", Keiji Imamura, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, {{ISBN|0-8248-1853-9}}</ref>
* '''47 kya:''' The oldest-known mines in the world are from Eswatini, and extracted hematite for the production of the red pigment [[ochre]].<ref>Swaziland Natural Trust Commission, "Cultural Resources – Malolotja Archaeology, Lion Cavern", Retrieved 27 August 2007, {{cite web|url=http://www.sntc.org.sz/cultural/malarch.asp |title=Swaziland National Trust Commission – Cultural Resources – Malolotja Archaeology, Lion Cavern |access-date=5 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303221001/http://www.sntc.org.sz/cultural/malarch.asp |archive-date=3 March 2016}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite web | publisher=Peace Parks Foundation | title=Major Features: Cultural Importance | url=http://www.peaceparks.org/story.php?mid=168&pid=148 | access-date=2024-08-15 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207102130/http://www.peaceparks.org/story.php?mid=168&pid=148 | archive-date=2008-12-07}}</ref>
* '''45 kya – 9 kya:''' Earliest evidence of [[shoe]]s, suggested by changes in foot bone morphology in China by [[Tianyuan man]].<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2007.12.002 |title=Anatomical evidence for the antiquity of human footwear: Tianyuan and Sunghir |year=2008 |last1=Trinkaus |first1=Erik |last2=Shang |first2=Hong |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=35 |issue=7 |pages=1928–1933 |bibcode=2008JArSc..35.1928T }}</ref> The earliest physical shoes found so far are bark [[sandal]]s dated to 10 to 9 kya in [[Fort Rock Cave]], [[United States]].<ref name="Connolly_Tom">{{cite web|last=Connolly|first=Tom|title=The World's Oldest Shoes|url=http://pages.uoregon.edu/connolly/FRsandals.htm|publisher=[[University of Oregon]]|access-date=22 July 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722013744/http://pages.uoregon.edu/connolly/FRsandals.htm|archive-date=22 July 2012}}</ref> The oldest known leather shoe dated to 5.5 kya was found in excellent condition in the [[Areni-1 cave]] located in the [[Vayots Dzor]] province of [[Armenia]].<ref name="National Geographic">{{cite news |url=http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/06/09/worlds-oldest-leather-shoe-found-in-armenia-2/ |title=World's Oldest Leather Shoe Found—Stunningly Preserved |last=Dindar |first=Shereen |work=National Post |location=Canada  |date=June 9, 2010 |access-date=June 11, 2010}}</ref>
* '''44 kya – 42 kya:''' [[Tally stick]]s (see [[Lebombo bone]]) in [[Eswatini]]<ref>It is called a notched bone, illustrated in Fig. 1, ''12'' {{cite journal| title=Early evidence of San material culture represented by organic artifacts from Border Cave, South Africa | doi=10.1073/pnas.1204213109 | pmid=22847420 | volume=109| issue=33 | journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences| pages=13214–13219| bibcode=2012PNAS..10913214D| pmc=3421171| year=2012 | last1=d'Errico | first1=F. | last2=Backwell | first2=L. | last3=Villa | first3=P. | last4=Degano | first4=I. | last5=Lucejko | first5=J. J. | last6=Bamford | first6=M. K. | last7=Higham | first7=T. F. G. | last8=Colombini | first8=M. P. | last9=Beaumont | first9=P. B.| doi-access=free }}</ref>
* '''42 kya:''' [[Flute]] in Germany<ref>{{Cite news |date=2012-05-24 |title=Earliest music instruments found |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-18196349 |access-date=2023-11-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Higham |first1=Thomas |last2=Basell |first2=Laura |last3=Jacobi |first3=Roger |last4=Wood |first4=Rachel |last5=Ramsey |first5=Christopher Bronk |last6=Conard |first6=Nicholas J. |date=2012-06-01 |title=Τesting models for the beginnings of the Aurignacian and the advent of figurative art and music: The radiocarbon chronology of Geißenklösterle |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248412000425 |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |volume=62 |issue=6 |pages=664–676 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.03.003 |pmid=22575323 |bibcode=2012JHumE..62..664H |issn=0047-2484|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* '''37 kya:''' [[Mortar and pestle]] in [[Southwest Asia]]<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/paleo_0153-9345_1991_num_17_1_4537|title=The Origins and development of ground stone assemblages in Late Pleistocene Southwest Asia|first=K.|last=Wright|date=15 March 1991|journal=Paléorient|volume=17|issue=1|pages=19–45|via=www.persee.fr|doi=10.3406/paleo.1991.4537}}</ref>
* '''32-28 kya:''' [[Rope]] and [[String (structure)|Cords]] for "hafting stone tools, weaving [[baskets]], or sewing garments," according to Elis Kvavadze et al.<ref>{{cite journal|title=30,000-Year-Old Wild Flax Fibers|first1=Eliso|last1=Kvavadze|first2=Ofer|last2=Bar-Yosef|first3=Anna|last3=Belfer-Cohen|first4=Elisabetta|last4=Boaretto|first5=Nino|last5=Jakeli|first6=Zinovi|last6=Matskevich|first7=Tengiz|last7=Meshveliani|date=11 September 2009|journal=Science|volume=325|issue=5946|pages=1359|doi=10.1126/science.1175404|pmid=19745144|bibcode=2009Sci...325.1359K|s2cid=206520793|url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:4270521|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Small|first=Meredith F.|title=String theory: the tradition of spinning raw fibers dates back 28,000 years (At The Museum)|journal=Natural History|volume=111|issue=3|date=April 2002|page=14(2)}}</ref>
* '''31 kya:''' [[Amputation]] and [[surgery]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.science.org/content/article/world-s-oldest-amputation-foot-removed-31-000-years-ago-without-modern-antibiotics-or | title=World's oldest amputation: Foot removed 31,000 years ago—without modern antibiotics or painkillers | first=Michael | last=Price | website=www.science.org | access-date=2024-08-15}}</ref> [[Medicine]] in a meaningful sense likely predates the human-chimpanzee split, as, for example, herbal medicine has been observed in other primates.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68942123 | title=Wounded orangutan seen using plant as medicine | date=2 May 2024 }}</ref>
* '''28 kya:''' [[Ceramics]] (direct evidence) and [[weaving]] (impressions left in the ceramics) in [[Moravia]]<ref>"The occupants used flint knives, made bone tools and modelled in baked clay – on which they left their fingerprints, along with imprints of reindeer hair and textiles." {{cite web|url=http://www.donsmaps.com/dolnivi.html |title=Dolni Vestonice and Pavlov sites |publisher=Donsmaps.com |access-date=26 April 2016}}</ref><ref>"Several imprints of human fingers, animal hair and textile structures were incidentally produced as well" {{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/875886|title=Pavlov VI: an Upper Palaeolithic living unit|last1=Svoboda|first1=Jiří|last2=Králík|first2=Miroslav|last3=Čulíková|first3=Věra|last4=Hladilová|first4=Šárka|last5=Novák|first5=Martin|first6=Miriam|last6=NývltováFišáková|last7=Nývlt|first7=Daniel|last8=Zelinková|first8=Michaela|journal=Antiquity|volume=83|issue=320|pages=282–295|access-date=26 March 2018|doi=10.1017/S0003598X00098434|year=2009|s2cid=56326310|url-access=registration}}</ref> (Czech Republic) and [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]. (The oldest piece of woven cloth found so far was in Çatalhöyük, Turkey and dated to about 9,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/centuries-old-fabric-found-in-catalhoyuk-61883|title=Centuries-old fabric found in Çatalhöyük|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=4 February 2014 |access-date=26 March 2018}}</ref>)
* '''24 kya:''' [[Venus of Dolní Věstonice|Oldest known ceramic sculpture]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Vandiver |first1=Pamela B. |last2=Soffer |first2=Olga |last3=Klima |first3=Bohuslav |last4=Svoboda |first4=JiŘi |date=1989-11-24 |title=The Origins of Ceramic Technology at Dolni Věstonice, Czechoslovakia |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.246.4933.1002 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=246 |issue=4933 |pages=1002–1008 |doi=10.1126/science.246.4933.1002 |pmid=17806391 |bibcode=1989Sci...246.1002V |issn=0036-8075|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* '''23 kya:''' [[Domestication of the dog]] in [[Siberia]].<ref name=Perri2021>{{cite journal|doi=10.1073/pnas.2010083118|title=Dog domestication and the dual dispersal of people and dogs into the Americas|year=2021|last1=Perri|first1=Angela R.|last2=Feuerborn|first2=Tatiana R.|last3=Frantz|first3=Laurent A. F.|last4=Larson|first4=Greger|last5=Malhi|first5=Ripan S.|last6=Meltzer|first6=David J.|last7=Witt|first7=Kelsey E.|journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]]|volume=118|issue=6|pages=e2010083118|pmid=33495362|pmc=8017920|bibcode=2021PNAS..11810083P |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:e31cc7b2-7912-47ac-89f5-ebc883f31160|quote=Advances in the isolation and sequencing of ancient DNA [... suggest] that dogs were domesticated in Siberia by ~23,000 y ago, possibly while both people and wolves were isolated during the harsh climate of the Last Glacial Maximum.|doi-access=free }}</ref>
* '''22 – 17 kya''' [[Bullroarer]]<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.02.021 | doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.02.021 | title=A functional investigation of southern Cape Later Stone Age artefacts resembling aerophones | date=2019 | last1=Kumbani | first1=Joshua | last2=Bradfield | first2=Justin | last3=Rusch | first3=Neil | last4=Wurz | first4=Sarah | journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports | volume=24 | pages=693–711 | bibcode=2019JArSR..24..693K | url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>"In total, Dauvois describes or illustrates seven likely bullroarers associated with Solutrean and Magdalenian contexts" {{citation|last=Morely|first=Iain|title="The Evolutionary Origins and Archaeology of Music"|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247936496}}</ref><ref>Dauvois, M. (1989) Son et Musique Paléolithiques, Les Dossiers D'Archéologie Vol. 142, p. 2-11.</ref>
* '''22 kya:''' [[Fish hook]] in [[Okinawa Island]], modern day Japan.<ref name="Price2016">{{cite news|author=Michael Price|title=World's oldest fish hook found on Okinawa|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/world-s-oldest-fishhook-found-okinawa|date=16 September 2016|publisher=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|access-date=6 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-37402183|title=World's oldest fish hooks found in Japanese island cave|work=BBC News|date=18 September 2016|access-date=18 September 2016}}</ref>
* '''21 – 3.7 kya:''' [[Star chart]] in [[France]],<ref>{{cite arXiv
  | last=Sparavigna | first=Amelia
  | title=The Pleiades: the celestial herd of ancient timekeepers
  | date=October 2008
  | eprint=0810.1592v1
  | class=physics.hist-ph
  }}</ref><ref>{{cite news
 | first=Jack | last=Lucentini
 | title=Dr. Michael A. Rappenglueck sees maps of the night sky, and images of shamanistic ritual teeming with cosmological meaning
 | publisher=space.
 | url=http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/planetearth/cave_paintings_000810.html
 | access-date=29 September 2009}}</ref> and later [[Spain]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/871930.stm|title=BBC News - SCI/TECH - Ice Age star map discovered|website=BBC News|access-date=13 April 2018}}</ref> [[Kashmir]],<ref>{{Cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224170314/https://www.tifr.res.in/~archaeo/papers/Prehistoric%20astronomy/Oldest%20Supernova%20record%20in%20Kashmir.pdf | archive-date=2018-12-24 | url=https://www.tifr.res.in/~archaeo/papers/Prehistoric%20astronomy/Oldest%20Supernova%20record%20in%20Kashmir.pdf | title=Oldest sky-chart with Supernova record}}</ref> Germany,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.landesmuseum-vorgeschichte.de/en/nebra-sky-disc.html |title=Nebra Sky Disc|website=Halle State Museum of Prehistory}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://the-past.com/feature/the-nebra-sky-disc-decoding-a-prehistoric-vision-of-the-cosmos/|title=The Nebra Sky Disc: decoding a prehistoric vision of the cosmos|website=The-Past.com|date=May 2022}}</ref> and Egypt.<ref>{{cite journal
 | last=von Spaeth | first=Ove
 | title=Dating the Oldest Egyptian Star Map
 | journal=Centaurus
 | date=2000 | volume=42
 | issue=3
 | url=http://www.moses-egypt.net/star-map/senmut1-mapdate_en.asp
 | access-date=2007-10-21 | doi=10.1034/j.1600-0498.2000.420301.x|bibcode= 2000Cent...42..159V | pages=159–179| url-access=subscription}}</ref>
* '''20 – 16 kya:''' [[Pottery]] in [[China]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/06/pottery-found-in-from-china-cave-confirmed-as-worlds-oldest/1|title=Pottery found in China cave confirmed as world's oldest|author=Stanglin, Douglas|newspaper=[[USA Today]]|date=2012-06-29}}</ref><ref name="Science">{{cite journal|title=Early Pottery at 20,000 Years Ago in Xianrendong Cave, China|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|date=June 29, 2012|volume=336|issue=6089|pages=1696–1700|doi=10.1126/science.1218643|bibcode = 2012Sci...336.1696W|pmid=22745428|last1=Wu|first1=X|last2=Zhang|first2=C|last3=Goldberg|first3=P|last4=Cohen|first4=D|last5=Pan|first5=Y|last6=Arpin|first6=T|last7=Bar-Yosef|first7=O|s2cid=37666548 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.cleveland.com/world/index.ssf/2009/06/chinese_pottery_may_be_earlies.html "Chinese pottery may be earliest discovered"]. [[Associated Press]]. 1 June 2009</ref>
* '''17.5 kya:''' [[Spear-thrower]] (atlatl), found in France.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Peregrine|first1=Peter N.|author-link1=Peter N. Peregrine|first2=Melvin|last2=Ember|author-link2=Melvin Ember|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Prehistory|volume=4|article=Europe|publisher = Springer | year = 2001|isbn = 978-0-306-46258-0|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uOzejz5zUTQC&q=Combe+Sauniere+atlatl&pg=PA349}}</ref>
* '''14.5 kya:''' [[Bread]] in Jordan<ref name="Briggs2018">{{cite web |last1=Briggs |first1=Helen |title=Prehistoric bake-off: Recipe for oldest bread revealed |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44846874 |publisher=[[British Broadcasting Corporation]] |access-date=17 July 2018 |date=17 July 2018}}</ref><ref name="Arranz-Otaegui Gonzalez Carretero Ramsey Fuller p=201801071">{{cite journal | last1=Arranz-Otaegui | first1=Amaia | last2=Gonzalez Carretero | first2=Lara | last3=Ramsey | first3=Monica N. | last4=Fuller | first4=Dorian Q. | last5=Richter | first5=Tobias | title=Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan | journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume=115 | issue=31 | pages=7925–7930 | date=16 July 2018 | doi=10.1073/pnas.1801071115 | pmid=30012614 | pmc=6077754| bibcode=2018PNAS..115.7925A | doi-access=free }}</ref>
* '''12 kya:''' [[Spindle whorl]], also the oldest [[wheel]]-like tool, at [[Nahal Ein Gev II]] (Israel)<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yashuv |first1=Talia |last2=Grosman |first2=Leore |date=2024-11-13 |title=12,000-year-old spindle whorls and the innovation of wheeled rotational technologies |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=19 |issue=11 |pages=e0312007 |doi= 10.1371/journal.pone.0312007|doi-access=free |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=11559986 |pmid=39536041|bibcode=2024PLoSO..1912007Y }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lesté-Lasserre |first=Christa |date=2024-11-13 |title=12,000-year-old stones may be oldest example of wheel-like tools |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/2456238-12000-year-old-stones-may-be-oldest-example-of-wheel-like-tools/ |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=New Scientist |language=en-US}}</ref>

==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 [[Neolithic Revolution|Agricultural Revolution]], marking the beginning of the agricultural era, which persisted there until the industrial revolution.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rasmussen |first1=S. O. |last2=Andersen |first2=K. K. |last3=Svensson |first3=A. M. |last4=Steffensen |first4=J. P. |last5=Vinther |first5=B. M. |last6=Clausen |first6=H. B. |last7=Siggaard-Andersen |first7=M.-L. |last8=Johnsen |first8=S. J. |last9=Larsen |first9=L. B. |last10=Dahl-Jensen |first10=D. |last11=Bigler |first11=M. |date=2006 |title=A new Greenland ice core chronology for the last glacial termination |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research |language=en |volume=111 |issue=D6 |pages=D06102 |doi=10.1029/2005JD006079 |bibcode=2006JGRD..111.6102R |issn=0148-0227 |url=https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/12532/1/Ras2005a.pdf }}</ref>

===Neolithic and Late Mesolithic===
{{further|Outline of prehistoric technology}}
During the Neolithic period, lasting 8400 years, stone began to be used for construction, and remained a predominant hard material for toolmaking. Copper and arsenic bronze were developed towards the end of this period, and of course the use of many softer materials such as wood, bone, and fibers continued. Domestication spread both in the sense of how many species were domesticated, and how widespread the practice became.
* '''10,000 BC – 9000 BC:''' [[Agriculture]] in the [[Fertile Crescent]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/farming-was-so-nice-it-was-invented-least-twice|title=Farming Was So Nice, It Was Invented at Least Twice|date=4 July 2013|website=sciencemag.org|access-date=26 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/development-of-agriculture/|title=The Development of Agriculture|website=nationalgeographic.com|access-date=26 March 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414142437/https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/development-of-agriculture/|archive-date=14 April 2016}}</ref>
* '''10,000 BC – 9000 BC:''' [[Domestication of the sheep|Domestication of sheep]] in [[Southwest Asia]]<ref>{{cite book |author1=Krebs, Robert E. |author2=Carolyn A. |name-list-style=amp | title=Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions & Discoveries of the Ancient World | location=Westport, CT |publisher=Greenwood Press | year=2003 | isbn=0-313-31342-3}}</ref><ref name="storey">{{cite book |title=Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep |last=Simmons |first=Paula |author2=Carol Ekarius |year=2001 |publisher=Storey Publishing LLC |location=North Adams, MA |isbn=978-1-58017-262-2}}</ref> (followed shortly by pigs, goats and cattle)
* '''9500 BC – 9000 BC:''' [[List of oldest extant buildings|Oldest known surviving building]] – [[Göbekli Tepe]], in [[Turkey]]<ref>{{cite web |last=Curry |first=Andrew |title=Gobekli Tepe: The World's First Temple? |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/gobekli-tepe-the-worlds-first-temple-83613665/ |access-date=26 March 2018 |website=smithsonianmag.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Clare |first=Lee |date=2020 |title=Göbekli Tepe, Turkey. A brief summary of research at a new World Heritage Site (2015–2019) |url=https://publications.dainst.org/journals/index.php/efb/article/view/2596 |journal=E-Forschungsberichte |language=en |pages=§ 1–13 |doi=10.34780/EFB.V0I2.1012 |issn=2198-7734}}</ref>
* '''9000 BC – 6000 BC:''' [[Domestication of rice]] in [[China]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Zhijun|first=Zhao|title=The Middle Yangtze region in China is one place where rice was domesticated: phytolith evidence from the Diaotonghuan Cave, Northern Jiangxi|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/the-middle-yangtze-region-in-china-is-one-place-where-rice-was-domesticated-phytolith-evidence-from-the-diaotonghuan-cave-northern-jiangxi/4C67F92E1BC56E14C93DAFE0B7F81FD9|journal=Antiquity|volume=72|issue=278|pages=885–897|doi=10.1017/s0003598x00087524|year=1998|s2cid=161495218|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
* '''9000 BC:''' [[Mudbrick]]s (unfired bricks), and clay [[Mortar (masonry)|mortar]] in [[Jericho]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tellier|first=Luc-Normand|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cXuCjDbxC1YC&q=jericho+9000+bc+bricks&pg=PA37|title=Urban World History: An Economic and Geographical Perspective|date=2009|publisher=PUQ|isbn=978-2-7605-2209-1|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Artioli|first=G.|date=2019|title=The Vitruvian legacy: mortars and binders before and after the Roman world|url=https://www.minersoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/emu-20-04_Art.pdf|publisher=European Mineralogical Union|isbn=978-0903056-61-8|volume=20|pages=151–202}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/1285495 |title=Bricks and urbanism in the Indus Valley rise and decline |author=Aurangzeb Khan |author2=Carsten Lemmen |access-date=16 February 2013 |website=Academia|year=2013 |arxiv=1303.1426 }}</ref>
* '''8400 BC:''' Oldest known water [[well]] in [[Cyprus]].<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite news |date=25 June 2009 |title=Stone Age wells found in Cyprus |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8118318.stm |url-status=live |access-date=31 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005060232/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8118318.stm |archive-date=5 October 2013}}</ref>
* '''8040–7510 BC:''' The [[Pesse canoe]] is the oldest boat we have found,<ref>{{cite news |agency=ANP |date=12 April 2001 |title=Oudste bootje ter wereld kon werkelijk varen |language=nl |work=Leeuwarder Courant |url=http://www.archeoforum.nl/Pesse10.html |access-date=10 April 2025}}</ref> while early human habitation of Crete and Australia make clear human seafaring goes back tens or hundreds of thousands of years. (see above)
* '''8000–7500 BC:''' [[Proto-city]] – large permanent settlements, such as [[Tell es-Sultan|Tell es-Sultan (Jericho)]] and [[Çatalhöyük]], Turkey.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://citiesnow.in/blog/2015/07/09/worlds-ever-first-know-town-catalhuyuk/ |title=World's ever first known town – Catalhuyuk &#124; Cities Now |access-date=1 November 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118111308/http://citiesnow.in/blog/2015/07/09/worlds-ever-first-know-town-catalhuyuk/ |archive-date=18 November 2015}}</ref>
* '''8000–5000 BC:''' Domestication of [[potatoes]], in southern [[Peru]] and northwestern [[Bolivia]] by pre-Columbian farmers, around [[Lake Titicaca]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Spooner |first1=David M. |last2=McLean |first2=Karen |last3=Ramsay |first3=Gavin |last4=Waugh |first4=Robbie |last5=Bryan |first5=Glenn J. |date=29 September 2005 |title=A single domestication for potato based on multilocus amplified fragment length polymorphism genotyping |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]] |pmid=16203994 |volume=102 |issue=41 |pmc=1253605 |pages=14694–14699 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0507400102 |bibcode=2005PNAS..10214694S |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Office of International Affairs |title=Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise for Worldwide Cultivation |date=1989 |url=http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=030904264X&page=92 |isbn=978-0-309-04264-2 |page=92 |doi=10.17226/1398}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=John Michael Francis |title=Iberia and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History : a Multidisciplinary Encyclopedia |publisher =ABC-CLIO |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OMNoS-g1h8cC&pg=PA867 |isbn=978-1-85109-421-9 |page=867}}</ref> 
* '''7000 BC:''' [[Ethanol fermentation#Alcoholic beverages|Alcohol fermentation]] – specifically [[mead]], in China<ref>{{cite journal|title=Fermented beverages of pre- and proto-historic China|first1=Patrick E.|last1=McGovern|first2=Juzhong|last2=Zhang|first3=Jigen|last3=Tang|first4=Zhiqing|last4=Zhang|first5=Gretchen R.|last5=Hall|first6=Robert A.|last6=Moreau|first7=Alberto|last7=Nuñez|first8=Eric D.|last8=Butrym|first9=Michael P.|last9=Richards|first10=Chen-shan|last10=Wang|first11=Guangsheng|last11=Cheng|first12=Zhijun|last12=Zhao|first13=Changsui|last13=Wang|date=21 December 2004|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=101|issue=51|pages=17593–17598|doi=10.1073/pnas.0407921102|pmid=15590771|pmc=539767|bibcode=2004PNAS..10117593M|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* '''7000 BC:''' [[Sled dog]] and [[Dog sled]], in Siberia.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Earliest evidence for dog breeding found on remote Siberian island|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/earliest-evidence-dog-breeding-found-remote-siberian-island|last1=Grimm |first1=David |date=26 May 2017|magazine=Science |language=en|access-date=28 May 2020}}</ref>
* '''7000 BC – 3300 BC:''' [[Tanning (leather)|Tanned leather]] in [[Mehrgarh]], Pakistan.<ref>Possehl, Gregory L. (1996). ''Mehrgarh'' in ''Oxford Companion to Archaeology'', edited by Brian Fagan. Oxford University Press.</ref>
* '''6500 BC:''' Evidence of [[lead smelting]] in [[Çatalhöyük]], [[Turkey]]<ref>{{cite journal|title = A Model for the Adoption of Metallurgy in the Ancient Middle East|last = Heskel|first= Dennis L.|journal = Current Anthropology|volume = 24|issue = 3|date = 1983|pages = 362–366|doi = 10.1086/203007|s2cid = 144332393}}</ref>
* '''6000 BC:''' [[Kiln]] in [[Mesopotamia]] (Iraq)<ref name="Bienkowski">{{cite book|author1=Piotr Bienkowski|author2=Alan Millard|title=Dictionary of the Ancient Near East|date=15 April 2010|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=978-0-8122-2115-2|page=233}}</ref>
* '''6th millennium BC:''' [[Irrigation]] in [[Khuzestan Province|Khuzistan]], [[Iran]]<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Flannery
 | first1 = Kent V.
 | author-link1 = Kent V. Flannery
 | year = 1969
 | chapter = Origins and ecological effects of early domestication in Iran and the Near East
 | editor1-last = Ucko
 | editor1-first = Peter John
 | editor1-link = Peter John Ucko
 | editor2-last = Dimbleby
 | editor2-first = G. W.
 | title = The Domestication and Exploitation of Plants and Animals
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6lY9Q4vnrCEC
 | location = New Brunswick, New Jersey
 | publisher = Transaction Publishers
 | publication-date = 2007
 | page = 89
 | isbn = 9780202365572
 | access-date = 12 January 2019
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Lawton
 | first1 = H. W.
 | last2 = Wilke
 | first2 = P. J.
 | year = 1979
 | chapter = Ancient Agricultural Systems in Dry Regions of the Old World
 | editor1-last = Hall
 | editor1-first = A. E.
 | editor2-last = Cannell
 | editor2-first = G. H.
 | editor3-last = Lawton
 | editor3-first = H.W.
 | title = Agriculture in Semi-Arid Environments
 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=e67tCAAAQBAJ
 | series = Ecological Studies
 | volume = 34
 | edition = reprint
 | location = Berlin
 | publisher = Springer Science & Business Media
 | publication-date = 2012
 | page = 13
 | isbn = 9783642673283
 | access-date = 12 January 2019
}}
</ref>
* '''6000 BC – 3200 BC:''' [[Proto-writing]] in present-day Egypt, Iraq, Romania, China, India and Pakistan.<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor=40698264|language=en|title=The Oldest Writings, and Inventory Tags of Egypt|last1=Mattessich|first1=Richard|journal=The Accounting Historians Journal|year=2002|volume=29|issue=1|pages=195–208|doi=10.2308/0148-4184.29.1.195|s2cid=160704269 |url=http://aprendeenlinea.udea.edu.co/revistas/index.php/cont/article/view/25609|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
* '''5900 – 5600 BC:''' Oldest evidence of [[salt production]] found in Southeastern Europe, in the countries of [[Moldova]] and [[Romania]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harding |first=Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W_4TAgAAQBAJ&dq=world%27s+oldest+salt+cucuteni&pg=PA44 |title=Salt in Prehistoric Europe |date=2013 |publisher=Sidestone press |isbn=978-90-8890-201-7 |location=Leiden |pages=44 |language=en}}</ref>
* '''5500 – 5200 BC:''' Oldest evidence of [[cheese]] found, in [[Poland]] and on the [[Dalmatia|Dalmatian coast]] of [[Croatia]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Subbaraman |first=Nidhi |date=December 12, 2012 |title=Art of cheese-making is 7,500 years old |url=http://www.nature.com/news/art-of-cheese-making-is-7-500-years-old-1.12020 |url-status=live |journal=Nature News |doi=10.1038/nature.2012.12020 |s2cid=180646880 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130111103000/http://www.nature.com/news/art-of-cheese-making-is-7-500-years-old-1.12020 |archive-date=January 11, 2013 |access-date=December 12, 2012|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=McClure |first1=Sarah B. |last2=Magill |first2=Clayton |last3=Podrug |first3=Emil |last4=Moore |first4=Andrew M. T. |last5=Harper |first5=Thomas K. |last6=Culleton |first6=Brendan J. |last7=Kennett |first7=Douglas J. |last8=Freeman |first8=Katherine H. |date=2018-09-05 |title=Fatty acid specific δ13C values reveal earliest Mediterranean cheese production 7,200 years ago |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=13 |issue=9 |pages=e0202807 |bibcode=2018PLoSO..1302807M |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0202807 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=6124750 |pmid=30183735 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
* '''5500 BC:''' [[Sailing]] - pottery depictions of sail boats, in [[Mesopotamia]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Carter |first=Robert |date=8 December 2012 |title=The Neolithic origins of seafaring in the Arabian Gulf |url=https://scienceopen.com/document?vid=478c51b0-5235-43f4-8d95-5385202b8bce |journal=Archaeology International |volume=6 |doi=10.5334/ai.0613 |issn=2048-4194|doi-access=free }}</ref> and later [[ancient Egypt]]<ref>{{cite web |author=[[John Coleman Darnell]] |year=2006 |title=The Wadi of the Horus Qa-a: A Tableau of Royal Ritual Power in the Theban Western Desert |url=http://www.yale.edu/egyptology/ae_alamat_wadi_horus.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110201053044/http://www.yale.edu/egyptology/ae_alamat_wadi_horus.htm |archive-date=1 February 2011 |access-date=24 August 2010 |publisher=[[Yale University]]}}</ref><ref name="johnstone">The sea-craft of prehistory, p76, by Paul Johnstone, Routledge, 1980</ref>
* '''5000 BC:''' [[Smelting#Copper and bronze|Copper smelting]] in [[Serbia]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Radivojević |first1=Miljana |last2=Rehren |first2=Thilo |last3=Pernicka |first3=Ernst |last4=Šljivar |first4=Dušan |last5=Brauns |first5=Michael |last6=Borić |first6=Dušan |date=2010 |title=On the origins of extractive metallurgy: new evidence from Europe |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0305440310001986 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |language=en |volume=37 |issue=11 |pages=2775–2787 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2010.06.012|bibcode=2010JArSc..37.2775R |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Radivojević |first1=Miljana |last2=Roberts |first2=Benjamin W. |date=2021 |title=Early Balkan Metallurgy: Origins, Evolution and Society, 6200–3700 BC |journal=Journal of World Prehistory |language=en |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=195–278 |doi=10.1007/s10963-021-09155-7 |issn=0892-7537|doi-access=free }}</ref>
* '''5000 BC:''' [[Seawall]] in [[Tel Hreiz]], near Haifa, Israel.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Galili |first1=Ehud |last2=Benjamin |first2=Jonathan |last3=Eshed |first3=Vered |last4=Rosen |first4=Baruch |last5=McCarthy |first5=John |last6=Horwitz |first6=Liora Kolska |date=2019-12-18 |title=A submerged 7000-year-old village and seawall demonstrate earliest known coastal defence against sea-level rise |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=14 |issue=12 |pages=e0222560 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0222560 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=6919572 |pmid=31851675 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2019PLoSO..1422560G }}</ref>
* '''5th millennium BC:''' [[Lacquer]] in China<ref>{{cite book| last=Li| first=Li| title=China's Cultural Relics| year=2011| publisher=Cambridge University Press| location=Cambridge| isbn=9780521186568| pages=[https://archive.org/details/chinasculturalre0000lili_b4j8/page/139 139–140]| edition=3rd| url=https://archive.org/details/chinasculturalre0000lili_b4j8/page/139}}</ref><ref>Loewe (1968), 170–171</ref>
* '''5000 BC:''' [[Cotton]] thread, in [[Mehrgarh]], Pakistan, connecting the copper beads of a bracelet.<ref name="Mithen2006">{{citation|last=Mithen|first=Steven|title=After the Ice: A Global Human History, 20,000-5000 BC|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NVygmardAA4C&pg=PA411|year=2006|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-01999-7|pages=411–412}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1006/jasc.2001.0779| title = First Evidence of Cotton at Neolithic Mehrgarh, Pakistan: Analysis of Mineralized Fibres from a Copper Bead| journal = Journal of Archaeological Science| volume = 29| issue = 12| pages = 1393–1401| year = 2002| last1 = Moulherat | first1 = C. | last2 = Tengberg | first2 = M. | last3 = Haquet | first3 = J. R. M. F. | last4 = Mille | first4 = B. ̂T.| bibcode = 2002JArSc..29.1393M}}</ref><ref name="JIAPAN2018">{{cite journal|last1=JIA|first1=Yinhua|last2=PAN|first2=Zhaoe|last3=HE|first3=Shoupu|last4=GONG|first4=Wenfang|last5=GENG|first5=Xiaoli|last6=PANG|first6=Baoyin|last7=WANG|first7=Liru|last8=DU|first8=Xiongming|title=Genetic diversity and population structure of Gossypium arboreum L. collected in China|journal=Journal of Cotton Research|volume=1|issue=1|year=2018|page=11 |issn=2523-3254|doi=10.1186/s42397-018-0011-0|doi-access=free|bibcode=2018JCotR...1...11J }}</ref>
* '''5000 BC – 4500 BC:''' [[Oar|Rowing oars]] in China<ref>Deng, Gang. (1997). ''Chinese Maritime Activities and Socioeconomic Development, c. 2100 B.C.–1900 A.D.'' Westport: Greenwood Press. {{ISBN|0-313-29212-4}}, p. 22.</ref><ref name="Stark">{{cite book|author=Miriam T. Stark|title=Archaeology of Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4_bT2SJ-HUC&pg=PA130|access-date=5 October 2012|date=15 April 2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4051-5303-4|page=130}}</ref>
* '''4500 BC – 3500 BC:''' [[Lost-wax casting]] in [[Palestine]]<ref name="Muhly">{{citation |last=Muhly |first=J.D. |title=The Beginnings of Metallurgy in the Old World}}. In {{harvnb|Maddin|1988}}</ref> or the [[Indus Valley]]<ref>Thoury, M.; et al. (2016). "High spatial dynamics-photoluminescence imaging reveals the metallurgy of the earliest lost-wax cast object". Nature Communications. 7. doi:10.1038/ncomms13356.</ref>
* '''4400 BC:''' [[Brick#Fired brick|Fired bricks]] in China.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n00CnC84MIcC|title=Water Civilization: From Yangtze to Khmer Civilizations|author=Yoshinori Yasuda|pages=30–31|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|year=2012|isbn=9784431541103}}</ref>
* '''4000 BC:''' Probable time period of the first diamond-mines in the world, in Southern India.<ref name=hershey>
{{cite book
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35eij1e1al8C&pg=PA23
 |last=Hershey |first=W.
 |title=The Book of Diamonds
 |publisher=Hearthside Press
 |location=New York
 |year=1940
 |pages=22–28
 |isbn=978-1-4179-7715-4
}}</ref>
* '''4000 BC:''' Paved [[roads]], in and around the Mesopotamian city of [[Ur]], Iraq.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Beazley|first1=Robert E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWgpDwAAQBAJ&q=paved+road+ur+mesopotamia+bce&pg=PA5|title=Himalayan Mobilities: An Exploration of the Impact of Expanding Rural Road Networks on Social and Ecological Systems in the Nepalese Himalaya|last2=Lassoie|first2=James P.|date=22 June 2017|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-319-55757-1|language=en}}</ref>
* '''4000 BC:''' [[Plumbing]]. The earliest pipes were made of clay, and are found at the Temple of Bel at Nippur in Babylonia.<ref>{{cite book |last = Eslamian |first = Saeid |title = Handbook of Engineering Hydrology: Environmental Hydrology and Water Management, Book 3 |year = 2014 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=USXcBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA168 |location = Boca Raton |publisher = CRC Press |page = 168 |isbn = 9781466552500}}.</ref>{{efn|Earthen pipes were later used in the Indus Valley c. 2700 BC for a city-scale urban drainage system,<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Teresi| first1 = Dick| author-link = Dick Teresi| title = Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern Science--from the Babylonians to the Maya| publisher = Simon & Schuster| year = 2002| location = New York| pages = [https://archive.org/details/lostdiscoveriesa00tere/page/351 351–352]| isbn = 0-684-83718-8| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/lostdiscoveriesa00tere/page/351}}</ref> and more durable copper drainage pipes appeared in Egypt, by the time of the construction of the [[Pyramid of Sahure#Drainage system|Pyramid of Sahure]] at [[Abusir]], c.2400 BCE.<ref name="Bunson 6">{{Cite book|last=Bunson|first=Margaret|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-6EJ0G-4jyoC&q=Abusir+copper+pipe+ancient+egypt&pg=PA6|title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt|date=14 May 2014|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-0997-8|pages=6|language=en}}</ref>}}
* '''4000 BC:''' Oldest evidence of [[Lock and key|locks]], the earliest example discovered in the ruins of [[Nineveh]], the capital of ancient [[Assyria]].<ref>{{cite book|last=de Vries, N. Cross and D. P. Grant|first=M. J.|title=Design Methodology and Relationships with Science: Introduction|year=1992|publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers|location=Eindhoven|page=32|isbn=9780792321910|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4T8U_J1h7noC|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024091334/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4T8U_J1h7noC|archive-date=2016-10-24}}</ref>
* '''4000 BC – 3400 BC:''' Oldest evidence of [[wheel]]s, found in the countries of [[Ukraine]], [[Poland]], and [[Germany]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chandler |first=Graham |date=2017 |title=Why Reinvent the Wheel? |url=https://www.aramcoworld.com/Articles/July-2017/Why-Reinvent-the-Wheel |access-date=2024-07-03 |website=[[Aramco World]]}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Standage |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Standage |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YoQWEAAAQBAJ&dq=wheel+originated+eastern+europe&pg=PA2 |title=A Brief History of Motion: From the Wheel, to the Car, to What Comes Next |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-63557-361-9 |location=New York |pages=2–5 |language=en |oclc=on1184237267}}</ref>
* '''3630 BC:''' Silk garments ([[sericulture]]) in China<ref name="Schoeser">{{cite book|author=Mary Schoeser|title=Silk|date=28 May 2007|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-11741-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/silk00scho/page/18 18]|url=https://archive.org/details/silk00scho/page/18}}</ref>
* '''3500 BC:''' Probable first [[domestication of the horse]] in the Eurasian Steppes.<ref>Matossian ''Shaping World History'' p. 43</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imh.org/exhibits/online/what-we-theorize-when-and-where-domestication-occurred |title=What We Theorize – When and Where Domestication Occurred |access-date=27 January 2015 |work=International Museum of the Horse |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160719000140/http://www.imh.org/exhibits/online/what-we-theorize-when-and-where-domestication-occurred |archive-date=19 July 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="cbc.ca">{{cite news |title=Horsey-aeology, Binary Black Holes, Tracking Red Tides, Fish Re-evolution, Walk Like a Man, Fact or Fiction |url=http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/episode/2009/03/07/horsey-aeology-binary-black-holes-tracking-red-tides-fish-re-evolution-walk-like-a-man-fact-or-ficti/|work=Quirks and Quarks Podcast with Bob Macdonald |publisher= [[CBC Radio]] |date=7 March 2009|access-date=18 September 2010}}</ref>
* '''3500 BC:''' Wine as [[general anaesthesia]] in Sumer.<ref name="Powell1996">{{cite book |title=The Origins and Ancient History of Wine |series=Food and Nutrition in History and Anthropology |edition=1 |volume=11 |chapter=9: Wine and the vine in ancient Mesopotamia: the cuneiform evidence |pages=96–124 |author=Powell MA |veditors=McGovern PE, Fleming SJ, Katz SH |publisher=Taylor & Francis |location=Amsterdam |year=2004 |isbn=9780203392836 |issn=0275-5769 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aXX2UcT_yw8C&q=Wine+and+the+vine+in+ancient+Mesopotamia:+the+cuneiform+evidence&pg=PA97 |access-date=15 September 2010}}</ref>
* '''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)|Proto-Elamite period]], and they follow the development of [[stamp seal]]s in the [[Halaf culture]] or slightly earlier.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Brian A. |last2=Feldman |first2=Marian H. |title=Critical Approaches to Ancient Near Eastern Art |date=2013 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=9781614510352 |page=304 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F4DoBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA304 |language=en}}</ref>
* '''3500 BC:''' [[Ploughing]], on a site in [[Bubeneč]], Czech Republic.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Institute of Archeology of CAS report |url=http://www.arup.cas.cz/?p=12517 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829000325/http://www.arup.cas.cz/?p=12517 |archive-date=29 August 2018 |access-date=28 August 2018}}</ref> Evidence, c. 2800 BC, has also been found at [[Kalibangan]], Indus Valley (modern-day India).<ref name="lal-ivc">B. B. Lal, ''India 1947–1997: New Light on the Indus Civilization''</ref>
* '''3400 BC – 3100 BC:''' [[Tattoo]]s in southern Europe<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Deter-Wolf|first1=Aaron|last2=Robitaille|first2=Benoît|last3=Krutak|first3=Lars|last4=Galliot|first4=Sébastien|title=The World's Oldest Tattoos|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports|volume=5|pages=19–24|date=February 2016|doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.11.007|bibcode=2016JArSR...5...19D |s2cid=162580662 |url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01227846/file/OldestTattoos.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Deter-Wolf|first=Aaron|title=It's official: Ötzi the Iceman has the oldest tattoos in the world|publisher=RedOrbit.com|date=11 November 2015|url=http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113410697/its-official-otzi-the-iceman-has-the-oldest-tattoos-in-the-world-111115/|access-date=25 July 2019}}</ref>

===Bronze Age===
[[File:Nippur cubit.JPG|thumb|upright=1.5|The Nippur cubit-rod, {{c.|2650 BCE}}, in the [[Istanbul Archaeology Museums|Archeological Museum]] of [[Istanbul]], Turkey]]

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.1200 BC.
* '''Late 4th millennium BC:''' [[Writing]] – in [[Sumer]] and [[Egypt]].<ref name="Radner">{{cite book |author1=Karen Radner |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhandbookcu00radn |title=The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture |author2=Eleanor Robson |date=22 September 2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-955730-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhandbookcu00radn/page/n117 86] |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>"The world's earliest known writing systems emerged at more or less the same time, around 3300 bc, in Egypt and Mesopotamia (today's Iraq)."{{Cite book |title= Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization |last= Teeter |first= Emily|publisher= Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago|year= 2011 |page=99}}</ref><ref>"Although it was once thought that the idea of writing came to Egypt from Mesopotamia, recent discoveries indicate that writing arose first in Egypt."{{Cite book |title= Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=lF78Max-h8MC&q=recent+discoveries+indicate+writing |last= Allen |first= James P. |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year= 2010 |page=2| isbn=9781139486354 }}</ref><ref>"and examples of writing in Egypt have been found that very well may pre-date the earliest writing from Mesopotamia."{{cite book |last1=Boudreau |first1=Vincent |title=The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process |date=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521838610 |page=71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jsWL_XJt-dMC&pg=PA71 |language=en}}</ref>
* '''3300 BC:''' The first documented [[sword]]s. They have been found in [[Arslantepe]], Turkey, are made from [[arsenical bronze]], and are about {{convert|60|cm|in|abbr=on}} long.<ref>Frangipane, M. et al. (2010). "The collapse of the 4th millennium centralised system at Arslantepe and the far-reaching changes in 3rd millennium societies". ''ORIGINI XXXIV'', 2012: 237–60.</ref><ref name=KAY>{{cite book |author=[[K. Aslihan Yener|Yener, K. Aslihan]] |title= The Domestication of Metals: The Rise of Complex Metal Industries in Anatolia |pages= 52–53 |year= 2021 |publisher= BRILL |series= Culture and History of the Ancient Near East (Vol. 4) |isbn= 978-9004496934 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=_s1GEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 |access-date= 15 January 2024}}</ref> Some of them are inlaid with [[silver]].<ref name=KAY/>
* '''3300 BC:''' [[City]] in [[Uruk]], [[Sumer]], [[Mesopotamia]] (modern-day Iraq).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2003 |title=Uruk: The First City |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/uruk/hd_uruk.htm |access-date=28 February 2022 |website=www.metmuseum.org}}</ref>
* '''3250 BC: '''One of the earliest documented [[hat]]s was worn by a man (nicknamed [[Ötzi]]) whose body and hat  found frozen in a mountain between Austria and Italy. He was found wearing a bearskin cap with a chin strap, made of several hides stitched together, resembling a Russian fur hat without the flaps.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/18/it-becometh-the-iceman-otzi-clothing-study-reveals-stylish-secrets-of-leather-loving-ancient|title=It becometh the iceman: clothing study reveals stylish secrets of leather-loving ancient|first=Nicola|last=Davis|archive-date=30 August 2016|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=30 August 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160830164637/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/18/it-becometh-the-iceman-otzi-clothing-study-reveals-stylish-secrets-of-leather-loving-ancient|date=30 August 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/otzi-iceman-european-alps-mummy-clothing-dna-leather-fur-archaeology|title=Here's What the Iceman Was Wearing When He Died 5,300 Years Ago|first=Kristin|last=Romey|date=18 August 2016|publisher=[[National Geographic]]|access-date=18 August 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819105927/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/otzi-iceman-european-alps-mummy-clothing-dna-leather-fur-archaeology/|archive-date=19 August 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=O’Sullivan|first1=Niall J.|last2=Teasdale|first2=Matthew D.|last3=Mattiangeli|first3=Valeria|last4=Maixner|first4=Frank|last5=Pinhasi|first5=Ron|last6=Bradley|first6=Daniel G.|last7=Zink|first7=Albert|date=18 August 2016|title=A whole mitochondria analysis of the Tyrolean Iceman's leather provides insights into the animal sources of Copper Age clothing|journal=[[Scientific Reports]]|language=en|volume=6|pages=31279|doi=10.1038/srep31279|pmid=27537861|issn=2045-2322|df=dmy-all|pmc=4989873|bibcode=2016NatSR...631279O }}</ref>
* '''3200 BC:''' Dry [[Latrine]]s in the city of [[Uruk]], Iraq, with later dry squat [[Toilet]]s, that added raised fired brick foot platforms, and pedestal toilets, all over clay pipe constructed drains.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mitchell|first=Piers D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HU6rCwAAQBAJ&q=McMahon,+A.+in+Sanitation,+Latrines+and+Intestinal+Parasites+in+Past+Populations&pg=PA263|title=Sanitation, Latrines and Intestinal Parasites in Past Populations|date=3 March 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-05953-0|pages=22|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Monica L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=moeLDwAAQBAJ&q=uruk+latrines+3200+bce|title=Cities: The First 6,000 Years|date=18 April 2019|publisher=Simon & Schuster UK|isbn=978-1-4711-6367-8|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=George|first=A.R.|title=On Babylonian Lavatories and Sewers|date=December 2015|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0021088915000091/type/journal_article|journal=Iraq|language=en|volume=77|pages=75–106|doi=10.1017/irq.2015.9|s2cid=162653122|issn=0021-0889|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
* '''3200 BC:''' Earliest actual wheel ever found, the [[Ljubljana Marshes Wheel]], made of wood, in [[Slovenia]].<ref name=":4" />
* '''3000 BC:''' Devices functionally equivalent to [[dice]], in the form of flat two-sided throwsticks, are seen in the Egyptian game of [[Senet]].<ref name="Aruz">{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gr5BgOwEJicC&pg=PA151|title=Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C.|last=Finkel|first=Irving|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|year=2008|isbn=978-1-58839-295-4|page=151|chapter=Board Games}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 November 2017 |title=8 Oldest Board Games in the World |url=https://www.oldest.org/entertainment/board-games/ |access-date=12 March 2022 |website=Oldest.org |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=NASER MOGHADASI |first=Abdorreza |date=September 2015 |title=The Burnt City and the Evolution of the Concept of "Probability" In the Human Brain |journal=Iranian Journal of Public Health |volume=44 |issue=9 |pages=1306–1307 |issn=2251-6085 |pmc=4645795 |pmid=26587512}}</ref> Later, terracotta dice were used at the Indus Valley site of [[Mohenjo-daro]] (modern-day Pakistan).<ref>Possehl, Gregory. "Meluhha". In: J. Reade (ed.) ''The Indian Ocean in Antiquity''. London: Kegan Paul Intl. 1996a, 133–208</ref>
* '''3000 BC:''' [[Tin]] extraction in [[Central Asia]]<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Cierny|given1=J.|surname2=Weisgerber|given2=G.|date=2003|chapter=The "Bronze Age tin mines in Central Asia|editor1-last=Giumlia-Mair|editor1-first=A.|editor2-last=Lo Schiavo|editor2-first=F.|title=The Problem of Early Tin|pages= 23–31|location=Oxford|publisher=Archaeopress|isbn=1-84171-564-6}}</ref>
* '''3000 BC – 2560 BC:''' [[Papyrus]] in Egypt<ref name="Fischer">{{cite book|author=Steven Roger Fischer|title=History of Writing|date=4 April 2004|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=978-1-86189-167-9|page=47}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Papyrus: A Brief History – Dartmouth Ancient Books Lab |url=https://sites.dartmouth.edu/ancientbooks/2016/05/23/67/ |access-date=28 February 2022 |website=sites.dartmouth.edu}}</ref><ref name="Johnson">{{cite book|author=Paul Johnson|title=The Civilization Of Ancient Egypt|date=3 November 1999|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-019434-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/civilizationofan00john/page/163 163]|url=https://archive.org/details/civilizationofan00john/page/163}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=4,500-year-old harbor structures and papyrus texts unearthed in Egypt|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/science/cosmic-log/4-500-year-old-harbor-structures-papyrus-texts-unearthed-egypt-flna1C9356840|website=NBC News|date=16 April 2013 |language=en|access-date=12 May 2020}}</ref>
* '''3000 BC:''' [[Reservoir]] in [[Girnar]], Indus Valley (modern-day [[India]]).<ref name="Rodda">{{Cite book
|editor-first=John
|editor-last=Rodda
|editor2-first=Lucio
|editor2-last=Ubertini
|year=2004
|title=The Basis of Civilization – Water Science?
|publisher=International Association of Hydrological Science
|isbn=978-1-901502-57-2
|oclc=224463869
|page=161
|url ={{Google books|JI65-MygMm0C|page=161|plainurl=yes}}
}}</ref>
* '''3000 BC:''' [[Receipt]] in Ancient [[Mesopotamia]] ([[Iraq]])<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/worlds-oldest-writing-not-poetry-but-a-shopping-receipt |title = World's oldest writing not poetry but a shopping receipt|date = 13 April 2011}}</ref>
* '''3000 BC – 2800 BC:''' [[Prosthesis]] first documented in the [[Ancient Near East]], in ancient Egypt and Iran, specifically for an eye prosthetics, the eye found in Iran was likely made of bitumen paste that was covered with a thin layer of gold.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pine |first1=Keith R. |last2=Sloan |first2=Brian H. |last3=Jacobs |first3=Robert J. |title=Clinical Ocular Prosthetics |date=2015 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9783319190570 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=920nCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA283}}</ref>
* '''3000 BC – 2500 BC:''' [[Rhinoplasty]] in Egypt.<ref name="cossurg">{{cite book |last=Shiffman |first=Melvin |title=Cosmetic Surgery: Art and Techniques |date=5 September 2012 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-642-21837-8 |page=20}}</ref><ref name="plsurgery">{{cite book |last1=Mazzola |first1=Ricardo F. |title=Plastic Surgery: Principles |last2=Mazzola |first2=Isabella C. |date=5 September 2012 |publisher=Elsevier Health Sciences |isbn=978-1-4557-1052-2 |editor1-last=Neligan |editor1-first=Peter C. |pages=11–12 |chapter=History of reconstructive and aesthetic surgery |editor2-last=Gurtner |editor2-first=Geoffrey C.}}</ref>
* '''2650 BC:''' The [[Ruler]], or [[Measuring rod]], in the subdivided [[Nippur]], copper rod, of the [[Sumer|Sumerian Civilisation]] (modern-day Iraq). {{efn|Shell, Terracotta, Copper, and Ivory rulers were in use by the [[Indus Valley civilisation]] in what today is Pakistan, and North West India, prior to 1500 BCE.<ref>{{Cite book|last=McIntosh|first=Jane|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJO2A-CbccC&q=ivory+ruler+lothal+indus+valley&pg=PA345|title=The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives|date=2008|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-907-2|language=en}}</ref>}}
* '''2600 BC:''' [[Planned city]] in Indus Valley (modern-day: India, Pakistan).<ref name="Davreu1">Davreu, Robert (1978). "Cities of Mystery: The Lost Empire of the Indus Valley". ''The World's Last Mysteries''. (second edition). Sydney: Reader's Digest. pp. 121-129. {{ISBN|978-0-909486-61-7}}.</ref><ref name="Kipfer229">Kipfer, Barbara Ann (2000). ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology''. (Illustrated edition). New York: Springer. p. 229. {{ISBN|978-0-3064-6158-3}}.</ref>
* '''2600 BC:''' [[Sanitation of the Indus Valley Civilisation|Public sewage and sanitation systems in Indus Valley]] sites such as [[Mohenjo-daro]] and [[Rakhigarhi]] (modern-day: India, Pakistan).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Khan |first=Dr Saifullah |title=Chapter 2 Sanitation and wastewater technologies in Harappa/Indus valley civilization (ca. 2600-1900 BC) |url=https://www.academia.edu/5937322}}</ref>
* '''2600 BC:''' [[Great Bath, Mohenjo-daro|Public bath]] in [[Mohenjo-daro]], Indus Valley (modern-day [[Pakistan]]).<ref name="Kenoyer">{{cite web|last=Harappa|first=com|title='Great Bath' Mohenjadaro|url=http://www.harappa.com/indus/8.html|department=Slide show with description by J. M. Kenoyer|publisher=Harappa.com|access-date=2 July 2012}}</ref>
* '''2600 BC:''' [[Levee]] in Indus Valley.<ref>{{cite web | title = Indus River Valley Civilizations|website=History-world.org | access-date = 12 September 2008 | url = http://history-world.org/indus_valley.htm| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050701234952/http://history-world.org/indus_valley.htm| url-status = dead| archive-date = 1 July 2005}}</ref>
* '''2600 BC:''' [[Weighing scale|Balance weights and scales]], from the [[Fourth Dynasty of Egypt]]; examples of [[Deben (unit)]] balance weights, from reign of [[Sneferu]] (c. 2600 BC) have been attributed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rahmstorf |first=Lorenz |title=In Search of the Earliest Balance Weights, Scales and Weighing Systems from the East Mediterranean, the Near and Middle East |url=https://www.academia.edu/1864503}}</ref>
* '''2556 BC:''' [[Dock (maritime)|Docks]] structure in [[Wadi al-Jarf]], Egypt, which was developed by the reign of the Pharaoh [[Khufu]].<ref name="Global">{{cite news|title=Archeologists discover oldest Egyptian harbor ever found|first=Samantha|last=Stainburn|work=Global Post|date=18 April 2013|url=http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/egypt/130418/archeologists-discover-oldest-egyptian-harbor-ever-fo|access-date=21 April 2013}}</ref><ref name=":1" />{{efn|A competing claim is from [[Lothal]] dockyard in India,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/27667625 |title=Foraminifera as an additional tool for archaeologists - Examples from the Arabian Sea |date=25 September 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL SURVEYS IN LOTHAL (INDIA)|url=http://www.archaeoastronomy.it/Lothal.htm|last=Codebò|first=Mario|date=2013|website=www.archaeoastronomy.it|access-date=10 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Frenez|first=D.|title=Lothal re-visitation Project, a fine thread connecting Intis to contemporary Raveena (Via Oman)|publisher=BAR|year=2014|isbn=9781407313269|location=UK|pages=263–267}}</ref><ref name="RaoQ">Rao, pages 27–28</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Archaeological remains of a Harappa Port-Town, Lothal |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5918/ |website=UNESCO |publisher=UN |access-date=10 May 2020}}</ref> constructed at some point between 2400-2000 BC;<ref name="RaoY">{{cite book | title = Lothal | publisher = [[Archaeological Survey of India]] | author = [[S. R. Rao]] | pages = 11–17 | year = 1985}}</ref> however, more precise dating does not exist.}}
* '''2500 BC:''' [[Puppetry]] in the Indus Valley.<ref>Ghosh, S. and Banerjee, Utpal Kumar, ''Indian Puppets'', Abhinav Publications, 2006. {{ISBN|81-7017-435-X}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Pulling the strings to resuscitate a dying art|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/pulling-the-strings-to-resuscitate-a-dying-art/article3783718.ece|newspaper=The Hindu|date=17 August 2012|location=Thanjavur, India}}</ref>
* '''2400 BC:''' [[Fork]] in [[Bronze Age]] [[Qijia culture]] in [[China]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Needham |first1=Joseph |title=Science and Civilisation in China. Volume 6: Biology and biological technology. Part V: Fermentations and food science |date=22 January 2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521652707}}</ref>
* '''2400 BC:''' [[History of water supply and sanitation#Ancient Egypt|Copper pipes]], the [[Pyramid of Sahure#Drainage system|Pyramid of Sahure]], an adjoining temple complex at [[Abusir]], was discovered to have a network of copper drainage pipes.<ref name="Bunson 6" />
* '''2400 BC:''' [[Touchstone (assaying tool)|Touchstone]] in the Indus Valley site of [[Banawali]] (modern-day India).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Gold : A Cultural Encyclopedia|url=https://archive.org/details/goldculturalency00vena|url-access=limited|last=Venable|first=Shannon L.|publisher=ABC-CLIO, LLC|year=2011|isbn=978-0313-384318|location=Santa Barbara, CA|pages=[https://archive.org/details/goldculturalency00vena/page/n286 264]}}</ref>
* '''2300 BC:''' [[Dictionary]] in [[Mesopotamia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=Howard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v7lgEAAAQBAJ&dq=dictionary+Sumerian%E2%80%93Akkadian+wordlists,+discovered+in+Ebla+(modern+Syria)&pg=PT347 |title=The Bloomsbury Handbook of Lexicography |date=24 February 2022 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-350-18172-4 |language=en}}</ref>
* '''2200 BC – 2000 BC:''' [[Iron smelting]] in [[Kaman-Kalehöyük]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Akanuma |first=Hideo |year=2008 |title=The significance of Early Bronze Age iron objects from Kaman-Kalehöyük, Turkey |url=http://www.jiaa-kaman.org/pdfs/aas_17/AAS_17_Akanuma_H_pp_313_320.pdf |journal=Anatolian Archaeological Studies |publisher=Japanese Institute of Anatolian Archaeology |volume=17 |pages=313–320 |place=Tokyo}}</ref>
* '''2200 BC:''' [[Protractor]], Phase IV, [[Lothal]], Indus Valley (modern-day India), a [[Turbinella pyrum|Xancus]] shell cylinder with sawn grooves, at right angles, in its top and bottom surfaces, has been proposed as an angle marking tool.<ref name="Rao401">{{cite book |author=S. R. Rao |title=Lothal |publisher=[[Archaeological Survey of India]] |year=1985 |pages=40–41 |author-link=S. R. Rao}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Rao |date=July 1992 |title=A Navigational Instrument of the Harappan Sailors |url=http://drs.nio.org/drs/bitstream/handle/2264/3082/J_Mar_Archaeol_3_61.pdf?sequence=2 |journal=Marine Archaeology |volume=3 |pages=61–66}} Notes: protractor described as "compass" in article.</ref>
* '''2000 BC:''' [[Water clock]] by at least the old Babylonian period (c. 2000 – c. 1600 BC),<ref>{{cite book | last = Pingree | first = David | author-link = David Pingree | editor = Stephanie Dalley |editor-link=Stephanie Dalley| title = The Legacy of Mesopotamia | year = 1998 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford | isbn = 0-19-814946-8 | pages = 125–126 | chapter = Legacies in Astronomy and Celestial Omens}}</ref> but possibly earlier from Mohenjo-Daro in the Indus Valley.<ref>{{cite journal | first = N. Kameswara | last = Rao |date=December 2005 | title = Aspects of prehistoric astronomy in India | journal = Bulletin of the Astronomical Society of India | volume = 33 | issue = 4 | pages = 499–511 | url = http://www.ncra.tifr.res.in/~basi/05December/3305499-511.pdf | access-date =11 May 2007 | quote =It appears that two artifacts from Mohenjadaro and Harappa might correspond to these two instruments. Joshi and Parpola (1987) lists a few pots tapered at the bottom and having a hole on the side from the excavations at Mohenjadaro (Figure 3). A pot with a small hole to drain the water is very similar to clepsydras described by Ohashi to measure the time (similar to the utensil used over the lingum in Shiva temple for abhishekam). |bibcode = 2005BASI...33..499R}}</ref>
* '''2000 BC:''' [[Chariot]] in [[Russia]] and [[Kazakhstan]]<ref>David S. Anthony, ''The Horse, The Wheel and Language: How bronze age riders from the Eurasian steppes shaped the modern world'' (2007), pp. 397-405.</ref>
* '''2000 BC:''' [[Fountain]] in [[Lagash]], [[Sumer]].
* '''2000 BC:''' [[Scissors]], in [[Mesopotamia]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=History 101: Scissors |url=https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/3/1341085/-History-101-Scissors |access-date=28 February 2022 |website=Daily Kos}}</ref>
* '''1850 BC:''' Proto-alphabet ([[Proto-Sinaitic script]]) in Egypt.<ref>{{Cite web |title=British Library |url=https://www.bl.uk/history-of-writing/articles/the-evolution-of-the-alphabet |access-date=1 March 2022 |website=www.bl.uk |archive-date=1 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301104323/https://www.bl.uk/history-of-writing/articles/the-evolution-of-the-alphabet |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* '''1600 BC:''' [[Edwin Smith Papyrus|Surgical treatise]] appeared in Egypt.<ref name="WilkinsRobert">{{cite book |last=Wilkins |first=Robert H. |title=Neurosurgical Classics |date=1992 |publisher=[[American Association of Neurological Surgeons]] |isbn=978-1-879284-09-8 |edition=2nd |location=[[Park Ridge, Illinois]] |lccn=2011293270 |orig-year=First published 1965}}</ref>
* '''1500 BC:''' [[Sundial]] in [[Ancient Egypt]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lienhard |first1=John H. |title=No. 993: SUNDIALS |url=https://www.uh.edu/engines/epi993.htm |website=The Engines of Our Ingenuity |publisher=Huston Public Media |access-date=1 March 2022}}</ref> or [[Babylonia]] (modern-day Iraq).
* '''1500 BC:''' [[Glass]] manufacture in either [[Mesopotamia]] or [[Ancient Egypt]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 November 2016 |title=Glassmaking may have begun in Egypt, not Mesopotamia |url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/glassmaking-may-have-begun-egypt-not-mesopotamia |access-date=28 February 2022 |website=Science News |language=en-US}}</ref>
* '''1500 BC:''' [[Seed drill]] in [[Babylonia]].<ref name="ReferenceA">History Channel, ''Where Did It Come From?'' Episode: "Ancient China: Agriculture"</ref>
* '''1500 BC:''' [[Prosthetic]] limb in [[India]] mentioned in vedas (warrior queen vishpala).
* '''1400 BC:''' [[Mesoamerican rubber balls|Rubber]],<ref name=":3" /> [[Mesoamerican ballgame]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=Rubber balls used in Mesoamerican game 3,500 years ago|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/history/rubber-balls-used-in-mesoamerican-game-3500-years-ago-1988439.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/history/rubber-balls-used-in-mesoamerican-game-3500-years-ago-1988439.html |archive-date=7 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|date=1 June 2010|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=14 May 2020}}</ref><ref>[[#Shelton|Shelton]], pp. 109–110. There is wide agreement on game originating in the tropical lowlands, likely the Gulf Coast or Pacific Coast.</ref>
* '''1400 BC – 1200 BC:''' [[Concrete]] in [[Tiryns]] (Mycenaean Greece),<ref>{{cite book |author1=Heinrich Schliemann |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_pw4BAAAAMAAJ |title=Tiryns: The Prehistoric Palace of the Kings of Tiryns, the Results of the Latest Excavations |author2=Wilhelm Dörpfeld |author3=Felix Adler |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |year=1885 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_pw4BAAAAMAAJ/page/n266 190], 203–04, 215}}</ref><ref>{{cite arXiv |eprint=1110.5230 |class=physics.pop-ph |first=Amelia Carolina |last=Sparavigna |title=Ancient concrete works |year=2011}}</ref> though it was not yet waterproof. 
* '''1300 BC:''' [[Lathe]] in Ancient Egypt.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brighthubengineering.com/manufacturing-technology/59033-what-is-a-lathe-machine-history-parts-and-operation/|title=What is a Lathe Machine? History, Parts, and Operation|date=12 December 2009|website=Brighthub Engineering|access-date=26 March 2018}}</ref>
* '''1200 BC:''' [[Distillation]] is described on [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] tablets documenting perfumery operations.<ref>{{cite book |last=Levey |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=76ILAQAAIAAJ |title=Chemistry and Chemical Technology in Ancient Mesopotamia |date=1959 |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |page=36 |quote=As already mentioned, the textual evidence for Sumero-Babylonian distillation is disclosed in a group of Akkadian tablets describing perfumery operations, dated ca. 1200 B.C.}}</ref>

===Iron Age===
The [[Late Bronze Age collapse]] occurs around 1200 BC,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Millek |first=Jesse |date=2021 |title=Why Did the World End in 1200 BCE |url=https://www.academia.edu/50934851 |journal=Ancient Near East Today |volume=9 |issue=8}}</ref> extinguishing most Bronze-Age Near Eastern cultures, and significantly weakening the rest. This is coincident with the complete collapse of the [[Indus Valley Civilisation]]. This event is followed by the beginning of the Iron Age. We define the Iron Age as ending in 510 BC for the purposes of this article, even though the typical definition is region-dependent (e.g. 510 BC in Greece, 322 BC in India, 200 BC in China), thus being an 800-year period.{{efn|The uncertainty in dating several Indian developments between 600 BC and 300 AD, due to the tradition that existed of editing existing documents (such as the Sushruta Samhita and Arthashastra) without specifically documenting the edit. Most such documents were canonized at the start of the Gupta empire (mid-3rd century AD).}}
*  '''1100 BC''' [[Star catalogue]] — <em>[[Babylonian star catalogues#Three Stars Each|Three Stars Each]]</em> is the earliest known catalogue in long-running tradition of [[Babylonian astronomy]],<ref>{{cite book
 | last=North | first=John | date=1995
 | title=The Norton History of Astronomy and Cosmology
 | url=https://archive.org/details/nortonhistoryofa0000nort | url-access=registration | location=New York and London | pages=[https://archive.org/details/nortonhistoryofa0000nort/page/30 30–31]
 | publisher=W.W. Norton & Company | isbn=0-393-03656-1}}</ref> likely drawing on Sumerian<ref>[http://members.westnet.com.au/gary-david-thompson/page11-4.html ''History of the Constellations and Star Names — D.4: Sumerian constellations and star names?''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907050519/http://members.westnet.com.au/Gary-David-Thompson/page11-4.html |date=2015-09-07 }}, by Gary D. Thompson</ref> and/or Elamite constellations.<ref>[http://members.westnet.com.au/gary-david-thompson/page11-5.html ''History of the Constellations and Star Names — D.5: Elamite lion-bull iconography as constellations?''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114124324/http://members.westnet.com.au/Gary-David-Thompson/page11-5.html |date=2012-11-14 }}, by Gary D. Thompson</ref>
* '''700 BC:''' [[Saddle]] (fringed cloths or pads used by [[Assyrian cavalry]]).<ref name=Beatie18>[https://books.google.com/books?id=lKYZy8dq8qMC&dq=saddle&pg=PA18 Beatie, Russel H.  ''Saddles'', University of Oklahoma Press, 1981] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140123113900/http://books.google.com/books?id=lKYZy8dq8qMC&pg=PA18&dq=saddle&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RpC_T6mdHYWk9ASsluWPCw&ved=0CFcQ6AEwBjgK |date=23 January 2014 }}, {{ISBN|080611584X}}, 9780806115849 P.18-22</ref>
* '''7th century BC:''' The royal [[Library of Ashurbanipal]] at [[Nineveh]] had 30,000 clay tablets, in several languages, organized according to shape and separated by content. The first recorded example of a [[library catalog]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Murray|first1=Stuart
 |title=The Library: An Illustrated History|date=2009
 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing|location=New York
 |isbn=978-1-61608-453-0|page=9}}</ref>
* '''688 BC:''' Waterproof concrete in use, by the Assyrians.<ref>Jacobsen T and Lloyd S, (1935) "Sennacherib's Aqueduct at Jerwan", ''Oriental Institute Publications'' 24, Chicago University Press</ref> Later, the Romans developed concretes that could set underwater,<ref name="Lechtman and Hobbs">Lechtman and Hobbs "Roman Concrete and the Roman Architectural Revolution"</ref> and used concrete extensively for construction from 300 BC to 476 AD.<ref name="MAST">{{cite web |title=The History of Concrete |url=http://matse1.matse.illinois.edu/concrete/hist.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121127052951/http://matse1.matse.illinois.edu/concrete/hist.html |archive-date=27 November 2012 |access-date=8 January 2013 |publisher=Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign}}</ref>
* '''650 BC:''' [[Crossbow]] in [[China]].<ref>{{citation|last=Loades|first=Mike|year=2018|title=The Crossbow|publisher=Osprey}}</ref>
* '''600 BC:''' [[Coins]] in [[Phoenicia]] (Modern Lebanon) or [[Lydia]].<ref>M. Kroll, review of G. Le Rider's ''La naissance de la monnaie'', ''Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau'' '''80''' (2001), p. 526. D. Sear, Greek Coins and Their Values Vol. 2, Seaby, London, 1979, p. 317.</ref>
* '''Late 7th or early 6th century BC:''' [[Wagonway]] called [[Diolkos]] across the [[Isthmus of Corinth]] in [[Ancient Greece]].
[[File:Trispastos scheme.svg|thumb|With the Greco-Roman ''trispastos'' ("three-pulley-crane"), the simplest [[ancient crane]], a single man tripled the weight he could lift than with his muscular strength alone.<ref>Hans-Liudger, Dienel; Wolfgang, Meighörner (1997): "Der Tretradkran", ''Technikgeschichte'' series, 2nd ed., [[Deutsches Museum]], München, p.&nbsp;13</ref>]]
* '''6th century BC – 10th century AD:''' [[Steel#Wootz steel and Damascus steel|High Carbon Steel]], produced by the [[Crucible steel|Closed Crucible method]], later known as [[Wootz steel]], of [[South India]].<ref name="wootz-davidson">Davidson, Hilda Ellis (1998). ''The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England: Its Archaeology and Literature''. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. p. 20. {{ISBN|0-85115-716-5}}.</ref><ref name="wootz-iisc">{{cite news | title=Wootz Steel: an advanced material of the ancient world | url=http://materials.iisc.ernet.in/~wootz/heritage/WOOTZ.htm | author1=Srinivasan, S. | author2=Ranganathan, S. | publisher=Department of Metallurgy, Indian Institute of Science | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119033451/http://materials.iisc.ernet.in/~wootz/heritage/WOOTZ.htm |archive-date=19 November 2018| location=Bangalore}}</ref>{{efn|A 10th century AD, [[Damascus]] steel blade, analysed under an electron microscope, contains nano-meter tubes in its metal alloy. Their presence has been suggested to be down to transition-metal impurities in the ores once used to produce Wootz Steel in South India.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.nature.com/news/2006/061113/full/news061113-11.html |title=Sharpest cut from nanotube sword |first=Katharine |last=Sanderson |date=15 November 2006 |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |pages=news061113–11 |doi=10.1038/news061113-11|s2cid=136774602 |doi-access=free }}</ref>}}
* '''6th century BC:''' [[University]] in [[Taxila]], of the Indus Valley, then part of the kingdom of [[Gandhara]], of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (modern-day Pakistan).
* '''6th century – 2nd century BC:''' Systematization of medicine and surgery in the [[Sushruta Samhita]] in Vedic Northern India.<ref name = "sush">Hoernle, A. F. Rudolf (1907). ''Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India: Osteology or the Bones of the Human Body''. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.</ref><ref>Wendy Doniger (2014), On Hinduism, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0199360079}}, page 79;<br />Sarah Boslaugh (2007), Encyclopedia of Epidemiology, Volume 1, SAGE Publications, {{ISBN|978-1412928168}}, page 547, '''Quote''': "The Hindu text known as Sushruta Samhita is possibly the earliest effort to classify diseases and injuries"</ref><ref name = "sush_date">Meulenbeld, Gerrit Jan (1999). ''A History of Indian Medical Literature''. Groningen: Brill (all volumes, 1999-2002). {{ISBN|978-9069801247}}.</ref> Documented procedures to:
** Perform [[cataract surgery]] ([[Couching (ophthalmology)|couching]]). Babylonian and Egyptian texts, a millennium before, depict and mention oculists, but not the procedure itself.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ascaso|first1=Francisco J.|last2=Lizana|first2=Joaquín|last3=Cristóbal|first3=José A.|date=1 March 2009|title=Cataract surgery in ancient Egypt|url=https://journals.lww.com/jcrs/Citation/2009/03000/Cataract_surgery_in_ancient_Egypt.43.aspx|journal=Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery|language=en-US|volume=35|issue=3|pages=607–608|doi=10.1016/j.jcrs.2008.11.052|pmid=19251160|issn=0886-3350|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
** Perform [[Caesarean section]].<ref name = "sush_info"/>
** Construct [[Prosthetic limb]]s.<ref name = "sush_info"/>
** Perform [[Plastic surgery]], though reconstructive [[nasal surgery]] is described in millennia older [[Edwin Smith Papyrus|Egyptian papyri]].<ref name="sush_info">{{cite journal |last1=Singh |first1=Vibha |date=January–June 2017 |title=Sushruta: The father of surgery |journal=National Journal of Maxillofacial Surgery |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=1–3 |doi=10.4103/njms.NJMS_33_17 |pmc=5512402 |pmid=28761269 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=Dwivedi&Dwivedi>Dwivedi, Girish & Dwivedi, Shridhar (2007). [http://medind.nic.in/iae/t07/i4/iaet07i4p243.pdf ''History of Medicine: Sushruta – the Clinician – Teacher par Excellence''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010045900/http://medind.nic.in/iae/t07/i4/iaet07i4p243.pdf |date=10 October 2008 }}. [[National Informatics Centre|National Informatics Centre (Government of India)]].</ref>
* '''Late 6th century BC:''' [[Crank (mechanism)|Crank]] motion ([[rotary quern]]) in [[Ancient Carthage|Carthage]]{{sfn|Curtis|2008|p=375}} or 5th century BC [[Celtiberians|Celtiberian]] [[Spain]]<ref name="Frankel 2003, 17–19">Frankel, Rafael (2003): "The Olynthus Mill, Its Origin, and Diffusion: Typology and Distribution", ''[[American Journal of Archaeology]]'', Vol. 107, No. 1, pp.&nbsp;1–21 (17–19)</ref><ref>Ritti, Tullia; Grewe, Klaus; Kessener, Paul (2007): "A Relief of a Water-powered Stone Saw Mill on a Sarcophagus at Hierapolis and its Implications", ''[[Journal of Roman Archaeology]]'', Vol. 20, pp.&nbsp;138–163 (159)</ref> Later during the Roman empire, a mechanism appeared that incorporated a connecting rod.
* '''Before 5th century BC:''' [[Deed|Loan deeds]] in Upanishadic India.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://m.rbi.org.in/Scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=155 |title=Reserve Bank of India - Publications |quote=In ancient India, loan deed forms called rnapatra or rnalekhya were in use. These contained details such as the name of the debtor and the creditor, the amount of loan, the rate of interest, the condition of repayment and the time of repayment. The deed was witnessed by a person of respectable means and endorsed by the loan-deed writer. Execution of loan deeds continued during the Buddhist period, when they were called inapanna.}}</ref>
* '''500 BC:''' [[Lighthouse]] in Greece.<ref>Elinor Dewire and Dolores Reyes-Pergioudakis (2010). ''The Lighthouses of Greece''. Sarasota: Pineapple Press. {{ISBN|978-1-56164-452-0}}, pp 1-5.</ref>

===Classical antiquity and medieval era===
====5th century BC====
* '''500 – 200 BC:''' [[Stirrup#Precursors|Toe stirrup]], depicted in 2nd century Buddhist art, of the Sanchi and Bhaja Caves, of the Deccan [[Satavahana dynasty|Satavahana empire]] (modern-day India)<ref>[https://archive.org/details/saddles00beat/page/28 ''Saddles'', Author Russel H. Beatie, Publisher University of Oklahoma Press, 1981], {{ISBN|080611584X}}, 9780806115849 P.28</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=xa7zPNkxswQC&pg=PA14 White, Lynn Townsend. ''Medieval Technology and Social Change'', Publisher Oxford University Press, 1964], {{ISBN|0195002660}}, 9780195002669 P.14</ref> although may have originated as early as 500 BC.<ref>Chamberlin, J. Edward (2007). ''Horse: How the Horse Has Shaped Civilizations''. [[Moscow]]: Olma Media Group. {{ISBN|1-904955-36-3}}.</ref>
* '''485 BC:''' [[Catapult]] by [[Ajatashatru]] in [[Magadha (Mahajanapada)|Magadha]], [[India]].<ref name = "Ajatashatru">Singh, Upinder (2016), ''A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century'', Pearson PLC, {{ISBN|978-81-317-1677-9}}</ref><ref name="aja_date">Jain, Kailash Chand (1991), ''Lord Mahāvīra and His Times'', Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-0805-8}}</ref>
* '''485 BC:''' Scythed chariot by [[Ajatashatru]] in [[Magadha (Mahajanapada)|Magadha]], [[India]].<ref name="Ajatashatru"/><ref name="aja_date" />
* '''5th century BC:''' [[Cast iron]] in [[History of China#Ancient China|Ancient China]]: Confirmed by archaeological evidence, the earliest cast iron is developed in China by the early 5th century BC during the [[Zhou dynasty]] (1122–256 BC), the oldest specimens found in a tomb of Luhe County in [[Jiangsu]] province.<ref name="wagner 7 36 37 64 68">Wagner (2001), 7, 36–37, 64–68. 335.</ref><ref>Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais (2006), 30.</ref><ref name="pigott 1999 177">Pigott (1999), 177.</ref>
* '''480 BC:''' [[Spiral stairs]] (Temple A) in [[Selinunte]], [[Sicily]] (see also [[List of ancient spiral stairs]])<ref>Beckmann, Martin (2002): "The 'Columnae Coc(h)lides' of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius", ''[[Phoenix (classics journal)|Phoenix]]'', Vol. 56, No. 3/4, pp.&nbsp;348–357 (354)</ref><ref>Ruggeri, Stefania (2006): "Selinunt", Edizioni Affinità Elettive, Messina, {{ISBN|88-8405-079-0}}, p.&nbsp;77</ref>
* '''By 407 BC:''' Early descriptions of what may be a [[Wheelbarrow]] in Greece.<ref>M. J. T. Lewis, "The Origins of the Wheelbarrow", ''[[Technology and Culture]]'', Vol. 35, No. 3. (July 1994), pp.&nbsp;470</ref> First actual depiction of one (tomb mural) shows up in [[China]] in 118 AD.<ref>[[Joseph Needham|Needham, Joseph]] (1965). ''Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2, Mechanical Engineering''; rpr. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd., page 265</ref>
* '''By 400 BC:''' [[Camera obscura]] described by Mo-tzu (or [[Mozi]]) in China.<ref>{{Cite web|title=What is a camera obscura?|url=https://www.camera-obscura.co.uk/article/what-is-a-camera-obscura|access-date=7 January 2022|website=Camera Obscura and World of Illusions Edinburgh|language=en-GB}}</ref>

====4th century BC====
[[Image:Musée du Louvre - Antiquités égyptiennes - Salle 06 - 02f.jpg|thumb|right|Egyptian reed pens inside ivory and wooden palettes, the Louvre<ref>{{cite web|title=Palette de scribe|url=http://www.louvre.fr/oeuvre-notices/palette-de-scribe|website=Antiquités égyptiennes du Louvre|language=fr}}</ref>]]
* '''4th century BC:''' [[Trebuchet|Traction trebuchet]] in [[History of China#Ancient China|Ancient China]].<ref name="O'Callaghan">{{cite book|author1=Joseph F. O'Callaghan|author2=Donald J. Kagay|author3=Theresa M. Vann|title=On the Social Origins of Medieval Institutions: Essays in Honor of Joseph F. O'Callaghan|year=1998|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-11096-0|pages=179|quote=Developed in China between the fifth and fourth centuries BC, it reached the Mediterranean by the sixth century AD}}</ref>
* '''4th century BC:''' [[Gear]]s in [[History of China#Ancient China|Ancient China]]
* '''4th century BC:''' [[Reed pen]]s, utilising a split nib, were used to write with ink on [[Papyrus]] in Egypt.<ref name="O'Callaghan" />
* '''4th century BC:''' Nailed [[Horseshoe]], with 4 bronze shoes found in an [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan tomb]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bates|first=W. N.|date=1902|title=Etruscan Horseshoes from Corneto — AJA 6:398‑403|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/AJA/6/4/Etruscan_Horseshoes*.html|access-date=7 January 2022|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref>
* '''375 BC – 350 BC:''' [[Horse mill|Animal-driven rotary mill]] in Carthage.{{sfn|Curtis|2008|p=376}}{{sfn|de Vos|2011|p=178}}
* '''By the late 4th century BC:''' [[Corporation]]s in either the [[Maurya Empire]] of India<ref>Vikramaditya S. Khanna (2005). [https://ssrn.com/abstract= ''The Economic History of the Corporate Form in Ancient India'']. [[University of Michigan]].</ref> or in Ancient Rome ([[Collegium (ancient Rome)|Collegium]]).
* '''Late 4th century BC:''' [[Cheque]] in the [[Maurya Empire]] of India.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://m.rbi.org.in/Scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=155 | title=Reserve Bank of India - Publications |quote = In the Mauryan period, an instrument called adesha was in use, which was an order on a banker desiring him to pay the money of the note to a third person}}</ref>
* '''Late 4th century BC:''' [[Potassium nitrate]] manufacturing and military use in the [[Seleucid Empire]].<ref>{{cite book |last = Roy |first = Kaushik |date = 2014 |title = Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400-1750 |page = 19 |isbn = 978-1-7809-3765-6 |location = London |publisher = Bloomsbury Academic |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KyVnAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19}}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2024}}
* '''Late 4th century BC:''' [[Formal system]]s by [[Pāṇini]] in India, possibly during the reign of [[Chandragupta Maurya]].<ref>Vergiani, Vincenzo (2017), "Bhartrhari on Language, Perception, and Consciousness", in Ganeri, Jonardon (ed.), ''The Oxford Handbook of Indian Philosophy'', Oxford University Press</ref>
* '''4th to 3rd century BC:''' [[Zinc mining#History|Zinc production]] in North-Western [[India]] during the [[Maurya Empire]].<ref>Craddock et al. 1983. (The earliest evidence for the production of zinc comes from India. Srinivasan, Sharda and Srinivasa Rangnathan. 2004)</ref> The earliest known zinc mines and smelting sites are from Zawar, near [[Udaipur]], in [[Rajasthan]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/def_en/articles/metallurg_heritage_india/metallurgical_heritage_india.html |title=Mettalurgical heritage of India|author=Srinivasan, Ranganathan|publisher=Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel |access-date=4 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dli.gov.in/rawdataupload/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005afd_33.pdf|title=Smelting furnaces in Ancient India|author=Rina Shrivastva|year=1999|publisher=Indian Journal of History & Science,34(1), Digital Library of India|access-date=4 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425052130/http://www.dli.gov.in/rawdataupload/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005afd_33.pdf|archive-date=25 April 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

====3rd century BC====
[[File:Making Paper 4.PNG|thumb|140px|right|An illustration depicting the papermaking process in Han dynasty China.]]
* '''3rd century BC:''' [[Analog computer]]s in the Hellenistic world (see e.g. the [[Antikythera mechanism]]), possibly in [[Rhodes]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Harry Henderson|title=Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Tla6d153uwC&pg=PA13|access-date=28 May 2013|date=1 January 2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-1003-5|page=13|quote=The earliest known analog computing device is the Antikythera mechanism.}}</ref>
* '''By at least the 3rd century BC:''' [[Archimedes' screw]], one of the earliest [[hydraulic]] machines, was first used in the Nile river for irrigation purposes in [[Ancient Egypt]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Archimedes' Screw |url=http://physics.kenyon.edu/EarlyApparatus/Fluids/Archimedes_Screw/Archimedes_Screw.html |website=Kenyon |access-date=11 July 2018}}</ref>
* '''Early 3rd century BC:''' [[Lock (water transport)|Canal lock]] in [[Canal of the Pharaohs]] under [[Ptolemy II]] (283–246 BC) in [[Hellenistic Egypt]]<ref>Moore, Frank Gardner (1950): "Three Canal Projects, Roman and Byzantine", ''[[American Journal of Archaeology]]'', Vol. 54, No. 2, pp.&nbsp;97–111 (99–101)</ref><ref>Froriep, Siegfried (1986): "Ein Wasserweg in Bithynien. Bemühungen der Römer, Byzantiner und Osmanen", ''Antike Welt'', 2nd Special Edition, pp.&nbsp;39–50 (46)</ref><ref>Schörner, Hadwiga (2000): "Künstliche Schiffahrtskanäle in der Antike. Der sogenannte antike Suez-Kanal", ''Skyllis'', Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.&nbsp;28–43 (33–35, 39)</ref>
* '''3rd century BC:''' [[Cam (mechanism)|Cam]] during the [[Hellenistic period]], used in water-driven [[automata]].<ref>[[Andrew Wilson (classical archaeologist)|Wilson, Andrew]] (2002): "Machines, Power and the Ancient Economy", ''[[The Journal of Roman Studies]]'', Vol. 92, pp.&nbsp;1–32 (16) {{JSTOR|3184857}}</ref>
* '''By the 3rd century BC:''' [[Water wheel]]. The origin is unclear: Indian Pali texts dating to the 4th century BCE refer to the ''cakkavattaka'', which later commentaries describe as ''arahatta-ghati-yanta'' (machine with wheel-pots attached). Helaine Selin suggests that the device existed in Persia before 350 BC.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Selin |first1=Helaine |title=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Westen Cultures |date=2013 |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |isbn=9789401714167 |page=282 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GzjpCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA282}}</ref> The clearest description of the water wheel and [[Escapement#Liquid-driven escapements|Liquid-driven escapement]] is provided by [[Philo of Byzantium]] (c. 280 – 220 BC) in the Hellenistic kingdoms.<ref>[[John Peter Oleson|Oleson, John Peter]] (2000): "Water-Lifting", in: [[Örjan Wikander|Wikander, Örjan]]: "Handbook of Ancient Water Technology", Technology and Change in History, Vol. 2, Brill, Leiden, {{ISBN|90-04-11123-9}}, pp.&nbsp;217–302 (233)</ref>
* '''3rd century BC:''' [[Gimbal]] described by Philo of Byzantium<ref>{{cite book|first= Ernest Frank |last= Carter |title= Dictionary of Inventions and Discoveries |url= https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofinve00cart |url-access= registration |year= 1967 |page= [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofinve00cart/page/74 74] | publisher= Philosophical Library}}</ref>
* '''Late 3rd century BC:''' [[Dry dock]] under [[Ptolemy IV]] (221–205 BC) in [[Hellenistic Egypt]]<ref>{{Citation | last = Oleson | first = John Peter | author-link = John Peter Oleson | title = Greek and Roman Mechanical Water-Lifting Devices: The History of a Technology | year = 1984 | publisher = University of Toronto Press | isbn = 90-277-1693-5 | page = 33}}</ref>
* '''3rd century BC – 2nd century BC:''' [[Blast furnace]] in [[History of China#Ancient China|Ancient China]]: The earliest discovered blast furnaces in China date to the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, although most sites are from the later [[Han dynasty]].<ref name="wagner 7 36 37 64 68"/><ref>Pigott (1999), 183–184.</ref>
[[File:Museum für Antike Schiffahrt, Mainz 02. Spritsail.jpg|thumb|The earliest [[fore-and-aft rig]]s, [[spritsails]], appeared in the 2nd century BC in the [[Aegean Sea]] on small Greek craft.<ref name="Casson 1995, 243–245">[[Lionel Casson|Casson, Lionel]] (1995): "Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World", Johns Hopkins University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5130-8}}, pp.&nbsp;243–245</ref> Here a spritsail used on a [[Roman Empire|Roman]] merchant ship (3rd century AD).]]

====2nd century BC====
{{main list|2nd century BC#Inventions, discoveries, introductions}}
* '''2nd century BC:''' [[Paper]] in [[Han dynasty]] [[China]]{{efn|Although it is recorded that the Han dynasty (202 BC – AD 220) court eunuch [[Cai Lun]] (born c. 50–121 AD) invented the pulp papermaking process and established the use of new raw materials used in making paper, ancient padding and wrapping paper artifacts dating to the 2nd century BC have been found in China, the oldest example of pulp papermaking [[History of cartography#China|being a map]] from [[Fangmatan]], [[Gansu]].<ref>Buisseret (1998), 12.</ref>}}
*'''206 BC:''' [[Compass]] in [[Han dynasty]] [[China]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Guarnieri |first1=M |title=Once Upon a Time, the Compass |journal=IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine |date=2014|doi=10.1109/MIE.2014.2316044 |s2cid=11949042 }}</ref>
* '''Early 2nd century BC:''' [[Astrolabe]] invented by [[Apollonius of Perga]].

====1st century BC====
* '''1st century BC:''' Segmental [[arch bridge]] (e.g. [[Pont-Saint-Martin (bridge)|Pont-Saint-Martin]] or [[Ponte San Lorenzo]]) in [[Italy]], [[Roman Republic]]<ref>O'Connor, Colin: ''Roman Bridges'', Cambridge University Press, 1993, {{ISBN|0-521-39326-4}}, p.&nbsp;171</ref><ref>Galliazzo, Vittorio (1995): "I ponti romani", Vol. 1, Edizioni Canova, Treviso, {{ISBN|88-85066-66-6}}, pp.&nbsp;429–437</ref>
* '''1st century BC:''' News bulletin during the reign of Julius Caesar.<ref name="Chisholm 1911, p. 159">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Acta Diurna |volume=1 |page=159}}</ref> A paper form, i.e. the earliest [[newspaper]], later appeared during the late Han dynasty in the form of the [[Dibao]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761564853_4/newspaper.html |title=Newspaper - MSN Encarta |access-date=17 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206041632/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761564853_4/Newspaper.html |archive-date=6 December 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=if30>Irving Fang, ''A History of Mass Communication: Six Information Revolutions'', Focal Press, 1997, p. 30</ref><ref>Lamont, Ian, [https://www.scribd.com/doc/5021205/The-Rise-of-the-Press-in-Late-Imperial-China "The Rise of the Press in Late Imperial China"], 27 November 2007</ref>
* '''1st century BC:''' [[Arch dam]] ([[Glanum Dam]]) in [[Gallia Narbonensis]], [[Roman Republic]] (see also [[List of Roman dams]])<ref>Smith, Norman (1971): "A History of Dams", Peter Davies, London, {{ISBN|978-0-432-15090-0}}, pp.&nbsp;25–49 (33–35)</ref><ref>Schnitter, Niklaus (1978): "Römische Talsperren", ''Antike Welt'', Vol. 8, No. 2, pp.&nbsp;25–32 (31f.)</ref><ref>Schnitter, Niklaus (1987): "Verzeichnis geschichtlicher Talsperren bis Ende des 17. Jahrhunderts", in: Garbrecht, Günther (ed.): ''Historische Talsperren'', Verlag Konrad Wittwer, Stuttgart, Vol. 1, {{ISBN|3-87919-145-X}}, pp.&nbsp;9–20 (12)</ref><ref>Schnitter, Niklaus (1987): "Die Entwicklungsgeschichte der Bogenstaumauer", Garbrecht, Günther (ed.): ''Historische Talsperren'', Vol. 1, Verlag Konrad Wittwer, Stuttgart, {{ISBN|3-87919-145-X}}, pp.&nbsp;75–96 (80)</ref><ref>Hodge, A. Trevor (2000): "Reservoirs and Dams", in: [[Örjan Wikander|Wikander, Örjan]]: ''Handbook of Ancient Water Technology'', Technology and Change in History, Vol. 2, Brill, Leiden, {{ISBN|90-04-11123-9}}, pp.&nbsp;331–339 (332, fn. 2)</ref>
* '''Before 40 BC:''' [[Trip hammer]] in [[China]]<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 184" >Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 184.</ref>
* '''38 BC:''' An empty shell Glyph for [[0#Pre-Columbian Americas|zero]], is found on a [[Maya numerals]] Stela, from Chiapa de Corzo, [[Chiapas]]. Independently invented by [[Ptolemy|Claudius Ptolemy]], in the second century CE Egypt, and appearing in the calculations of the [[Almagest]].
* '''37 BC – 14 BC:''' [[Glass blowing]] developed in Jerusalem.<ref name="Avigad">Avigad, N (1983). ''Discovering Jerusalem''. Nashville. {{ISBN|0-8407-5299-7}}</ref><ref name="Tattona">Tatton-Brown, V. (1991). "The Roman Empire". In H. Tait (ed.) ''Five Thousand Years of Glass''. pp. 62–97. British Museum Press: London {{ISBN|0-8122-1888-4}}</ref><ref name="Stern">{{cite book|author1=Birgit Schlick-Nolte|author2=E. Marianne|title=Early glass of the ancient world: 1600 B.C.-A.D. 50 : Ernesto Wolf collection|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dJUsAQAAIAAJ&q=clay+blowpipe|year=1994|publisher=[[Gerd Hatje|Verlag Gerd Hatje]]|isbn=978-3-7757-0502-8|pages=81–83}}</ref>
* '''Before 25 BC:''' [[Reverse overshot water wheel]] by [[Roman engineering|Roman engineers]] in [[Rio Tinto (river)|Rio Tinto]], Spain<ref>Davies, Oliver: ''Roman Mines in Europe'', Oxford (1935)</ref>
* '''25 BC:''' [[Noodle]] in [[Lajia]] in [[China]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lu |first1=Houyuan |last2=Yang |first2=Xiaoyan |last3=Ye |first3=Maolin |title=Culinary archaeology: Millet noodles in Late Neolithic China |journal=Nature |date=13 October 2005 |volume=437 |issue=7061 |pages=967–968 |doi=10.1038/437967a |pmid=16222289|bibcode=2005Natur.437..967L |s2cid=4385122 }}</ref>

====1st century AD====
* '''1st century AD:''' The [[aeolipile]], a simple [[steam turbine]] is recorded by Hero of Alexandria.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-45691|title=turbine |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=2007 |access-date=18 July 2007}}</ref>
* '''1st century AD:''' The first use of [[respiratory protective equipment]] is documented by [[Pliny the Elder]] ({{circa|23 AD}}–79) using animal bladder skins to protect workers in Roman mines from red lead oxide dust.<ref>{{cite wikisource | title=Naturalis_Historia/Liber_XXXIII#XL|wslanguage=la}}</ref>
* '''1st century AD:''' Oldest surviving [[wine]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cosano |first1=Daniel |last2=Manuel Román |first2=Juan |last3=Esquivel |first3=Dolores |last4=Lafont |first4=Fernando |last5=Ruiz Arrebola |first5=José Rafael |date=2024-09-01 |title=New archaeochemical insights into Roman wine from Baetica |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |volume=57 |pages=104636 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104636 |bibcode=2024JArSR..57j4636C |issn=2352-409X|doi-access=free }}</ref>
* '''1st century AD:''' [[Vending machine]]s invented by [[Hero of Alexandria]].
* '''By the 1st century AD:''' The [[double-entry bookkeeping|double-entry bookkeeping system]] in the Roman Empire.<ref>{{cite book|author=J. R. Edwards|title=A History of Financial Accounting (RLE Accounting)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pd1JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA46|date=4 December 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-67881-5|page=46}}</ref>

====2nd century====
{{See also|2nd century#Inventions, discoveries, introductions}}
* '''132:''' [[Seismometer]] and [[pendulum]] in [[Han dynasty]] [[China]], built by [[Zhang Heng]]. It is a large metal urn-shaped instrument which employed either a suspended pendulum or [[inverted pendulum]] acting on inertia, like the ground tremors from [[earthquake]]s, to dislodge a metal ball by a lever trip device.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Sleeswyk AW, Sivin N | title=Dragons and toads: the Chinese seismoscope of BC. 132 | year=1983 | journal=[[Chinese Science]] | volume=6 | pages=1–19}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Needham | first = Joseph | title = Science and Civilization in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth | place = Cambridge | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1959 | pages = 626–635| bibcode = 1959scc3.book.....N}}</ref>
* '''2nd century:''' [[Carding]] in India.<ref name=Baber1>Baber (1996), page 57</ref>

====3rd century====
[[File:Römische Sägemühle.svg|thumb|Schematic of the Roman [[Hierapolis sawmill]]. Dated to the 3rd&nbsp;century&nbsp;AD, it is the earliest known machine to incorporate a [[Crank (mechanism)|crank]] and [[connecting rod]] mechanism.<ref name="Ritti, Grewe, Kessener 2007, 140, 161">Ritti, Tullia; Grewe, Klaus; Kessener, Paul (2007): "A Relief of a Water-powered Stone Saw Mill on a Sarcophagus at Hierapolis and its Implications", ''[[Journal of Roman Archaeology]]'', Vol. 20, pp.&nbsp;138–163 (140, 161)</ref><ref name="Grewe 2009, 429">Grewe, Klaus (2009): [http://www.freundeskreis-roemerkanal.de/Text/BAUTECHNIK%20IM%20ANTIKEN%20UND.pdf "Die Reliefdarstellung einer antiken Steinsägemaschine aus Hierapolis in Phrygien und ihre Bedeutung für die Technikgeschichte. Internationale Konferenz 13.−16. Juni 2007 in Istanbul"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511200049/http://www.freundeskreis-roemerkanal.de/Text/BAUTECHNIK%20IM%20ANTIKEN%20UND.pdf |date=11 May 2011}}, in: Bachmann, Martin (ed.): ''Bautechnik im antiken und vorantiken Kleinasien'', Byzas, Vol. 9, Ege Yayınları/Zero Prod. Ltd., Istanbul, {{ISBN|978-975-8072-23-1}}, pp.&nbsp;429–454 (429)</ref><ref name="Grewe 2010">Grewe, Klaus (2010): [http://www.traianvs.net/pdfs/2010_15_grewe.pdf "La máquina romana de serrar piedras. La representación en bajorrelieve de una sierra de piedras de la antigüedad, en Hierápolis de Frigia y su relevancia para la historia técnica (translation by Miguel Ordóñez)"], in: ''Las técnicas y las construcciones de la Ingeniería Romana'', V Congreso de las Obras Públicas Romanas, pp.&nbsp;381–401</ref>]]
* '''By at least the 3rd century:''' Crystallized sugar in India.<ref>Shaffer, Lynda N., "Southernization", ''Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History'' edited by Michael Adas, pp.&nbsp;311, Temple University Press, {{ISBN|1-56639-832-0}}.</ref>
* '''Early 3rd century:''' [[Woodblock printing]] is invented in [[Han dynasty]] [[China]] at sometime before 220 AD. This made China become the world's first [[print culture]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Rise of Modern China |last=Hsü |first=Immanuel C. Y. |year= 1970 |publisher= Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-19-501240-2 |page= 830}}</ref>
* '''Late 3rd century – Early 4th century:''' [[Water turbine]] in the [[Roman Empire]] in modern-day [[Tunisia]].<ref>[[Andrew Wilson (classical archaeologist)|Wilson, Andrew]] (1995): "Water-Power in North Africa and the Development of the Horizontal Water-Wheel", ''Journal of Roman Archaeology'', Vol. 8, pp.&nbsp;499–510 (507f.)</ref><ref>[[Örjan Wikander|Wikander, Örjan]] (2000): "The Water-Mill" in: Wikander, Örjan (ed.): ''Handbook of Ancient Water Technology'', Technology and Change in History, Vol. 2, Brill, Leiden, {{ISBN|90-04-11123-9}}, pp.&nbsp;371–400 (377)</ref><ref>Donners, K.; Waelkens, M.; Deckers, J. (2002): "Water Mills in the Area of Sagalassos: A Disappearing Ancient Technology", ''Anatolian Studies'', Vol. 52, pp.&nbsp;1–17 (13)</ref>

====4th century====
{{see also|4th century#Inventions, discoveries, introductions}}
* '''280 – 550:''' [[Chaturanga]], a precursor of [[Chess]] was invented in India during the [[Gupta Empire]].<ref>{{cite book | author=Leibs, Andrew | year=2004 | title=Sports and Games of the Renaissance | publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group | isbn=978-0-313-32772-8 | location=Westport, CT}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Estes, Rebecca |author2=Robinson, Dindy |year=1996 |title=World Cultures Through Art Activities |publisher=Teachers Ideas Press |location=Englewood, CO |isbn=978-1-56308-271-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=5 March 2014 |title=Hindi and the origins of chess |url=http://en.chessbase.com/post/hindi-and-the-origins-of-chess |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140308000809/http://en.chessbase.com/post/hindi-and-the-origins-of-chess |archive-date=8 March 2014 |work=chessbase.com}}</ref>
* '''4th century:''' Roman [[Dichroic glass]], which displays one of two different colors depending on lighting conditions.
* '''4th century:''' [[Simple suspension bridge#History|Simple suspension bridge]], independently invented in Pre-Columbian South America,  and the [[Hindu Kush]] range, of present-day [[Afghanistan]] and [[Pakistan]]. With Han dynasty travelers noting bridges being constructed from 3 or more vines or 3 ropes.<ref name="needham 1986 volume 4 part 3 187−189">Needham, Joseph. (1986d). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd. {{ISBN|0-521-07060-0}}, 187–189.</ref> Later bridges constructed utilizing cables of iron chains appeared in Tibet.<ref name="Peters">{{cite book
|author=Peters, Tom F.
|title=Transitions in Engineering: Guillaume Henri Dufour and the Early 19th Century Cable Suspension Bridges
|publisher=Birkhauser
|year=1987
|isbn=3-7643-1929-1
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=73JPiTuDYscC
}}</ref><ref>"suspension bridge" in Encyclopædia Britannica (2008). 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.</ref>
* '''4th century:''' [[Fishing reel]] in [[History of China#Ancient China|Ancient China]]: In literary records, the earliest evidence of the fishing reel comes from a 4th-century AD<ref>Hucker (1975), 206.</ref> work entitled ''Lives of Famous Immortals''.<ref>Ronan (1994), 41.</ref>
* '''347:''' [[Oil Well]]s and [[Borehole]] drilling in [[China]]. Such wells could reach depths of up to 240&nbsp;m (790&nbsp;ft).<ref name=ASTM>{{cite web|url=http://www.astm.org/COMMIT/D02/to1899_index.html|title=ASTM International – Standards Worldwide|website=www.astm.org|access-date=26 March 2018|archive-date=6 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706232229/https://www.astm.org/COMMIT/D02/to1899_index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 4th century – 5th century: [[Paddle wheel boat]] (in ''[[De rebus bellicis]]'') in [[Roman Empire]]<ref>De Rebus Bellicis (anon.), chapter XVII, text edited by Robert Ireland, in: BAR International Series 63, part 2, p. 34</ref>

====5th century====
{{see also|5th century#Inventions, discoveries, introductions}}
* '''400:''' The construction of the [[Iron pillar of Delhi]] in [[Mathura]] by the [[Gupta Empire]] shows the development of rust-resistant ferrous metallurgy in Ancient India,<ref>[http://home.iitk.ac.in/%7Ebala/journalpaper/journal/journalpaper_17.pdf ''On the Corrosion Resistance of the Delhi Iron Pillar''], R. Balasubramaniam, ''Corrosion Science'', Volume 42 (2000) pp. 2103–2129. ''Corrosion Science'' is a publication specialized in corrosion science and engineering.</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Yoshio Waseda |author2=Shigeru Suzuki | title = Characterization of corrosion products on steel surfaces |page=vii
|publisher=Springer | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=E_clmVK12YsC&q=iron+pillar+not+corrosive&pg=PR7 |isbn = 978-3-540-35177-1 |year = 2006}}</ref> although original texts do not survive to detail the specific processes invented in this period.
* '''5th century:''' The [[horse collar]] as a fully developed collar harness is developed in [[Northern and Southern dynasties]] [[China]] during the 5th century AD.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 28">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 28.</ref> The earliest depiction of it is a [[Dunhuang]] cave [[mural]] from the Chinese [[Northern Wei]] dynasty, the [[painting]] dated to 477–499.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 322">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 322.</ref>
* '''5th century – 6th century:''' [[Pointed arch bridge]] ([[Karamagara Bridge]]) in [[Cappadocia]], [[Eastern Roman Empire]]<ref>Galliazzo, Vittorio (1995): "I ponti romani", Vol. 1, Edizioni Canova, Treviso, {{ISBN|88-85066-66-6}}, p.&nbsp;92</ref><ref>Warren, John (1991): "Creswell's Use of the Theory of Dating by the Acuteness of the Pointed Arches in Early Muslim Architecture", ''[[Muqarnas (journal)|Muqarnas]]'', Vol. 8, pp.&nbsp;59–65 (61–63)</ref>
[[File:Nepali charka in action.jpg|thumb|A [[w:Demographics of Nepal|Nepali]] [[w:Spinning wheel|Charkha]] in action]]

====6th century====
* '''By the 6th century:''' [[Incense clock]] in China.<ref name=Schafer161>Schafer (1963), pages 160-161</ref><ref name=Bedini69>Bedini (1994), pages 69-80</ref>
* '''After 500:''' [[Charkha (spinning wheel)|Charkha]] (spinning wheel/cotton gin) invented in India (probably during the [[Vakataka dynasty]] of [[Maharashtra, India]]), between 500 and 1000 A.D.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Smith | first1 = C. Wayne | last2 = Cothren | first2 = J. Tom | title = Cotton: Origin, History, Technology, and Production | publisher = John Wiley & Sons | volume = 4 | date = 1999 | pages = viii | url = http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471180459.html | isbn = 978-0471180456
 | quote = The first improvement in spinning technology was the spinning wheel, which was invented in India between 500 and 1000 A.D.}}</ref>
* '''563:''' [[Pendentive]] [[dome]] ([[Hagia Sophia]]) in [[Constantinople]], [[Eastern Roman Empire]]<ref>Heinle, Erwin; Schlaich, Jörg (1996): "Kuppeln aller Zeiten, aller Kulturen", Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart, {{ISBN|3-421-03062-6}}, pp.&nbsp;30–32</ref>
* '''577:''' [[Match#Early matches|Sulfur matches]] exist in [[China]].
* '''589:''' [[Toilet paper]] in [[Sui dynasty]] [[China]], first mentioned by the official [[Yan Zhitui]] (531–591), with full evidence of continual use in subsequent dynasties.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 1 123">Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 123.</ref><ref>Hunter (1978), 207.</ref>

====7th century====
{{see also|7th century#Inventions, discoveries, introductions}}
* '''619:''' [[Toothbrush]] in [[China]] during the [[Tang dynasty]]<ref name=kumar-412413>{{cite book |last=Kumar |first=Jayanth V. |title=Textbook of preventive and community dentistry |year=2011 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-81-312-2530-1 |pages=412–413 |edition=2nd |chapter=Oral hygiene aids}}</ref>
* '''672:''' [[Greek fire]] in [[Constantinople]], [[Byzantine Empire]]: Greek fire, an [[incendiary device|incendiary weapon]] likely based on [[petroleum]] or [[naphtha]], is invented by Kallinikos, a Lebanese Greek refugee from [[Baalbek]], as described by [[Theophanes the Confessor|Theophanes]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Pryor|Jeffreys|2006|pp=607–609}}</ref> However, the historicity and exact chronology of this account is dubious,<ref>{{Harvnb|Theophanes|Turtledove|1982|p=52}}</ref> and it could be that Kallinikos merely introduced an improved version of an established weapon.<ref>{{Harvnb|Roland|1992|p=657}}; {{Harvnb|Pryor|Jeffreys|2006|p=608}}</ref>
* '''7th century:''' [[Banknote]] in [[Tang dynasty]] [[China]]: The banknote is [[Economy of the Song dynasty#The world's first paper money|first developed in China]] during the [[Tang dynasty|Tang]] and [[Song dynasty|Song]] dynasties, starting in the 7th century. Its roots are in merchant [[receipt]]s of deposit during the Tang dynasty (618–907), as [[Four occupations#The shang (商)|merchants]] and [[wholesaler]]s desire to avoid the heavy bulk of [[Ancient Chinese coinage|copper coinage]] in large commercial transactions.<ref name="Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais">Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais (2006), 156.</ref><ref name="Bowman">Bowman (2000), 105.</ref><ref name="gernet 1962 80">Gernet (1962), 80.</ref>
* '''7th century:''' [[Porcelain]] in [[Tang dynasty]] [[China]]: True porcelain is manufactured in northern China from roughly the beginning of the Tang dynasty in the 7th century, while true porcelain was not manufactured in southern China until about 300 years later, during the early 10th century.<ref>Wood (1999), 49.</ref>

====8th century====
{{see also|8th century#Inventions, discoveries, introductions}}

====9th century====
{{see also|9th century#Inventions, discoveries, introductions}}
[[File:Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba.jpg|thumb|A Mongol bomb thrown against a charging [[Japan]]ese [[samurai]] during the [[Mongol invasions of Japan]] after founding the [[Yuan dynasty]], 1281.]]
* '''9th century:''' [[Gunpowder]] in [[Tang dynasty]] [[China]]: Gunpowder is, according to prevailing academic consensus, discovered in the 9th century by [[Chinese alchemy|Chinese alchemists]] searching for an [[elixir of life|elixir of immortality]].<ref name="Jack Kelly 2005">Jack Kelly ''Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, and Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World'', Perseus Books Group: 2005, {{ISBN|0465037224}}, 9780465037223: pp. 2-5</ref> Evidence of gunpowder's first use in China comes from the [[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period]] (618–907).<ref>Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 8–9, 80–82.</ref> The earliest known recorded recipes for gunpowder are written by Zeng Gongliang, Ding Du, and Yang Weide in the ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'', a military manuscript compiled in 1044 during the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279).<ref>Needham (1987), Volume 5, Part 7, 70–73, 120–124.</ref><ref name="gernet 1996 311">Gernet (1996), 311.</ref><ref>Day & McNeil (1996), 785.</ref>
* '''9th century:''' [[Playing card]] in [[Tang dynasty]] [[China]]<ref>{{Harvnb|Needham|1954|pp=[https://archive.org/stream/ScienceAndCivilisationInChina/Science_and_Civilisation_in_China_Vol_1_Introductory_Orientations#page/n177/mode/2up 131–132]}}.</ref><ref name="wilkinson">{{cite journal|last=Wilkinson | first=W.H. | title=Chinese Origin of Playing Cards | journal=[[American Anthropologist]] | volume=VIII | issue=1 | year=1895 | pages=61–78 | doi=10.1525/aa.1895.8.1.02a00070 | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1448960 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="lo 2000 390">{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1017/S0041977X00008466| title = The game of leaves: An inquiry into the origin of Chinese playing cards| journal = Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies| volume = 63| issue = 3| pages = 389–406| year = 2009| last1 = Lo | first1 = A. | s2cid = 159872810}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Needham|2004|p=[https://archive.org/stream/ScienceAndCivilisationInChina/Science_and_Civilisation_in_China_Vol_4-1_Physics_and_Physical_Technology_Physics#page/n379/mode/2up/search/dominoes 328]}} "it is also now rather well-established that dominoes and playing-cards were originally Chinese developments from dice."</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Needham|2004|p=[https://archive.org/stream/ScienceAndCivilisationInChina/Science_and_Civilisation_in_China_Vol_4-1_Physics_and_Physical_Technology_Physics#page/n383/mode/2up 332]}} "Numbered dice, anciently widespread, were on a related line of development which gave rise to dominoes and playing-cards (+9th-century China)."</ref>

====10th century====
{{see also|10th century#Inventions, discoveries, introductions}}
* '''10th century:''' [[Fire lance]] in [[Song dynasty]] [[China]], developed in the 10th century with a tube of first bamboo and later on metal that shot a weak [[gunpowder]] blast of flame and shrapnel, its earliest depiction is a painting found at [[Dunhuang]].<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 224–225, 232–233, 241–244.</ref> Fire lance is the earliest [[firearm]] in the world and one of the earliest gunpowder weapons.<ref name=Helaine>{{cite book|author=Helaine Selin|title=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=raKRY3KQspsC&pg=PA389|access-date=30 July 2013|date=1 January 1997|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-7923-4066-9|page=389}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Crosby | first = Alfred W. | title = Throwing Fire: Projectile Technology Through History | year = 2002 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | isbn =0-521-79158-8}}</ref>
* '''10th century:''' [[Fireworks]] in [[Song dynasty]] [[China]]: Fireworks first appear in China during the Song dynasty (960–1279), in the early age of [[gunpowder]]. Fireworks could be purchased from market vendors; these were made of sticks of [[bamboo]] packed with gunpowder.<ref>Gernet (1962), 186.</ref>
* '''974:''' [[Fountain pen]]: invented at the request of [[al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah]] in [[Egypt in the Middle Ages|Arab Egypt]].<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=[[Journal of Semitic Studies]]|volume=26|issue=1|year=1981|pages=229–234|title=A Mediaeval Islamic Prototype of the Fountain Pen?|first=C. E.|last=Bosworth|quote= ...not more than a few days passed before the craftsman, to whom the construction of this contrivance had been described, brought in the pen, fashioned from gold. He then filled it with ink and wrote with it, and it really did write. The pen released a little more ink than was necessary. Hence al-Mu'izz ordered that it should be adjusted slightly, and he did this. He brought forward the pen and behold, it turned out to be a pen which can be turned upside down in the hand and tipped from side to side, and no trace of ink appears from it. When a secretary takes up the pen and writes with it, he is able to write in the most elegant script that could possibly be desired; then, when he lifts the pen off the sheet of writing material, it holds in the ink. I observed that it was a wonderful piece of work, the like of which I had never imagined I would ever see.|doi=10.1093/jss/26.2.229}}</ref>

====11th century====
{{main list|11th century#Inventions, discoveries, introductions}}
* '''11th century:''' Early versions of the [[Bessemer process]] are developed in China.
* '''11th century:''' [[Su Song#The endless chain drive|Endless power-transmitting chain drive]] by [[Su Song]] for the development an astronomical clock (the [[Su Song#Horology and mechanical engineering|Cosmic Engine]])<ref name="needham volume 4 111">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 111.</ref>
* '''11th century:''' [[Calico]] was developed in [[Kozhikode|Calicut]], India.<ref name="eb-calico2">''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2008). [https://www.britannica.com/topic/calico-textile "calico"].</ref>
* '''1088:''' [[Movable type]] in [[Song dynasty]] [[China]]: The first record of a movable type system is in the ''[[Dream Pool Essays]]'', which attributes the invention of the movable type to [[Bi Sheng]].<ref>Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 201–202.</ref><ref name="gernet 1996 335">Gernet (1996), 335.</ref><ref name="bowman 2000 599">Bowman (2000), 599.</ref><ref name="day mcneil 70">Day & McNeil (1996), 70.</ref>

====12th century====

====13th century====
{{see also|13th century#Inventions, discoveries, introductions}}
* '''13th century:''' [[Rocket]] for military and recreational uses date back to at least 13th-century China.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.solarviews.com/eng/rocket.htm|title=A Brief History of Rocketry |publisher=Solarviews.com |access-date=14 June 2012}}</ref>
* '''13th century:''' The earliest form of [[mechanical escapement]], the [[verge escapement]] in [[Europe]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/timeinhistoryevo00whit|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/timeinhistoryevo00whit/page/104 104]|title=Time in History: Views of Time from Prehistory to the Present Day|first=G. J.|last=Whitrow|date=26 March 1989|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=26 March 2018|via=Internet Archive|isbn=9780192852113}}</ref>
* '''13th century:''' [[Button]]s (combined with buttonholes) as a functional fastening for closing clothes appear first in [[Germany]].<ref>Lynn White: "The Act of Invention: Causes, Contexts, Continuities and Consequences", ''Technology and Culture'', Vol. 3, No. 4 (Autumn, 1962), pp. 486–500 (497f. & 500)</ref>
* '''13th century:''' [[Bomb|Explosive bomb]] in [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]] Manchuria: Explosive bombs are used in 1221 by the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]] against a [[Song dynasty]] city.<ref name="Connolly">{{cite book |author=Peter Connolly |url=https://archive.org/details/hutchinsondictio0000benn/page/356 |title=The Hutchinson Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval Warfare |date=1 November 1998 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-57958-116-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/hutchinsondictio0000benn/page/356 356]}}</ref> The first accounts of bombs made of cast iron shells packed with explosive gunpowder are documented in the 13th century in China and are called "thunder-crash bombs",<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 170–174.</ref> coined during a [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]] naval battle in 1231.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 171">Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 171.</ref>
* '''13th century:''' [[Hand cannon]] in [[Yuan dynasty]] China: The earliest hand cannon dates to the 13th century based on archaeological evidence from a [[Heilongjiang]] excavation. There is also written evidence in the ''Yuanshi'' (1370) on Li Tang, an [[Jurchens|ethnic Jurchen]] commander under the Yuan dynasty who in 1288 suppresses the rebellion of the Christian prince Nayan with his "gun-soldiers" or ''chongzu'', this being the earliest known event where this phrase is used.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 293–294.</ref>
* '''13th century:''' Earliest documented [[snow goggles]], a type of sunglasses, made of flattened walrus or caribou ivory are used by the Inuit peoples in the arctic regions of North America.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://collections.civilisations.ca/public/pages/cmccpublic/alt-emupublic/Display.php?irn=855927|title=Prehistoric Inuit Snow-Goggles, circa 1200|access-date=2009-01-25|publisher=[[Canadian Museum of Civilization]] | date=1997-10-03|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706173656/http://collections.civilisations.ca/public/pages/cmccpublic/alt-emupublic/Display.php?irn=855927|archive-date=2011-07-06}}<br />{{cite book|title=Origin of Everyday Things|last1=Acton|first1=Johnny|last2=Adams|first2=Tania|last3=Packer|first3=Matt|editor-first=Jo|editor-last=Swinnerton|year=2006|publisher=[[Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.]]|isbn=1-4027-4302-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/originofeveryday0000acto/page/254 254]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/originofeveryday0000acto/page/254}}</ref><ref>Inuit hero Nanook from the silent documentary film ''[[Nanook of the North]]'' (1922) wearing whale bone [https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/51/b0/57/51b057742fc5e30e5695bc9fe3a2afe3.jpg snow-goggles] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304083959/https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/51/b0/57/51b057742fc5e30e5695bc9fe3a2afe3.jpg |date=March 4, 2016 }} Retrieved December 5, 2014</ref> In China, the first sunglasses consisting of flat panes of [[smoky quartz]] are documented.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/sunglasses.htm|title=Sunglasses History – The Invention of Sunglasses|access-date=2007-06-28|last=Ament|first=Phil|date=2006-12-04|work=The Great Idea Finder|publisher=Vaunt Design Group|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703224202/http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/sunglasses.htm|archive-date=2007-07-03}}</ref><ref name="Vision">{{cite web | last=Vision | first=Website | title=Torquay Museum | website=Torquay Museum | url=http://www.torquaymuseum.org/explore/collections-spotlight/explorers/chinese-sunglasses | access-date=2021-08-07}}</ref>
* '''13th century - 14th century:''' [[Cotton gin|Worm gear cotton gin]] in India.<ref>{{cite book |last=Habib |first=Irfan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K8kO4J3mXUAC&pg=PA54 |title=Economic History of Medieval India, 1200-1500 |publisher=[[Pearson Education]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-81-317-2791-1 |page=54 |author-link=Irfan Habib}}</ref>
* '''1277:''' [[Land mine]] in [[Song dynasty]] [[China]]: Textual evidence suggests that the first use of a land mine in history is by a Song dynasty brigadier general known as Lou Qianxia, who uses an 'enormous bomb' (''huo pao'') to kill [[History of the Song dynasty#Yuan invasion and end of the Song dynasty|Mongol soldiers]] invading [[Guangxi]] in 1277.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 175–176, 192.</ref>
* '''1286:''' [[Eyeglasses]] in [[Italy]]<ref>Vincent Ilardi, ''Renaissance Vision from Spectacles to Telescopes'' (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: American Philosophical Society, 2007), [https://books.google.com/books?id=peIL7hVQUmwC&pg=PA5 page 5].</ref>

====14th century====
* '''Early 14th century – Mid 14th century:''' [[Multistage rocket]] in [[Ming dynasty]] [[China]] described in ''[[Huolongjing]]'' by [[Jiao Yu]].
* '''By at least 1326:''' [[Cannon]] in [[Ming dynasty]] [[China]]<ref>{{cite journal|first=Lu|last=Gwei-Djen|author2=Joseph Needham |author3=Phan Chi-Hsing |date=July 1988|journal=Technology and Culture|volume=29|issue=3|pages=594–605|publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]]|title=The Oldest Representation of a Bombard|doi=10.2307/3105275|jstor=3105275|s2cid=112733319 }}</ref>
* '''14th century:''' Painting [[Canvas]] was first used in [[Italy]].<ref>Gordon, xiii</ref>
* '''14th century:''' [[Jacob's staff]] described by [[Levi ben Gerson]]
* '''14th century:''' [[Naval mine]] in [[Ming dynasty]] [[China]]: Mentioned in the ''[[Huolongjing]]'' military manuscript written by [[Jiao Yu]] (fl. 14th to early 15th century) and [[Liu Bowen]] (1311–1375), describing naval mines used at sea or on rivers and lakes, made of [[wrought iron]] and enclosed in an ox bladder. A later model is documented in [[Song Yingxing]]'s encyclopedia written in 1637.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 203–205.</ref>
* '''14th century:''' [[Bidriware]] in the [[Bahmani Sultanate]] in [[India]].<ref name="TOI">{{cite news |date=2 January 2012 |title=Proving their mettle in metal craft |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Proving-their-mettle-in-metal-craft/articleshow/11332582.cms |url-status=live |access-date=2 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508043800/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-02/hyderabad/30580986_1_bidriware-hyderabad-bidar |archive-date=8 May 2013}}</ref>
[[File:Handtiegelpresse von 1811.jpg|thumb|upright|The 15th-century invention of the [[printing press]] with [[movable type]] by the German [[Johannes Gutenberg]].<ref>See [http://rhsweb.org/library/1000PeopleMillennium.htm People of the Millennium] for an overview of the wide acclaim. In 1999, the [[A&E Network]] ranked [http://www.wmich.edu/mus-gened/mus170/biography100 Gutenberg no. 1 on their "People of the Millennium" countdown]. In 1997, [[Time–Life]] magazine picked [http://www.mainz.de/gutenberg/g2000.htm Gutenberg's invention as the most important of the second millennium] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100310192514/http://www.mainz.de/gutenberg/g2000.htm |date=10 March 2010}}; the same did four prominent US journalists in their 1998 resume [http://rhsweb.org/library/1000PeopleMillennium.htm 1,000 Years, 1,000 People: Ranking The Men and Women Who Shaped The Millennium]. The [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07090a.htm Johann Gutenberg] entry of the [[Catholic Encyclopedia]] describes his invention as having made a practically unparalleled cultural impact in the [[Christian era]].</ref> ]]

====15th century====
{{see also|15th century#Inventions, discoveries, introductions}}
* '''Early 15th century:''' [[Coil spring]] in [[Europe]]<ref name="White1966" >{{Cite book
| last=White
| first=Lynn Jr.
| title=Medieval Technology and Social Change
| publisher=Oxford Univ. Press
| year=1966
| location=New York
| isbn=0-19-500266-0
| url=https://archive.org/details/medievaltechnolo00whit
}}, p.126-127</ref>
* '''15th century:''' [[Mainspring]] in Europe<ref name="White1966"/>
* '''15th century:''' [[Rifle]] in Europe
* '''1420s:''' [[Brace (tool)|Brace]] in [[County of Flanders|Flanders]], [[Holy Roman Empire]]<ref name="White 1968, 462f.">[[Lynn Townsend White, Jr.|White, Lynn]] (1962): "Medieval Technology and Social Change", At the Clarendon Press, Oxford, p.&nbsp;112</ref>
* '''1439:''' [[Printing press]] in [[Mainz, Germany]]: The printing press is invented in the [[Holy Roman Empire]] by [[Johannes Gutenberg]] before 1440, based on existing [[screw press]]es. The first confirmed record of a press appeared in a 1439 [[lawsuit]] against Gutenberg.<ref name="meggs58-69">Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1998. (pp 58–69) {{ISBN|0-471-29198-6}}</ref>
* '''Mid 15th century:''' The [[Arquebus]] (also spelled Harquebus) is invented, possibly in Spain.<ref>{{cite book|title=Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sttPAAAAMAAJ&pg=373|access-date=5 January 2016|volume=1|year=1833|publisher=C. Knight|pages=373–374}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/technology/harquebus |title=harquebus weapon |website=Britannica.com |access-date=5 January 2016}}</ref>
* '''1480s:''' [[Mariner's astrolabe]] in [[Portuguese discoveries|Portuguese circumnavigation of Africa]]<ref>Stimson, Alan (1985): "The Mariner's Astrolabe. A Survey of 48 Surviving Examples", UC Biblioteca Geral, Coimbra, p.&nbsp;576</ref>

==Early modern era==
=== 16th century ===
* '''16th century:''' [[Chintz]] or [[Woodblock printing|printed]] clothing in [[Qutb Shahi dynasty|Golconda]], India<ref name="Allen G. Noble">{{cite book |last=Noble |first=Allen G. |title=India: Cultural Patterns And Processes |publisher=Routledge |year=2019 |isbn=9780429724633 |page=1 |jstor=44148394}}</ref>
* '''16th century:'''  [[Hookah]] by Irfan Shaikh, at the court of the Mughal emperor [[Akbar]] I (1542{{endash}}1605).
<ref name="iranica">{{cite web |author=Razpush, Shahnaz |date=15 December 2000 |title=ḠALYĀN |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/galyan- |access-date=19 December 2012 |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Iranica]] |pages=261–265 |volume=X}}</ref><ref name="Sivaramakrishnan4-5">{{cite book |last=Sivaramakrishnan |first=V. M. |title=Tobacco and Areca Nut |publisher=Orient Blackswan |year=2001 |isbn=81-250-2013-6 |location=[[Hyderabad (India)|Hyderabad]] |pages=4–5}}</ref>
* '''1560:''' [[Dry dock#Floating|Floating dry dock]] in [[Venice]], [[Venetian Republic]]<ref>[[George Sarton|Sarton, George]] (1946): "Floating Docks in the Sixteenth Century", ''[[Isis (journal)|Isis]]'', Vol. 36, No. 3/4, pp.&nbsp;153–154 (153f.)</ref>
* '''1569:''' [[Mercator Projection]] map created by [[Gerardus Mercator]]
* '''1589:''' [[Stocking frame]]: Invented by [[William Lee (inventor)|William Lee]].<ref>{{cite web|title=William Lee English inventor|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Lee|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=13 June 2017|language=en}}</ref>
* '''1594:''' [[Backstaff]]: Invented by Captain [[John Davis (English explorer)|John Davis]].
* '''By at least 1597:''' [[Revolver]]: Invented by Hans Stopler.

===17th century===
[[File:Relation Aller Fuernemmen und gedenckwuerdigen Historien (1609).jpg|thumb|upright|A 1609 title page of the ''[[Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien|Relation]]'', the world's first newspaper (first published in 1605)<ref name="World Association of Newspapers"/><ref name="Weber 2006, 396f."/>]]
* '''1605:''' [[Newspaper]] (''[[Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien|Relation]]''): [[Johann Carolus]] in [[Strassburg]] (see also [[List of the oldest newspapers]])<ref name="World Association of Newspapers">World Association of Newspapers: [http://www.wan-press.org/article6476.html "Newspapers: 400 Years Young!"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100310235015/http://www.wan-press.org/article6476.html |date=10 March 2010}}</ref><ref name="Weber 2006, 396f.">Weber, Johannes (2006): "Strassburg, 1605: The Origins of the Newspaper in Europe", ''German History'', Vol. 24, No. 3, pp.&nbsp;387–412 (396f.)</ref>
* '''1608:''' [[Telescope]]: Patent applied for by [[Hans Lippershey]]. Actual inventor unknown since it seemed to already be a common item being offered by the spectacle makers in the Netherlands with [[Jacob Metius]] also applying for patent and the son of [[Zacharias Janssen]] making a claim 47 years later that his father invented it.
* '''1620:''' [[Optical microscope#Compound microscope|Compound microscopes]], which combine an [[Objective (optics)|objective lens]] with an [[eyepiece]] to view a [[real image]], first appear in Europe. Apparently derived from the telescope, actual inventor unknown, variously attributed to [[Zacharias Janssen]] (his son claiming it was invented in 1590), [[Cornelis Drebbel]], and [[Galileo Galilei]].<ref>David Macaulay, The Way Things Work Now, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – 2016, page 383</ref>
* '''1630:''' [[Slide rule]]: invented by [[William Oughtred]]<ref>Michelle Selinger, ''Teaching Mathematics'' (1994), p. 142.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/delamain.html |title=The Galileo Project |publisher=Galileo.rice.edu |access-date=31 October 2012}}</ref>
* '''1642:''' [[Mechanical calculator]]. The [[Pascaline]] is built by [[Blaise Pascal]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Brief History of the Calculator I Oxford Open Learning |url=https://www.ool.co.uk/blog/brief-history-calculator/ |access-date=2023-04-12 |website=www.ool.co.uk}}</ref>
* '''1643:''' [[Barometer]]: invented by [[Evangelista Torricelli]], or possibly up to three years earlier by [[Gasparo Berti]].<ref name="http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/history/barometerhistory1.htm">{{cite web|url=http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/history/barometerhistory1.htm |title=The Invention of the Barometer |publisher=Islandnet.com |access-date=4 February 2010}}</ref>
* '''1650:''' [[Vacuum pump]]: Invented by [[Otto von Guericke]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=da C. Andrade |first=E. N. |date=1959-03-01 |title=The history of the vacuum pump |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0042-207X%2859%2990555-X |journal=Vacuum |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=41–47 |doi=10.1016/0042-207X(59)90555-X |bibcode=1959Vacuu...9...41D |issn=0042-207X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* '''1656:''' [[Pendulum clock]]: Invented by [[Christiaan Huygens]]. It was first conceptualized in 1637 by [[Galileo Galilei]] but he was unable to create a working model.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The invention of the pendulum clock {{!}} THE SEIKO MUSEUM GINZA |url=https://museum.seiko.co.jp/en/ |access-date=2023-04-12 |website=THE SEIKO MUSEUM |language=en}}</ref>
* '''1663:''' [[Electrostatic generator|Friction machine]]: Invented by [[Otto von Guericke]].
* '''1668:''' First functional [[reflecting telescope]] constructed by [[Isaac Newton]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hall |first=A. Rupert (Alfred Rupert) |url=http://archive.org/details/isaacnewtonadven0000hall |title=Isaac Newton, adventurer in thought |date=1996 |publisher=Cambridge; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-521-56669-8}}</ref>
* '''1679:''' [[Pressure-cooker]]: Invented by [[Denis Papin]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hindle |first1=Brooke |last2=Lubar |first2=Steven |date=1988 |title=Engines of Change: The American Industrial Revolution, 1790-1860 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/25143112 |journal=Labour / Le Travail |volume=22 |pages=378 |doi=10.2307/25143112 |jstor=25143112 |issn=0700-3862|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* '''1680:''' [[Christiaan Huygens]] provides the first known description of a [[Gunpowder engine|piston engine]].<ref>Thurston, pp 25</ref>
* '''1698:''' [[Thomas Savery]] develops a [[Thomas Savery#Steam-powered pump|steam-powered water pump]]: for draining mines<ref>{{Citation |title=Savery and his Fire Engine |date=2011-02-17 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511708169.003 |work=A Short History of the Steam Engine |pages=18–28 |access-date=2023-04-11 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/cbo9780511708169.003 |isbn=9781108012287 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===18th century===

====1700s====
* '''1709:''' [[Bartolomeo Cristofori]] crafts the first [[piano]].
* '''1709:''' [[Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit]] invents the alcohol [[thermometer]].

====1710s====
* '''1712:''' [[Thomas Newcomen]] builds the first commercial steam engine to pump water out of mines.<ref name="McNeil1990">{{cite book |title=An Encyclopedia of the History of Technology |last=McNeil |first=Ian |year=1990 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=0-415-14792-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780415147927}}</ref> Newcomen's engine, unlike [[Thomas Savery]]'s, uses a piston.

====1730s====
* '''1730:''' [[Thomas Godfrey (inventor)|Thomas Godfrey]] and [[John Hadley]] independently develop the [[Octant (instrument)|octant]]
* '''1733:''' [[John Kay (flying shuttle)|John Kay]] enables one person to operate a loom with the [[flying shuttle]]<ref name="Lord1903">{{cite book |title=Memoir of John Kay, of Bury: Inventory of the Fly-Shuttle |last=Lord |first=John |year=1903 |publisher=J. Clegg |location=Rochdale |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=POgEAAAAYAAJ&q=%22john%20kay%22%20loom&pg=PA5}}</ref>
* '''1738:''' [[Lewis Paul]] and [[John Wyatt (inventor)|John Wyatt]] invent the first [[Paul-Wyatt cotton mills|mechanized cotton spinning machine]].

====1740s====
* '''1742:''' [[Benjamin Franklin]] invents the [[Franklin stove]].
* '''1745:''' [[Pieter van Musschenbroek|Musschenbroek]] and [[Ewald Georg von Kleist|Kleist]] independently develop the [[Leyden jar]], an early form of [[capacitor]].
* '''1746:''' [[John Roebuck]] invents the [[lead chamber process]].

====1750s====
* '''1752:''' [[Benjamin Franklin]] invents the [[lightning rod]].
* '''1755:''' [[William Cullen]] invents the first artificial [[refrigeration]] machine.

====1760s====
* '''1760:''' [[John Joseph Merlin]] invents the first  [[Roller skates]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pollak |first=Michael |date=2015-04-24 |title=The History of Roller Skates |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/26/nyregion/the-history-of-roller-skates.html |access-date=2023-04-11 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> 
* '''1764:''' [[James Hargreaves]] invents the [[spinning jenny]].
* '''1765:''' [[James Watt]] invents the improved [[steam engine]] utilizing a separate condenser.
* '''1767:''' [[Joseph Priestley]] invents a method for the production of [[carbonated water]].
* '''1769:''' [[Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot]] invents the first steam-powered vehicle capable of carrying passengers, an early [[car]].

====1770s====
* '''1770:''' [[Richard Salter (inventor)|Richard Salter]] invents the earliest known design for a [[weighing scale]].
* '''1774:''' [[John Wilkinson (industrialist)|John Wilkinson]] invents his [[boring (manufacturing)|boring]] machine, considered by some to be the first [[machine tool]].
* '''1775:''' [[Jesse Ramsden]] invents the modern [[screw-cutting lathe]].
* '''1776:''' [[John Wilkinson (industrialist)|John Wilkinson]] invents a mechanical [[air compressor]] that would become the prototype for all later mechanical compressors.
* '''1778:''' [[Robert Barron (locksmith)|Robert Barron]] invents the first [[lever tumbler lock]].

====1780s====
*'''1780:''' [[Hyder Ali]] of [[Kingdom of Mysore|Mysore]], India develops the first [[Mysorean rockets|metal-cylinder rockets]].<ref name="Roddam">{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/37179995 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727034357/https://www.nal.res.in/pdf/pdfrocket.pdf |title=Rockets in Mysore and Britain, 1750–1850 A.D. |last=Narasimha |first=Roddam |date=27 July 2011 |archive-date=27 July 2011 |publisher=National Aeronautical Laboratory and Indian Institute of Science.}}</ref>
* '''1783:''' [[Claude de Jouffroy]] builds the first [[steamboat]].
* '''1783:''' [[Montgolfier brothers|Joseph-Ralf]] and [[Montgolfier brothers|Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier]] build the first manned [[hot air balloon]].
* '''1783:''' [[Louis-Sébastien Lenormand]] invents and uses the first modern [[parachute]].
* '''1785:''' [[Martinus van Marum]] is the first to use the [[electrolysis]] technique.
* '''1786:''' [[Andrew Meikle]] invents the [[threshing machine]].
* '''1789:''' [[Edmund Cartwright]] invents the [[power loom]].

====1790s====
* '''1790:''' [[Thomas Saint]] invents the [[sewing machine]].
* '''1792:''' [[Claude Chappe]] invents the modern semaphore [[telegraph]].
* '''1793:''' [[Eli Whitney]] invents the modern [[cotton gin]].
* '''1795:''' [[Joseph Bramah]] invents the [[hydraulic press]].
* '''1796:''' [[Alois Senefelder]] invents the [[lithography]] printing technique.<ref name="meggspage146">Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1998. p 146 {{ISBN|0-471-29198-6}}</ref>
* '''1797:''' [[Samuel Bentham]] invents [[plywood]].
* '''1799:''' [[George Medhurst]] invents the first motorized [[air compressor]].
* '''1799:''' The first [[paper machine]] is invented by [[Louis-Nicolas Robert]].

==Late modern period==
===19th century===

====1800s====
* '''1800:''' [[Alessandro Volta]] invents the [[voltaic pile]], an early form of [[Battery (electricity)|battery]] in [[Italy]], based on previous works by [[Luigi Galvani]].
* '''1802:''' [[Humphry Davy]] invents the [[arc lamp]] (exact date unclear; not practical as a light source until the invention of efficient electric generators).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archives.theiet.org/about/Arclamps/arclamps.htm |title=The Arc Lamp |access-date=29 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110207170412/http://archives.theiet.org/about/Arclamps/arclamps.htm |archive-date=7 February 2011}}</ref>
* '''1804:''' [[Friedrich Sertürner]] discovers [[morphine]] as the first active alkaloid extracted from the opium poppy plant.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MtOiLVWBn8cC&pg=PA20|page=20|title=Molecular, clinical and environmental toxicology|author=Andreas Luch|publisher=Springer|year=2009|isbn=978-3-7643-8335-0}}</ref>
* '''1804:''' [[Joseph Marie Jacquard]] develops his automated [[Jacquard loom]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Programming patterns: the story of the Jacquard loom |url=https://www.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/jacquard-loom |access-date=2023-04-12 |website=Science and Industry Museum |language=en}}</ref>
* '''1804:''' [[Richard Trevithick]] invents the [[steam locomotive]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/rhagor/article/trevithic_loco/ |title=Richard Trevithick's steam locomotive &#124; Rhagor |access-date=3 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110415125004/http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/rhagor/article/trevithic_loco |archive-date=15 April 2011}}</ref>
* '''1804:''' [[Hanaoka Seishū]] creates tsūsensan, the first modern [[general anesthetic]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Izuo|first1=M|title=Medical history: Seishu Hanaoka and his success in breast cancer surgery under general anesthesia two hundred years ago.|journal=Breast Cancer|date=2004|volume=11|issue=4|pages=319–324|pmid=15604985|location=Tokyo, Japan|doi=10.1007/bf02968037|s2cid=43428862}}</ref>
* '''1807:''' [[Nicéphore Niépce]] invents  an early [[internal combustion engine]] capable of doing useful work.
* '''1807:''' [[François Isaac de Rivaz]] designs the first automobile powered by an [[internal combustion engine]] fuelled by [[hydrogen]].
* '''1807:''' [[Robert Fulton]] expands water transportation and trade with the workable steamboat.

====1810s====
[[File:KarlVonDrais.jpg|thumb|Karl von Drais on his original Laufmaschine, the earliest two-wheeler, or hobbyhorse, in 1819]]
* '''1810:''' [[Nicolas Appert]] invents the [[canning]] process for food.<ref>''Applied Nutrition and Food Technology'', Jesse D. Dagoon, 1989; p. 2.</ref>
* '''1810:''' [[Abraham-Louis Breguet]] creates the first wristwatch.<ref>{{Cite web|title=First wristwatch {{!}} Breguet|url=https://www.breguet.com/en/history/inventions/first-wristwatch|access-date=14 June 2021|website=www.breguet.com}}</ref>
* '''1811:''' [[Friedrich Koenig]] invents the first powered [[printing press]], which was also the first to use a cylinder.
* '''1812:''' [[William Reid Clanny]] pioneered the invention of the [[safety lamp]] which he improved in later years. Safety lamps based on Clanny's improved design were used until the adoption of electric lamps.
* '''1814:''' [[James Fox (engineer)|James Fox]] invents the modern [[Planer (metalworking)|planing machine]], though [[Matthew Murray]] of [[Leeds]] and [[Richard Roberts (engineer)|Richard Roberts]] of [[Manchester]] have also been credited at times with its invention.
* '''1816:''' [[René Laennec]]  invents the first [[Stethoscope]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=1816-1882: Early Stethoscope |url=https://emsmuseum.org/collections/archives/stethoscopes/stethoscopes/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=EMS Museum |language=en-US}}</ref>
* '''1816:''' [[Francis Ronalds]] builds the first working [[electric telegraph]] using [[electrostatic]] means.
* '''1816:''' [[Robert Stirling]] invents the [[Stirling engine]].<ref>R. Sier (1999)</ref>
* '''1817:''' Baron [[Karl von Drais]] invents the [[dandy horse]], an early [[velocipede]] and precursor to the modern [[bicycle]].
* '''1818:''' [[Marc Isambard Brunel]] invents the [[tunnelling shield]].

====1820s====
* '''1822:''' [[Thomas Blanchard (inventor)|Thomas Blanchard]] invents the pattern-tracing lathe (actually more like a [[shaper]]). The lathe can copy symmetrical shapes and is used for making gun stocks, and later, ax handles.<ref name="Thomson 2009">{{cite book
|title= Structures of Change in the Mechanical Age: Technological Invention in the United States 1790-1865
|last= Thomson
|first= Ross
|year= 2009
|publisher= The Johns Hopkins University Press
|location= Baltimore, MD
|isbn= 978-0-8018-9141-0
|url-access= registration
|url= https://archive.org/details/structuresofchan0000thom
}}
</ref><ref name="Hounshell1984p35">{{Harvnb|Hounshell|1984|p=35}}</ref>
* '''1822:''' [[Nicéphore Niépce]] invents [[Heliography]], the first photographic process.
* '''1822:''' [[Charles Babbage]], considered the "[[computer pioneer|father of the computer]]",<ref>{{cite book | author=Halacy, Daniel Stephen | title = Charles Babbage, Father of the Computer | url=https://archive.org/details/charlesbabbagefa00hala | url-access=registration | year = 1970 | publisher=Crowell-Collier Press | isbn = 0-02-741370-5}}</ref> begins building the first programmable [[mechanical computer]].
* '''1823:''' [[Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner]] invents the [[Döbereiner's lamp|first lighter]].
* '''1824:''' [[Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse]] invents the [[bolt action|bolt-action rifle]].<ref>Flatnes, Oyvind. ''From Musket to Metallic Cartridge: A Practical History of Black Powder Firearms''. Crowood Press, 2013, pp. 125–130. {{ISBN|978-1847975935}}</ref>
* '''1824:''' [[William Sturgeon]] invents the [[electromagnet]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sturgeon |first=W. |year=1825 |title=Improved Electro Magnetic Apparatus |journal=Trans. Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures, & Commerce |volume=43 |pages=37–52}} cited in {{cite book |last=Miller |first=T.J.E |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E8VroIWyjB8C&pg=PA7 |title=Electronic Control of Switched Reluctance Machines |publisher=Newnes |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7506-5073-1 |pages=7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203032419/https://books.google.com/books?id=E8VroIWyjB8C&pg=PA7 |archive-date=2016-12-03 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Windelspecht, Michael. [https://books.google.com/books?id=hX1jPbJVSu4C&dq=%22William+Sturgeon%22+electromagnet+1825&pg=PR22 Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the 19th Century] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170111015300/https://books.google.com/books?id=hX1jPbJVSu4C&pg=PR22&lpg=PR22&dq=%22William+Sturgeon%22+electromagnet+1825&source=web&ots=BhXj3j9j4t&sig=6gI6QNC-Yc5YMCY5RpEE43eIfgU&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result|date=2017-01-11}}, xxii, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, {{ISBN|0-313-31969-3}}.</ref>
* '''1826:''' [[John Walker (inventor)|John Walker]] invents the friction [[match]].<ref name=BBCwalker>{{cite web |title=John Walker's Friction Light |publisher=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/hQR9oN5LTeCLcuKfPDMJ9A |access-date=25 August 2011}}</ref>
* '''1826:''' James Sharp invents and goes on to manufacture the first practical [[gas stove]].
* '''1828:''' [[James Beaumont Neilson]] develops the [[hot blast]] process.
* '''1828:''' [[Patrick Bell]] invents the [[reaping machine]].
* '''1828:''' Hungarian physicist [[Ányos Jedlik]] invents the first commutated rotary [[Timeline of the electric motor|electromechanical machine]] with electromagnets.
* '''1829:''' [[Louis Braille]] invents the [[Braille]] reading system for the blind.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What Is Braille? |url=https://www.afb.org/blindness-and-low-vision/braille/what-braille |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=The American Foundation for the Blind |language=en-US}}</ref>
* '''1829:''' William Mann invents the compound [[air compressor]].
* '''1829:''' [[Henry Robinson Palmer]] is awarded a patent for [[corrugated galvanised iron]].

====1830s====
* '''1830:''' [[Edwin Budding]] invents the [[lawn mower]].
* '''1831:''' [[Michael Faraday]] invents a method of [[electromagnetic induction]]. It would be independently invented by [[Joseph Henry]] the following year. Faraday is credited with inventing the first [[electric generator]] called the [[Homopolar generator|Faraday disk]].
* '''1834:''' [[Moritz von Jacobi]] invents the first practical [[electric motor]].
* '''1835:''' [[Joseph Henry]] invents the electromechanical [[relay]].
* '''1837:''' [[Samuel Morse]] invents [[Morse code]].
* '''1838:''' [[Moritz von Jacobi]] invents [[electrotyping]].
* '''1839:''' [[William Otis]] invents the [[steam shovel]].
* '''1839:''' [[James Nasmyth]] invents the [[steam hammer]].
* '''1839:''' [[Edmond Becquerel]] invents a method for the [[photovoltaic effect]], effectively producing the first [[solar cell]].
* '''1839:''' [[Charles Goodyear]] invents [[Vulcanization|vulcanized rubber]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thomas |first=Robert M. |date=1969-09-01 |title=Early History of Butyl Rubber. Charles Goodyear Medal Address—1969 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5254/1.3539292 |journal=Rubber Chemistry and Technology |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=G90–G96 |doi=10.5254/1.3539292 |issn=1943-4804|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* '''1839:''' [[Louis Daguerre]] invents [[daguerreotype]] photography.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Daniel |first=Authors: Malcolm |title=Daguerre (1787–1851) and the Invention of Photography {{!}} Essay {{!}} The Metropolitan Museum of Art {{!}} Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dagu/hd_dagu.htm |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |date=October 2004 |language=en}}</ref>

====1840s====
{{main list|1840s#Science and technology}}
* '''1840:''' [[John Herschel]] invents the [[blueprint]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=DCC |first=Blueprint |date=2013-04-05 |title=Blueprint data release - April 2013 |doi=10.6019/blueprint_20130405 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.6019/blueprint_20130405}}</ref>
* '''1841:''' [[Alexander Bain (inventor)|Alexander Bain]] devises a printing telegraph.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://distantwriting.co.uk/bain.html|title=Distant Writing – Bain|author=Steven Roberts}}</ref>
* '''1842:''' [[William Robert Grove]] invents the first [[fuel cell]].
* '''1842:''' [[John Bennet Lawes]] invents [[superphosphate]], the first man-made [[fertilizer]].
* '''1844:''' [[Friedrich Gottlob Keller]] and, independently, [[Charles Fenerty]] come up with the wood pulp method of paper production.
* '''1844:''' [[Francis Rynd]] invents the [[hypodermic needle]].
* '''1845:''' [[Isaac Charles Johnson]] invents modern [[Portland cement]].
* '''1846:''' Henri-Joseph Maus invents the [[tunnel boring machine]].
* '''1847:''' [[Ascanio Sobrero]] invents [[Nitroglycerin]], the first explosive made that was stronger than [[black powder]].
* '''1848:''' Jonathan J. Couch invents the [[jackhammer|pneumatic drill]].
* '''1848:''' [[Linus Yale Jr.|Linus Yale Sr.]] invents the first modern [[pin tumbler lock]].
* '''1849:''' [[Walter Hunt (inventor)|Walter Hunt]] invents the first [[repeating rifle]] to use metallic cartridges (of his own design) and a spring-fed magazine.
* '''1849:''' [[James B. Francis]] invents the [[Francis turbine]].
* '''1849:''' [[Walter Hunt (inventor)|Walter Hunt]] invents the [[Safety pin]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Walter Hunt {{!}} Lemelson |url=https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/walter-hunt |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=lemelson.mit.edu}}</ref>

====1850s ====
* '''1850:''' [[William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong|William Armstrong]] invents the [[hydraulic accumulator]].
* '''1851:''' [[George Jennings]] offers the first public flush toilets, accessible for a penny per visit, and in 1852 receives a UK patent for the single piece, free standing, earthenware, trap plumed, flushing, water-closet.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Model of Jenning's patent water closet {{!}} Science Museum Group Collection |url=https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co146940/model-of-jennings-patent-water-closet-model |access-date=12 March 2022 |website=collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk |language=en}}</ref>
* '''1852:''' [[Robert Bunsen]] is the first to use a [[chemical vapor deposition]] technique.
* '''1852:''' [[Elisha Otis]] invents the safety brake elevator.<ref>Goodwin, Jason OTIS GIVING RISE TO THE MODERN CITY, Chicago, 2001: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, pp. 5-21</ref>
* '''1852:''' [[Henri Giffard]] becomes the first person to make a manned, controlled and powered flight using a [[dirigible]].
* '''1853:''' François Coignet invents [[reinforced concrete]].
* '''1855:''' [[James Clerk Maxwell]] invents the first practical method for [[color photography]], whether chemical or electronic.
* '''1855:''' [[Henry Bessemer]] patents the [[Bessemer process]] for making steel, with improvements made by others over the following years.
* '''1856:''' [[Alexander Parkes]] invents [[parkesine]], also known as [[celluloid]], the first man-made [[plastic]].
* '''1856:''' [[James Harrison (engineer)|James Harrison]] produces the world's first practical ice making machine and refrigerator using the principle of vapour compression in Geelong, Australia.<ref>{{cite web|title=An Act to render valid a Patent heretofore granted to James Harrison for Manufacturing Ice|publisher=Flinders University, Adelaide|url=https://dspace.flinders.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2328/2352/1/PAct21862.pdf}}</ref>
* '''1856:''' [[William Henry Perkin]] invents [[mauveine]], the first [[synthetic dye]].
* '''1857:''' [[Heinrich Geissler]] invents the [[Geissler tube]].
* '''1857:''' The [[phonautograph]], the earliest known device for recording sound, is patented and invented by Frenchman [[Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville]].
* '''1859:''' [[Gaston Planté]] invents the [[lead-acid|lead acid battery]], the first [[rechargeable battery]].

====1860s====
* '''1860:''' [[Joseph Swan]] produces [[carbon fibers]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Deng|first1=Yuliang|title=CARBON FIBER ELECTRONIC INTERCONNECTS|url=http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/handle/1903/6997/umi-umd-4508.pdf;jsessionid=68F4C2E5ED25F0593891CE08553A7BF3?sequence=1}}</ref>
* '''1864:''' [[Louis Pasteur]] invents the [[pasteurization]] process.
* '''1865:''' [[Carl Wilhelm Siemens]] and [[Pierre-Émile Martin]] invented the Siemens-Martin process for making steel.
* '''1867:''' [[Alfred Nobel]] invents [[dynamite]], the first safely manageable explosive stronger than [[black powder]].
* '''1867:''' Lucien B. Smith invents [[barbed wire]], which [[Joseph F. Glidden]] will modify in 1874, leading to the taming of [[American frontier|the West]] and the end of the cowboys.

====1870s====
* '''1872:''' [[Polyvinyl chloride]], more commonly known as vinyl, is synthesized by German chemist [[Eugen Baumann]]
* '''1872:''' J.E.T. Woods and J. Clark invented [[stainless steel]]. [[Harry Brearley]] was the first to commercialize it.<ref>{{cite book|last1=M. Cobb|first1=Harold|title=The History of Stainless Steel|date=2010|publisher=ASM International|isbn=978-1615030118|pages=11|edition=illustrated|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E30rCBeM8nkC|access-date=23 February 2017|language=en|chapter=Chapter 2: The Early Discoveries}}</ref>
* '''1873:''' [[Frederick Ransome]] invents the [[rotary kiln]].
* '''1873:''' [[William Crookes]], a chemist, invents the [[Crookes radiometer]] as the by-product of some chemical research.
* '''1873:''' [[Zénobe Gramme]] invents the first commercial [[electrical generator]], the [[Gramme machine]].
* '''1874:''' [[Gustave Trouvé]] invents the first [[metal detector]].
* '''1875:''' [[Fyodor Pirotsky]] invents the first [[electric tram]] near [[Saint Petersburg, Russia]].
* '''1876:''' [[Nicolaus August Otto]] invents the [[four-stroke cycle]].
* '''1876:''' [[Alexander Graham Bell]] has a patent granted for the [[telephone]]. However, other inventors before Bell had worked on the development of the telephone and the invention had several pioneers.<ref name="Geisst">{{cite book|author=Charles R. Geisst|title=Encyclopedia of American Business History|date=1 January 2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-0987-9|page=425}}</ref>
* '''1877:''' [[Thomas Edison]] invents the first working [[phonograph]].<ref>{{cite web|title= The History of the Edison Cylinder Phonograph|publisher=Library of Congress|url=http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edcyldr.html}}</ref>
* '''1878:''' [[Henry Fleuss]] is granted a patent for the first practical [[rebreather]].<ref name=rebreather_hx>{{cite journal |last=Quick |first=D. |title=A History Of Closed Circuit Oxygen Underwater Breathing Apparatus |journal=Royal Australian Navy, School of Underwater Medicine. |volume=RANSUM-1-70 |year=1970 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/4960 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509072728/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/4960 |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 May 2008 |access-date=25 August 2011 }}</ref>
* '''1878:''' [[Lester Allan Pelton]] invents the [[Pelton wheel]].
* '''1879:''' [[Joseph Swan]] and [[Thomas Edison]] both patent a functional [[incandescent light bulb]]. Some two dozen inventors had experimented with electric incandescent lighting over the first three-quarters of the 19th century but never came up with a practical design.<ref>Friedel, Robert, and Paul Palestine. 1986. ''Edison's electric light: biography of an invention''. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. pages 115–117</ref> Swan's, which he had been working on since the 1860s, had a low resistance so was only suited for small installations. Edison designed a high-resistance bulb as part of a large-scale commercial electric lighting utility.<ref>Kenneth E. Hendrickson III, The Encyclopedia of the Industrial Revolution in World History, Volume 3, Rowman & Littlefield – 2014, page 564</ref><ref>Maury Klein, The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men Who Invented Modern America, Bloomsbury Publishing USA – 2010, Chapter 9 – The Cowbird, The Plugger, and the Dreamer</ref><ref>David O. Whitten, Bessie Emrick Whitten, Handbook of American Business History: Manufacturing, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1990, pages 315-316</ref>

====1880s====
* '''1881:''' [[Nikolay Benardos]] presents [[carbon arc welding]], the first practical [[arc welding]] method.<ref>{{cite web | title= Beginnings of submerged arc welding | url= http://bulletin.is.gliwice.pl/PDF/2014/03/02_Turyk_Grobosz_Beginnings_of_submerged_arc_welding.pdf | url-status= dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304070057/http://bulletin.is.gliwice.pl/PDF/2014/03/02_Turyk_Grobosz_Beginnings_of_submerged_arc_welding.pdf | archive-date= 4 March 2016}}</ref>
* '''1884:''' [[Hiram Maxim]] invents the [[recoil operation|recoil-operated]] [[Maxim gun]], ushering in the age of semi- and fully automatic firearms.
* '''1884:''' [[Paul Vieille]] invents [[Poudre B]], the first [[smokeless powder]] for firearms.
* '''1884:''' Sir [[Charles Algernon Parsons|Charles Parsons]] invents the modern [[steam turbine]].
* '''1884:''' Hungarian engineers [[Károly Zipernowsky]], [[Ottó Bláthy]] and [[Miksa Déri]] invent the closed core high efficiency transformer and the AC parallel power distribution.
* '''1885:''' [[John Kemp Starley]] invents the modern [[safety bicycle]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Bicycle Association leads birthday celebrations for JK Starley, creator of the Safety bicycle |url=http://www.bicycleassociation.org.uk/page6/files/3670931ce5bd420a443f9e5ff33bbbfd-2.html |website=bicycleassociation.org |publisher=Bicycle Association |access-date=4 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150104031640/http://www.bicycleassociation.org.uk/page6/files/3670931ce5bd420a443f9e5ff33bbbfd-2.html |archive-date=4 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Britannica Guide to Inventions That Changed the Modern World|publisher=Britannica Educational Publishing|isbn=978-1-61530-064-8|page=124|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mab-a3cBxDApg&q=john+kemp+starley+rover+safety+bicycle&pg=PA124}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
* '''1886:''' [[Carl Gassner]] invents the [[zinc–carbon battery]], the first [[dry cell|dry cell battery]], making portable electronics practical.
* '''1886:''' [[Charles Martin Hall]] and independently [[Paul Héroult]] invent the [[Hall–Héroult process]] for economically producing aluminum in 1886.
* '''1886:''' [[Karl Benz]] invents the first petrol or gasoline powered auto-mobile (car).<ref>[http://home.arcor.de/carsten.popp/DE_00037435_A.pdf DRP's patent No. 37435] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204045616/http://home.arcor.de/carsten.popp/DE_00037435_A.pdf |date=4 February 2012}} ([[Portable Document Format|PDF]], 561 kB, [[German language|German]])</ref>
* '''1887:''' [[Carl Josef Bayer]] invents the [[Bayer process]] for the production of alumina.
* '''1887:''' [[James Blyth (engineer)|James Blyth]] invents the first [[wind turbine]] used for generating electricity.
* '''1887:''' [[John Stewart MacArthur]], working in collaboration with brothers Dr. Robert and Dr. William Forrest, develops the process of [[gold cyanidation]].
* '''1888:''' [[John J. Loud]] invents the [[ballpoint pen]].<ref>Great Britain Patent No. 15630, 30 October 2008</ref>
* '''1888:''' [[Thomas Edison]] and [[William Kennedy Dickson]] invent the [[Kinetoscope]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Today in History - August 31 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/august-31/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}</ref>
* '''1888:''' [[Heinrich Hertz]] publishes a conclusive proof of [[James Clerk Maxwell]]'s electromagnetic theory in experiments that also demonstrate the existence of [[radio wave]]s. The effects of electromagnetic waves had been observed by many people before this but no usable theory explaining them existed until Maxwell.
* '''1888:''' The first practical [[pneumatic tire]] was made by Scotsman [[John Boyd Dunlop]], the patent was from 1847 by [[Robert William Thomson]]

====1890s====
* '''1890s:''' [[Frédéric Swarts]] invents the first [[chlorofluorocarbon]]s to be applied as refrigerant.<ref name=Sneader2005>{{cite book|title=Drug discovery: a history|chapter=Chapter 8: Systematic medicine|pages=74–87|author=Sneader W|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|location=Chichester, England|year=2005|isbn=978-0-471-89980-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mYQxRY9umjcC&q=Drug+Discovery+history|access-date=13 September 2010}}</ref>
* '''1890:''' [[Robert Gair]] would invent the pre-cut [[cardboard box]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kc0MSzFvrH8C&q=robert+gair|title=Cartons, Crates and Corrugated Board: Handbook of Paper and Wood Packaging Technology|first1=Diana|last1=Twede|first2=Susan E. M.|last2=Selke|date=15 August 2005|publisher=DESIGN HOUSE Incorporated|isbn=978-1-932078-42-8 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
* '''1891:''' [[Whitcomb Judson]] invents the [[zipper]].
* '''1892:''' [[Léon Bouly]] invents the [[cinematograph]].
* '''1892:''' [[Thomas Ahearn]] invents the [[Electric stove|electric oven]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Patent 39916 Summary |url=https://www.ic.gc.ca/opic-cipo/cpd/eng/patent/39916/summary.html?type=number_search&tabs1Index=tabs1_1 |website=Government of Canada |access-date=28 February 2022 |archive-date=28 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228192325/https://www.ic.gc.ca/opic-cipo/cpd/eng/patent/39916/summary.html?type=number_search&tabs1Index=tabs1_1 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* '''1893:''' [[Rudolf Diesel]] invents the [[diesel engine]] (although [[Herbert Akroyd Stuart]] had experimented with compression ignition before Diesel).
* '''1893:''' [[William Stewart Halsted]], invents the [[rubber glove]] for his wife [[Caroline Hampton]] as he noticed her hands were affected by the daily surgeries she had performed. The gloves were intended to prevent medical staff from developing [[dermatitis]] from surgical chemicals.<ref>{{cite book|title=Born in the USA: The Book of American Origins|year=2009|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing Inc.|url=https://archive.org/details/borninusabookofa0000home|url-access=registration|quote=William Halsted and rubber gloves.|page=[https://archive.org/details/borninusabookofa0000home/page/186 186]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Rubber Gloves: "Born" - and Now Banished - At Johns Hopkins - 01/14/2008|url=https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/rubber_gloves_born___and_now_banished___at_johns_hopkins|access-date=2021-07-03|website=www.hopkinsmedicine.org|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Leyden|first=John G.|date=1990-11-27|title=The Strange Story of Surgical Gloves|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/wellness/1990/11/27/the-strange-story-of-surgical-gloves/a4b63531-1b0a-4799-ae13-24ec3f2c33d1/|access-date=2021-07-03|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> The first modern disposable glove was created by Ansell Rubber Co. Pty. Ltd. in 1965.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Brown|first=Walter|date=2016-12-12|title=The History of Disposable Gloves|url=https://blog.ammex.com/the-history-of-disposable-gloves/|access-date=2021-07-03|website=AMMEX|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Ansell - Our history|url=https://www.ansell.com/us/en/about-us/our-history|access-date=2021-07-03|website=www.ansell.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite patent|title=Surgeon's glove having improved donning properties|gdate=1995-04-17|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US5570475A/en | status=expired | invent1=Jeffery G. Nile | invent2=Stanley J. Gromelski | invent3=Alan A. Brain | invent4=Steven T. Hardwick}}</ref>
* '''1895:''' [[Guglielmo Marconi]] invents a system of wireless communication using radio waves.
* '''1895:''' [[Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen]] invented the first radiograph ([[xrays|X-ray]]).
* '''1897:''' [[Surgical masks]] made of cloth were developed in Europe by physicians [[Jan Mikulicz-Radecki]] at the [[University of Breslau]] and [[Paul Berger (physician)|Paul Berger]] in Paris, as a result of increasing awareness of germ theory and the importance of antiseptic procedures in medicine.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Strasser BJ, Schlich T | title = A history of the medical mask and the rise of throwaway culture | journal = Lancet | volume = 396 | issue = 10243 | pages = 19–20 | date = July 2020 | pmid = 32450110 | pmc = 7255306 | doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31207-1 }}</ref>
* '''1898:''' [[Hans von Pechmann]] synthesizes [[polyethylene]], now the most common [[plastic]] in the world.<ref>{{cite journal|author=von Pechmann, H. |year=1898|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k90751n/f312.image.langEN |title=Ueber Diazomethan und Nitrosoacylamine|journal=Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin|volume=31|issue=3|pages=2640–2646|quote= page 643: Erwähnt sei noch, dass aus einer ätherischen Diazomethanlösung sich beim Stehen manchmal minimale Quantitäten eines weissen, flockigen, aus Chloroform krystallisirenden Körpers abscheiden;&nbsp;... (It should be mentioned that from an ether solution of diazomethane, upon standing, sometimes small quantities of a white, flakey substance, which can be crystallized from chloroform, precipitate;&nbsp;... )|doi=10.1002/cber.18980310314}}</ref>
* '''1899:''' [[Waldemar Jungner]] invents the rechargeable [[nickel-cadmium battery]] (NiCd) as well as the [[nickel-iron battery|nickel-iron electric storage battery]] (NiFe) and the rechargeable alkaline [[silver-cadmium battery]] (AgCd)

===20th century===

====1900s====
* '''1900:''' The first [[Zeppelin]] is designed by [[Theodor Kober]].
* '''1901:''' The first motorized cleaner using suction, a powered "[[vacuum cleaner]]", is patented independently by [[Hubert Cecil Booth]] and [[David T. Kenney]].<ref>Gantz, Carroll (21 September 2012). The Vacuum Cleaner: A History. McFarland. p. 49</ref>
* '''1903:''' The first successful [[gas turbine]] is invented by [[Ægidius Elling]].
* '''1903:''' Édouard Bénédictus invents [[laminated glass]].
* '''1903:''' First sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight achieved by an [[airplane]] flown at [[Kitty Hawk, North Carolina]] by [[Orville and Wilbur Wright]]. See [[Claims to the first powered flight]].
* '''1904:''' The [[Fleming valve]], the first [[vacuum tube]] and [[diode]], is invented by [[John Ambrose Fleming]].
* '''1907:''' The first free flight of a rotary-wing aircraft is carried out by [[Paul Cornu]].
* '''1907:''' [[Leo Baekeland]] invents [[bakelite]],  the first [[plastic]] made from synthetic components.
* '''1907:''' The tuyères thermopropulsives<ref name="Peter">Peter O. K. Krehl (24 Sep 2008) [https://books.google.com/books?id=PmuqCHDC3pwC&q=patent+for+ramjet+1908+Lorin History of Shock Waves, Explosions and Impact: A Chronological and Biographical Reference], [https://books.google.com/books?id=PmuqCHDC3pwC&dq=patent+for+ramjet+1908+Lorin&pg=PA443 p.443], Springer Science & Business Media, {{ISBN|3540304215}}, {{ISBN|9783540304210}}, accessed 7 July 2019</ref> after 1945 ([[:fr:Maurice Roy (professeur)|Maurice Roy (fr)]]) known as the ''statoreacteur''<ref name="Peter" /><ref>[https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/personnage/Lorin/126530 Personnage] ''[[Grand Larousse encyclopédique|Larousse]]'', accessed 7 July 2019</ref> ''a combustion subsonique'' (the [[ramjet]])<ref>Anthony Roux (2 July 2009) [http://oatao.univ-toulouse.fr/7859/1/roux1.pdf Simulation aux Grandes Echelles d'un statoréacteur], p.15, [[University of Toulouse]], "...La propulsion par statoreacteur a été inventée par le francais [[:fr:René Lorin|René Lorin]] en 1907 et decrite pour la ´
premiere fois dans la revue ` [[L'Aérophile|l'aerophile]] ´ dans un article intitule "Propulseur par reaction directe"...", accessed 7 July 2019</ref> – [[René Lorin|R. Lorin]]<ref name="Lorin">[https://www.dmg-lib.org/dmglib/main/portal.jsp?mainNaviState=browsen.biogr.viewer&id=24306004 Lorin, René (1877–1933)], Digital Mechanism and Gear Library, [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hans-von-Ohain-Elegance-Library/dp/1563475200 first contact for: "1913 – Lorin" (Margaret Connor)] obtained via [[search criteria]] (google): [https://www.google.com/search?q=discovery+of+scramjet+Frank+Whittle&ei=0DUiXbqnB9yBhbIPh4uqIA&start=40&sa=N&ved=0ahUKEwi6z_uMtKPjAhXcQEEAHYeFCgQ4HhDw0wMIhwE&biw=1920&bih=969 "discovery of scramjet Frank Whittle"], accessed 7 July 2019</ref><ref>R. Lorin (15 May 1913) – [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6552332d/f237.image de la turbine a gaz au propulseur a reaction], pp.229–230, [[L'Aérophile]]; [[BnF|BnF Gallica]], accessed 7 July 2019</ref><ref>Michael G. Smith (1 December 2014) — [https://books.google.com/books?id=Xtm5BAAAQBAJ&q=type+of+engine+proposed+by+Lorin+in+1908 Rockets and Revolution: A Cultural History of Early Spaceflight], [https://books.google.com/books?id=Xtm5BAAAQBAJ&dq=type+of+engine+proposed+by+Lorin+in+1908&pg=PT72 7th page of Chapter 3], [[University of Nebraska Press]], {{ISBN|0803286546}}, {{ISBN|9780803286542}}, accessed 7 July 2019</ref>
* '''1908:''' [[Cellophane]] is invented by [[Jacques E. Brandenberger]].
* '''1909:''' [[Fritz Haber]] invents the [[Haber process]].
* '''1909:''' The first instantaneous transmission of images, or [[television]] broadcast, is carried out by [[Georges Rignoux]] and A. Fournier.

====1910s====
[[File:BERy Articulated number 2 side view, 1913.jpg|thumb|BERy articulated streetcar no. 2 in 1913. The Boston Elevated Railway was the world's first street railway system to use articulated streetcars.]]
* '''1911:''' The [[cloud chamber]], the first [[particle detector]], is invented by [[Charles Thomson Rees Wilson]].
* '''1912:''' The first commercial slot cars or more accurately model electric racing cars operating under constant power were made by Lionel (USA) and appeared in their catalogues in 1912.
* '''1912:''' The first use of articulated [[tram]]s by [[Boston Elevated Railway]].
* '''1913:''' The [[Bergius process]] is developed by [[Friedrich Bergius]].
* '''1913:''' The [[Kaplan turbine]] is invented by [[Viktor Kaplan]].
* '''1915:''' [[Harry Brearley]] invents a process to create [[Martensitic stainless steel]], initially labelled Rustless Steel, later marketed as Staybrite, and AISI Type 420.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news|date=31 January 1915|title=A non-rusting steel|work=The New York Times}}</ref>
* '''1915:''' The first operational military [[tanks]] are designed in Great Britain and France. They are used in battle from 1916 and 1917 respectively. The designers in Great Britain are [[Walter Gordon Wilson|Walter Wilson]] and [[William Tritton]] and in France, [[Eugène Brillié]]. (Although it is known that vehicles incorporating at least some of the features of the tank were designed in a number of countries from 1903 onward, none reached a practical form.)
* '''1916:''' The [[Czochralski process]], widely used for the production of single crystal [[silicon]], is invented by [[Jan Czochralski]].
* '''1917:''' The [[crystal oscillator]] is invented by [[Alexander M. Nicholson]] using a crystal of [[Rochelle Salt]] although his priority was disputed by [[Walter Guyton Cady]].

====1920s====
* '''1925:''' The [[Fischer–Tropsch process]] is developed by [[Franz Joseph Emil Fischer|Franz Fischer]] and [[Hans Tropsch]] at the [[Max Planck Institute for Coal Research|Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Kohlenforschung]].
* '''1926:''' The [[Yagi-Uda Antenna]] or simply Yagi Antenna is invented by [[Shintaro Uda]] of [[Tohoku Imperial University]], assisted by his colleague [[Hidetsugu Yagi]]. The Yagi Antenna was widely used during [[World War II]]. After the war they saw extensive development as home [[television antennas]].
* '''1926:''' [[Robert H. Goddard]] launches the first [[Bipropellant rocket|liquid fueled rocket]].
* '''1926:''' [[Harry Ferguson]], patents the [[Three-point hitch]] equipment linkage system for tractors.<ref>{{Cite web |title=TractorData.com - Three-Point Hitch |url=http://www.tractordata.com/articles/technical/threepoint.html |access-date=28 February 2022 |website=www.tractordata.com}}</ref>
* '''1926:''' [[John Logie Baird]] demonstrates the world's first live working [[Mechanical television|television]] system.<ref>[https://www.bairdtelevision.com/the-televisor-successful-test-of-new-apparatus-1926.html "The "Televisor" Successful Test of New Apparatus"], The Times (London), Thursday 28 January 1926, p. 9 column C.</ref><ref name="Telegraph">{{cite news |date=26 January 2016 |title=Who invented the television? How people reacted to John Logie Baird's creation 90 years ago |newspaper=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/google-doodle/12121474/Who-invented-the-television-John-Logie-Baird-created-the-TV-in-1926.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126005621/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/google-doodle/12121474/Who-invented-the-television-John-Logie-Baird-created-the-TV-in-1926.html |archive-date=26 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=26 January 2016 |title=Who invented the mechanical television? (John Logie Baird) |publisher=Google. |url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=43A_5kGJ2hw}}</ref>
* '''1927:''' The [[quartz clock]] is invented by Warren Marrison and J.W. Horton at [[Bell Telephone Laboratories]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Marrison |first=Warren |title=The Evolution of the Quartz Crystal Clock |year=1948 |journal=Bell System Technical Journal |publisher=AT&T |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=510–588 |url=http://www.ieee-uffc.org/freqcontrol/marrison/Marrison.html |doi=10.1002/j.1538-7305.1948.tb01343.x |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513175811/http://www.ieee-uffc.org/freqcontrol/marrison/Marrison.html |archive-date=13 May 2007|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* '''1928:''' [[Penicillin]] is first observed to exude antibiotic substances by Nobel laureate [[Alexander Fleming]]. Development of medicinal penicillin is attributed to a team of medics and scientists including [[Howard Walter Florey]], [[Ernst Chain]] and [[Norman Heatley]].
* '''1928:''' [[Frank Whittle]] formally submitted his ideas for a turbo-jet engine. In October 1929, he developed his ideas further.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/whittle_frank.shtml |title=History – Frank Whittle (1907–1996) |publisher=BBC |access-date=26 March 2010}}</ref> On 16 January 1930, Whittle submitted his first patent (granted in 1932).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?CC=GB&NR=347206&KC=&FT=E|title=Espacenet - Original document|website=worldwide.espacenet.com}}</ref>
* '''1928:''' [[Philo Farnsworth]] demonstrates the first practical [[electronic television]] to the press.
* '''1929:''' The [[ball screw]] is invented by Rudolph G. Boehm.

====1930s====
* '''1930:''' The [[Supersonic combusting ramjet]] — [[Frank Whittle]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}
* '''1930:''' The [[Phase-contrast microscopy]] is invented by [[Frits Zernike]].
* '''1931:''' The [[electron microscope]] is invented by [[Ernst Ruska]].
* '''1933:''' [[FM radio]] is patented by inventor [[Edwin H. Armstrong]].
* '''1933:''' [[Everest and Jennings|Harry C. Jennings Sr. and Herbert Everest]], both [[mechanical engineer]]s, invented the first lightweight, steel, folding, portable [[wheelchair]] with their "X-brace" design.<ref>Everest, Herbert A., Jennings, Harry C. Sr., "Folding wheel chair", US Patent 2095411, 1937</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2618319A/en|title=X-brace construction for collapsible invalids' wheel chairs}}</ref>
* '''1935:''' [[Nylon]], the first fully [[synthetic fiber]] is produced by [[Wallace Carothers]] while working at [[DuPont]].<ref name=Carothers>{{cite web|title=Wallace Hume Carothers|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/wallace-hume-carothers|website=[[Science History Institute]]|date=June 2016|access-date=20 March 2018}}</ref>
* '''1938:''' [[Z1 (computer)|Z1]], built by [[Konrad Zuse]], is the first freely programmable [[computer]] in the world.
* '''1938:''' [[Nuclear fission]] discovered in experiment by chemists [[Otto Hahn]] and [[Fritz Strassmann]] and physicists [[Lise Meitner]] and [[Otto Robert Frisch]]. The [[German nuclear energy project]] was based on this research. The [[Tube Alloys]] project and, subsequently, the [[Manhattan Project]] and the [[Soviet atomic bomb project]] were influenced by this research.
* '''1939:''' G. S. Yunyev or [[Naum Gurvich]] invented the electric current [[Defibrillation#Direct current method|defibrillator]]

====1940-1944====
* '''1940:''' [[Isotopes of plutonium#Notable isotopes|Pu-239 isotope]] (isotope of [[plutonium]])<ref name=t2>[https://www.armscontrol.org/act/1997-11/features/technology-nuclear-weapons The Technology of Nuclear Weapons], [[Arms Control Association]], accessed 9 January 2020</ref><ref name="t3">[http://www.radioactivity.eu.com/site/pages/Plutonium_239.htm Plutonium 239] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200118091017/http://www.radioactivity.eu.com/site/pages/Plutonium_239.htm |date=18 January 2020 }}, EDP-Sciences (EDITIONS DE PHYSIQUE) (& the Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et Physique des Particules (IN2P3) accessed 9 January 2020</ref> a form of matter existing with the capacity for use as a destructive element<ref>[https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/plutonium Plutonium], published by the [[Atomic Heritage Foundation]] & the [[National Museum of Nuclear Science & History]] (of the [[United States]]) 5 June 2014 – accessed 2020-1-9, re-accessed due to an error in application during 9, 10 January 2020</ref> (because the isotope has an exponentially increasing<ref name=t2 /> spontaneous<ref>{{Cite book | publisher=Springer | location=Berlin, Heidelberg | chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-642-55764-4_8 | title=Nuclides.net | doi=10.1007/978-3-642-55764-4_8 | isbn=978-3-642-62817-7 | chapter=Fission Products and Yields ϒ | date=2003 | last1=Magill | first1=Joseph | pages=187–196 }}</ref> [[spontaneous fission|fissile]] decay<ref>[[Emilio Segre|Segre, Emilio]] — [https://escholarship.org/content/qt8v41m1pb/qt8v41m1pb.pdf Spontaneous Fission] p.13 "From this we deduce a spontaneous fission decay constant of 2.1 x l0<sup>3</sup> fissions per gram per second". published [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]], University of California, 22 November 1950 (this source represents a re-application of sourcing due to an [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_discoveries_by_disciplines&oldid=934934652#Technological error in application of sourcing to the inclusion " fission" (+) "decay" during the 1st inclusion made 2020-1-9])</ref>) within [[nuclear devices]] — [[Glenn Seaborg]].<ref name=t3 />
* '''1940:''' [[John Randall (physicist)|John Randall]] and [[Harry Boot]] would develop the high power, microwave generating, [[cavity magnetron]], later applied to commercial [[Radar]] and [[Microwave oven]] appliances.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Magnetron |url=http://histru.bournemouth.ac.uk/Oral_History/Talking_About_Technology/radar_research/the_magnetron.html |access-date=28 February 2022 |website=histru.bournemouth.ac.uk}}</ref>
* '''1941:''' [[Polyester]] is invented by [[John Rex Whinfield]] and James Dickson.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Bellis|first1=Mary|title=The History of Polyester|url=http://inventors.about.com/od/famousinventions/fl/The-History-of-Polyester.htm|website=About.com|access-date=23 February 2017}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
* '''1942:''' The [[V-2 rocket]], the world's first long range [[ballistic missile]], developed by engineer [[Wernher von Braun]].
* '''1944:''' The non-infectious viral vaccine is perfected by Dr. Jonas Salk and Thomas Francis.<ref>Bookchin, Debbie and Schumacher, Jim. The Virus and the Vaccine. MacMillan 2005</ref>

==Contemporary history==
=== 1945-1950 ===
* '''1945:''' The atomic bomb is developed by the [[Manhattan Project]] and swiftly used in August 1945 in the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]], effectively ending [[World War II]].
* '''1945:''' [[Percy Spencer]], while employed at [[Raytheon]], would patent a magnetron based [[microwave oven]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Espacenet - Bibliographic data |url=https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=US&NR=2495429&KC=&FT=E&locale=en_EP |access-date=28 February 2022 |website=worldwide.espacenet.com}}</ref>
* '''1945:''' [[Willard Libby]] began his work on [[radiocarbon dating]]. He published his paper in 1946,<ref name=Bowman_9>[[#Bowman|Bowman (1995)]], pp.&nbsp;9–15.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Libby|first=W.F.|year=1946|title=Atmospheric helium three and radiocarbon from cosmic radiation|journal=Physical Review|volume=69|issue=11–12|pages=671–672|bibcode=1946PhRv...69..671L|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.69.671.2}}</ref> a second paper in ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'' in 1947.<ref name=Bowman_9/><ref name=Anderson_1947>{{cite journal|last1=Anderson|first1=E.C.|last2=Libby|first2=W.F.|last3=Weinhouse|first3=S.|last4=Reid|first4=A.F.|last5=Kirshenbaum|first5=A.D.|last6=Grosse|first6=A.V.|year=1947|title=Radiocarbon from cosmic radiation|journal=Science|volume=105|issue=2765|pages=576–577|bibcode=1947Sci...105..576A|doi=10.1126/science.105.2735.576|pmid=17746224}}</ref> Libby and [[James R. Arnold|James Arnold]] succeeded with the radiocarbon dating theory after results were published in ''Science'' in December 1949.<ref name=libby49>{{cite journal|last1=Arnold|first1=J.R.|last2=Libby|first2=W.F.|year=1949|title=Age determinations by radiocarbon content: checks with samples of known age|url=http://hbar.phys.msu.ru/gorm/fomenko/libby.htm|journal=Science|volume=110|issue=2869|pages=678–680|bibcode=1949Sci...110..678A|doi=10.1126/science.110.2869.678|jstor=1677049|pmid=15407879|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=Aitken_60>[[#Aitken1990|Aitken (1990)]], pp.&nbsp;60–61.</ref>
* '''1946:''' [[James Martin (engineer)|James Martin]] invents the [[ejector seat]], inspired by the death of his friend and test pilot Captain [[Valentine Baker (pilot)|Valentine Baker]] in an aeroplane crash in 1942.
* '''1947:''' [[Holography]] is invented by [[Dennis Gabor]].
* '''1947:''' Floyd Farris and J.B. Clark ([[Stanolind Oil and Gas Corporation]]) invents [[hydraulic fracturing]] technology.<ref name="Hubbarb">{{Citation | first = George E | last = King | url = http://www.kgs.ku.edu/PRS/Fracturing/Frac_Paper_SPE_152596.pdf | title = Hydraulic fracturing 101 | publisher = Society of Petroleum Engineers | id = Paper 152596 | year = 2012}}</ref>
* '''1947:''' The first [[transistor]], a bipolar [[point-contact transistor]], is invented by [[John Bardeen]] and [[Walter Brattain]] under the supervision of [[William Shockley]] at [[Bell Labs]].
* '''1948:''' The first [[atomic clock]] is developed at the [[National Bureau of Standards]].
* '''1948:''' [[Basic oxygen steelmaking]] is developed by [[Robert Durrer]]. The majority of steel manufactured in the world is produced using the basic oxygen furnace; in 2000, it accounted for 60% of global steel output.<ref name=S978>Smil, pp. 97-98.</ref>

=== 1950s ===
* '''1950:''' ''[[Bertie the Brain]]'', debatably the first [[video game]], is displayed to the public at the [[Canadian National Exhibition]].
* '''1950:''' The Toroidal chamber with axial magnetic fields (the [[Tokamak]]) is developed by [[Igor E. Tamm]] and [[Andrei D. Sakharov]].<ref>R.G. Sharma (26 February 2015) [https://books.google.com/books?id=jbvdBgAAQBAJ&q=Tokamak+T-1+1958 Superconductivity: Basics and Applications to Magnets], [https://books.google.com/books?id=jbvdBgAAQBAJ&dq=Tokamak+T-1+1958&pg=PA316 p.311] [[Springer Science+Business Media]], {{ISBN|3319137131}}, {{ISBN|9783319137131}}, illustrated, Retrieved 27 June 2019</ref>
* '''1952:''' The [[Float glass|float glass process]] is developed by [[Alastair Pilkington]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Float Process|url=http://www.pilkington.com/pilkington-information/about+pilkington/education/float+process/default.htm|website=pilkington.com|publisher=Plinkington|access-date=23 February 2017|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924073324/http://www.pilkington.com/pilkington-information/about+pilkington/education/float+process/default.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* '''1952:''' The first [[thermonuclear weapon]] is developed.
* '''1953:''' The first [[video tape recorder]], a helical scan recorder, is invented by Norikazu Sawazaki.
* '''1954:''' Invention of the solar battery by Bell Telephone scientists, [[Calvin Souther Fuller]], Daryl Chapin and Gerald Pearson capturing the Sun's power. First practical means of collecting energy from the Sun and turning it into a current of electricity.
* '''1955:''' The [[hovercraft]] is patented by [[Christopher Cockerell]].
* '''1955:''' The [[intermodal container]] is developed by [[Malcom McLean]].
* '''1956:''' The [[hard disk drive]] is invented by [[IBM]].<ref>{{cite web|title=IBM 350 disk storage unit|url=https://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/storage/storage_350.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120630034047/http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/storage/storage_350.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=30 June 2012|website=IBM|date=23 January 2003|access-date=25 February 2017}}</ref>
* '''1956:''' The [[Logic Theorist]] computer program, the first "artificial intelligence program", was written and invented by [[Allen Newell]], [[Herbert A. Simon]], and [[Cliff Shaw]].<ref name="mccCrevRussNorv">
{{Harvnb|McCorduck|2004|pp=123–125}}, {{Harvnb|Crevier|1993|pp=44–46}} and {{Harvnb|Russell|Norvig|2021|p=17}}</ref>
* '''1957:''' The [[laser]] and [[optical amplifier]] are invented and named by [[Gordon Gould]] and [[Charles H. Townes|Charles Townes]]. The laser and optical amplifier are foundational to powering the [[Internet]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kumar|first=Aran|title=2014 International Conference on Issues and Challenges in Intelligent Computing Techniques (ICICT) |chapter=Optical amplifier: A key element of high speed optical network |date=2014|url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6781324|publisher=IEEE|pages=450–452|doi=10.1109/ICICICT.2014.6781324|isbn=978-1-4799-2900-9|s2cid=32667559}}</ref>
* '''1957:''' The first [[personal computer]] used by one person and controlled by a keyboard, the [[History of personal computers#The beginnings of the personal computer industry|IBM 610]], is invented by [[IBM]].
* '''1957:''' The first artificial [[satellite]], [[Sputnik 1]], is launched.
* '''1958 – 1959:''' The [[integrated circuit]] is [[Invention of the integrated circuit|independently invented]] by [[Jack Kilby]] and [[Robert Noyce]].
* '''1959:''' The [[MOSFET]] (MOS transistor) is invented by the Egyptian [[Mohamed Atalla]] and the Korean [[Dawon Kahng]] at Bell Labs. It is used in almost all modern [[electronic product]]s. It was smaller, faster, more reliable and cheaper to manufacture than earlier bipolar transistors, leading to a revolution in computers, controls and communication.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/metal-oxide-semiconductor-mos-transistor-demonstrated/ |title = 1960: Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) Transistor Demonstrated &#124; the Silicon Engine &#124; Computer History Museum}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/who-invented-the-transistor/ | title=Who Invented the Transistor?| date=4 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/13-sextillion-counting-the-long-winding-road-to-the-most-frequently-manufactured-human-artifact-in-history/ |title = 13 Sextillion & Counting: The Long & Winding Road to the Most Frequently Manufactured Human Artifact in History|date = 2 April 2018}}</ref>

=== 1960s ===
[[File:0 series Yurakucho 19670505.jpg|thumb|The original 0 series Shinkansen train. Introduced in 1964, it reached a speed of {{convert|210|km/h|abbr=on}}.]]
* '''1960:''' The first functioning [[laser]] is invented by [[Theodore Maiman]].
* '''1963:''' The first [[electronic cigarette]] is created by Herbert A. Gilbert. [[Hon Lik]] is often credited with its invention as he developed the modern electronic cigarette and was the first to commercialize it.
* '''1964:''' [[Shinkansen]], the first [[high-speed rail]] commercial passenger service.
* '''1965:''' [[Kevlar]] is invented by [[Stephanie Kwolek]] at [[DuPont]].
* '''1969:''' The [[NPL network]] followed by the [[ARPANET#ARPANET deployed|ARPANET]] implement [[packet switching]] for [[data communication]],<ref name=":22">{{Cite journal |last1=John S |first1=Quarterman |last2=Josiah C |first2=Hoskins |date=1986 |title=Notable computer networks |journal=Communications of the ACM |language=EN |volume=29 |issue=10 |pages=932–971 |doi=10.1145/6617.6618 |s2cid=25341056 |quote=The first packet-switching network was implemented at the National Physical Laboratories in the United Kingdom. It was quickly followed by the ARPANET in 1969. |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.inc.com/computerfreaks |title=Computer Freaks |date=June 22, 2023 |last=Haughney Dare-Bryan |first=Christine |type=Podcast |publisher=Inc. Magazine |series=Chapter Two: In the Air |minutes=35:55 |quote=Leonard Kleinrock: Donald Davies ... did make a single node packet switch before ARPA did}}</ref> drawing on the concepts and designs of [[Donald Davies]],<ref name="Abbate20002">{{cite book |last1=Abbate |first1=Jane |author-link=Janet Abbate |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2BdY6WQo4AC&q=packet+switching&pg=PA125 |title=Inventing the Internet |date=2000 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0262261333 |pages=37–8, 58–9 |quote=The NPL group influenced a number of American computer scientists in favor of the new technique, and they adopted Davies's term "packet switching" to refer to this type of network. Roberts also adopted some specific aspects of the NPL design.}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite journal |last1=Roberts |first1=Dr. Lawrence G. |date=November 1978 |title=The Evolution of Packet Switching |url=http://www.ismlab.usf.edu/dcom/Ch10_Roberts_EvolutionPacketSwitching_IEEE_1978.pdf |journal=IEEE Invited Paper |access-date=10 September 2017 |quote=In nearly all respects, Davies’ original proposal, developed in late 1965, was similar to the actual networks being built today. |archive-date=31 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231092936/http://www.ismlab.usf.edu/dcom/Ch10_Roberts_EvolutionPacketSwitching_IEEE_1978.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Computer Pioneers - Donald W. Davies |url=https://history.computer.org/pioneers/davies.html |access-date=2020-02-20 |website=IEEE Computer Society |quote=The design of the ARPA network (ArpaNet) was entirely changed to adopt this technique. |postscript=none}}; {{Cite web |title=Donald Davies|url=https://www.internethalloffame.org/inductees/donald-davies |access-date=20 April 2022 |website=www.internethalloffame.org |quote=the ARPANET received his network design enthusiastically and the NPL local network became the first two computer networks in the world using the technique.}}</ref> and [[Paul Baran]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |title=The real story of how the Internet became so vulnerable |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2015/05/30/net-of-insecurity-part-1/ |url-status=dead |access-date=18 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530231409/http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2015/05/30/net-of-insecurity-part-1/ |archive-date=30 May 2015 |quote=Historians credit seminal insights to Welsh scientist Donald W. Davies and American engineer Paul Baran}}</ref> These are considered precursors to the modern [[Internet]].<ref name="Abbate20002" /><ref name=":5" />

=== 1970s ===
* '''1970s:''' [[Public-key cryptography]] is invented and developed by [[James H. Ellis]], [[Clifford Cocks]], [[Malcolm J. Williamson]], [[Whitfield Diffie]], [[Martin Hellman]], [[Ralph Merkle]], [[Ron Rivest]], [[Adi Shamir]], [[Leonard Adleman]], et al.
* '''1970:''' The [[Calculator#Pocket calculators|pocket calculator]] is invented.
* '''1971:''' The first single-chip [[microprocessor]], the [[Intel 4004]], is invented. Its development was led by [[Federico Faggin]], using his [[silicon-gate]] [[MOSFET|MOS]] technology. This led to the [[personal computer]] (PC) revolution.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/microprocessor-integrates-cpu-function-onto-a-single-chip/ |title = 1971: Microprocessor Integrates CPU Function onto a Single Chip &#124; the Silicon Engine &#124; Computer History Museum}}</ref>
* '''1971:''' The first [[space station]], [[Salyut 1]], is launched.
* '''1971:''' [[IBM]] developed and released the world's first [[floppy disk]] and [[disk drive]].<ref name="computerhistory.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/memory-storage/8/261|title=Floppy Disks - CHM Revolution|website=www.computerhistory.org|access-date=October 6, 2017|archive-date=2017-01-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103071537/http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/memory-storage/8/261|url-status=live}}</ref>
* '''1972:''' The first [[video game console]], used primarily for playing video games on a TV, is the [[Magnavox Odyssey]].<ref name="HilbertLopez2011">[https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1200970 "The World's Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information"], Martin Hilbert and Priscila López (2011), [[Science (journal)|Science]], 332(6025), 60-65; free access to the article through here martinhilbert.net/WorldInfoCapacity.html</ref>
* '''1973:''' The first fiber optic communication systems were developed by [[Optelecom]].<ref>Nick Taylor. Laser: The Inventor, the Nobel Laureate, and the Thirty-Year Patent War. Simon & Schuster. 2000</ref>
* '''1973:''' The first commercial [[graphical user interface]] is introduced in 1973 on the [[Xerox Alto]]. The modern GUI is later popularized by the [[Xerox Star]] and [[Apple Lisa]].
* '''1973:''' The first [[Touchscreen#Capacitive|capacitive touchscreen]] is developed at [[CERN]].
* '''1974:''' The [[Transmission Control Program]] is proposed by [[Vinton Cerf]] and [[Robert E. Kahn]], building on the work of [[Louis Pouzin]] and other [[Internet pioneer]]s, creating the basis for the modern [[Internet]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cerf |first1=V. |last2=Kahn |first2=R. |date=1974 |title=A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication |url=https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall06/cos561/papers/cerf74.pdf |journal=IEEE Transactions on Communications |volume=22 |issue=5 |pages=637–648 |doi=10.1109/TCOM.1974.1092259 |issn=1558-0857 |quote=The authors wish to thank a number of colleagues for helpful comments during early discussions of international network protocols, especially R. Metcalfe, R. Scantlebury, D. Walden, and H. Zimmerman; D. Davies and L. Pouzin who constructively commented on the fragmentation and accounting issues; and S. Crocker who commented on the creation and destruction of associations.}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite news |date=30 November 2013 |title=The internet's fifth man |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21590765-louis-pouzin-helped-create-internet-now-he-campaigning-ensure-its |access-date=22 April 2020 |issn=0013-0613 |quote=In the early 1970s Mr Pouzin created an innovative data network that linked locations in France, Italy and Britain. Its simplicity and efficiency pointed the way to a network that could connect not just dozens of machines, but millions of them. It captured the imagination of Dr Cerf and Dr Kahn, who included aspects of its design in the protocols that now power the internet.}}</ref>
* '''1974:''' The [[lithium-ion battery]] is invented by [[M. Stanley Whittingham]], and further developed in the 1980s and 1990s by [[John B. Goodenough]], [[Rachid Yazami]] and [[Akira Yoshino]]. It has impacted modern [[consumer electronics]] and [[electric vehicle]]s.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.ieee.org/about/awards/bios/environmental-safety-recipients.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190325040102/https://www.ieee.org/about/awards/bios/environmental-safety-recipients.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=25 March 2019 | title=IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies Recipients| website=[[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]] (IEEE)}}</ref>
* '''1974:''' The [[Rubik's Cube|Rubik's cube]] is invented by [[Ernő Rubik]] which went on to be the best selling [[puzzle]] ever.<ref name="castel">{{Cite news |last=de Castella |first=Tom |date=28 April 2014 |title=The people who are still addicted to the Rubik's Cube |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27186297 |access-date=28 April 2014 |work=BBC News Magazine |publisher=BBC}}</ref>
* '''1977:''' Dr Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger invented a new [[DNA sequencing]] method for which they won the [[Nobel Prize]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Gilbert|first1=Walter|last2=Maxam|first2=Allan|date=February 1977|title=A new method for sequencing DNA|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=74 |issue=2|pages=560–566|doi=10.1073/pnas.74.2.560|pmid=265521|pmc=392330|bibcode=1977PNAS...74..560M|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* '''1977:''' The first [[self-driving car]] that did not rely upon rails or wires under the road is designed by the Tsukuba Mechanical Engineering Laboratory.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.web2carz.com/autos/car-tech/6396/the-vamors-was-the-worlds-first-real-deal-autonomous-car|title=The VaMoRs Was the World's First Real-Deal Autonomous Car &#124; Web2Carz|date=28 February 2017|website=Web2Carz.com}}</ref>
* '''1978:''' The [[Global Positioning System]] (GPS) enters service. While not the first [[Satellite navigation]] system, it is the first to enter widespread civilian use.
* '''1979:''' The first handheld game console with interchangeable game cartridges, the [[Microvision]] is released.
* '''1979:''' [[Nippon Telegraph and Telephone]] (NTT) launched the first cellular network in Japan.<ref>Garcia-Swartz, Daniel D, and Martin Campbell-Kelly. [https://watermark.silverchair.com/c001700_9780262370011.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAA1EwggNNBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggM-MIIDOgIBADCCAzMGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMdfdIw9EUcJh3wr1MAgEQgIIDBKoiLSROBm6jhDF-QaJ_82PXbPJ1lhqmG-X-Yqt2Xi0gi_GzWfkLC8lW_XVrHrT_Jbref1FPziJU0_Q_bztUIErncsgCLctRwzhcQ9l99sWd0uszbmd-JUKPbRca485OKhAhtnXH0F-Sg7C-fKivMrN2o6LuwONWpCgDIxm6eStLl-SfhQN1ZO7pZvKD5_GKc4vVXjh3JLOWMgoBmpk4RuUeQIjoTlbGlNcK3q-InBXM4BgypLkGwZttoOXWslAeXwxclSppiyGy9P3lQp6jBNHrHLzVmYO_R02VFR7uk2VqnSjhScJdropIVWnbuftAwpw_-c5R6xqJfbuLhfUJv2wPJMpJSj1cF5EYZtvfGQQaYIO8Lp0xuRyNt5DDhRRY8RQLHAZm0yQKzubQ11TNpcfFO2Glc2zmJ6SLBC0RUDmHT_j9-osG0twobaYiJeIW7BjtjMETUzCx4mPgiAs72HwSDU1JKc2wy-wXo7V_1S52NjqMXbOZn6ZEweUBqyW31coGOSWmN5qe5gcd-wGDSrNfXtwF-CDPrCLehsYV7KysoSRY-1QoDq3V8sKl25Dek84fXersK8Rc3-UtWR7ltG4QfdeHHtPNyNOCctcoYMsPtfB5Cb5EeGCwPojyiO3VD30n3u6LxQEr5u-2j3i3dAYkUoQ5VL0bkWNoooVVxvZQw4zP2dBhySWrA1h4_XpTEvnA4UTWwJaZN0poSoBsFFgSxjrz9CS4m-f-78p9eTbG36oajZoZN7sav1PB0oiWCaI6sFugKLaSR-NYnRxdvZ5sUQVYZ8KbPUH17UjiPrSExKkxk0yMeXc2tOipvDMQnv62SjzR9Ko9qSYcJQh8hXEMgxJAkquC3OnNHbWaMR9rVIzyep1t-pT88sLoVG4gD8EKAp7Yd7DqfWwKZg2-TjIYxpmJT4kjqfrG74m21IVHiyGzNJ9NayY67pHAOgyRxRucX_v8vIiQX0ZFS3zxccr64iLV9GeKyUYZz2iT1Y3iXuGTDsEkpsT0qTIndg5lLgZDf-0 “The First Cellular Systems: Japan, Europe, and the United States.”] Cellular: An Economic and Business History of the International Mobile-Phone Industry, The MIT Press, pp. 52–52.</ref>
* '''1979:''' Public dialup information, messaging and e-commerce services, were pioneered through [[CompuServe]] and [[RadioShack]]'s MicroNET, and the UK's [[Post Office Telecommunications]] [[Prestel]] services.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Tweney |first=Dylan |title=Sept. 24, 1979: First Online Service for Consumers Debuts |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2009/09/0924compuserve-launches/ |access-date=26 February 2022 |issn=1059-1028}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC - A History of the World - Object : Prestel badge |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/mWvJg15mRuOLEwrqZKVjBw |access-date=26 February 2022 |website=BBC}}</ref>

=== 1980s ===
* '''1980:''' [[Flash memory]] (both NOR and NAND types) was invented by [[Fujio Masuoka]] while working for [[Toshiba]]. It was formally introduced to the public in 1984.
* '''1980:''' Scientists [[Mark Skolnick]], Ron Davis, Ray White, and [[David Botstein]] published their findings on a gene mapping tool using [[Restriction fragment length polymorphism|Restriction Fragment-length Polymorphisms]] (RFLP), that would have applications to identify heritable disorders, including some forms of cancer.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cook-Deegan |first=Robert |title=The gene wars: science, politics, and the human genome |date=1995 |publisher=Norton |isbn=978-0-393-31399-4 |edition=1. publ. as a Norton paperback |location=New York NY}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bishop |first1=Jerry E. |title=Genome: the story of the most astonishing scientific adventure of our time; the attempt to map all the genes in the human body |last2=Waldholz |first2=Michael |date=1990 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-671-74032-0 |location=New York}}</ref><ref>Botstein D, White RL, Skolnick M, Davis RW. [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1686077/ Construction of a genetic linkage map in man using restriction fragment length polymorphisms.] Am J Hum Genet. 1980 May;32(3):314-31. PMID 6247908; PMCID: PMC1686077.</ref>
* '''1981:''' The first [[reusable spacecraft]], the [[Space Shuttle]] undergoes test flights ahead of full operation in 1982.
* '''1981:''' [[Kane Kramer]] develops the credit card-sized, IXI [[Portable media player|digital media player]].<ref>{{Cite patent|number=4667088|title=Portable data processing and storage system|gdate=1987-05-19|invent1=Kramer|invent2=Campbell|inventor1-first=Kane N.|inventor2-first=James S.|url=https://www.freepatentsonline.com/4667088.html}}</ref>
* '''1981:''' [[Televerket (Sweden)|Televerket]], a Swedish state-owned corporation, launched the [[Nordic Mobile Telephone]] (NMT) system.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-01-21 |title=NMT - Nordic Mobile Telephone System - SolveForce Communications |url=http://solveforce.com/nmt-nordic-mobile-telephone-system/#:~:text=NMT%20(Nordic%20Mobile%20Telephone%20System,to%20cover%20an%20entire%20country |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=solveforce.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>Garcia-Swartz, Daniel D, and Martin Campbell-Kelly. [https://watermark.silverchair.com/c001700_9780262370011.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAA1EwggNNBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggM-MIIDOgIBADCCAzMGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMzJ3U80urYIDfIar2AgEQgIIDBHGL1HVH-kO3lQOkHchm4XtMnmZcC1alrEPY3y-ocf9bdf-jIhMaeo6l1Rv-bCjo269l7-jYNiUAW7JXhFzCdDB-leR4TFgFKaK0Oh12DDhzieGXf_SaZYsMQv5IKfEiKxV-ZaKhjlhJuYOtHFiMjue8oPnKaStazTnmiLVHvLK5qcX8lNvarJWXX6vluNZ3p7Yj_bApCdoEKg9MIIQ59ZBv0_WT3w_NFC2cvKkH1f8C2WcObccPWTtPzqKshT7w2Gm2GpMml4R8Dk5mUj01E9UozydTvWaESyRdlin9gtgNXz5Ujgfo6c_m4CB4KU3wj3YvyAwe9Om8Jc63Z6fZZ7vtja7GGFOUYCcrv2myUN9zn9djF-bEumsZygA5FdAiKV0-UWGuasCTXyLYh-bJsXs2YbG21nsSSoxAzE2PH_3SzwipWwSKFp2EvIEuvZIn784KFtVivDNtIuYP7I5-K1A4nJizQo6zNqp10CvyldNbXxJJ3DS58gU1at9RMgAtWRLiniiSabGEi7OKf9czgYtPBX2n5LYR2k-_ETPhkyXPFKlptHino0oOUBEIk9WORuldmShQNAlh_iexWfUe49gPoFbjO18F-nNg6YrRh3Cy4zpnWPYGEIRGUdWX-6ZSKToeM3zZw7kWnGZdORhhviMCjrf-iIAeZKExkFfbfMT20ZB48vpPCVqQRLo6hPJi4V4Sgt2azobglv_eTGrDn5jcgGJRbfoqtim8rXcsBRJXU6gt1KbL0WFHtztENBOa80ivzuPySDgJOQfvTA9xh8hXcjZIFLfr87ufq9_sKnB4dwc4DE0DfggjfESbK3VvsedaE2A3lXohLpL5IudfqCJcIesNb9fxwGacKYp-TuELvAvCOhJ5gFVfEsG4eK4x2RkCd_5teasXt0siUAlvDMONTL3iu6-7rru1lhZpFznbZCT6ZaUnBIfvRMaON9dopyK_EaYn0Smv1vgBR_UjxJHI_MhKQMuaF6c8mIR41bS8s-ptDwlVpstVHA3id1rEGBZGnxk “The First Cellular Systems: Japan, Europe, and the United States.”] Cellular: An Economic and Business History of the International Mobile-Phone Industry, The MIT Press, pp. 50–51.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Al-Khouri |first=Ali M. |date=2015 |title=Towards a SIM-less Existence: The Evolution of Smart Learning Networks |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/44430335 |journal=Educational Technology |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=19–26 |jstor=44430335 |issn=0013-1962}}</ref>
* '''1981:''' [[Comviq|Comvik]], a Swedish telecommunications company, launched the first commercial automatic cellular system. However, according to the [[Swedish Post and Telecom Authority]], the company launched an unlicensed automatic system. Comvik didn’t receive a license to operate until December 1981, two months after the NMT system was launched.<ref>Mölleryd, Bengt G. [https://research.hhs.se/esploro/outputs/doctoral/Entrepreneurship-in-technological-systems--the/991001480453506056 “Entrepreneurship in Technological Systems - The Development of Mobile Telephony in Sweden.”] Stockholm School of Economics: Economic Research Institute, Stockholm School of Economics, 1999, pp. 104.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Andersson |first=Per |title=Stenbeck: en biografi över en framgångsrik affärsman |date=2012 |publisher=Modernista |isbn=978-91-7499-112-3 |edition=Ny, utök. utg. |location=Stockholm}}</ref>
* '''1982:''' A [[CD-ROM]] contains [[Computer data storage|data]] accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 ''Yellow Book'' standard developed by [[Sony]] and [[Philips]] adapted the format to hold any form of [[Binary file|binary data]].<ref name="EP689208">{{Patent|EP|689208|"Method for block oriented addressing" – for block layouts see columns 1 and 2}}</ref>
* '''1982:''' Direct to home [[satellite television]] transmission, with the launch of [[Sky One]] service.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SatMagazine |url=http://www.satmagazine.com/story.php?number=1053209847 |access-date=26 February 2022 |website=www.satmagazine.com}}</ref>
* '''1982:''' The first [[laptop]] computer is launched, the 8/16-bit [[Epson HX-20]].<ref name="ipsj">{{cite web|url=http://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/computer/personal/0081.html|title=Shinshu Seiki/Suwa Seikosha HC-20|website=IPSJ Computer Museum|access-date=19 June 2019}}</ref>
* '''1983:''' [[Stereolithography]] is invented by [[Chuck Hull]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Our Story |url=https://www.3dsystems.com/our-story |website=3D Systems |date=12 January 2017 |access-date=12 July 2018}}</ref>
* '''1983:''' Ameritech, now known as [[AT&T]], commercialized the [[Bell System]] (its cellular network) in Chicago, Ill.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Galazzo |first=Richard |date=2020-09-21 |title=Timeline from 1G to 5G: A Brief History on Cell Phones - CENGN |url=http://www.cengn.ca/information-centre/innovation/timeline-from-1g-to-5g-a-brief-history-on-cell-phones/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241213231942/https://www.cengn.ca/information-centre/innovation/timeline-from-1g-to-5g-a-brief-history-on-cell-phones/ |archive-date=2024-12-13 |access-date=2024-12-16 |work=CENGN |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=First American Cellular Network |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/first-american-cellular-network/ |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=education.nationalgeographic.org |language=en}}</ref>
* '''1984:''' The first commercially available [[cell phone]] in the US, the [[Motorola DynaTAC|DynaTAC]] 8000X, is created by [[Motorola]].
* '''1984:''' [[DNA profiling]] is pioneered by [[Alec Jeffreys]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zagorski |first=Nick |date=13 June 2006 |title=Profile of Alec J. Jeffreys |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=103 |issue=24 |pages=8918–8920 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0603953103 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=1482540 |pmid=16754883|bibcode=2006PNAS..103.8918Z |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/may/24/dna-fingerprinting-alec-jeffreys|title=Eureka moment that led to the discovery of DNA fingerprinting|date=24 May 2009|work=The Guardian|access-date=11 April 2022|archive-date=26 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426075251/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/may/24/dna-fingerprinting-alec-jeffreys|url-status=live}}</ref>
* '''1986:''' [[Technophone]], a British mobile phone company, created the first pocket-sized cell phone, the [[Excel mobile phones|Excell PCT105]].<ref>Becket, Michael. [https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/IO0702090869/TGRH?u=tele&sid=bookmark-TGRH. "Excell unveils new portable telephone."] Daily Telegraph, 13 July 1987, p. 20. The Telegraph Historical Archive, Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-11-18 |title=Vintage Mobiles |url=http://www.gsmhistory.com/vintage-mobiles/#technophone_pc105t_1986 |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=GSM History: History of GSM, Mobile Networks, Vintage Mobiles |language=en-US}}</ref>
* '''1989:''' [[Karlheinz Brandenburg]] would publish the audio compression algorithms that would be standardised as the: MPEG-1, layer 3 ([[MP3|mp3]]), and later the MPEG-2, layer 7 Advanced Audio Compression (AAC).<ref>{{Cite web |last= |last2= |first2= |last3= |first3= |last4= |first4= |title=On the 20th Birthday of the MP3, An Interview With The "Father" of the MP3, Karlheinz Brandenburg |url=https://www.internethistorypodcast.com/2015/07/on-the-20th-birthday-of-the-mp3-an-interview-with-the-father-of-the-mp3-karlheinz-brandenburg/ |access-date=26 February 2022 |website=Internet History Podcast |language=en-US}}</ref>
* '''1989:''' The [[World Wide Web]] is invented by computer scientist [[Tim Berners-Lee]].<ref name="AHT">{{cite magazine |title=Tim Berners Lee – Time 100 People of the Century |url=http://205.188.238.181/time/time100/scientist/profile/bernerslee.html |url-status=dead |magazine=[[Time Magazine]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203163437/http://205.188.238.181/time/time100/scientist/profile/bernerslee.html |archive-date=3 February 2011 |access-date=17 May 2010 |quote=He wove the World Wide Web and created a mass medium for the 21st century. The World Wide Web is Berners-Lee's alone. He designed it. He loosed it on the world. And he more than anyone else has fought to keep it open, nonproprietary and free.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Berners-Lee, Tim |title=Pre-W3C Web and Internet Background |url=http://w3.org/2004/Talks/w3c10-HowItAllStarted/?n=15 |access-date=21 April 2009 |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium}}</ref>

=== 1990s ===
* '''1990:''' The [[Neo Geo AES]] becomes the first video game system to launch that used [[Memory Cards]].
* '''1990:''' The first search engine invented was “[[Archie (search engine)|Archie]]”, created by Alan Emtage a student at McGill University in Montreal.
* '''1991:''' The first commercial flash-based [[solid-state drive]] is launched by [[SanDisk|SunDisk]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.computerhistory.org/storageengine/solid-state-drive-module-demonstrated/|title=1991: Solid State Drive module demonstrated &#124; The Storage Engine &#124; Computer History Museum|website=www.computerhistory.org}}</ref>
* '''1991:''' The first [[sim card]] is developed by Munich smart-card maker Giesecke & Devrient.
* '''1993:''' IBM created the first mobile app with SIMON; it had 10 built-in apps from Email to Calendar.
* '''1994:''' [[IBM Simon]], the world's first smartphone, is developed by [[IBM]].
* '''1994:''' First generation of [[Bluetooth]] is developed by [[Ericsson Mobile]]. A form of data communication on short distances between electronic devices. 
* '''1994:''' A [[Tetris]] variant on the [[Hagenuk MT-2000]] device becomes the first mobile game.
* '''1995:''' [[DVD]] is an [[optical disc]] [[data storage device|storage]] format, invented and developed by [[Philips]], [[Sony]], [[Toshiba]], and [[Panasonic]] in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than [[compact disc]]s while having the same dimensions.
* '''1995:''' [[Match.com]] launches as the first dating site ever and is the number 1 most visited dating site in the US.
* '''1995:''' [[Waiter.com]] launches as the first [[online food ordering]] service.
* '''1996:''' The [[Ciena|Ciena Corporation]], in partnership with [[Sprint Corporation|Sprint]], deployed the first commercial dense [[Wavelength-division multiplexing|wavelength-division multiplexing system]], which created the massive capacity of the Internet.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Markoff|first=John|date=3 March 1997|title=Fiber-Optic Technology Draws Record Stock Value|work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Unified Patents - Analytics Portal |url=https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/patents/patent/US-5504609-A |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=portal.unifiedpatents.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hecht |first=Jeff |title=City of light: the story of fiber optics |date=2004 |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-19-510818-7 |edition=Rev. and expanded ed., 1. paperback [ed.] |series=The Sloan technology series |location=Oxford}}</ref>
* '''1996:''' Mobile web was first commercially offered in Finland on the [[Nokia 9000 Communicator]] phone, and it was also the first phone with texting.
* '''1996:''' [[Bolt (website)|Bolt]] and [[SixDegrees.com|Six Degrees]] (1997) both become the first social media sites.
* '''1996:''' [[Myriad Genetics]] released the BRACAnalysis, the first commercial genetic test for assessing the risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.<ref>Cook-Deegan, Robert, and Annie Niehaus. [http://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4225052/ “After Myriad: Genetic Testing in the Wake of Recent Supreme Court Decisions about Gene Patents.”] Current Genetic Medicine Reports, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 11 Sept. 2014,</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Begley |first=Sharon |date=2016-11-29 |title=As revenue falls, a pioneer of cancer gene testing slams rivals with overblown claims |url=https://www.statnews.com/2016/11/29/brca-cancer-myriad-genetic-tests/ |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=STAT |language=en-US}}</ref>
* '''1997:''' The first weblog, a discussion or informational website, was created by [[Jorn Barger]], and later shortened to "blog" in 1999 by Peter Merholz.
* '''1998:''' The first portable [[MP3 player]] was released by SaeHan Information Systems.
* '''1998:'''  The search engine [[Google Search|Google]], is launched.<ref>Hall, Mark, and William L Hosch. [http://www.britannica.com/money/Google-Inc “Google: American Company.”] Encyclopædia Britannica, 31 Oct. 2024.</ref>
* '''1999:''' The first [[digital video recorder]] (DVR), the [[TiVo]], is launched by [[Xperi]].
* '''1999:''' [[NTT Docomo|NTT DoCoMo]] launches [[i-mode]], the first integrated [[app store|Online App store]] for mobile phones.

===21st century===

====2000s====
* '''2000:''' [[Sony]] develops the first prototypes for the [[Blu-ray]] optical disc format. The first prototype player was released in 2004.
* '''2000:''' First documented placement of [[Geocaching]], an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, took place on May 3, 2000, by Dave Ulmer of [[Beavercreek, Oregon]].
* '''2004:''' First [[podcast]], invented by Adam Curry and Dave Winer, is a [[radio program|program]] made available in digital format for [[download]] over the Internet and it usually features one or more recurring hosts engaged in a discussion about a particular topic or current event.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/podcast |title=Podcast |dictionary=Cambridge Dictionary |edition=Online |access-date=April 21, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/podcast|title = Definition of PODCAST| date=21 November 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/podcast|title=Podcast Definition & Meaning &#124; Britannica Dictionary|website=britannica.com}}</ref>
* '''2005:''' [[YouTube]], the first popular video-streaming site, was founded 
* '''2007:''' [[Netflix]] debuted the first popular video-on-demand service
* '''2007:''' [[Apple Inc.]] released the [[iPhone]]
* '''2007:''' The [[Bank of Scotland]] develops the world's first banking app
* '''2007:''' [[SoundCloud]], the first on-demand service to focus on music is debuted
* '''2007:''' First [[Amazon Kindle|Kindle]] introduced by [[Amazon (company)]] founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who instructed the company's employees to build the world's best e-reader before Amazon's competitors could. Amazon originally used the codename ''Fiona'' for the device. This hardware evolved from the original Kindle introduced in 2007 and the Kindle DX (with its larger 9.7" screen) introduced in 2009.<ref>[https://www.theverge.com/2014/12/17/7396525/amazon-kindle-design-lab-audible-hachette Inside the secret lab where Amazon is designing the future of reading] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922195339/https://www.theverge.com/2014/12/17/7396525/amazon-kindle-design-lab-audible-hachette |date=September 22, 2017 }} The Verge, 2014</ref>
* '''2008:''' [[Satoshi Nakamoto]] develops the first [[blockchain]].<ref>{{cite book|last1= Narayanan|first1= Arvind|last2= Bonneau|first2= Joseph|last3= Felten|first3= Edward|last4= Miller|first4= Andrew|last5= Goldfeder|first5= Steven|title= Bitcoin and cryptocurrency technologies: a comprehensive introduction|date= 2016|publisher= Princeton University Press|location= Princeton|isbn= 978-0-691-17169-2}}
</ref>

====2010s====
* '''2010:''' The first [[solar sail]] based spacecraft, [[IKAROS]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Edwards |first1=Lin |last2=Phys.org |title=IKAROS unfurls first ever solar sail in space |url=https://phys.org/news/2010-06-ikaros-unfurls-solar-space.html |access-date=2022-12-30 |website=phys.org |language=en}}</ref>
*'''2010:''' The first [[quantum machine]]<ref>{{cite journal|first=Adrian|last=Cho|title=BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR. The First Quantum Machine|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|year=2010|volume=330|issue=6011|page=1604|doi=10.1126/science.330.6011.1604|bibcode=2010Sci...330.1604C|pmid=21163978}}</ref>
* '''2010:''' The first [[Synthetic biology|synthetic organism]], ''[[Mycoplasma laboratorium]]'' is created by the [[J. Craig Venter Institute]]
* '''2011:''' HIV treatment as prevention ([[HPTN 052]])<ref>{{cite journal|first=Jon|last=Cohen|title=Breakthrough of the Year: HIV Treatment as Prevention|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|year=2011|volume=334|issue=6063|page=1628|doi=10.1126/science.334.6063.1628|bibcode=2011Sci...334.1628C|pmid=22194547|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* '''2013:''' [[Cancer immunotherapy]]<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.342.6165.1432|title=Cancer Immunotherapy|first=Jenifer|last=Couzin-Franken|journal=Science|date=20 December 2013|volume=342 |issue=6165 |pages=1432–1433 |doi=10.1126/science.342.6165.1432 |pmid=24357284 |access-date=22 December 2013|archive-date=22 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131222085116/http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6165/1432.full|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
* '''2014:''' The first known "[[NFT]]", ''Quantum'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cascone |first=Sarah |date=May 7, 2021 |title=Sotheby's Is Selling the First NFT Ever Minted – and Bidding Starts at $100 |url=https://news.artnet.com/market/sothebys-is-hosting-its-first-curated-nft-sale-featuring-the-very-first-nft-ever-minted-1966003 |access-date=November 12, 2021 |website=Artnet News |language=en-US}}</ref> was created by Kevin McCoy and [[Anil Dash]] in May.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ostroff |first=Caitlin |date=May 8, 2021 |title=The NFT Origin Story, Starring Digital Cats |language=en-US |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-nft-origin-story-starring-digital-cats-11620446425 |access-date=December 12, 2021 |issn=0099-9660}}</ref>
* '''2015:''' [[CRISPR]] genome-editing method<ref>{{cite journal|title=Making the cut|first=John|last=Travis|date=18 December 2015|volume=350|issue=6267|pages=1456–1457|journal=Science Magazine|doi=10.1126/science.350.6267.1456|pmid=26680172|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* '''2017:''' [[Google]] publishes a research paper "[[Attention Is All You Need]]" leading to the development into a new deep learning architecture known as the [[Transformer (deep learning architecture)|transformer]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Transformers |url=https://www.ft.com/content/37bb01af-ee46-4483-982f-ef3921436a50 |website=Science |publisher=AAAS |access-date=28 November 2018}}</ref>
* '''2018:''' [[Single-cell sequencing]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Choose your 2018 Breakthrough of the Year! |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/choose-your-2018-breakthrough-year |website=Science |publisher=AAAS |access-date=28 November 2018}}</ref>
* '''2019:''' [[IBM]] launches [[IBM Q System One]], its first integrated [[quantum computing]] system for commercial use.

====2020s====
* '''2020:''' The first [[MRNA vaccine]] to be approved by public health medicines regulators is co-developed by [[Pfizer]] and [[BioNTech]] for [[COVID-19]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-01-14 |title=Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine {{!}} FDA |website=[[Food and Drug Administration]] |url=https://www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/coronavirus-disease-2019-COVID-19/pfizer-biontech-COVID-19-vaccine |access-date=2024-07-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114221304/https://www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/coronavirus-disease-2019-COVID-19/pfizer-biontech-COVID-19-vaccine |archive-date=14 January 2021 }}</ref>
* '''2020:''' [[OpenAI]] demonstrated an [[Artificial intelligence|Artificial Intelligence]] model called [[GPT-3]]. The program was created to generate human-like responses when given prompts.<ref>Kissinger, Henry; Schmidt, Eric; Huttenlocher, Daniel P. (2021). ''The age of AI: and our human future''. Schuyler Schouten (First edition&nbsp;ed.). New York Boston London: Little, Brown and Company. {{ISBN|978-0-316-27380-0}}.</ref>
* '''2021:''' [[Pfizer]] develops [[Paxlovid|the world's first pill]] for [[COVID-19|COVID]].
* '''2022:''' [[ChatGPT]] is launched to the public, making its first mainstream [[generative AI]] to be released.

==See also==
* [[Accelerating change]]
* [[List of emerging technologies]]
* [[List of inventors]]
* [[List of years in science]]
* [[Outline of prehistoric technology]]
* [[Timeline of prehistory]]

;By type
* [[History of communication]]
* [[Timeline of agriculture and food technology]]
* [[Timeline of electrical and electronic engineering]]
* [[Timeline of transportation technology]]
* [[Timeline of heat engine technology]]
* [[Timeline of rocket and missile technology]]
* [[Timeline of motor and engine technology]]
* [[Timeline of steam power]]
* [[Timeline of temperature and pressure measurement technology]]
* [[Timeline of mathematics]]
* [[Timeline of computing]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
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{{refend}}

==External links==
* [http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=2984 U.S. National Academy of Engineering's Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century Timeline]

{{Inventions|state=uncollapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Timeline Of Historic Inventions}}
[[Category:Lists of inventions or discoveries|Historic]]
[[Category:Technology timelines|Historic inventions]]
[[Category:Technology-related lists]]