Stone Age inventions
98 inventions and discoveries: year, what it is, what it evolved from and what it led to.
How the inventions are connected
- Stone tool → Hoe → Plough
| Year | Invention | What it is | Evolved from | Led to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3300000 BC | Stone tool | The oldest tools, made of knapped stone. | Needle, Sickle, Hammer, Knife | |
| 2500000 BC | Knife | A blade with a handle; the oldest cutting tool. | Stone tool | Scalpel |
| 1760000 BC | Hand axe | A bifacially worked stone tool of the Acheulean culture. | Axe | |
| 1000000 BC | Wedge | A simple machine: an inclined plane that pushes material apart. | ||
| 400000 BC | Leather | Hide treated by tanning. | ||
| 400000 BC | Fire making Homo erectus, archaic human | The controlled use and production of fire. | Match, Lighter | |
| 400000 BC | Spear | A shaft with a sharp point. | Harpoon, Fire lance | |
| 200000 BC | Adhesive | A substance that joins surfaces. | ||
| 90000 BC | Harpoon | A thrown weapon with a barbed point. | Spear | |
| 70000 BC | Bow and arrow | A projectile weapon: an elastic bow stores the energy of the draw. | Crossbow, Darts | |
| 50000 BC | Needle | A tool with an eye for sewing. | Stone tool | |
| 40000 BC | Paint | A pigment in a binder. | ||
| 40000 BC | Chalk | Soft limestone for writing. | ||
| 40000 BC | Footwear | Protection for the foot. | ||
| 40000 BC | Flute | A wind instrument; the oldest ones are made of bone. | ||
| 30000 BC | Hammer | A striking tool. | Stone tool | Trip hammer, Steam hammer |
| 30000 BC | Charcoal | Fuel made by heating wood without air. | ||
| 30000 BC | Abrasive | A hard material for grinding (corundum, carborundum). | ||
| 30000 BC | Spear-thrower | A lever that extends the arm when throwing a spear. | ||
| 29000 BC | Oven | A closed chamber for cooking with heat. | ||
| 28000 BC | Rope | Twisted fibres that work in tension. | Wire rope, Climbing rope | |
| 23000 BC | Fish hook | A hook for catching fish. | ||
| 21000 BC | Boomerang | A curved throwing weapon; the returning kind owes its flight to aerodynamics. | ||
| 18000 BC | Pottery | Objects made of fired clay. | Saucepan | |
| 12000 BC | Bread | A baked product made from flour. | ||
| 12000 BC | Food drying | Preserving food by removing water. | Freeze-drying | |
| 10000 BC | Sickle | A curved blade for harvesting. | Stone tool | Lawn mower, Combine harvester, Reaper, Scythe |
| 10000 BC | Ladder | Rungs between two uprights. | ||
| 10000 BC | Grain | The grain of cereals (wheat, barley, rice) grown in fields since the Neolithic. | ||
| 10000 BC | Basket | A woven container. | Broom | |
| 10000 BC | Domestication | Taming plants and animals; the Neolithic Revolution. | ||
| 10000 BC | Sling | A projectile weapon on a strap. | ||
| 10000 BC | Smoking | Treating food with smoke. | ||
| 9000 BC | Copper | One of the first metals mastered by humans. | ||
| 9000 BC | Millstone | A stone disc for grinding grain. | ||
| 9000 BC | Quern | Two stones for grinding grain. | Gristmill, Threshing machine | |
| 8000 BC | Oar | A lever for rowing. | ||
| 8000 BC | Spindle | A rod for twisting fibre into thread. | Spinning wheel | |
| 8000 BC | Linen | A fabric of flax fibres; in Egypt it made clothing, sails and bandages. | ||
| 8000 BC | Boat | A small vessel propelled by oars. | Sailing ship | |
| 8000 BC | Bow drill | A drill turned by a bowstring; also used to make fire. | Electric drill | |
| 8000 BC | Hull | The displacing shell of a ship. | ||
| 8000 BC | Adze | A tool with a blade set across the handle for dressing wood. | Stone tool | |
| 8000 BC | Well | A shaft for getting groundwater. | ||
| 8000 BC | Fishing net | A woven mesh for catching fish. | ||
| 7000 BC | Brick | A building block of dried or fired clay. | ||
| 7000 BC | Lime | The product of burning limestone; the basis of ancient mortars. | ||
| 7000 BC | Sledge | A vehicle on runners. | Cart, Bobsleigh | |
| 7000 BC | Ethanol | Alcohol produced by fermentation; a fuel and a solvent. | ||
| 7000 BC | Textile | A material made of interlaced threads. | ||
| 7000 BC | Tanning | Treating hides with tanning agents. | ||
| 7000 BC | Foundation | The base of a building. | ||
| 6500 BC | Felt | A non-woven material of matted wool. | ||
| 6000 BC | Mirror | A reflecting surface. | ||
| 6000 BC | Kiln | A furnace for firing pottery, bricks and lime. | ||
| 6000 BC | Hoe | A tool for loosening soil. | Stone tool | Plough |
| 6000 BC | Wool | An animal fibre. | ||
| 6000 BC | Skis | Runners for travelling over snow. | Snowboard | |
| 6000 BC | Axe | A wedge-shaped blade on a haft for chopping wood. | Hand axe | |
| 6000 BC | Warp-weighted loom | An ancient loom whose warp threads are tensioned by weights. | ||
| 6000 BC | Irrigation | Artificial watering of fields. | ||
| 6000 BC | Mortar | A binding mixture for masonry. | Roman concrete | |
| 5500 BC | Drum | A percussion instrument with a membrane. | ||
| 5000 BC | Cotton | A plant fibre. | ||
| 5000 BC | Loom | A device for interlacing warp and weft threads into cloth. | Power loom | |
| 5000 BC | Smelting | Extracting metal from ore by heating it with a reducing agent. | ||
| 5000 BC | Comb | A comb for hair. | ||
| 5000 BC | Brewing | Making a drink by fermenting grain. | ||
| 5000 BC | Yogurt | A fermented milk product. | ||
| 4500 BC | Oil lamp | A lamp with a wick in oil. | Incandescent light bulb, Kerosene lamp | |
| 4500 BC | Wick | A cord that feeds fuel to the flame by capillary action. | ||
| 4500 BC | Gold | A precious metal for jewellery and coins. | ||
| 4000 BC | Plough | A tool for tilling soil. | Hoe | Steel plough |
| 4000 BC | Cistern | A reservoir for storing water. | ||
| 4000 BC | Potter’s wheel | A spinning disc for shaping vessels; one of the first uses of rotation. | ||
| 4000 BC | Paved road | A prepared way for carts; developed by the Romans. | ||
| 4000 BC | Yoke | A harness for a pair of oxen. | ||
| 4000 BC | Dye | A substance for colouring fabrics. | ||
| 4000 BC | Snowshoes | A wide support that spreads weight over snow. | ||
| 4000 BC | Indigo | A blue dye; synthesized by Baeyer in 1880. | Synthetic dye | |
| 4000 BC | Cosmetics | Products for care and make-up. | ||
| 3500 BC | Glass | An amorphous material made from molten silica. | ||
| 3500 BC | Wheel | A disc that turns on an axle; one of the oldest inventions for moving loads. | ||
| 3500 BC | Axle | A rod on which a wheel turns. | ||
| 3500 BC | Cart | A wheeled vehicle drawn by animals. | Sledge | Chariot, Carriage |
| 3500 BC | Bit and bridle | Harness for controlling a horse. | ||
| 3500 BC | Sail | A sheet of cloth that uses the force of the wind. | ||
| 3500 BC | Board game | Games on a board (senet, go). | Video game | |
| 3500 BC | Spinning top | A toy kept stable by its rotation. | ||
| 3500 BC | Cylinder seal | A carved stone cylinder rolled over clay — an early way to reproduce an image. | ||
| 3400 BC | Nail | A metal rod for fastening parts together. | ||
| 3300 BC | Bronze | An alloy of copper and tin that gave its name to an age. | ||
| 3300 BC | Tin | A metal added to copper to make bronze. | ||
| 3300 BC | Alloy | A mixture of metals with new properties. | ||
| 3300 BC | Backpack | A bag worn on the back (Ötzi had one). | ||
| 3200 BC | Casting | Making an object by pouring molten material into a mould. | ||
| 3200 BC | Writing | Recording speech with signs. | Alphabet, Braille | |
| 3200 BC | Cuneiform Sumerians | A script pressed into clay tablets. |