Human
Things

Early toolmakers

Stick ’em with
the pointy end

Flat design

The earliest stone toolmaking developed by at least 2.6 million years ago. The Early Stone Age began with the most basic stone implements made by early humans. These toolkits include hammerstones, stone cores, and sharp stone flakes. Most important is that stone tools provide evidence about the technologies, dexterity, particular kinds of mental skills ot these early human toolmakers. ¹

Controlling the elements

Warm and cozy

Give me fire!

The control of fire by early humans was a turning point in the technological evolution of human beings. Fire provided a source of warmth and lighting, protection from predators, a way to create more advanced hunting tools, and a method for cooking food. These cultural advances allowed human geographic dispersal, cultural innovations, and changes to diet and behavior. ²

Mesopotamian cuneiforms

From A to Z

Now you know the alphabet

Full writing-systems appear to have been invented independently at least four times in human history: first in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) where cuneiform was used between 3400 and 3300 BC, and shortly afterwards in Egypt at around 3200 BC. ³

Money rules the world

My precious!

I just can’t get enough

No one knows for sure who first invented such money, but historians believe metal objects were first used as money as early as 5,000 B.C. Around 700 B.C., the Lydians became the first Western culture to make coins. Other countries and civilizations soon began to mint their own coins with specific values. ⁴

24/7

Spin me round round!

Tick tock

The mechanical clock, which derived from water clock, was born in medieval Europe. The first mechanical clocks were large devices made of iron. By the fourteenth century, they were in widespread use across Europe. This innovation made it possible to produce ever smaller clocks. ⁵

Move it like Gutenberg

Paperback writer

To read or not to read

In Germany, around 1440, goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, which started the Printing Revolution. In Renaissance Europe, the arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced the era of mass communication, which permanently altered the structure of society. ⁶

To the stars and beyond

Fly me to the moon

From another galaxy

The invention of the telescope played an important role in advancing our understanding of Earth's place in the cosmos. While there is evidence that the principals of telescopes were known in the late 16th century, the first telescopes were created in the Netherlands in 1608. ⁷

Pressure release

It’s getting hot in here

Steamy things

During the Industrial Revolution, steam engines started to replace water and wind power, and eventually became the dominant source of power in the late 19th century and remaining so into the early decades of the 20th century, when the more efficient steam turbine and the internal combustion engine resulted in the rapid replacement of the steam engines. The steam turbine has become the most common method by which electrical power generators are driven. ⁸

Hello world!

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Charles Babbage’s analytic engine is often seen as the forerunner of the modern computer. It had the ability to be programmed and calculate mathematical equations From these early experimental machines, we saw the development of later electronic versions. Although the electronic computer wasn’t really developed until after the 1940s. ⁹

Smart and handy things

Ring ring ring

Thank you Steve

The first smartphone, created by IBM, was invented in 1992 and released for purchase in 1994. It was called the Simon Personal Communicator (SPC). While not very compact and sleek, the device still featured several elements that became staples to every smartphone that followed. ^{10, 11}