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Our modern civilization functions due to the many incredible inventions of our ancient ancestors. Many of humanity’s earliest tools and techniques emerged from moments of incredible innovation for their time.
The wheel was never invented or used in Central and South America until the Europeans introduced it. This was despite the Mayans’ many inventions, including advanced mathematics and astronomy. Some historians attribute the terrain and lack of large domesticated animals made wheels useless to these cultures.
The first hammers emerged 3.3 million years ago. Fossil hunters have found that our australopithecine ancestors had hands similar to modern humans. We’ve found stones that they used against nuts and bones on the African savanna.
Early needles have been found going back 60,000 plus years. They were built from bird bones. And helped early humans to survive in cold climates.
The first compass was invented in China as a fortune-telling device using lodestone on bronze plates. It wouldn’t be used for navigation for many years later.
The first screw was invented and used in Greece for pressing olive oil and wine, not for fastening. Its inventor, Archimedes, first used it to lift water, creating the water screw.
The plumb bob was invented to build the pyramids. It was also used as a surveying tool to predict the annual Nile flooding by measuring water levels in wells.
In ancient Egypt, the first levels used water in a curved papyrus tube, marked at the center. When water reached both marks, the surface was level.
Mesopotamian engineers used complex pulley systems to lift water for their hanging gardens. These were the world’s first artificial irrigation systems that we know about.
Ancient Chinese metallurgists innovated in metallurgy before anyone else by developing double-action bellows that could generate sustained temperatures exceeding 1,538°C (2,800°F) to melt iron. They were the first to master this advanced metalwork, roughly 800 years before Europeans got their act together to develop similar technology.
The Bronze Age saw the development of pliers. The tool was first used by jewelers, not blacksmiths, to manipulate delicate gold and silver wire.
Early humans invented stone axes in Ethiopia’s Olduvai Gorge around 1.6 million years ago. Archaeologists think they used them to crack bones and slice meat.
Ancient Egyptian shipbuilders used crescent-shaped copper adzes to carve massive cedar planks into vessels. They left behind tool marks and assembly instructions in the form of hieroglyphic “carpenter’s marks”. Future archaeologists have been able to follow these instructions by reassembling a 4,600-year-old Khufu Ship.
Egyptian craftsmen used weighted drills with copper bits cooled by milk. They thought the protein in milk helped preserve the cutting edge.
Roman woodworkers used wooden vises with threads carved directly into the bench. This was complicated technology at the time, sometimes taking months to manufacture.
Mesopotamian bricklayers used trowels made from cast copper. It allowed the materials to bend rather than break—they were then able to reshape the materials for their needs.
The first clamps were invented by ancient Japanese woodworkers. They used the clamps made from bamboo strips to tighten as they dried, creating incredible pressure.
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