Technological Advances
Cynthia Horan
Stone Age—cooking (Paleolithic), animal domestication (Neolithic) and plant cultivation (first Middle East
wheat and barley), cattle yoked to plows, megalithic constructions, metallurgy-silver, gold, copper, lead
Mesopotamia—ox-drawn plows, cuneiform, ziggurats, bronze, clay, carts, platforms, base-60 number system
Egypt—pyramids/engineering, hieroglyphics and everyday cursive script, papyrus reed writing material,
mummification—human anatomy knowledge, accurate calendar
Indus Valley—metals in utilitarian tools and everyday objects, pottery, undeciphered writing system
Early China (Shang and Zhou Periods)—use of iron and steel, horseback warfare, silk cloth
Nubia—Kingdom of Meroe, major center of iron smelting
Chavin—metallurgy, improvements in manufacture/decoration of textiles, pottery
Hitties of Anatolia—first to develop technique for making tools/weapons of iron
Phoenicia—first alphabetic system of writing, City of Carthage—better galleys
Greece—hoplite warfare, Herodotus—published Histories, Athens—trireme (ship)
Rome—engineering expertise—aqueducts, arches, invented concrete, built roads
China—Qin Dynasty—standardized weights and measures, common writing, single coinage, Great Wall
Han Dynasty—astronomical observations, watermill, horse collar that didn’t constrict breathing
Made paper, built canals, invented seismometer (measured earthquakes)
India—Mauryan Empire—standard coinage
Gupta Empire—concept of zero, Arabic numerals, system of place-value notation still used today
Saharan cultures—early metalworking (iron smelting)
Spread of Ideas along trade routes—beginning of coinage—originated in Anatolia
Stirrup—Kushan people, northern Afghanistan—spread along Silk Road, allowed rider to use weapons
Chariot warfare and use of mounted bowmen—Central Asia
Islam—built on Hellenistic traditions, Ibn al-Haytham—explained perspective, how light travels
Byzantine Empire—Cyrillic alphabet, religious art, music affected by chanting
Medieval Europe—monasteries preserved learning, preserved Latin works
Later—better plow, iron horseshoes, horse collar, used horses rather than oxen
China—Sui Empire—Grand Canal, Tang Empire—lasting art
Song China—fractions, compass for seafaring, junk, gunpowder, metallurgy—mass-production,
idea of credit, movable type—availability of printed books increased
Korea—printing with movable type—reached China
Japan—known for building techniques
Vietnam—rice agriculture—Champa rice
Teotihuacan—chinampas (artificial islands)
Maya—accurate calendar (ritual and solar year), concept of zero, hieroglyphic inscription
Tiwanaku—high quality stone masonry
Inca—khipus (cords to transmit information)—originated from Andean peoples, tools of copper/bronze
Mongols—Central Asian bow that could shoot farther
Islamic Eurasia—historians (Juvaini, Rashid al-Din—first history of world), Nasir al-Din Tusi-math/cosmology
Decimal notation, better pi number, astrolabes, Copernicus—lunar model
China—Ming Empire—limited mining, shipbuilding deteriorated, used cannons, Chinese novels, porcelain
Latin West—three-field system, watermills, guilds, banking, Gothic arch, flying buttresses, universities, artists
Guttenberg—printing press, adoption of crossbows and firearms
Portuguese—caravel, improved navigational instruments like compass and astrolabe
Europe, 1500—1750—scientific revolution—Pythagoras, Copernicus—heliocentric universe