Ancient Inventions Timeline

Ancient firsts, in order

1. c. 9500 BCE

   Göbekli Tepe rises in stone

   People in what is now southeastern Turkey raise great carved stone pillars, among the oldest known megaliths, long before writing or the wheel.

   Source: en.wikipedia.org
2. c. 3500 to 3400 BCE

   Wheels start rolling

   Evidence of wheeled vehicles spreads across Europe and the Middle East, following the potter's wheel of the 4th millennium BCE.

   Source: en.wikipedia.org
3. c. 3300 BCE

   Writing begins in Mesopotamia

   Scribes at Uruk press signs into clay tablets. Cuneiform is the earliest known writing system.

   Source: en.wikipedia.org
4. c. 1417 to 1379 BCE

   The oldest surviving water clock

   A stone water clock used at Karnak in Egypt, from the reign of Amenhotep III, measures time by the steady flow of water.

   Source: en.wikipedia.org
5. Early 1st millennium BCE

   Qanats tap hidden water

   Ancient Iranians dig gently sloping tunnels that carry groundwater to the desert surface using gravity alone.

   Source: en.wikipedia.org
6. 312 BCE

   Rome's first aqueduct

   Work begins on the Aqua Appia, a mostly underground channel about 16.6 km long that drops only about 10 m along its route.

   Source: en.wikipedia.org
7. Early 3rd century BCE

   The Library of Alexandria opens

   The Ptolemies build a great library inside the Mouseion and set out to collect every book they can find.

   Source: en.wikipedia.org
8. c. 250 to 220 BCE

   The water screw appears

   The earliest mention of the screw pump, a turning spiral that lifts water uphill, traditionally credited to Archimedes.

   Source: en.wikipedia.org
9. c. 240 BCE

   Eratosthenes measures the Earth

   Comparing noon shadows at Alexandria and Syene, the Library's head estimates the planet's circumference at about 250,000 stadia.

   Source: en.wikipedia.org
10. 2nd century BCE

    The Antikythera mechanism

    Greek craftsmen build a hand-cranked bronze gear device that models the sky and predicts eclipses, the oldest known analog computer.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org
11. 36 BCE

    An early Long Count date

    Stela 2 at Chiapa de Corzo in Mexico carries one of the earliest known Long Count dates, a calendar that relies on zero as a placeholder.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org
12. 1st century BCE to 1st century CE

    Petra tames the flood

    The Nabataeans dam the mouth of the Siq to steer flash floods away from their desert capital.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org
13. 1st century CE

    Hero's spinning steam ball

    Hero of Alexandria describes the aeolipile, a sphere spun by jets of steam and the first recorded steam engine.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org
14. 97 CE

    Rome's water commissioner takes notes

    Frontinus becomes curator of Rome's aqueducts and writes De aquaeductu, a detailed report on the city's water supply.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org
15. 105 CE

    Cai Lun improves paper

    At the Han court, Cai Lun presents a better papermaking process using tree bark, hemp, old rags and fishing nets.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org
16. c. 126 CE

    The Pantheon's dome

    Hadrian's rebuilt Pantheon in Rome is probably dedicated, crowned by a great dome of Roman concrete.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org
17. 132 CE

    Zhang Heng's seismoscope

    Zhang Heng presents a device to the Han court designed to show the direction of a distant earthquake.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org
18. 15th century CE

    Inca roads and quipu

    As the Inca state expands from 1438, it links its realm with a road network of about 40,000 km and keeps records on knotted quipu cords.

    Source: en.wikipedia.org