Humans of the Hemudu Culture in ancient China invent rowing oars
Wooden oars, with canoe-shaped pottery, dating from 5000-4500 B.C.E. have been discovered in a Hemudu culture site at Yuyao, Zhejiang, in modern China.
Technology & innovation
The Vinča culture in modern-day Southeastern Europe creates the “Vinča symbols”
The Vinča symbols are a set of symbols found on Neolithic era artifacts from the Vinča culture of Southeastern Europe. The nature and purpose of the symbols is a mystery.
Eridu, perhaps the world’s first city, is founded in modern-day Iraq
Eridu was long considered the earliest city in southern Mesopotamia and is still today argued to be the oldest city in the world.
Humans invent lead smelting, perhaps in modern-day Turkey
The earliest known cast lead beads were found in the Çatalhöyük site in Anatolia (Turkey), and dated from about 6500 B.C.E., but the metal may have been known earlier.
Humans in northern China invent mead
Mead is an alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey with water, sometimes with various fruits, spices, grains, or hops.
Humans in ancient China invent lacquer
Radiating a serene luster, lacquer ware is an exquisite Chinese craft. As the earliest users, the Chinese have enjoyed its beauty since the Neolithic Age.
The Jiahu symbols of the Peiligang culture in China are created
A 2003 report in Antiquity interpreted them “not as writing itself, but as features of a lengthy period of sign-use which led eventually to a fully-fledged system of writing.
Humans of ancient Brazil independently invent pottery
The earliest pottery ever found in the Western Hemisphere, radiocarbon-dated 8,000 years old, has been excavated in the Amazon basin of Brazil, near Santarém, providing evidence to overturn the assumption that the tropical forest region was too poor in resources to have supported a complex prehistoric culture.
Humans invent the fishing net
The oldest known fishing net is the net of Antrea, found with other fishing equipment in the Karelian town of Antrea, Finland, in 1913. The net was made from willow, and dates back to 8300 B.C.E.
The ancient people of South America independently invent clothing
Guitarrero Cave has evidence of human use around 8,000 B.C.E. In the 1960s, archeologists discovered artifacts in an extraordinary state of preservation at the site. Remarkably, textiles, wood and leather tools, and basketry have been preserved intact.