Because prehistorians' and anthropologists' estimations of when the human species first appeared vary so greatly, relating the history of technology to the history of humanlike species does not help to pinpoint its exact beginning. Animals occasionally utilise natural tools like sticks and stones, and it's likely that the species that eventually gave rise to humans did the same for hundreds of thousands of years before taking the first big step toward creating their own tools. Even so, it took aeons before they began making such tools regularly. Then, even more aeons elapsed before they reached the final phases of manufacturing their basic stone choppers and pounders, which involved setting up factories and delegating the task to specialists.By the time of the Neanderthals (70,000 BCE), toolmaking had advanced to a certain point; Cro-Magnons (perhaps as early as 35,000 BCE) made more complex tools that required the assembly of a head and haft; and peoples of the Neolithic (New Stone Age; 6000 BCE) and Metal Age pottery-makers had used mechanical concepts (about 3000 BCE).

first communities

The majority of human history, up until the past 10,000 years or so, was spent in small nomadic tribes whose survival depended on the ability to gather food, engage in hunting and fishing, and stay away from predators. Given that humans have such inadequate physical defences, it is fair to assume that the majority of these groups evolved in tropical latitudes, particularly in Africa.It is also fair to assume that tribes spread out from there into the subtropical areas and later into Eurasia. However, their colonisation of this region must have been severely constrained by the several glacial episodes, which rendered significant portions of it unsuitable and even uninhabitable, despite the fact that people has demonstrated extraordinary adaptability to such unfavourable conditions.

Power

Another fundamental skill that was learned at some point during the Old Stone Age was the use of fire. A fire could be started by constant friction between two dry wooden surfaces, which was another important discovery that led to the taming and control of fire. Although little power was directly obtained from fire other than for animal defence, fire was the most significant prehistoric contribution to power technology. The majority of prehistoric societies continued to rely entirely on human labour, but as they moved into the New Stone Age and adopted a more established way of life, they started to use domesticated animals as a source of some power.

construction methods

During the Neolithic Revolution, prehistoric building methods witnessed considerable advancements as well. Beyond what can be deduced from a few remains of stone shelters, nothing is known about Paleolithic peoples' construction skills. However, during the New Stone Age, numerous remarkable buildings were constructed, mostly tombs, burial mounds, and other sacred structures, but also, near the end of the era, household houses, when sun-dried brick was first utilised. Huge stone structures, including Stonehenge in England, which is the best example, still bore eloquent testimony to the technical mastery, as well as the imagination and mathematical prowess, of the later Stone Age communities in northern Europe, where the Neolithic transition began later than around the eastern Mediterranean and lasted longer.

Manufacturing

The manufacturing industry began in the New Stone Age with the use of methods for grinding grain, baking clay, spinning, and weaving textiles. It also appears likely that methods for dyeing, fermenting, and distilling were also used. Archaeological discoveries provide some support for all of these processes, and at least some of them were evolving into specialised crafts by the time the first urban civilizations emerged. In a similar manner, the early metalworkers were learning the methods for extracting and processing the softer metals, such as gold, silver, copper, and tin, that would later elevate their successors to a prestigious class of artisans. Developing trade between various communities and areas was also implied by all these emerging fields of specialisation.

knowledge transmission

Technology was passed down in the ancient world by traders who travelled in quest of tin and other goods, as well as by artisans who worked with metal, stone, leather, and other materials. These artisans either taught others directly or provided models for other artisans to follow in order to pass on their abilities. Between the ancient civilizations and their neighbours to the north and west during the second millennium BCE, this transmission through intermediary contact was taking place. In the following millennium, the pace intensified as distinct new civilizations emerged in Troy, Carthage, Mycenae, Crete, and so on. Last but not least, the invention of the art of working iron fundamentally altered the capacities and resources of human society and brought about the Classical civilizations of Greece and Rome.