In the earlist known example of ceramics, humans at Dolni Vestonice model figures in burnt clay

Needles of bone or ivory are now fine enough to take a thread as thin as horse hair

The spindle develops naturally in the process of twisting fibres into thread by hand

Neolithic communities in eastern Anatolia make implements of hammered copper - the first tentative step out of the Stone Age

The first evidence of a loom comes from this period in Egypt, but some simple method of holding the warp must be as old as weaving

A simple hand-held plough is in use in Egypt and Mesopotamia, at least 1000 years before a heavier version is pulled by oxen

The lever is in use in both Mesopotamia and Egypt

Wheels are in use on carts, particularly where wood is easily available and the ground rough - as in the forests of Europe

Potters in Mesopotamia turn their pots on wheels

The Chinese discover that the cocoon of a certain worm can be unwound, spun as thread and then woven - thus creating silk

Objects are cast in bronze, at Ur in Mesopotamia - introducing what is later called the Bronze Age

Yarns of spun cotton survive at Mohenjo-daro, one of the two great cities of the Indus civilization

The Hittites, in Anatolia, are the first people to work iron - introducing what is later called the Iron Age

The clepsydra, or water clock, is developed in Egypt

Iron reheated with carbon is found to be much harder, being transformed into steel

The technique of glazing pottery is discovered in Mesopotamia, though used at this stage only for decorative arts arts purposes

The earliest surviving sundial is in use in Egypt

The first known lock and key is fitted in the new palace of Sargon II at Khorsabad, in Assyria

The Chinese become the first people to cast iron, after developing a furnace which can reach a very high temperature

The earliest description of a pulley appears in a Greek text

To help the king of Syracuse extract water from the hold of a ship (so the story goes), Archimedes invents the screw now known by his name

Cement is in use for construction in Asia Minor, possibly developed first in Pergamum

Parchment is invented by Eumenes II, king of Pergamum, according to traditional accounts

The Phoenicians discover that a blob of molten glass can be puffed out to form a hollow vessel

The dioptra, developed by Hero of Alexandria for surveying land, is an early form of theodolite