15 Most Pertinent Technological Advances from Antiquity to the Renaissance. By DLewis23 3500 BCE The wheel is invented Period: 3500 BCE to 1600 15 Most Pertinent Technological Advances from Antiquity to the Renaissance. 2500 BCE Ancient Egyptians invent the early version of paper 1700 BCE Semites of the Mediterranean develop the alphabet 600 BCE Thales of Miletus discovers static eletricity 300 BCE Chinese invent early magnetic direction finders 250 BCE Archimedes invents the screw pump 27 BCE Romans develop the basic concrete called pozzolana 600 Windmills invented in Middle East 700 Chinese invents gunpowder and fireworks 1000 Chines develops eyeglasses 1206 Arabic engineer al-Jazari invents a flushing hand-washing machine 1450 Johannes Gutenberg pioneers the modern printing press 1590 Zacharias Janssen makes the first compound microscope 1596 Sir John Harrington invents the first flushing toilet 1600 Galileo Galilei designs a basic thermometer
