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20,000 BCE
Archery
Archery is the method by which a person uses the spring power stored in a bent stick to shoot a slender pointed projectile a great distance at rapid speed. A very useful technology, whether employed against game animals or other human beings. Now it's considered just recreation. -
10,000 BCE
Animal Husbandry
goats and sheep were domesticated in the Middle East by about 10,000 BC. Next, men domesticated cattle, probably in the Middle East also according to geneticists. Then, around 4000 BC, horses on the Eurasian steppes. And then followed many of the rest of earth's creatures. In time, most of the domesticated animals became so tame that they could not survive on their own in the wild. Those that couldn't be domesticated got hunted, by men on horseback ... with dogs. -
7000 BCE
Masonry
The Romans invented concrete, a superior mortar for all that stone and marble building they did ... and which could be used as a construction material itself. This “concrete revolution” allowed them to build monumental structures that were impossible using more primitive materials. From 300 BC to the fall of Rome, concrete paved roads, lined aqueducts, and held the Colosseum together (among other things). -
7000 BCE
Cartography
In ancient China, maps have been found dating back to the Qin dynasty, while cartography in ancient India seems to have been limited mostly to star charts of more use to priests than to travelers. During the Dark Ages, most Europeans barely knew what was around the next bend in the river, much less over the horizon. But the Arabs were producing marvelous atlases such as Muhammed al-idrisi's Tabula Rogeriana in 1154 -
6000 BCE
Irrigation
irrigation has been a central feature of agriculture for over 5000 years and forms the basis for the economy and culture of many civilizations throughout history. Perennial irrigation was first practiced in Mesopotamia with water flowing through small channels connecting to a river or a small lake. -
6000 BCE
Ironworking
There were two types of ironworking, one producing wrought iron and the other cast iron. Wrought iron is a semi-fused alloy, tough, malleable, corrosion-resistant, and able to be welded. It could be beaten into all sorts of shapes, and it was used extensively across Europe during the Middle Ages. Besides armor and weapons and tools, ironwork was used to protect doors and windows with grills and bars, and even used as decoration for Canterbury Cathedral, and Winchester Cathedral. -
Period: 6000 BCE to 1000 BCE
Ancient Era
From the first stirrings of life beneath water... to the great beasts of the Stone Age... to man taking his first upright steps, you have come far. Now begins your greatest quest: from this early cradle of civilization on towards the stars. -
4500 BCE
Bronze Working
The earliest bronze artifacts – actually, arsenic bronze, alloys of metallic arsenic rather than tin – found by archaeologists in Iranian tombs date back to the fifth millennium BC. Tin bronze was eventually found to be superior to arsenic bronze... and the fumes of the alloying process didn't kill the bronze worker, so that was a plus. The oldest (c. 4500 BC) tin-bronze items have been found in a Vinca site in Serbia, and other early examples include odd bits found in China and Mesopotamia. -
4000 BCE
Pottery
clever folk figured out that clay – often mixed with sand, grit, crushed shells, or bone – could be used to make more useful items: pots, cups, plates, bowls, storage jars, and so forth. In Japan, during the Jōmon period, potters began putting glaze on their earthenware pots. During this time several types of pottery were developed – earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain. -
4000 BCE
Mining
It was Roman engineers who developed large and efficient mining methods, Romans also developed the process of thermal cracking to shatter rock, building fires against the rock face and heating the stone until it shattered when a stream of water was directed onto it. Their mining methods spread around the world, as men dug for copper, iron, gems, gold, silver, and just about every other mineral and crystal. -
4000 BCE
Horse Back riding
There is archaeological evidence that around 4000 BC humans had used bits on their horses in the basins of the Dnieper and Don rivers; skeletons of horses found in the region show signs that the horses chomped on bits. Thus, horseback riding. It is thought that the Scythians of the steppes may well have been the first to develop the stirrup and the saddle, although the historical argument is as yet unconvincing. -
4000 BCE
Construction
The ancient civilizations were built in wood occasionally, but mostly in mud brick, and stone. Although remarkably durable, stone and brick are also quite heavy and inflexible. It's impossible to construct very tall structures out of these materials – unless the structure in question is solid stone or brick and is pyramid-shaped. Otherwise, they tend to topple over when given a shake, as with the Pharos of Alexandria. -
3500 BCE
Sailing
The oldest representation of a ship under sail was found on a painted disc in Kuwait, dating to between 5500 and 5000 BC. Tomb paintings from c. 3200 BC show reed boats under sail on the Nile. A few hundred years later, the Egyptians were venturing along the shores of the Mediterranean. Along every coastline, from China to Scandinavia, the technology of sailing – distinctive to each seagoing culture – was evolving. -
3400 BCE
Writing
Writing is a technology that – like a few others – quite literally changed the course of civilization. The ability to set things down to remember them – “external memory storage” – unaltered beyond a single lifetime meant that every aspect of the human condition, every social structural and cultural more, altered significantly. Writing allowed civilization to become organized – organized religion, organized government, organized economy, organized war, organized science. -
3400 BCE
Composites
Composites like Egyptian bricks, plywood, concrete, and fiberglass have been used for centuries in construction and warfare. Barbarians used composite bows made of wood, bone, horn, and silk to defeat the civilized, while Mongolian composite bows helped their rule spread across much of the known world in the 14th century AD. Papier-mâché, a composite made from glue and paper, has been used by artists and children for centuries. -
3000 BCE
Celestial Navigation
Celestial navigation (or astronavigation, which sounds more scientific than artistic) is the practice of taking angular measurements between a celestial body (sun, moon, planet, or star) and a point on the horizon to determine one's position on the globe. A very useful skill for early sailors venturing out of sight of land. -
2750 BCE
Electricity
Electricity has been known to mankind for a long time. Our ancestors knew about it when they got hit by lightning. There are records from Egypt about people experiencing electric shocks from eels. Thales of Miletus observed that rubbing amber with a cat's fur could generate static electricity. Physicians from Greek, Roman, and Arabic cultures also discovered the numbing effects of electric shocks from various animals. -
2630 BCE
Engineering
Soon the term was being attached to the design and construction of all sorts of monumental monuments and wondrous works. And designing machines, such as water screws, pumps, differential gearing, and such. By the time of the Industrial Revolution, engineers were everywhere underfoot, creating steam engines (James Watt) and electrical gadgets (Thomas Edison), and building canals, railroads, bridges, tunnels, dams, and skyscrapers. -
2500 BCE
Shipbuilding
Archaeological evidence indicates that humans sailed to Borneo from Asia 120 thousand years ago aboard constructed ships; and later to New Guinea and Australia some 50 thousand years ago. In the fourth millennium BC, the Egyptians were constructing boat hulls from planks of wood, using treenails to hold them together and pitch to make them watertight. Across the ocean in India, the first shipbuilding docks were being utilized by the Harappans around 2500 BC. -
2500 BCE
Sanitation
Roman cities had great water and sanitation systems, using sewers like the Cloaca Maxima to carry waste away. However, sanitation was poor in the rest of Europe until the late Middle Ages, leading to the Plague of Cyprian. -
2000 BCE
Wheel
The first wheels were of solid wood, planks with rounded ends that were put together to give a round shape. In other places, stone and even clay (the Harappans of the Indus Valley) were used to make wheels. Spoked wheels first appeared around 2000 BC in Asia Minor, where they were used on horse-drawn chariots. Later improvements included iron hubs and rims, greased axles, and the addition of springs or other sort of shock absorber. -
2000 BCE
Currency
Currency, where something relatively worthless in itself represents some amount of actual value, has been the bane of civilization since around 2000 BC when a form of receipt was used to show ownership of stored grain in temples in Sumer. The Egyptians soon adopted the practice for their own grain warehouses, so that individuals could claim a portion they had “banked” therein. Then small bits of rare metals, a lot easier to keep track of than written receipts -
Period: 1000 BCE to 500 BCE
Classical Era
From humble beginnings, you have shown remarkable growth. Leave your bronze for iron and rule with horse and sword. The sky above begins to reveal its secrets, a collection of heaven that uplifts our hearts and guides us to foreign shores. -
800 BCE
Stirrups
Along with writing, gunpowder and pre-sliced bread, the stirrup is considered one of the basic inventions needed to spread civilization ... at least by some historians. Like all great innovations, it seems such a simple idea. Humans had domesticated the horse around 4500 BC, but where to put one's feet and how to stay on when the horse began running? The saddle, invented around 800 BC, took care of the latter problem. -
500 BCE
Mathematics
The term “mathematics” is derived from the Greek anathema, meaning “knowledge, study, or learning.” Appropriate, given that it is the science of science, focused on quantity, measurement, structure, logic, and change. Mathematics, according to some, is also the art of art, focused on space, shape, relationship, perspective, and fractals. Not to mention mathematics relationship to music. -
Period: 500 BCE to 1350
Medieval Era
You have built great cities of stone and seen early empires rise and fall. Soon you will stand under the towering pinnacles of castles alongside your gallant knights. That is where the story of your people will be written. Just as the young apprentice learns to carry a sword, so shall you grow to understand your place in this world. -
500
Education
Humans learn things and civilization results. Education has been around as long as mankind has. Throughout most of history, it was an informal affair, with parents teaching their children the skills they needed to know to survive and be productive (household chores and hunting expeditions dodging barbarians, and so forth). As a tribe expanded and grew more prosperous, village elders and priests might educate the children while the healthy adults gathered food, built stuff, -
750
Metal Casting
Metal casting is the process by which a craftsman can make multiple, identical metal objects by pouring molten metal into a mold. The oldest such yet found is a copper frog cast in Mesopotamia around 3200 BC. The first production of cast iron was in China between 800 and 700 BC; using sand mold casting, the Chinese were making cast iron plowshares by 233 BC. -
904
Gunpowder
The invention of gunpowder is usually attributed to Chinese alchemists during the Tang dynasty, one of the “Four Great Inventions of China.” The earliest written record of it – a formula composed of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate was supposed to be an elixir for immortality ... it was anything but. However, the Chinese did discover that it burned explosively and the resultant gases expanded rapidly when exposed to heat so it was useful for making fireworks. -
1066
Castles
According to archeologists, the accumulation of surplus wealth and resources led to the need for defensive structures, and the earliest fortifications evolved in the Fertile Crescent, Indus Valley, Egypt, and China to keep the barbarians out of the larder. Europe was rather slower to develop such fortresses, and it was not until the Bronze Age that hill forts began to be built. Soon after the collapse of the Pax Romana, Germanic tribes began to construct heavy stone fortifications. -
1100
Military Engineering
military engineers became vital, both in designing fortifications to withstand cannons (one of the first innovations: earthen walls worked better than stone ones since the cannonballs just went thunk and sank into the dirt) and devising ways to get the cannon close enough to the fortifications to be effective. Sappers, for instance, first appeared in the French army; their task was to excavate zig-zag trenches towards the enemy walls to protect infantry and artillery, -
Period: 1350 to
Renaissance Era
New powers call forth, from the barrel of muskets to flowers of fire in the sky. Even the quiet words on newly printed pages hold great changes within. The world, once so vast and mysterious, has grown smaller and more familiar. Yet, there are always questions to be answered, faiths to be tested, and national identities to be formed. -
1400
Printing
By the 1400s, a faster, cheaper method of reproducing the written word had become the “Holy Grail” for European booksellers, driven by the rise in education and literacy. Even the commoners wanted to read the Bible for themselves, and their kids were learning their letters in new grammar schools springing up all over the continent. In China, moveable type – where each word could be placed in any order in a tray and then inked and pressed against paper – was made out of porcelain by Bi Sheng -
1400
Square Rigging
The first two-mast square-rigged ships appeared in the Mediterranean in the mid-14th century the design was adopted by the Crusaders for their transports, giving more speed and maneuverability so they could get to the Holy Land quicker. In short order, the Europeans added fore and stern castles, bowsprits, crow's nests, and additional masts. -
1472
Banking
Hammurabi even set down laws governing banking in his famous Code – mostly these were private individuals who made loans, with various unsavory methods to ensure repayment. With the fall of Rome in the West and the fall of money lending, Banks did not reappear in Europe until the Middle Ages, rediscovered by rulers looking for ways to fund their bloody and expensive Crusades. Benches were used by Jewish Florentine money lenders as temporary exchange tables -
1520
Rifling
Rifling is merely the cutting of helical grooves into the inner part of a gun barrel to induce spin in a ball or bullet which serves to gyroscopically stabilize the projectile, giving it greater accuracy and range. In short, all this means is that it took a skilled marksman to hit anything specific with a smoothbore musket, but any fool with a steady hand has a fair chance of success firing a rifle at a target. -
Machinery
When humans began to develop tasks that they or their animals could not (or would not) do, they invented machines. From those first simple machines – the lever, pulley, and screw – that Archimedes went on about, a machine civilization has evolved on Earth. Later Greek thinkers added the wedge and the wheel/axle to the list of the five simple machines (these form the basis for every other machine that aids physical work). Heron of Alexandria in his work Mechanica -
Chemistry
an English scientist who published The Skeptical Chymist in 1661, the cornerstone of modern chemistry. Chemistry achieved its dignified status in 1789 when Antoine Lavoisier published a paper describing the law of conservation of mass. In “Elements of Chemistry,” Lavoisier revealed the composition of air and water, coining the term “oxygen.” If Boyle is the godfather, Lavoisier is considered the father of chemistry. -
Steam Power
in 1705 Thomas Newcomen coupled a steam boiler with a piston in a cylinder. Seven years later, Soon enough every inventor was harnessing the “power of steam” to every conceivable machine imaginable, though occasionally blowing themselves up along with their boilers. In 1769, James Watt invented the separate condenser, installing a second cylinder with a water jet – making the steam engine both practical and much safer. -
Period: to
Industrial Era
The steady hum of machinery, the acrid smell of smoke, vision clouded by ash and soot - these are the signs of changing times. The lure of scientific and cultural advancement is the engine driving your realm forward. Now your challenge is to maintain the delicate balance between earth and man, between peace and war. -
Industrialization
With increasingly complex machinery and tools available, trades that were once left to talented craftsmen became obsolete with the advent of assembly lines operated by masses of unskilled factory laborers. New professions evolved. People moved to the cities, where factories and transportation were concentrated. The process involved the reorganization of the world's economy from self-sufficiency to one of manufacturing and consumerism -
Economics
Economics is the understanding of “the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.” This understanding was a lot easier in olden times when things were distributed via barter (“I have a daughter and you have some goats; let’s trade."), but even in the early stages of coinage and mercantile trade notions of production and profits were pretty straightforward. laid down the precepts of supply and demand, monopolies, loans and debts, and state economic policies. -
Astronomy
Astronomers discovered in the early 20th century that our solar system is part of the Milky Way galaxy and that there are other galaxies. Scientists found various celestial objects like quasars, pulsars, blazers, radio galaxies, black holes, and neutron stars using specialized telescopes. Some telescopes orbit Earth, free from pollution, allowing for better observation of the night sky. -
Flight
People have been trying to fly since ancient times by using different methods such as strapping on wings or jumping off tall structures. Most of these attempts failed but in 1783, the Montgolfier brothers launched a hot-air balloon with a person inside, which finally made human flight a reality and became popular across Europe. -
Telecommunications
Telegraph and telephone communications were carried by wire, much too slow for the modern day. And even though they made the world smaller and changed the landscape of business, war, and politics, scientists and inventors were soon searching for “wireless” telecommunications, the process of sending electronic signals through the atmosphere to special receivers. -
Rocketry
The British, sensing a good thing, developed the solid-fuel Congreve Rocket for use against the French, Americans, and other unpleasant sorts. In 1914, Robert Goddard – inspired by the fanciful tales of H.G. Wells – patented several concepts that proved pivotal in the history of rocketry: a combustion chamber, multiple stages, and a nozzle to increase exhaust speed. -
Replaceable Parts
Evidence for the use of interchangeable parts can be traced back to the warships of Carthage during the First Punic when standardized parts made repairs to their galleys relatively quickly. During the Warring States period, the Qin dynasty employed mass-produced crossbows with interchangeable parts to pummel its rivals. So it was throughout the ages, -
Computers
During the Second World War, various battling nations set about turning his insights into reality, for everything from breaking enemy codes to shooting down enemy aircraft. Most of the engineers used electricity and vacuum tubes rather than mechanical switches and gave their monstrous machines names such as “ABC,” “Colossus” (the first digital programmable computer), and ENIAC (capable of 5000 additions or subtractions a second) in 1946, the first “Turing-complete” machine. -
Radio
The idea of “wireless” communication begins with experiments in wireless telegraphy – sending impulses through the ground, water, and even steel railroad tracks – in the 1830s. In 1888 AD, Heinrich Hertz proved that electromagnetic waves could be transmitted through the air; his publications set off a mad scramble among inventors and crackpots to produce these Hertzian waves. Even the likes of Nikola Tesla, Amos Dolbear, and Sir Oliver Lodge got involved. -
Steel
Modern steelmaking got its start in 1855 AD when Henry Bessemer perfected his process using pig iron as the basis to make “mild” (or “low-carbon”) steel in quantity fairly cheaply, a century after Benjamin Huntsman had established the first steelworks in Sheffield, England – a refinement but not much improvement over the old “crucible” method. -
Combustion
there were internal combustion engines described by engineers before the 19th Century – for instance, a piston-and-cylinder gas-fired engine by Jean Joseph Étienne Lenoir in 1860 AD – until industrial-level drilling for petroleum and methods for refining it into gasoline, they weren't much more than a curiosity. And a smelly and noisy one to boot. Even when Siegfried Marcus put a mobile gas-driven engine on a handcart in 1870 Vienna, the potential went unrecognized. -
Petroleum Refining
Petroleum refining started with the first US oil wells in 1860. It improved crude oil's quality via simple distillation rigs, leading to the production of cleaner-burning fuels like kerosene and fuel oil. -
Period: to
Modern Era
In the beginning, legends of flying men soared. And today, you are on the brink of transforming those legends into a reality. With flight and new forms of communication, you can create a small and intimate world. But at what cost? Our competing ideas of how to govern and how to live threaten to bring conflict on a global scale. You must choose your path through this rising din of ideological oratory. -
Plastics
Plastic. It comes in many forms, some tougher, some more flexible, and some with a greater or lesser tolerance to heat. Plastic can be molded, pressed, or extruded into virtually any shape desired. It's found in every facet of life today, used in everything from automobile bumpers to prosthetic limbs, from product packaging to modernist furniture, home entertainment to the latest weaponry -
Mass Production
In 1914 AD Henry Ford realized that by making a conveyor line on which automobiles moved and giving each worker on the line a series of specialized tasks they alone would do, he could make cars cheaply and more efficiently. The time it took to turn out a Model T in the factory went from 728 minutes to 98 minutes; this time was eventually dropped to one Model T every 24 minutes. Where once folks were thrilled to pay extra for mass-produced goods -
Nuclear Fusion
During WW2, research to create a fission bomb subsumed research into nuclear fusion. But in 1946 AD a patent was awarded to two British researchers for a prototype fusion reactor based on the Z-pinch concept, whereby a magnetic field could be generated to contain plasma (akin to that in a star). -
Advanced Flight
The first flight of a jet aircraft was made by the Italian Caproni Campini N.1 prototype in August 1940. The Germans had kept their work, the Messerschmitt Me-262, under wraps. Although successfully test-flown as early as 1941, mass production didn't start until mid-1944 when several Luftwaffe jet squadrons took to the skies against the Allied bombers. The first jet fighter to see combat, its appearance was too late to affect the war significantly -
Synthetic Materials
Once chemistry took hold of civilization, scientists started searching for ways to improve upon naturally occurring animal and plant products. First up, synthetic fibers were pioneered by Joseph Swan in the early 1880s; his fiber was made from tree bark, intended as a longer-lasting filament for light bulbs but somewhat better as a textile. Next, the Frenchman Hilaire de Chardonnet invented artificial silk, which was displayed to great acclaim at the 1889 Paris Exhibition. -
Period: to
Atomic Era
New frontiers of discovery expand our understanding, from the tiny atom to the majesty of outer space. Mysteries long tolerated are closer than ever to revealing their deepest secrets, beyond what we can easily see. You will choose how to use this knowledge and push back the greatest darkness we have yet faced. -
Cybernetics
One of the earliest projects of scientists in the cybernetic program was interest in developing more effective artificial limbs, and thus the term "cybernetics" became equated in popular culture with the replacement of organic physiology with artificial physiology. The cybernetics program of the study had a decidedly reductivist, machine-metaphor flavor to its course of study -
Nuclear Fission
Nuclear fission was seen as a cheap and clean energy source. In 1948, Oak Ridge generated electricity from a nuclear reaction to power a light bulb. Arco's 1951 experiment confirmed the feasibility of a nuclear power plant. The first nuclear plant to generate electricity for a grid started in Obninsk, USSR in 1954, followed by Calder Hall in England. -
Robotics
In 1942 AD, the science fiction author Isaac Asimov proposed three “laws of robotics.” In 1948 the American mathematician Norbert Wiener formulated the “principles of cybernetics” as the basis for practical robotics. In 1961 the first programmable robot – “Unimate” – was constructed to lift and stack hot pieces of metal from a die-casting machine -
Period: to
Information Era
A world of information rests in the palm of your hand, and networks for instantaneous communication span the globe. Yet a unified vision of our future has never been built. We compete in technology, culture, and politics. We have deadly weapons that could destroy our planet. Lead us carefully, but boldly, and build a global community that can stand for years to come. -
Advanced AI
In the ensuing decades since the Turing Test was proposed, artificial intelligence has become more widespread and more robust in terms of its capabilities, particularly in the analysis of large data sets. An AI in these cases often “studies” a problem by developing and testing hypotheses about underlying patterns in the data, matching them against the data, and creating iteratively refined models with considerable explanatory power -
Satellites
“Beep … beep … beep.” So it began. Sputnik, with an onboard radio signal transmitter, was launched in October 1957 AD by Soviet Russia. Orbiting overhead, the artificial satellite (as opposed to natural satellites like the Moon) Sputnik served notice to the humans huddled on the surface that the world had dramatically changed ... for better or not remained to be determined. -
Stealth Technology
The ability to creep around unseen and unleash havoc is the fantasy of every five-year-old; modern scientists are close to making it a reality. Modern stealth technology is a combination of multiple military projects and experimental science expanded beyond what humans can see, trying to both hide and detect objects by radar, acoustics, thermal readings, or other less readily visible methods -
Lasers
The term “laser” is an acronym for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation,” which pretty much describes what it happens to be. The theory dates back to a paper by Albert Einstein in 1917 which offered a derivation of Planck's Law concerning the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation -
Nanotechnology
Tiny machines inside animals and humans snipping, slicing, splicing, melding, or mutating cells. Tiny machines create new materials on the molecular level. Or tiny machines making more tiny machines. Whatever use it may be put to, nanotechnology is just beyond the edge of science fiction -
Smart Materials
Smart materials can change their properties on command, unlike traditional materials that are chosen for a single quality. These materials are becoming more common due to advancements in material science. Ferrofluids, dielectric materials, and self-healing elastomers are some examples of current smart materials. -
Predictive Systems
Artificial Intelligence systems can create sophisticated models of behavior, with good predictive power for future behavior. This is becoming widely exploited in commercial domains (as anyone who carefully observes the Internet advertisements served up to them can tell you) but it is also being used in other areas as well. Medical and health professionals are interested in the increased efficacy of targeted preventative programs. Law enforcement is interested in being able to anticipate crime. -
Offworld Missions
If human beings are to settle away from planet Earth, it will be necessary to develop competencies for life isolated from the main planet—simple matters like “growing food” “finding enough water” and “not having to run home for spare parts.” Approaches for sustained life away from Earth are still in the theoretical stages in the early Twenty-First Century. It is hoped that as human beings develop the ability to live away from our home planet -
Period: to
Future Era
The world contains marvels beyond the dreams of ancient prophets, and terrors more fearsome than any apocalypse. Machines search for meaning and new matter weaves dream-like forms. Choices made long ago bear grave consequences in this age and demand resolute answers. Go now, and achieve your vision for the future of civilization. -
Advanced Power Cells
In 1800, Alessandro Volta invented the first solid-state device that generated electricity. Since then, there have been several improvements to the electrochemical cell design. The development of battery technology has undergone significant investment and interest in the digital revolution. A functional electronic device is essential, and a non-working battery can be an obstacle. The search for reliable and affordable energy storage continues with an increase in capacity, working voltage