Communications Project

Paleolithic Cave Art

30,000 BCE

Paleolithic cave art was, exactly as the name implies, art from the paleolithic era. Made by humans and their ancestors far far in the past, not many drawings have survived. Many depict and show off humanoid figures hunting various animals, like stags, boars, or bulls. Many older drawings than the Paleolithic period ones exist, however it is the period with the single most.

Egyptian Hieroglyphs

3100 BCE

Egyptian was one of the first languages to arrive from proto-writing, and was the first decipherable sentence dating back that far. It has over 900 distinct signs and letterings, and was used heavily throughout the 32nd century BC to 4 AD, when the pagan temples closed and the language was lost until the 1820s.
Image: This image shows off huge swaths of the language written down, with a large image of Horus accompanying it, the text moved out of the way to fit it.

Cuneiform

3000 BCE

Cuneiform text was born in the 24th century BC, for Akkadian texts, of which make up the majority of cuneiform pieces. Other languages were also put into cuneiform, such as Hittite, Eblaite, Elamite, Hurrian, Luwian, and Uratian. The farthest recorded cuneiform text as in 75 AD.
Image: This piece of cuneiform was the only one that filled the screen, and is the most expansive record and piece of text I could find on one piece.

Illuminated Manuscripts

400

Illuminated manuscript is a form of art and writing, in stylistic flourishes and illustrations. Many manuscripts were made on papyrus and parchment, and bound with leathers and wood. As printing became more commonplace, illumination of books and codices became far less common, the inking becoming more of a hassle than worth.
Image: This manuscript has a particularly artistic illuminated letter, with plenty of colors and stylistic choices on display to show the diversity of manuscripts.

Printing Press

1440

The printing press was a device meant to modernize and make efficient the printing of books. Applying pressure onto a surface of paper or similar material, and pressing ink into the pages to print them incredibly fast and all at once. The original printing press used interchangeable type.
Image: This image shows the first printing press recreated in color; the Gutenberg press. Remade as accurately as possible to show the original printing press that started mass printing at all.

Computer

Jun 21, 1822

Computers were a very different sight than they are today, even when compared to other emergent technologies. Originally massive machines used for computing tiny things compared to what a tiny computer can do today. Charles Babbage was the father of computers, making the Difference Engine in 1822. Alan Turing in 1936 was the first to make a programmable computer revolutionizing and starting what we know now as computers.

Telegraph

May 24, 1844

Telegraphy was a revolutionary technology, made possible by the telegraph, usually fitted in different telegraph offices which would send messages between one another. The first commercial one was made by Cooke and Wheatstone, in 1837. The device worked via electrical needles requiring wires to interconnect on each.
Image: This image is of a design of the first telegraphs, in color, showing off how much of it was simply wood. The basic metal shapes astoundingly still able to do what it needs to.

Telephone

Mar 7, 1876

The telephone was the first device to be able to transmit voice long range. Converting sound waves into electrical signals to be sent anywhere they can travel. The first telephone was patented in 1876, by Alexander Graham Bell. Many others picking it up from there to make hundreds upon millions that we know today.
Image: This image is of one of the first telephone designs, a stark difference from what we'd expect and know today- or even years ago.

Radio

Dec 25, 1906

The radio was another revolutionary device, just shy of the 800s, able to receive the recently discovered radio waves and convert them into information. With the discovery of AC, radios were able to be made reality.

Television

Sep 13, 1923

Unlike other world-changing technologies, the television was far more crude, and far less immediately popular in its first drafts in the 1920s. Only after the second world war did it truly gain traction, a better black white television being invented. It became a massive form of communication, and has since, along with more important advancements in it, made it a staple not only in America but countries all over the world.

Artificial Intelligence

1941

Alan Turing was the main pioneer of artificial intelligence in 1941. Making several papers and research on it, which have been since lost, however Warren Sturgis McCulloch and Walter Pitts made a paper based of Turing's artificial neurons research in 1943. Artificial intelligence was far more primitive back then, however since it has grown exponentially and become exceedingly popular in the 2020s.

Internet

Aug 29, 1969

The internet, a staple in our lives, wasn't actually a public service during its creation, nor was it for almost two decades after. Enough research being put into it by the 1990s to commercialize it for those who could afford it. Many things people understood then becoming digitalized, including other advancements like computers and radio and telephones.

Gaming System

1972

In the 1970s, the desire for home entertainment increased, after the incredible success of the television. The Magnavox Odyssey, pictured, being the very first home console, and over the course of the 70s it inspired many more, albeit simple consoles, were developed. Like the classic Pong machine we know today.