History of Agricultural and related technologies from prehistory to the renaissance

Early Domestication and farming of Animals

9900 BCE

Early Domestication of animals, primarily for a food source began independently in many different locations at roughly the same time, such as in China with Chickens and wild Sheep in Zagros in modern Turkey.

Early Farming in the Fertile Crescent

7700 BCE

Early early domestication of Wheat and Cereals began in the Fertile Crescent area or the modern middle east.

Early Irrigation techniques begin in what is now Iran

6000 BCE

Rather than relying on the use of natural rain, floods or other natural phenomena, farmers started to water their crops by hand. This would later evolve into large scale irrigation networks and canals.

Early invention and use of the Ard

4500 BCE

The Ard, an early form of the plow was again invented independently by several civilizations at various points throughout history, though it this event seems to be the first known example, used again in the Tigris and Euphrates river valley.

Creation of Yokes, Harnesses and applications in farming

4000 BCE

While the plow itself had been invented earlier, it wasn't until this event that it became truly viable in farming. With the Yoke and Harness, domesticated animals such as Oxen could be used to pull farming implements, increasing efficiency and yields dramatically.

Developments of Advanced and Organized Irrigation in Egypt

2000 BCE

Advanced technologies started to be used for the purposes of irrigation in Egypt around this time, with innovations such as the Shaduf, a large device for lifting water coming in to common use.

Rotary Power and the Millstone

200 BCE

With the abundance of wheat available from the advances in agriculture over the past decades, it became an increasingly useable food source. Unfortunately, it, for the most part, needed to be hand-ground in order to be useable. This changed with the invention of the Millstone, and this allowed for the production of bread and flower based products in bulk.

The Water Mill

100 BCE

Soon after the development of the Millstone, a way to translate the flowing of water into the turning of a millstone was discovered, further increasing efficiency and output. This method was simply having a flowing body of water turn a wheel which was then translated via a simple system of gears to a vertical shaft which would turn a millstone.

The Wheeled Plow

1 CE

The first of the major improvements to the plow on this list, the Wheeled plow was as the name implies, the use of wheels on the plow rather than the sleds that it used previously. These wheels, combined with a knife called a colter created asymmetrical grooves in the ground which could be used as locations to lay seeds, improving farming efficiency by a rather significant degree. The exact date by which this was put in to use is somewhat unclear, but there are accounts of use around 1 C.E.

The Heavy Plow

500

While the plow had existed in various forms before this time, it was often unusable in the heavy, rich soils of northern Europe, this changed with the heavy plow, yet another improvement on the long-standing farming implement, which as the name suggests weighed significantly more, thereby allowing it to till previously unusable soils in northern Europe and other locations such as northern Italy.

The Horse Collar

600

The Yoke and Harness mentioned earlier in this timeline allowed for the harnessing of animal power but it wasn't until much later that it became feasible to use the now-ubiquitous horse for the same purpose. The horse collar allowed for this and furthermore allowed for increased weight to be fixed to horses, making innovations such as the aforementioned Heavy Plough more viable.

Horse Shoes

900

While this may seem both minor compared to the other innovations, and not exactly related to agriculture, the effect it had can't be understated. Horseshoes allowed horses to be able to work for longer, as they prevented hoove ware, and allowed for horses to be used on rougher terrain, expanding the farmable areas in many parts of Europe. While there is some evidence that they were discovered as early as 50 BC, widespread use didn't become apparent until the listed time.

The Three Field System of Crop Rotation

950

While systems of crop rotation had been in use for so long that the exact start of the idea is unclear, the idea of the Three Field rotation was something that was relatively new. Rather than the old system of planting something in one field then allowing it to fallow the next year, a system was instead adopted in which Wheat and Rye was planted in one field, Vegetables were planted in a second and a third was left to fallow, thus increasing yields dramatically.

The Vertical Windmill

1180

Much like the waterwheel before it, the Vertical Windmill allowed for further mass production of flower, reducing the requirements for milled grain even further and making it possible for it to be done without a flowing water source. While this may seem to be an incremental improvement at best, the effect was anything but that, with over 2000 windmills dotting the European landscape at their peak of use.

The rise of the Cloth Mill and Industrialization

1300

The Cloth mill may seem benign in the grand scheme of things, but it can be called one of the first major advances in mass production. This innovation took the form of a system by which cloth could be fulled by the use of a system fixed to wind or water-powered shafts, cutting one step out of a time-consuming process. This change may have been one of the key factors in bringing out the increasing industrialization that would characterize the next era.