c. 3,500 BCE
Transportation
Egypt and Mesopotamia
Sailing ships
Square-rigged reed and wooden vessels on the Nile and the Gulf.
Why it mattered
Wind power moved cargo, making long-distance trade economically viable.
Stone Age
3,500 BCE
2 recorded milestones at this point in the record.
c. 3,500 BCE
Technology
South Asia
Cotton spinning in the Indus
Cotton threads at Mehrgarh show a fibre industry independent of Old World wool and flax.
Why it mattered
Began the world's most widely worn textile.
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Nearby in the record
c. 4,000 BCETransportation
The wheel
Mesopotamia and Europe
c. 4,000 BCETransportation
Horse domestication on the steppe
Central Asia
c. 3,300 BCETechnology
Bronze alloying
Southwest Asia
c. 3,300 BCEMedicine
Otzi's toolkit and tattoos
Alps
3,200 BCECommunication
Cuneiform writing
Sumer
c. 3,100 BCECommunication
Egyptian hieroglyphs
Egypt