Major innovations in materials technology

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (February 2011)

• 28,000 BC – People wear beads, bracelets, and pendants^[1]
• 14,500 BC – First pottery, made by the Jōmon people of Japan.
• 6th millennium BC – Copper metallurgy is invented and copper is used for ornamentation (see Pločnik article)
• 2nd millennium BC – Bronze is used for weapons and armor
• 16th century BC – The Hittites develop crude iron metallurgy
• 13th century BC – Invention of steel when iron and charcoal are combined properly
• 10th century BC – Glass production begins in ancient Near East
• 1st millennium BC – Pewter beginning to be used in China and Egypt
• 1000 BC – The Phoenicians introduce dyes made from the purple murex.^[1]
• 3rd century BC – Wootz steel, the first crucible steel, is invented in ancient India
• 50s BC – Glassblowing techniques flourish in Phoenicia
• 20s BC – Roman architect Vitruvius describes low-water-content method for mixing concrete

• 3rd century – Cast iron widely used in Han dynasty China
• 300 – Greek alchemist Zomius, summarizing the work of Egyptian alchemists, describes arsenic and lead acetate^[1]
• 4th century – Iron pillar of Delhi is the oldest surviving example of corrosion-resistant steel
• 8th century – Porcelain is invented in Tang dynasty China
• 8th century – Tin-glazing of ceramics invented by Muslim chemists and potters in Basra, Iraq^[2]: 1
• 9th century – Stonepaste ceramics invented in Iraq^[2]: 5
• 900 – First systematic classification of chemical substances appears in the works attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Latin: Geber) and in those of the Persian alchemist and physician Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (c. 865–925, Latin: Rhazes)^[3]
• 900 – Synthesis of ammonium chloride from organic substances described in the works attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Latin: Geber)^[4]
• 900 – Abū Bakr al-Rāzī describes the preparation of plaster of Paris and metallic antimony^[1]
• 9th century – Lustreware appears in Mesopotamia^{[5]: 86–87}

• 1000 – Gunpowder is developed in China^[1]
• 1340 – In Liège, Belgium, the first blast furnaces for the production of iron are developed^[1]
• 1448 – Johann Gutenberg develops type metal alloy
• 1450s – Cristallo, a clear soda-based glass, is invented by Angelo Barovier
• 1540 – Vannoccio Biringuccio publishes first systematic book on metallurgy
• 1556 – Georg Agricola's influential book on metallurgy
• 1590 – Glass lenses are developed in the Netherlands and used for the first time in microscopes and telescopes
• 1664 – In the pipes supplying water to the gardens at Versailles, cast iron is used^[1]

• Timeline of scientific discoveries
• Timeline of historic inventions
• List of inventions named after people
• Materials science
• Roman metallurgy