Editing Timeline of historic inventions (section)

====4th century BC====
[[Image:Musée du Louvre - Antiquités égyptiennes - Salle 06 - 02f.jpg|thumb|right|Egyptian reed pens inside ivory and wooden palettes, the Louvre<ref>{{cite web|title=Palette de scribe|url=http://www.louvre.fr/oeuvre-notices/palette-de-scribe|website=Antiquités égyptiennes du Louvre|language=fr}}</ref>]]
* '''4th century BC:''' [[Trebuchet|Traction trebuchet]] in [[History of China#Ancient China|Ancient China]].<ref name="O'Callaghan">{{cite book|author1=Joseph F. O'Callaghan|author2=Donald J. Kagay|author3=Theresa M. Vann|title=On the Social Origins of Medieval Institutions: Essays in Honor of Joseph F. O'Callaghan|year=1998|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-11096-0|pages=179|quote=Developed in China between the fifth and fourth centuries BC, it reached the Mediterranean by the sixth century AD}}</ref>
* '''4th century BC:''' [[Gear]]s in [[History of China#Ancient China|Ancient China]]
* '''4th century BC:''' [[Reed pen]]s, utilising a split nib, were used to write with ink on [[Papyrus]] in Egypt.<ref name="O'Callaghan" />
* '''4th century BC:''' Nailed [[Horseshoe]], with 4 bronze shoes found in an [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan tomb]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bates|first=W. N.|date=1902|title=Etruscan Horseshoes from Corneto — AJA 6:398‑403|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/AJA/6/4/Etruscan_Horseshoes*.html|access-date=7 January 2022|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref>
* '''375 BC – 350 BC:''' [[Horse mill|Animal-driven rotary mill]] in Carthage.{{sfn|Curtis|2008|p=376}}{{sfn|de Vos|2011|p=178}}
* '''By the late 4th century BC:''' [[Corporation]]s in either the [[Maurya Empire]] of India<ref>Vikramaditya S. Khanna (2005). [https://ssrn.com/abstract= ''The Economic History of the Corporate Form in Ancient India'']. [[University of Michigan]].</ref> or in Ancient Rome ([[Collegium (ancient Rome)|Collegium]]).
* '''Late 4th century BC:''' [[Cheque]] in the [[Maurya Empire]] of India.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://m.rbi.org.in/Scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=155 | title=Reserve Bank of India - Publications |quote = In the Mauryan period, an instrument called adesha was in use, which was an order on a banker desiring him to pay the money of the note to a third person}}</ref>
* '''Late 4th century BC:''' [[Potassium nitrate]] manufacturing and military use in the [[Seleucid Empire]].<ref>{{cite book |last = Roy |first = Kaushik |date = 2014 |title = Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400-1750 |page = 19 |isbn = 978-1-7809-3765-6 |location = London |publisher = Bloomsbury Academic |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KyVnAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19}}</ref>{{Verify source|date=July 2024}}
* '''Late 4th century BC:''' [[Formal system]]s by [[Pāṇini]] in India, possibly during the reign of [[Chandragupta Maurya]].<ref>Vergiani, Vincenzo (2017), "Bhartrhari on Language, Perception, and Consciousness", in Ganeri, Jonardon (ed.), ''The Oxford Handbook of Indian Philosophy'', Oxford University Press</ref>
* '''4th to 3rd century BC:''' [[Zinc mining#History|Zinc production]] in North-Western [[India]] during the [[Maurya Empire]].<ref>Craddock et al. 1983. (The earliest evidence for the production of zinc comes from India. Srinivasan, Sharda and Srinivasa Rangnathan. 2004)</ref> The earliest known zinc mines and smelting sites are from Zawar, near [[Udaipur]], in [[Rajasthan]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/def_en/articles/metallurg_heritage_india/metallurgical_heritage_india.html |title=Mettalurgical heritage of India|author=Srinivasan, Ranganathan|publisher=Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel |access-date=4 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dli.gov.in/rawdataupload/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005afd_33.pdf|title=Smelting furnaces in Ancient India|author=Rina Shrivastva|year=1999|publisher=Indian Journal of History & Science,34(1), Digital Library of India|access-date=4 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425052130/http://www.dli.gov.in/rawdataupload/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005afd_33.pdf|archive-date=25 April 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>