Editing Manufacturing (section)

===Prehistory and ancient history===
{{See also|Industry (archaeology)|Prehistoric technology|Ancient technology}}
[[File:Stone Core for Making Blades - Boqer Tachtit, Negev, circa 40000 BP (detail).jpg|thumb|Flint stone core for making blades in [[Negev]], Israel, {{circa}} 40000 [[Before Present|BP]]]]
[[File:Sword bronze age (2nd version).jpg|thumb|A late [[Bronze Age sword]] or dagger blade now on display at the [[National Archaeological Museum, France|National Archaeological Museum]] in France]]
Human ancestors manufactured objects using stone and other tools long before the emergence of ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' about 200,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Human Ancestors Hall: Homo sapiens |url=http://anthropology.si.edu/humanorigins/ha/sap.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501000000/http://anthropology.si.edu/humanorigins/ha/sap.htm |archive-date=May 1, 2009 |access-date=July 15, 2021 |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]}}</ref> The earliest methods of [[stone tool]] making, known as the [[Oldowan]] "[[Industry (archaeology)|industry]]", date back to at least 2.3&nbsp;million years ago,<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 6, 1999 |title=Ancient 'Tool Factory' Uncovered |work=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/336555.stm |url-status=live |access-date=July 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070318192530/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/336555.stm |archive-date=March 18, 2007}}</ref> with the earliest direct evidence of tool usage found in [[Ethiopia]] within the [[Great Rift Valley, Kenya|Great Rift Valley]], dating back to 2.5&nbsp;million years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Heinzelin |first1=Jean de |last2=Clark |first2=JD |last3=White |first3=T |last4=Hart |first4=W |last5=Renne |first5=P |last6=Woldegabriel |first6=G |last7=Beyene |first7=Y |last8=Vrba |first8=E |date=April 1999 |title=Environment and Behavior of 2.5-Million-Year-Old Bouri Hominids |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=284 |issue=5414 |pages=625–629 |bibcode=1999Sci...284..625D |doi=10.1126/science.284.5414.625 |pmid=10213682}}</ref> To manufacture a stone tool, a "[[lithic core|core]]" of hard stone with specific flaking properties (such as [[flint]]) was struck with a [[hammerstone]]. This flaking produced sharp edges that could be used as tools, primarily in the form of [[chopper (archaeology)|choppers]] or [[scraper (archaeology)|scrapers]].<ref name="ea_archaeology">{{Cite web |last=Burke |first=Ariane |title=Archaeology |url=http://ea.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?assetid=0019880-04 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080521022936/http://ea.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?assetid=0019880-04 |archive-date=May 21, 2008 |access-date=July 15, 2021 |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Americana]]}}</ref> These tools greatly aided the early humans in their [[hunter-gatherer]] lifestyle to form other tools out of softer materials such as bone and wood.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Plummer |first=Thomas |year=2004 |title=Flaked Stones and Old Bones: Biological and Cultural Evolution at the Dawn of Technology |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |publisher=[[Yearbook of Physical Anthropology]] |volume=Suppl 39 |issue=47 |pages=118–64 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.20157 |pmid=15605391}}</ref> The [[Middle Paleolithic]], approximately 300,000 years ago, saw the introduction of the [[prepared-core technique]], where multiple blades could be rapidly formed from a single core stone.<ref name="ea_archaeology" /> [[Pressure flaking]], in which a wood, bone, or antler [[punch (engineering)|punch]] could be used to shape a stone very finely was developed during the [[Upper Paleolithic]], beginning approximately 40,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Haviland |first=William A. |title=Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge |publisher=[[The Thomson Corporation]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-534-62487-3 |page=77}}</ref> During the [[Neolithic]] period, polished [[stone tool]]s were manufactured from a variety of hard rocks such as [[flint]], [[jade]], [[jadeite]], and [[Greenschist|greenstone]]. The polished axes were used alongside other stone tools including [[Projectile point|projectiles]], knives, and scrapers, as well as tools manufactured from organic materials such as wood, bone, and antler.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tóth |first=Zsuzsanna |title=Bone, Antler, and Tusk tools of the Early Neolithic Körös Culture |publisher=BAR International Series 2334 |year=2012 |editor-last=Anders |editor-first=Alexandra |location=Oxford |chapter=The First Neolithic Sites in Central/South-East European Transect, Volume III: The Körös Culture in Eastern Hungary |editor-last2=Siklósi |editor-first2=Zsuzsanna}}</ref>

Copper [[smelting]] is believed to have originated when the technology of pottery [[kiln]] allowed sufficiently high temperatures.<ref name="Tylecote_1992">{{Cite book |last=Merson |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/geniusthatwaschi0000mers |title=The Genius That Was China: East and West in the Making of the Modern World |publisher=The Overlook Press |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-87951-397-9 |location=Woodstock, NY |page=69 |url-access=registration}}</ref> The concentration of various elements such as arsenic increase with depth in copper ore deposits and smelting of these ores yields [[arsenical bronze]], which can be sufficiently work-hardened to be suitable for manufacturing tools.<ref name="Tylecote_1992" /> [[Bronze]] is an alloy of copper with tin; the latter of which being found in relatively few deposits globally delayed true tin bronze becoming widespread. During the [[Bronze Age]], bronze was a major improvement over stone as a material for making tools, both because of its mechanical properties like strength and ductility and because it could be cast in molds to make intricately shaped objects. Bronze significantly advanced shipbuilding technology with better tools and bronze nails, which replaced the old method of attaching boards of the hull with cord woven through drilled holes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Paine |first=Lincoln |title=The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World |publisher=Random House, LLC |year=2013 |location=New York}}</ref> The [[Iron Age]] is conventionally defined by the widespread manufacturing of weapons and tools using iron and steel rather than bronze.<ref name="waldbaum">{{Cite book |last=Jane C. |first=Waldbaum |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1146527679 |title=From Bronze to Iron: The Transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age in the Eastern Mediterranean |date=1978 |publisher=Paul Aström |isbn=91-85058-79-3 |pages=56–58 |oclc=1146527679}}</ref> Iron smelting is more difficult than tin and copper smelting because smelted iron requires hot-working and can be melted only in specially designed furnaces. The place and time for the discovery of iron smelting is not known, partly because of the difficulty of distinguishing metal extracted from nickel-containing ores from hot-worked meteoritic iron.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Photos |first=E. |year=1989 |title=The Question of Meteoritic versus Smelted Nickel-Rich Iron: Archaeological Evidence and Experimental Results |journal=World Archaeology |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=403–421 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1989.9980081 |jstor=124562 |s2cid=5908149}}</ref>

During the growth of the ancient civilizations, many ancient technologies resulted from advances in manufacturing. Several of the six classic [[simple machines]] were invented in Mesopotamia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moorey |first=Peter Roger Stuart |title=Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: The Archaeological Evidence |date=1999 |publisher=[[Eisenbrauns]] |isbn=978-1575060422}}</ref> Mesopotamians have been credited with the invention of the wheel. The [[wheel and axle]] mechanism first appeared with the [[potter's wheel]], invented in [[Mesopotamia]] (modern Iraq) during the 5th millennium BC.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Potts |first=D. T. |title=A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East |year=2012 |page=285}}</ref> Egyptian paper made from [[papyrus]], as well as [[pottery]], were mass-produced and exported throughout the Mediterranean basin. Early construction techniques used by the Ancient Egyptians made use of bricks composed mainly of clay, sand, silt, and other minerals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Trzciński |first1=Jerzy |last2=Zaremba |first2=Małgorzata |last3=Rzepka |first3=Sławomir |last4=Welc |first4=Fabian |last5=Szczepański |first5=Tomasz |date=2016-06-01 |title=Preliminary Report on Engineering Properties and Environmental Resistance of Ancient Mud Bricks from Tell El-Retaba Archaeological Site in the Nile Delta |journal=Studia Quaternaria |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=47–56 |doi=10.1515/squa-2016-0005 |s2cid=132452242 |s2cid-access=free |issn=2300-0384|doi-access=free |bibcode=2016StudQ..33...47T }}</ref>