The Big Bang of Technology occurred in Sumer, Mesopotamia is 3500 BCE with the invention of cuneiform, the first written language.
With written language, an explosion of technology occurred. History and civilization began with the Big Bang of Technology Also, an explosion of data occurred with the invention of hand written language. Above all, clay tablets recorded the written data. Surprisingly , fragments of over 500,000 cuneiform inscribed clay tablets originated from Mesopotamia. However, few of these translate into modern language. Hand written language is the second dimension of data (see blog, ” 5 Dimensions of Data”). Data inventions can trigger data explosions. Data inventions/explosions can trigger technology explosions (see blog, “Primacy of Data”).
The Big Bang of Technology began as an explosion of inventions first triggered by an explosion of data.
Within 400 years of the invention of written language, several other important inventions occurred: 1) The ard or scratch plow (3500 BCE) 2) the wheel and axle and cart (3500 BCE) 3) the wood hulled and oared sailboat (3100 BCE) 4) bronze smelting (3300 BCE). 5) glass making (3500 BCE) 6) hydraulic engineering in Indus river, Egypt, and the Sumer, Mesopotamia civilizations (3100 BCE). The big bang resulted in 5 of the top 15 greatest inventions of all time. Lesser inventions from Sumer, Mesopotamia occurring during the same time frame include: creation of the first city, Uruk (3200 BCE), use of wine as anesthesia (3500 BCE), lubricating grease on axle (3500 BCE).
Never before and never again have such a huge explosion of inventions occurred
in such a limited geographical area over such a limited time period with such a limited population (1.2 million).
The first civilization to develop was Sumer, Mesopotamia on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in about 3500 BCE. Within three hundred years, independent civilizations developed in the Indus river 3300 BCE, in Egypt on the Nile river 3200 BCE, Newgrange Ireland 3200 BCE, Greece 3200 BCE, Peru 3200 BCE, Iran 3200 BCE. Later by 2600 BCE, civilizations in China and Mesoamerica would appear. The Big Bang of Technology was not just an explosion of inventions, it was also an explosion of civilizations.
Domestication of both plants and animals began by 10,000 BCE. Another 6500 years passed before the first civilizations developed. Agriculture was not the immediate trigger of the Big Bang of Technology or the development of civilizations. The data explosion of 3500 BCE directly linked to the Big Bang of Technology.
Important inventions occurred simultaneously across all 10 classes of technology.
In Radiant Energy – furnace innovation allowed smelting of bronze and bronze forging as well as improved firing of ceramics. In Current Energy – cloth sails began to power sailboats. Previously, plant materials and leather created sails with less effective results. Data Communication /storage cuneiform hand written language began in 3500 BCE. Cuneiform was the first proto IndoEuropean language. 44% of the current world population speaks an IndoEuropean language. Data Storage, writing first on clay tablets with cuneiform in Sumer, Mesopotamia (3500 BCE). Machines- ox drawn plow (scratch plow or ard) originated in Sumer around 4000 BCE.
The use of the plow appears essential for the dramatic spread of agriculture and the dramatic increase (14X) in population which occurred at that time.
Oars which originated in China around 5500 BCE appeared in Sumer and Egypt by 3200 BCE. Sailboats- invented in Mesopotamia around 6000 BCE became fitted with cloth sails in Sumer and Egypt by 3200 BCE. Wood plank hulled sailboats with oars originated in Sumer and Egypt by 3000 BCE. Both oars and cloth sails powered these boats The current of the Nile was northerly. The prevailing winds in Egypt are southerly. Transport both up and down the Nile were easily possible in these boats.
Transport machines also included the wheel and axle which were first excavated in Slovenia by 3500 BCE. The chariot originated around 3200 BCE in Sumer. Initially powered by donkeys and asses, horses. later propelled chariots. Materials, Metals- bronze smelting began by 3500 BCE in the Fertile Crescent. Glass production began in 3500 BCE in Sumer (Mesopotamia), Syria, and Egypt. Mass produced pottery with the use of a potter’s wheel in Sumer (3800 BCE). Cement materials were used extensively in construction of at least the upper parts of the Giza pyramids of Egypt by 3000 BCE and home construction likely before that.
The domesticated horse originated by 3500 BCE in the Eurasian steppes. Domesticated oxen originated by 3500 BCE .
Egyptians probably had the first professional physicians.
Medical inventions included the use of aspirin from willow bark, opium for pain relief, and honey used to treat skin wounds. Surgeries included circumcision. Descriptions of fracture management. Aloe, thyme, juniper, mint, garlic, camphor, frankincense, sesame and mustard seeds were herbal remedies. Further, world population increased by a factor of 14X, from 14 million to 200 million from 3500 BCE -50 AD. We know that technology increases in proportion to population.
Why did the big bang of technology occur in 3500 BCE?
Some possible explanations for the big bang of inventions and technologies around 3500 BCE are:
1. Writing with cuneiform in Sumer led to data transfer and information storage, necessary for education. Oral language was the first dimension of data. Hand written language was the second dimension of data. With each dimension of data, inventions dramatically increased, expanding technology (see data blogs).
Data exists from over 500,000 cuneiform clay tablets excavated by archaeologists.
2. Transportation innovations such as oars, wood hulled sailboats, hydraulic engineering with dams and canals and horse domestication with invention of wheel and axle on land tremendously expanded trade opportunities with other cultures and within regions of the same culture. Both land transportation and water transportation networks likely developed simultaneously in Sumer. Data networks and transportation networks link with technology development.
3) Agriculture: Oxen domestication and together with the Ox drawn plow allowed breaking and turning soil. The plow allowed for improved farming creating food excesses producing a leisure class of educated people. There was a 14 times increase in world population between 3500 BCE and 350 AD. Technology increases in direct proportion to population (see blog, “Quantified Technology”).
4) Commerce:
Sumerians were the first industrialists.
Mass produced brick and mass produced pottery occurred by use of the newly invented potter’s wheel, Likewise, mass produced woven textiles increased commerce. International trade began around 3000 BCE between the Sumerians of Mesopotamia and the Harappan civilization of the Indus River. Trade with Egypt likewise appears from jewelry artifacts to have begun by 3000 BCE. Also, being at the convergence of 3 continents, Sumer was at the geographic center of commerce, a crossroads for several civilizations. Sumer was at the heart of the world’s first trading empire spanning from Egypt to Indus river civilizations.
In summary, the invention of hand written language appears to be the immediate and principal cause of the Big Bang of Technology.
