Written— Data storage
InventTable — WRITTEN ERA — Data storage
| Invention | Description | Year | Inventor | Country |
| Cuneiform | first written language | 3500 BCE | Sumer, Mesopotamia (2) | |
| Base 60 numbers | counting time, seconds, minutes | 3100 BCE | Sumer, Mesopotamia | |
| Math | number systems | 2700 BCE | Egypt | |
| Ink | for writing on papyrus | 2500 BCE | Egypt, China | |
| Map on clay tablet | navigation | 2300 BCE | Babylonia | |
| Proto semitic alphabet | consonants only, no vowels | 2000 BCE | Mesopotamia | |
| Phoenician alphabet | consonants only, no vowels | 1100 BCE | Phoenicia | |
| Dictionary | reference book | 1000 BCE | China |