The Last Codex
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Theme

Language

Logarithms and the slide rule: the whole path

  1. 1
    Tools & MakingI

    Stone Tools

    The first cutting edge

    3.3 Mya

  2. 2
  3. 3
    Fire & ShelterI

    Rope & Cordage

    Twisted fibres that hold the world

    46,000 years ago

  4. 4
    Materials & ChemistryII

    Pottery

    Clay turned to stone by fire

    20,000 years ago

    needs 2

  5. 5
  6. 6
    Materials & ChemistryII

    Charcoal

    Wood cooked slowly under earth

    c. 4,500 BCE

    needs 1, 2

  7. 7
    Writing & CommunicationII

    Writing

    Knowledge that outlives memory

    c. 3,300 BCE

    needs 1, 4

  8. 8
  9. 9
    Materials & ChemistryIII

    Bronze

    Copper and tin, harder together

    c. 3,300 BCE

    needs 2, 4, 6

  10. 10
  11. 11
    Materials & ChemistryIII

    Iron Smelting

    Wider adoption around 1200 BCE; ore, charcoal and a bloomery

    c. 1,200 BCE

    needs 6, 9

  12. 12
    Materials & ChemistryIII

    Steel

    Iron with just enough carbon

    c. 1,000 BCE

    needs 6, 11

  13. 13
    Writing & CommunicationIII

    Paper

    A cheap surface for memory

    c. 150 BCE

    needs 4

  14. 14
    Writing & CommunicationIII

    Printing Press

    Movable type, copied by the thousand

    c. 1440

    needs 5, 7, 11, 12, 13

  15. 15

Type a name, a date, a material, a domain…