He Origin of technology , Being considered as the long development of systematic techniques to make things and to carry out activities, was born of the first men (or homínidos) more than 3 million years ago.
The term technology Is a combination of the Greek word techne"art, crafts", with logos,"word", meant in Greece a discourse on the arts, in both theories and practices.
When it first appeared in English in the seventeenth century, it was used to represent a discussion of applied arts only, and gradually these"arts"became the object of designation.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the term encompassed a growing range of means, processes and ideas, as well as tools and machines.
By the middle of the century, technology was defined by phrases such as"the means or activity by which man seeks to change or manipulate his environment."
Even these general definitions have been criticized by observers who point to the increasing difficulty of distinguishing between scientific investigation And technological activity.
However, the technology emerged long before there were even written methods. Technology, as the basis of human development, originated in prehistory through the discovery and use of fire and the first tools of men.
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Origin of technology: Prehistory
Paleolithic Era: General Considerations
Essentially, techniques are methods for creating new tools and products, and the ability to construct such artifacts is a determining characteristic of human species.
Other species make artifacts, such as bees when they build hives made to deposit their honey, birds make nests and beavers build prey.
But these attributes are the result of patterns of instinctive behavior and can not be varied to suit rapidly changing circumstances.
Humanity, in contrast to other species, does not possess highly developed instinctive reactions, but has the capacity to think systematically and creatively about techniques.
Thus, humans can consciously innovate and modify the environment in a way that no other species has achieved.
A monkey can sometimes use a stick to beat the bananas of a tree, but a man can create the stick as a cutting tool and remove a lot of bananas.
At some point in the transition between the two, the hominid, the first species similar to man, emerges.
By virtue of its tool-maker nature, man is therefore a technologist from the beginning, and the history of technology embraces the whole evolution of mankind.
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Use of tools in the Paleolithic
The use of tools by early humans was in part a process of discovery and evolution.
Early humans evolved from a species of hominid fodder that were already bipedal, with a brain mass about one-third of modern humans.
The use of tools remained relatively unchanged for most of early human history.
Approximately 50,000 years ago, arose the use of tools and complex sets of behaviors, which many archaeologists believe are connected with the emergence of a completely modern language.
First inventions: Oldowan
The Oldowan (or I mode) was the first stone tool extended in the archaeological industry in prehistory (it predates Lomekwian tools in a single site dated 3.3 million years ago).
Oldowan tools were used during the Lower Paleolithic, 2.6 million years ago until 1.7 million years ago, by ancient hominids in much of Africa, South Asia, the Middle East and Europe. This technology industry was followed by the most sophisticated Achelian industry.
The term Oldowan is taken from the site of the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, where Oldowan's early lyticism was discovered by archaeologist Louis Leakey in the 1930s.
However, some contemporary archaeologists and paleoanthropologists prefer to use the term Mode 1 tools to designate the pebble tool industries (including Oldowan), with Mode 2 designating bifacally worked tools (including achele axes), Mode 3 designating tools Prepared core and so on.
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Achelous Industry
It is an archeological industry manufacturing stone tools characterized by distinctive oval and"ax"pear shaped associated with early humans.
Achelian tools were produced during the Lower Paleolithic period in Africa and much of Western Asia, South Asia and Europe, and are typically found with remains of Homo erectus.
It is believed that Achelian technologies first developed in Africa from Oldowan's most primitive technology for 1.76 million years ago by Homo habilis. Achelian tools represent the dominant technology for the origin and much of human history.
The fire
The discovery and use of fire, a simple energy source with many deep uses, was a turning point in the technological evolution of humanity.
The exact date of his discovery is not known. Evidence of burnt animal bones in the Cradle of Humanity suggests that the domestication of fire occurred before the first Ma (Mega annum).
In turn, the academic consensus indicates that Homo erectus had controlled the fire for 500,000 or 400,000 years.
The fire, fed with wood and charcoal, allowed the first humans to cook their food to increase their digestibility, improve their nutritional value and expand the number of foods that could be eaten.
Clothes and coat
Other advances of humanity that enhance the origin of technology were clothing and shelter. The adoption of both technologies can not be accurately dated, but they were a key to the progress of humanity.
As the Paleolithic era progressed, housing became more sophisticated and more elaborate. 380,000 years ago, humans built temporary wooden huts.
The clothing, adapted from hunted animal skins, helped humanity expand into colder regions. Humans began to migrate from Africa to Eurasia, among others, 200,000 years ago.
References
- Jon Agar. (2009). On the origin of technology. United Kingdom: Free Press.
- Robert Angus Buchanan. (2017). History of technology. August 10, 2017, of Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Website: britannica.com.
- Nye, D. E. (2006). Technology matters: Questions to live with. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Whitney, E. (2004). Medieval Science and Technology. Greenwood Publishing Group.
- Clark, J.G.D. (1969). World prehistory: a new outline. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Ian Tattersall, Masters of the Planet, the search for our human origins, 2012, Palgrave Macmillan, chapter 6, pp. 124-125, ISBN 978-0-230-10875-2.
- Heinzelin, Jean de; Clark, JD; 284 (5414): 625-629. PMID 10213682. doi: 10.1126 / science.284.5414.625. White, T; Hart, W; Renne, P; Woldegabriel, G; Beyene, Y; Vrba, E (April 1999). "Environment and Behavior of 2.5-Million-Year-Old Bouri Hominids". Science.