| c. 4400 BC | Europe, Asia | People in Europe and Eurasia start to use flint to make axe-heads. |
| c. 3400 BC | world | The first important metallic alloy, bronze, is discovered. Alloying copper with tin makes bronze. |
| c. 3000 BC | South Asia | Cotton fabric is first woven in the Indus valley. |
| c. 3000 BC | Egypt | Papyrus, derived from reed, is invented in Egypt. |
| c. 2600 BC | Egypt | Iron is first used; it is valued as a precious metal without its superior qualities being recognized. Two iron artefacts are placed in the Great Pyramid of at El Gîza. |
| c. 2500 BC | Egypt, India | The art of dyeing fabrics begins in Egypt. The practice probably began earlier in India with indigo. |
| c. 2500 BC | Egypt | The Egyptians make glass beads – the earliest glass objects known. The glass is cut and polished after cooling, rather than moulded while hot. |
| c. 1500 BC | Asia Minor | The Hittites of Asia Minor are the first to discover how to obtain iron from iron ore. Although iron is the second most abundant metal in the Earth's crust, metallic iron is only known from the rare discovery of iron-rich meteorites. |
| c. 1200 BC | Egypt | The Iron Age begins as iron displaces bronze as the most important metal in Egypt and elsewhere. |
| c. 900 BC–c. 800 BC | Europe | The use of iron spreads into Europe, particularly to Hallstatt (Austria). |
| c. 600 BC | Europe | Bronze begins to be replaced by iron in central Europe because of the growing ability to smelt and work metallic ores at high temperatures. |
| c. 200 BC | Rome | The Romans invent concrete. It is used mainly for public works projects, the largest being the port of Caesarea built by Herod the Great in the early 1st century AD. |
| 195 BC | Egypt, Ptolemaic Kingdom | Parchment is invented at the library of Pergamum after an embargo on papyrus by Egyptian king Ptolemy V hinders copying. |
| c. 100 BC | Rome | Glass windowpanes begin to be used in Roman houses. |
| 1697 | Brazil | The first gold rush of modern times begins after gold is found in a region 200 miles inland from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The area becomes known as Minas Gerais (‘General Mines’) province. |
| 1851 | USA | US industrialist William Kelly develops a method of removing impurities from pig iron by blowing air through the molten mass. In oxidizing the carbon impurities, the temperature rises and the process can be used to produce wrought iron or steel. It results in the production of large quantities of cheap steel. |
| 1855 | Austrian Empire | Austrian chemist Franz Köller adds tungsten to steel to make tungsten steel. It is harder than normal steel and tools made from the alloy last up to six times as long as others. |
| 1864 | France | French engineers Pierre and Emile Martin use scrap iron in place of iron ore in a Siemens regenerative furnace. Two years later Siemens and the Martins combine to produce the Siemens-Martin open-hearth furnace. |
| 1867 | France | French gardener Joseph Monier patents reinforced concrete by adding steel rods, bars, or mesh to the concrete. It dramatically increases the tensile strength of the concrete, making it capable of sustaining heavy stresses. |
| 1908 | USA | Belgian-born US chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland invents the plastic Bakelite; its insulating and malleable properties, combined with the fact that it does not bend when heated, ensures it has many uses. |
| 1908 | Switzerland | Swiss chemist Jacques Brandenberger creates cellophane, which becomes invaluable in food packaging. |
| 1913 | United Kingdom | The first stainless steel is cast in Britain, by Harry Brearley in Sheffield. |
| 1935 | England | British chemist Michael Perrin and his group working for Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) polymerize ethylene to make polyethylene, the first true plastic. |
| 1937 | USA | Nylon, developed by W H Carothers, is patented by the US chemicals company DuPont and is commercially available the following year in the form of toothbrush bristles; nylon stockings become widely available in the USA in May 1940. |
| 6 April 1938 | USA | US chemist Roy Plunkett discovers the stable and slippery substance polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) (a synthetic resin), marketed by DuPont as Teflon. The most slippery substance known, it becomes commercially available in 1947–48 and is used for electrical insulation and to produce nonstick coatings. |
| May 1940 | USA | Nylon stockings are marketed in the USA by a range of manufacturers and prove an instant success; however, nylon production is shortly to be taken up with military requirements. |
| 1962 | USA | The Dow Corning Corporation (manufacturer of chemicals, glass, and other materials) of Detroit, Michigan, develops the silicon breast implant. |
| 1972 | Japan | Japanese researcher Hideki Shirakawa attempts to make the polymer polyacetylene but accidentally adds a thousand times too much catalyst and discovers electrically conductive plastics; they have a metallic appearance. |
| 1979 | USA | The 3M Corporation of St Paul, Minnesota, launches Post-It notes; the special adhesive which allows the notes to stick temporarily and without marking was invented by accident. |
