Five Innovations That Changed Human History

We live in an era of major technological developments, post-pandemic social adjustment, and dramatic climate change arising from human activity. Considering these phenomena within the long span of human history, we might ask: which innovations brought about truly significant and long-lasting transformations? Drawing on both historical sources and archaeological discoveries, Robin Derricourt explores the origins and earliest development of five major achievements in our deep history, and their impacts on multiple aspects of human lives. The topics presented are the taming and control of fire, the domestication of the horse,and its later association with the wheeled vehicle, the invention of writing in early civilisations, the creation of the printing press and the printed book, and the revolution of wireless communication with the harnessing of radio waves. Written in an engaging and accessible style, Derricourt’s survey of key innovations makes us consider what we mean by long-term change, and how the modern world fits into the human story.

Author Biography

Robin Derricourt is an honorary professor of history at the University of New South Wales and a fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. His previous books in archaeology and history include Inventing Africa, Antiquity Imagined, Creating God: The Birth and Growth of Major Religions, and Unearthing Childhood: Young Lives in Prehistory, which won the 2019 PROSE Award in Ancient History and Archaeology.