Theme 1.1. The historical aspects of the development of technological advances and scientific knowledge in ancient times

Modern science suggests that about a million years ago in different regions of Europe, Asia and Africa as a result of changes in natural conditions human ancestors came down from the trees and became the land animals. The constant struggle for survival forced him to use for self-defense stones and sticks. This led to the fact that primitive man began to process them. The first guns that were deliberately made by our ancestors – is hand-axes, a little later – spearheads, scrapers, borers and so on. These actions were the result of the transformation of the human brain, which led to the manifestation of emotions through language development.

The initial period of development of primitive society, which covers the entire ancient (800–100 thousand BC) and the middle (100–40 thousand BC) Paleolithic Age, was the primitive stage. But in the late Paleolithic Age (40–12 thousand BC), after the retreat of the glacier, the tribal system (matriarchy) was formed. Births began to coalesce into tribes, develop new areas for hunting, gathering fruits, fishing, build dugouts to stay. In this period the people of modern physical type appeared.

During the Middle Stone Age – Mesolithic (12–7 thousand BC) bows and arrows were invented and other complex of tools: knives, axes, and so on began manufacturing. Significant technical inventions and improvements owned by the era of the New Stone Age – Neolithic (7–3 thousand BC). In this period the transition to reproducing forms of management – agriculture and animal husbandry (the Neolithic Revolution) was held. In the III millennium BC people learned to handle copper, to make pottery.

In IV–III millennium BC in Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China the first states appeared. Starting with the II millennium BC mankind has mastered production of the first artificial material – bronze (an alloy of copper and tin). Since beginning from the first millennium BC an era of iron began. Plow with an iron plowshare and axe contributed to the spread of agriculture. In Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, dominated the irrigated agriculture, in which the water to the fields assigned by a system of canals. Craft (metalworking, pottery, weaving, Civil engineering) and trade were the main activity for certain groups of people – artisans and merchants. In the states of the Ancient East the cities with palaces of the rulers, religious and defensive structures appeared.

The history of international relations in the II–I millennium BC can be viewed as a continuous series of wars through which replenished contingent of slaves. The main weapon in this time become swords and type of protection – panels of different shapes. The invention and improvement of wheels led to the appearance of chariots, wagons and tents and sails made of thick fabric – for navigation.

In the first millennium BC astronomy and mechanics were widely used where mathematics was widely applied. In the 4^th century BC the calendar was invented in Egypt, the laws of statics (science, to investigate muscle strength) were discovered in Greece and modern spelling digits (tenth – 0) were created in India. Astronomer Aristarchus of Samos (c. 250 BC) argued that the Earth rotates around its axis and around the sun. Renowned scientist of Antiquity Archimedes (c. 287–212 BC.) in the book «On the arms» established rules of addition and expansion of parallel forces, his work «On floating bodies» explored the basic laws of hydrostatics. The methods for solving the equations of the first degree with two unknowns, methods for extracting of square and cube roots were set in China, in ten-volume «Arithmetic» in II. BC.