Cronologia
| 50 million years ago | The anthropoid suborder of primates splits off. |
| 30 million years ago | Advanced primates such as monkeys and apes appear. |
| 15 million years ago | The first humanoids appear. |
| 5 million years ago | Humanoid creatures are walking on two legs. Homo habilis is using tools, ushering in a new form of evolution: technology. |
| 2 million years ago | Homo erectus has domesticated fire and is using language and weapons. |
| 500.000 years ago | Homo sapiens emerge, distinguished by the ability to create technology (which involves innovation in the creation of tools, a record of tool making, and a progression in the sophistication of tools). |
| 100.000 years ago | Homo sapiens neanderthalensis emerges. |
| 90.000 years ago | Homo sapiens sapiens (our immediate ancestors) emerges. |
| 40.000 years ago | The Homo sapiens sapiens subspecies is the only surviving humanoid subspecies on Earth. Technology develops as evolution by other means. |
| 10.000 years ago | The modern era of technology begins with the agricultural revolution. |
| 6.000 years ago | The first cities emerge in Mesopotamia. |
| 5.500 years ago | Wheels, rafts, boats, and written language are in use. |
| More than 5,000 years ago | The abacus is developed in the Orient. As operated by its human user, the abacus performs arithmetic computation based on methods similar to that of a modern computer. |
| 3000-700 b.C.: | Water clocks appear during this time period in various cultures: In China, c. 3000 b.C.; in Egypt, c. 1500 b.C; and in Assyria, c. 70 |
| 2500 b.C. | Egyptian citizens turn for advice to oracles, which are often statues with priests hidden inside. |
Questa veloce cronologia ha solo la funzione di far comprendere quanto sia relativamente breve il tempo che intercorre tra le prime manifestazioni della creatività dell'uomo e la preparazione dell'arte a cui tutti facciamo riferimento, a partire dai greci, che è l'arte egizia.
