# What's our longest-lived technology?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 25, 2026, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377 "2026-09-25T17:43:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2026, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377/21 "2026-09-25T19:24:36Z")
> [@Thumper668](#):
>
> I’m not sure I would call beating or spearing an animal with a stick to be technology per se.
The animals may disagree.
---
### Author:  [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2026, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377/22 "2026-09-25T19:26:16Z")
> [@Dorjan](#):
>
> The animals may disagree.
Ask them.
---
### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2026, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377/23 "2026-09-25T19:44:43Z")
A simple container? Like a large leaf for collecting things, a hollow tree branch, an animal hide, etc.
---
### Author:  [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2026, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377/24 "2026-09-25T20:22:41Z")
Wouldn’t wheels be older? Fire? 😉
---
### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2026, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377/25 "2026-09-25T20:25:12Z")
Okay, moving forward in time a little. What’s the longest-lived _machine_?
---
### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2026, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377/26 "2026-09-25T20:26:21Z")
> [@DCnDC](#):
>
> A simple container? Like a large leaf for collecting things, a hollow tree branch, an animal hide, etc.
This is a what I thought.
---
### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2026, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377/27 "2026-09-25T20:27:52Z")
Sling, maybe.
Rollers, if you are willing to count them.
---
### Author:  [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2026, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377/28 "2026-09-25T20:30:51Z")
Language. Amazing technology, still in use today. The foundation of everything else we do. So successful that Godott himself tried to Babel us down with a tower. As so often, he only made matters worse.
---
### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2026, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377/29 "2026-09-25T20:30:57Z")
Aw, man. I forgot about simple machines.
---
### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2026, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377/30 "2026-09-25T20:33:56Z")
Yeah, it’s a slippery slope.
How about bow and arrow? Does that predate the wheeled cart?
---
### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2026, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377/31 "2026-09-25T20:34:54Z")
> [@Seanette](#):
>
> Wouldn’t wheels be older? Fire? 😉
Not really. I count a suitable stone to crack open nuts or shellfish as a hammer, and this use surely predates the controlled use of fire, let alone the wheel which was only invented a few thousand years ago.
---
### Author:  [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2026, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377/32 "2026-09-25T20:48:07Z")
I’d thought wheels were around longer than that. Fair point about stones as hammers, though. When I saw “hammer”, my mind went to the metal toolbox object. Didn’t consider different shapes filling the same function.
---
### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2026, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377/33 "2026-09-25T20:51:34Z")
Yeah, It’s somewhat surprising how long it took mankind to invent the wheel. The New World didn’t have it until Columbus arrived, and they got along just fine.
---
### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2026, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377/34 "2026-09-25T20:52:22Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> Yeah, it’s a slippery slope.
Slippery slopes are an ancient technology.
---
### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2026, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377/35 "2026-09-25T21:03:04Z")
I would argue for grinding wheel or the cart. The wheel itself doesn’t serve a purpose without an application.
A mechanism is more of a technology than a simple tool or container.
---
### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2026, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377/36 "2026-09-26T00:15:03Z")
> [@DCnDC](#):
>
> A simple container? Like a large leaf for collecting things, a hollow tree branch, an animal hide, etc.
That’s another good contender. Hard to tell whether that or the modified stick came first. I think chimps use chewed and waddled up leaves to soak up water, too; and in neither case are there going to be recognizable fossils.
---
### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2026, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377/37 "2026-09-26T01:02:16Z")
Modified stick. Chimps modify sticks to fish for termites. Chances are our ancestors 4 or 5 million years ago did the same. Chimps are just continuing the tech, so it’s still living.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-our-longest-lived-technology/1033377.md?page=1)