Technology
Almost nothing in a kitchen was always there. The quern, the pot that survives a fire, the tin can, the cold chain — each arrived on a date, and each changed what a meal could be. Every scene here sets an invention back in the moment it was new, with the tools, materials and workspaces reconstructed from archaeology and the technical record.
Explore by period
The First Stone Tools (8)
Lomekwi 3 Toolmakers, Nyayanga Butchers, Gona’s Early Oldowan, Bouri Cut-Marked Bones, Homo habilis at Olduvai, Kanjera South Meat Processing, Early Humans at Koobi Fora, Dmanisi at the Edge of Eurasia
The Fire Revolution (6)
Wonderwerk Cave Fire, Cooked Fish at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Acheulean Life at Olorgesailie, Boxgrove Horse Butchery, Bilzingsleben Lakeside Camp, Beeches Pit Fire Makers
Ice Age Specialists (3)
Shanidar Neanderthals, El Sidrón Family Group, Pinnacle Point Coastal Foragers
Humans Conquer the World (1)
The Broad Spectrum Revolution (3)
Natufians of Eynan, Shubayqa’s Desert Foragers, Nanzhuangtou Pottery and Plants
The First Farmers (15)
Jiahu Rice, Fish and Fermentation, Peiligang Millet Farmers, Cishan’s Millet Stores, Kuahuqiao Rice and Watercraft, First Dairying at Barcın Höyük, Kuk Swamp Gardeners, Fayum Neolithic Granaries, Banpo Millet and Pig Farmers
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Villages Become Civilizations (14)
Skara Brae Island Village, Neolithic Britain’s Milk Pots, Europe’s First Cheesemakers, Liangzhu’s Rice City, Uruk: The First Great City, Predynastic Hierakonpolis, Caral’s Monumental Food Economy, Jōmon Sannai Maruyama
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Bronze Age Networks (10)
Babylonian Culinary Tablets, Xiaohe’s Dairy-Dependent Desert Community, Lapita Ocean Voyagers, Early Butter Production in Mesopotamia, Lactase Persistence Rises in Europe, Horses Are Domesticated on the Steppe, Llamas and Alpacas Support Andean Food Systems, Chopsticks Become Standard Eating Utensils in China
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Iron Age Kingdoms (6)
Persepolis Banquet Economy, Carthage and the Phoenician Sea, Jenne-jeno’s Urban West Africa, Dromedary Camels Transform Arabian Provisioning, Cast-Iron Cooking Vessels Spread in China, Yayoi Wet Rice Paddies Reach Northern Kyushu
The Classical World (13)
Vindolanda Frontier Rations, Han Chang’an Imperial Capital, Lady Dai’s Last Banquet, Maya Tikal’s Urban Rainforest, Nazca Desert Farmers, Ancient Chinese Carp Aquaculture Manual, Hallstatt Salt Mining Feeds Iron Age Europe, Sichuan Brine Wells Industrialize Salt
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The Medieval Food Worlds (25)
The First Hawaiian Food System, Tikopia’s Engineered Island Diet, Angkor’s Hydraulic Metropolis, Chaco Canyon Great Houses, Tenochtitlan’s Island Markets, Machu Picchu’s Inca Provisioning, Rapa Nui Before European Contact, Islamic-Era Rice Expansion
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The Columbian Exchange (10)
Sugar Barbados, Peanuts Cross the Atlantic to Africa, Basque Whalers Build an Atlantic Industry, European Guano Trade Intensifies Fertilizer Use, Chilean Nitrate Feeds Global Agriculture, The Paris Restaurant Emerges, Military Canning Expands under Napoleon, Portuguese Missionaries Introduce Tempura and Castella
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The Early Industrial Food Age (48)
Nicolas Appert and Canned Food, Chicago’s Meatpacking Revolution, James Lind’s Scurvy Experiment, British Tea Cultivation Begins in Assam, The Great Tea Race of 1866, Pale Ale Brewing Expands at Burton-on-Trent, Pasteur Patents Wine Preservation, Industrial Roller Milling Produces Cheap White Flour
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The Industrial Diet (43)
Battle Creek Breakfast Cereal, Coca-Cola’s Atlanta Origins, Haber–Bosch Synthetic Nitrogen, Borlaug and the Green Revolution, Postwar London and Rationing, Instant Coffee Patent and Globalization, The First Self-Service Grocery Store, Quick-Freezing Creates the Modern Frozen Food
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The Ultra-Processed Age (44)
The First McDonald’s System, The Pima Diabetes Natural Experiment, The Chinese Nutrition Transition, Nauru’s Rapid Nutrition Transition, Convenience-Store Japan, The NOVA Classification Emerges, The First Retail Barcode Scan, Tetra Pak Cartons Enter Commercial Use
See all 44