evidence from the past

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how is making
thinking?

a historical perspective

Evidence from the past

The overwhelming evidence from our past is that making things is part of human nature. We need to make objects to survive, and they become part of our culture. The exploitation of useful materials in our environment is a process of continual development.

This development from hand technology to machine technology, and now electronic digital technology, is well documented. We learn in school about many different eras of our history - the stone age, the bronze age, different civilisations such as the Egyptians and the Romans, the exploration of the world, developments in science, technology, and the Industrial Revolution in the Victorian era.

By looking at the things people have made in the past you find evidence of how this kind of technological understanding has developed. Archaeologists, anthropologists and historians are finding new ways to communicate how this creative technology has developed and what it means to us. They are showing how 'making things' plays an important part in our intellectual development.

This is a narrative of how the act of making throughout history is the catalyst for new thinking and new ideas.