What Is Technology?
The subject of technology is treated in a number of articles. For general treatment, see technology, history of; hand tool. For description of the materials that are both the object and means of manipulating the environment, see elastomers; industrial ceramics; industrial glass; metallurgy; mineral deposit; mineral processing; mining; plastic. For the generation of energy, see energy conversion; coal mining; coal utilization; petroleum production; petroleum refining. For the techniques of construction technology, see bridge; building construction; canals and inland waterways; dam; harbours and sea works; lighthouse; roads and highways; tunnels and underground excavations; environmental works. A stone pottery wheel found in the city-state of Ur dates to around 3429 BCE, and even older fragments of wheel-thrown pottery have been found in the same area. Fast potters' wheels enabled early mass production of pottery, but it was the use of the wheel as a transformer of energy that rev