Carpentry

(c. 5000 B.BC.E.)

Dealing with wood complements time-tested techniques for working with stone.

Stone, mud, bone, and of course wood were the materials that Stone Age man used before the discovery of metallurgy and a very long time before plastics.

Wood is a very significant substance with many helpful qualities, including the ability to float, fire, and be easily fashioned into a range of various forms. Carpentry, the art of shaping and utilising wood, has historical roots.

However, there is also archaeological proof that Neanderthals were moulding wood into new forms as far back as the middle Paleolithic (Old Stone Age, 300,000 to 30,000 years ago), using tools fashioned out of flint and stone. Early woodwork consisted of the use of wood for rudimentary tools.Wood was used in this fashion to make a variety of practical objects, such as spears that were fire-hardened and logs that were hollowed out to make primitive boats.

Basic woodworking had developed into the more advanced skill of carpentry by the Neolithic (New Stone Age). The predominantly nomadic cultures of the Paleolithic period were transitioning into more agrarian societies, which led to an increase in permanent homes, many of which were made of timber. Wooden dwellings from around 5000 BCE have been discovered in Japan and other countries.

The Latin term carpentrius, which meaning a maker of a carriage or waggon, is where the word carpentry originally originates.However, even in ancient Rome, carpenters produced a wide variety of wooden goods, from weaponry (bows, spears, and gigantic rock-throwing machines) to exquisitely carved furniture.