Elements of Technology

There are many ways to look at the periodic table. When Mendeleev established the table, he arranged the elements according to atomic number and chemical properties. Here, we try a different look. We discuss the influence and links of elements on the development of cultures and technologies. Some of the elements have a direct impact on our life: carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen and phosphorous are the main building blocks of our organism, besides small amounts of other elements. Many other elements, especially metals, are the base of the development of our social and technological world, due to the availability and/or innovative use of new or already known elements. We will have a look on the relevance and importance of these elements for the development of technologies over the last 10 millennia.