Early humans needed a knowledge of simple geology to enable them to select the most suitable rock types both for axe-heads and knives and for the ornamental stones they used in worship. This Primefact traces the history of geology across the classical, medieval  and renaissance times, on to the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Other topics include:

• geology becomes a science;
• the establishment of a geological time scale;
• other geological advances;
• the development of geology in Australia.