* We say that rotary presses were invented in 1790 CE, but this was actually a European reinvention of Mesopotamian technology that dates all the way back to 3500 BCE. The Mesopotamian invention, now called “cylinder seals,” were small cylinders with figures engraved in them. By rolling these cylinders over wet clay, their images were quickly reproduced. Cylinder seals were used in Mesopotamia for everything from decoration to signatures, but unfortunately were never scaled up to mass produce texts.