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The article provides an overview of the technical innovation and economic progress in the ancient world. It also presents information on innovations during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages and the improvement in the wine and oil presses used on the Roman latifundia. In the course of the fourth century B.C., the taste for fine painted pottery disappeared, almost abruptly, and at once there was a sharp decline in quality. But people continued to need pots, and rich Greeks and Romans continued to demand better pots with some sort of decoration. Moulded decorations replaced painting and therefore a new technique was introduced in the industry, the only one in its history throughout classical antiquity. The century and a half after Aristotle marked the peak of ancient scientific achievement, and the man who towered over all the others was Archimedes, the greatest and most inventive scientist of the ancient world. And Archimedes was most praised for his refusal to contaminate his science. One constant factor throughout ancient history was the presence of a sufficiently abundant supply of dependent labor.