20 things that were invented much earlier than you probably thought

Some products, especially those that use technology, seem like they were invented recently. However, many pieces of today’s technology have been in development for decades. Vaccines seem like a relatively new medical innovation, but they have actually been around for over 200 years. Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Though modern science and medicine have made great advancements in recent decades, many of their predecessors date back far earlier.

Vaccines, for example, have been around for hundreds of years — the first one was created to treat smallpox. Today, vaccines help control a number of infectious