We're surrounded by seemingly insignificant items that are taken for granted. Consider the lowly screw. I doubt you can pick up any manufactured object that isn't held together by these quiet behemoths. From the toy car you stubbed your toe on last night on the way to the bathroom, to the machine you shakily pour coffee from each morning, each of these items owes part of its functionality to the screws holding it together.
Credit goes to Greek mathematician Archytas for inventing the first wooden screw in the first century B.C. The most common use for these crude fasteners during this period was in oil and wine presses.