History of Glue

Glue is a primary ingredient in slime. I don’t think I need to speak at length about how wonderful glue is and its many uses. Glue is especially cool because it oozes and stretches, which makes it great for securing joints together or getting into odd places.

Glue was discovered 200,000 years ago. Neanderthals made tar from birch bark to adhere wood to stones and make kitchen utensils. Their kitchens were a little different, but you get the drift. The OG glue was really susceptible to heat, so later, South African tribes improved the substance by adding red ochre to make it stronger. This helped them bind larger sticks to larger stones and helped advance the tools of the Stone Age.

Some 6,000 years ago, the Babylonians created some sort of glue-cement to fasten ivory eyeballs to their statues. Did you know that King Tut’s tomb was fastened shut by using– that’s right– glue? Glue has built the Colosseum and the Pantheon. Glue gave Gengis Khan’s army bows and arrows. In 1500, glue helped Thomas Chippendale and Duncan Phyfe make the first cabinets. By 1860, glue brought stamps, surgical tape, and electrical tape to the US and began to revolutionize major industries.

The world was built on this little invention called glue. Adhesives are a 50 billion dollar market, and they just keep evolving.

One evolution we’re forever grateful for happened in 1976; Mattel brought glue to slime. The glue component in slime is why it may start to ooze a little more than desirable and become sticky when it is left in hot environments.

So here’s our shoutout to the Neanderthals who so long ago needed a spoon. You brought us here.