The document traces the evolution of knives from 2.6 million years ago when early humans used sharpened rocks and bones in Ethiopia, through the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age where tools and knives were predominantly made of stone, bronze, and iron respectively. It then discusses the development of the Chinese cleaver around 500 BC as an all-purpose knife, the use of knives in Medieval Europe for fighting and eating, the introduction of table knives in Europe in the 1600s, the banning of pointed knives in France in 1637, the invention of carbon steel in the 1700s leading to blunt table knives, and the rise of stainless steel knives in the 1900s which don't retain food flavors and were