Glue may seem like an ordinary household item, but its history stretches back thousands of years. Long before modern bottles of white glue, super glue, or tape, people discovered that sticky natural substances could help them build tools, repair objects, make art, and construct furniture. The story of glue is really the story of human ingenuity: finding ways to make things hold together.
Some of the earliest adhesives were made from materials found in nature, such as tree resin, plant gums, tar, and animal products. It is believed that prehistoric people used sticky substances like birch tar to attach stone points to wooden handles, helping them make stronger spears, axes, and other tools. It is known that Egyptians used animal-based glues in woodworking, furniture making, papyrus production, and decorative objects, while Greeks and Romans used adhesives in mosaics, construction, and everyday repairs.
For many centuries, the most common glues were made by boiling animal hides, bones, or connective tissue to extract collagen. These “hide glues” were widely used by cabinetmakers, instrument makers, bookbinders, and artists. Although they were not waterproof and had to be heated before use, they were strong, reliable, and could be softened again with heat and moisture, making repairs possible.
It was during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, glue changed dramatically. It was in the 1800s that natural rubber adhesives appeared, and with the growth of chemistry came new products such as casein glue, nitrocellulose glue, epoxy, polyurethane, and synthetic rubber adhesives.
Of course, wars and industrial manufacturing speed things up as stronger, faster, and more specialised adhesives were needed for vehicles, aircraft, packaging, and construction.
Today, adhesives are everywhere: in schools, homes, hospitals, electronics, cars, packaging, and even spacecraft. Modern glues can be waterproof, heat-resistant, flexible, instant-drying, or specially designed for medical use.
So from way back when to now and beyond there will many different types of ways to stick on thing to another.
Jo-AnneRamplings 
I enjoyed your history of glue.
I am pleased
Very informative! Thanks!
You’re welcome
Fascinating. Never thought about it before, but we’ve been gluing stuff together for a long time eh?
That’s for sure
I never considered the history of glue. You find the most interesting topics, Joanne.
I am glad you liked the post
When you said
I thought – “Yes!”
As a younger person I did see a movie or TV show attaching resin to arrow points or arrowheads.
I loved reading about the ancients and their different glueing approaches:
and naturally it got me to wondering what indigenous Australians do with their glueing practises and if those have stuck (Pardon the pun!).
(I could of course read the First Knowledges books Design and Innovation and look in their respective indexes for Glue and Adhesive practices).
When I read this part:
I had the song Rawhide in my head as an earworm.
The heat – soften – heat again cycle is really interesting, Jo-Anne!
The medi-glues in particular are really interesting and well-developed.
Thanks I am pleased my posts are liked as I do a fair bit of research, writing deleting and rewriting reading what I wrote so not to repeat myself