Glass

Glass: silica that is nano-crystalline in structure; relatively disordered silicate tetrahedra
The most familiar, and historically the oldest, types of manufactured glass are "silicate glasses" based on the chemical compound silica (silicon dioxide, or quartz), the primary constituent of sand.

It is known that, around 7,000 BCE, people were already using sharp tools made from obsidian, a natural occurring volcanic glass.
The Roman historian Pliny reported that the first man-made glass was accidentally produced by Phoenician merchants in 5,000 BCE, when, while resting on a beach, they placed cooking pots on sodium-rich rocks near a fire.
The heat from the fire melted the rocks and mixed them with the sand, forming molten glass.
Archeologists have not been able to confirm Pliny’s recount. Instead, simple glass items, such as beads, have been discovered in Mesopotamia and Egypt dating to 3,500 BCE.
At the beginning of the Bronze Age, glazed pottery was produced in Mesopotamia. However, it was not until 1,500 BCE that Egyptians started building factories to create glassware for ointments and oils.

Phoenician glass necklace 5th–6th century BC, British Museum, London
Roman glass amphoriskoi, 1st–2nd century AD, British Museum, London
Venetian goblet made in Italy in the early 19th century, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City