There were predecessors to pencils going back hundreds of years before that, with very similar capabilities. They used soft metals that streak when dragged acro

There were predecessors to pencils going back hundreds of years before that, with very similar capabilities. They used soft metals that streak when dragged across a surface, particularly silver and lead (Pb) (also the etymology of "pencil lead"); and sharpened these into narrow points. The modern pencil sort of iterated on those ideas. Soft graphite powder, in a wax binder, leaves a streak superior to metals; and encasing it in wood was the solution to the graphite composite's brittleness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverpoint https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverpoint Here's a zoomable example by da Vinci (don't you agree they look awfully similar to pencil lines?) https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1860-0616-100 https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1860-0616-...