Notes

1st square - ancient times circa egyptian, greek, roman
The earliest dolls were made from available materials such as clay, stone, wood, bone, ivory, leather, or wax. Wooden paddle dolls have been found in Egyptian tombs dating to as early as the 21st century BC. Rag dolls and stuffed animals were probably also popular, but no known examples of these have survived to the present day. Stories from ancient Greece around 100 AD show that dolls were used by little girls as playthings.

2nd square - medieval and middle ages
Girls also played with dolls in the Middle Ages. 15th-century German woodcuts show doll makers at work. In the 16th century, wooden dolls dressed in miniature clothes were still popular toys.

The first doll house was made in Germany in 1558. It was made for Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria. Dollhouses were popular with the wealthy in the 17th century and 18th centuries. However, at that time dollhouses were not toys. Instead, they were for display.

3rd square - 17th and 18th century
However, in the 17th and 18th-century girls continued to play with wooden or rag dolls. Wax dolls were also popular. At that time they were called toy babies and dollhouses were called baby houses. However, by the 18th century, they were called dolls. (Doll was originally short for Dorothy).

4th square - modern dolls
In the 19th-century dolls began to be mass-produced. Ragdolls were still made so were wooden and wax dolls but in the 19th-century dolls were often made of papier-mache or ceramic. In 1823 Johann Maelzel made the first talking dolls. After the Second World War dolls were commonly made of vinyl. Barbie dolls were invented in 1959.