@ SaganTheCat

I think science is as old as human ingenuity....it's the application that was questionable. Unscrupulous folk have always exploited the ignorant and gullible for their own ends. To be able to notice, say, a celestial pattern and apply it to woo woo proved to be very profitable in many ways.

Science in its original sense is a word for a type of knowledge (Latin scientia, Ancient Greek epistemē), rather than a specialized word for the pursuit of such knowledge. In particular it is one of the types of knowledge which people can communicate to each other and share. For example, knowledge about the working of natural things was gathered long before recorded history and led to the development of complex abstract thinking, as shown by the construction of complex calendars, techniques for making poisonous plants edible, and buildings such as the pyramids. However no consistent distinction was made between knowledge of such things which are true in every community, and other types of communal knowledge such as mythologies and legal systems.