I think farmers are the original hackers.
Wheel was a few thousand yrs ago.
My favorite hack of his was out of necessity. He started getting shoulder problems from stirring milk for hours every day, so he found an old motor and attached it to the top of his vessel with a large paddle and voila no more shoulder problems.
Who in hell would actually spend hours stirring milk for hours a day?
Saying that this is a clever hack is like saying "I know a guy who heats his water for a shower using a hot water heater, instead of jumping into cold water and thrashing his arms around for four hours - what a genius!"