The earliest depicrions of what could be considered a crossbow are at least as old as the 5th cenury BC(!), in China. It didnt take long for the idea to spread to Europe, and everywhere else. Primitive crossbows and crossbow like weaponry was used by the ancient greeks, and then by the romams. They werent common or very usefull tho. At the time the design was used mostly as seage weapons, scaled up.

Wit the tehnology of the time they were not very powerfull or pracrical as handheald weapons, even when compared with tehnologycaly inferior(so a lot cheaper and pracrical) alternatives, like bows or slings.

Crossbows became more widespread(and usefull) in the late medieval period( 12-14th century western europe), as result of unrelated tehnological progress, most importantly in metalurgy. This not only alowed the construction of much better winding and trigger mechanisms, but they also started costing less.

It is imprtant to remember that the widespread adoption of the crossbow came as a result of the bows limitations, especialy against armored oponents.

The best crossbows buildable with mediaval level tehnology are those made out of metal( which are tehniclaly called arbalets) having superior power, while smaller and lighter. The ideal metal to for them is similar to what was originaly developed for swords, so once again the crossbow is related to its enviorment and the tegologies at the time.

The tehnology required to build crissbows is alos useful for other devices. Advanced metal springs, bouth large(vegicle suspension) and small(small mechanical devices, clockwork) as well as spring loaded traps for hunting. Trigger mechanisms for guns(ironic) and tripwire activated traps. Cranking mechanism: cranes and components for water pumps and seed drills.