Timeline
Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age): Pliocene Epoch (5,000,000 - 1,800,000 years ago)
| 3,600,000 | Bipedal hominid living in Tanzania, Africa |
| 3,500,000 | Australopithecus afarensis "Lucy" living in Hadar, Ethiopia |
| 2,400,000 | Stone tools used in Hadar |
| 1,800,000 | Homo erectus in Southeast Asia |
Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age): Pleistocene Epoch (1,800,000 - 11,000 years ago)
| 1,600,000 | Fire used in Chesowanja, Kenya and Swartkrans (S. Africa) |
| 1,000,000 | Beginning of the modern Pleistocene Ice Age |
| Homo erectus in Europe and Asia |
| 400,000 | Wooden spear used in Schoningen, Germany |
| 300,000 | A hut is used in Amata, France |
| 150,000 | Homo sapien neanderthalensis in Europe and Asia |
| 135,000 | Homo sapien sapien in Omo, Ethiopia |
| 90,000 | Homo sapien sapien in Qafzeh, Israel |
| 71,000 | Toba eruption in Indonesia causes global cooling |
| Homo sapien sapien population dwindles to between 1,000 and 100,000 |
| 45,000 | A flute is played in North Africa |
| 40,000 | Modern humans and Neanderthals in Europe |
| 37,000 | Evolution of Microcephalin, a gene that influences brain size |
| 35,000 | Australian aboriginal hunter-gatherer traditions emerge |
| 32,000 | Cave art in Europe |
| 28,000 | Last known Neanderthals live in southern Spain |
| 24,000 | "Willendorf Venus" carved in Germany |
| 23,000 | Mammoth tusk Boomerang in Poland |
| 18,000 | Height of the Pleistocene Ice Age |
| 11,500 | Clovis culture begins in North America |
Proto-Neolithic Age: Holocene Epoch (11,000 years ago to Today)
| 11,000 | Domesticated dogs in the Middle East |
| Humans in South America |
| 10,500 | Pottery in Japan |
| 10,000 | Agriculture in the Middle East |
| 9,000 | Jericho first city |
| Mammoths become extinct |
| Farming in the Middle East |
| Sheep herding in the Zagros Mountains, Iraq |
8,000 | End of the Pleistocene Ice Age |
| Large-scale Agriculture in the Middle East |
| 7,700 | Wheat and barley in the Middle East |
Neolithic Age ("New Stone Age") (7500-3800 B.C.)
| 6700 | Chatal Hyuk, Turkey settlement |
| 6500 | Hussuna culture begins |
| 6200 | Copper smelting in Turkey |
| 6000 | Cattle domesticated in the Middle East |
| Halafian and Samarran cultures replace Hussuna |
| Farming spreads to southern Europe |
| Bahrain island (Dilmun?) breaks away from the Arabian mainland |
| 5900 | Ubaid culture begins |
| 5800 | Evolution of ASPM, a gene that influences brain size |
5500 | Samarran cultures ends |
| Black Sea Flood |
| 5400 | Halafian culture ends |
| Farming used in central Europe |
| 5000 | First towns and temples are built |
| Irrigation begins in Mesopotamia |
| 4500 | Plow, sail, potter wheel used |
Uruk Period (4300-3100 B.C.)
| 4300 | Copper working practiced in Sumer |
| Ubaid culture ends |
| 4004 | Victorian date for Adam and Chavah (Eve) |
Early Bronze Age (3800-2000 B.C.)
| 3800 | Bronze produced in Elam (Iran) |
| 3500 | First cities develop in Mesopotamia |
| Writing used on Indus Valley pottery |
| 3474 | Victorian date for Adam's death |
| 3400 | Pictographs used in Sumer |
| Priests take a governmental role in Sumer |
| 3300 | Writing used in Egypt's tomb of the Scorpion King |
Jemdet Nasr Period (3100-2900 B.C.)
| 3100 | Extensive irrigation used in Sumer |
| 3000 | Military rivalry between cities in Sumer |
| 2948 | Victorian date for Noach's birth |
Early Dynastic Period (2900-2334 B.C.)
There is about a 70 year discrepancy of opinion for some of the dates.
| 2900 | Euphrates river floods Shurrupuk |
| Defensive walls built around cities; Tin bronze is used |
| Development of cuneiform script |
| 2780 | First pyramid built by Imhotep in Egypt |
| 2750 | Secular rulers achieve increasing importance in Sumer |
| 2680 | Great Pyramid of Giza built by King Khufu |
| 2650 | Dumuzi the Fisherman rules Uruk |
| 2625 | King Gilgamesh rules Uruk |
| 2600 | Mass suicide burials take place in Ur's "Royal Cemetery" |
| 2400 | Four-wheeled war wagons used |
| 2350 | Urukagina of Lagash promulgates law code |
| Lugal-Zagesi unites Sumer and Akkad |
| 2348 | Victorian date for Noach's Flood |
Akkadian Period (2334-2000 B.C.)
| 2334 | Sharru-Kin (Sargon) conquers Mesopotamia |
| 2193 | Gutians invade and the Akkadian Empire falls |
| 2112 | Ur-Nammu founds Ur III |
| 2100 | Ur-Nammu builds ziggurats in Ur, Eridu, Uruk, and Nippur |
| 2034 | Amorites begin to infiltrate Mesopotamia |
| 2004 | Elamites sack Ur |
Middle Bronze Age (2000-1600 B.C.)
| 1998 | Victorian date for Noach's death |
| 1996 | Victorian date for Avram's birth |
| 1921 | Victorian date for Avram leaving Ur |
| 1896 | Victorian date for Yitchak's (Isaac's) birth |
| 1894 | Amorite dynasty established in Babylon |
| 1836 | Victorian date for Yah-Akov's (Jacob's) birth |
| 1821 | Victorian date for Avraham's death |
| 1813 | Shamshi-Adad ruler of Assyria |
| 1800 | Semitic alphabet in Egypt |
| 1787 | Hammurabi conquers Uruk and Isin |
| 1757 | Hammurabi destroys Mari |
| 1763 | Rim-Suen of Larsa is defeated by Hammurabi |
| 1760 | Yah-Akov (Jacob) takes the Israelites into Egypt |
| 1750 | Indus Valley civilization collapses |
| 1745 | Victorian date for Yosef's (Joseph's) birth |
| 1700 | Horse drawn chariots are used |
| 1680 | Hurrians occupy Assyria |
| 1635 | Victorian date for Yosef's death |
| 1600 | Canaanites use alphabetic script |
| 1595 | King Mursilis of the Hittites sacks Babylon |
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