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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