1.
3rd millennium BC
–
The 3rd millennium BC spans the years 3000 through 2000 BC. This period of time corresponds to the Early to Middle Bronze Age, in which imperialism, or the desire to conquer, grew to prominence in the city-states of the Middle East, the civilization of Ancient Egypt rose to a peak with the Old Kingdom. World population is estimated to have doubled in the course of the millennium, the Bronze Age occurred roughly between 3000 BC and 2500 BC. Along with this came the first appearances of mega architecture, imperialism, organized absolutism, the civilizations of Sumer and Akkad in Mesopotamia became a collection of volatile city-states in which warfare was common. Uninterrupted conflicts drained all available resources, energies and populations, in this millennium, larger empires succeeded the last, and conquerors grew in stature until the great Sargon of Akkad pushed his empire to the whole of Mesopotamia and beyond. It would not be surpassed in size until Assyrian times 1,500 years later, in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, the Egyptian pyramids were constructed and would remain the tallest and largest human constructions for thousands of years. Also in Egypt, pharaohs began to themselves as living gods made of an essence different from that of other human beings. Even in Europe, which was still largely neolithic during the same period, in the Near East and the Occident during the 3rd millennium BC, limits were being pushed by architects and rulers. Towards the close of the millennium, Egypt became the stage of the first popular revolution recorded in history. This dynasty was later to become involved with a wave of nomadic invaders known as the Amorites, certain 4th millennium BC events were precursors to the 3rd millennium BC, c.3700 BC, Lothal Advanced Civilization in India. C.3650 BC–3000 BC, Minoan culture appeared on Crete, C.3200 BC/3100 BC, Helladic culture and Cycladic culture both emerge in Greece. The 3rd millennium BC included the key events, c.3000 BC. C.3000 BC, Nubian A-Group, Ta-Seeti kingdom came to an end, C.3000 BC–2000 BC, Vessels from Denmark are made, they are now at National Museum, Copenhagen. C.2890 BC, Second Dynasty of Egypt, reign of Hotepsekhemwy, syria, Foundation of the city of Mari. Semitic tribes occupy Assyria in northern part of the plain of Shinar, phoenicians settle on Syrian coast, with centers at Tyre and Sidon. Beginning of the period of the Sage Kings in China, also known as the Three Sovereigns, C.2879 BC, Rise of the Văn Lang Kingdom and the Hồng Bàng Dynasty in northern Viet Nam. C.2800 BC–2700 BC, Harp Player, from Keros and it is now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Iran, Creation of the Kingdom of Elam, germination of the Bristlecone pine tree Methuselah about 2700 BC, one of the oldest known trees still living now
3rd millennium BC
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A model of the prehistoric town of
Los Millares, with its walls.
3rd millennium BC
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Minoan Snake Goddess.
3rd millennium BC
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Great Pyramid of Giza, Kheops.
3rd millennium BC
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The Medicine Wheel in
Bighorn National Forest, Wyoming, USA
2.
1st millennium BC
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The 1st millennium BC encompasses the Iron Age and sees the rise of many successive empires, and spanned from 1000 BC to 1 BC. The Neo-Assyrian Empire develops, followed by the Achaemenids, in Greece, Classical Antiquity begins with the colonization of Magna Graecia and peaks with the rise of Hellenism. The close of the sees the rise of the Roman Empire. In South Asia, the Vedic civilization blends into the Maurya Empire, the early Celts dominate Central Europe while Northern Europe is in the Pre-Roman Iron Age. In China, the Spring and Autumn period sees the rise of Confucianism, towards the close of the millennium, the Han Dynasty extends Chinese power towards Central Asia, where it borders on Indo-Greek and Iranian states. The Maya civilization rises in Central America, while in Africa, Ancient Egypt begins its decline, rise of the Nubian Empire, the religions of Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism develop. Graeco-Roman Europe, India and China see the rise of literature, world population greatly increases in the course of the millennium, reaching some 170 to 400 million people at its close depending on the estimates used. Qin built and unified various sections of the Great Wall of China, Qin built Qin Shi Huangs Mausoleum guarded by the life-sized Terracotta Army. Late 3rd century BC or 2nd century BC—Veiled and masked dancer is made and it is now kept at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Genius of China,3000 years of science, discovery, New York, Simon and SchusterBased on the works of Joseph Needham Zimmer, Heinrich, Joseph Campbell, ed. Philosophy of India, London, E. C.4, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, Not in copyright
1st millennium BC
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Human-headed winged bull facing. Bas-relief from the king
Sargon II 's palace at Dur Sharrukin in
Assyria (now Khorsabad in Iraq), c. 713–716 BC. From Paul-Émile Botta's excavations in 1843–1844.
3.
20th century BC
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The 20th century BC was a century which lasted from the year 2000 BC to 1901 BC.2000 BC, Arrival of the ancestors of the Latins in Italy. Town of Mantua was presumably founded, stonehenge is believed to have been completed. Farmers and herders traveled south from Ethiopia and settled in Kenya, horses were tamed and used for transport. C.2000 BC, First of the Minoan palaces on Crete, site of palace complex Knossos started to become occupied. Bronze Age began in north Ancient China, the Harappa Torso was sculpted by a member of the Indus Valley culture. Middle Jōmon period ended in Japan, vessel, from Asahi Mound, Toyama Prefecture, was made. It is now kept at Collection of Tokyo University, dogū, from Kurokoma, Yamanashi Prefecture, was made. It is now kept at Tokyo National Museum, C.2000 BC -1900 BC, the Priest-king torso was sculpted at Mohenjo-Daro, part of the Indus Valley civilization. C.2000 BC - The last wooly mammoth goes extinct on Wrangel island, C.1995 BC, Pharaoh Mentuhotep II, Eleventh dynasty of Egypt dies. 1991 BC, Egypt, Pharaoh Mentuhotep IV died, Pharaoh Amenemhat I started to rule. C.1985 BC, Political authority became less centralized in Ancient Egypt, C.1985 BC –1795 BC, Rock-cut tombs at Beni Hasan were made. Hippopotamus, from the tomb of Senbi at Meir was made and it is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. February 27,1953 BC, A very close alignment of the naked-eye planets took place in which planets are together in a span of 4.3 degrees. C.1942 BC, The so-called king of Leubingen was buried in a large barrow within a 66-foot-wide stone cairn inside a ring ditch. 1932 BC, Amorite conquest of Ur. c.1928 BC –1895 BC, Harvest scene, tempera facsimile by Nina de Garis Davies of wall painting in the tomb of Khnumhotep II,1913 BC –1903 BC, Egyptian-Nubian war. C.2000 BC – Glass appears,1950 BC—The copper bar cubit of Nippur defines the Sumerian cubit as 51.72 cm. c.1900 BC - Cacao is domesticated by the Mokaya in Guatemala. See, List of sovereign states in the 20th century BC
20th century BC
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The pyramid ruin of Amenemhet I at
Lisht. He was the founder of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt
4.
19th century BC
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The 19th century BC was the century which lasted from 1900 BC to 1801 BC. 1900 BC, Transition from Early Helladic III to Middle Helladic culture in Greece, C.1900 BC, Minoan Old Palace period starts in Crete. C.1900 BC, Fall of last Sumerian dynasty, C.1900 BC, Late Harappan Phase of the Indus Valley Civilization begins c.1900 BC, The Mokaya along the Pacific coast of present-day Chiapas, Mexico were preparing cacao beverages. C.1900 BC, Port of Lothal is abandoned, C.1897 BC, Senwosret II started to rule. He built Kahun near his tomb complex at el-Lahun. C.1895 BC–1878 BC, Pectoral of Senwosret II, from the tomb of princess Sithathoryunet at el-Lahun was made and it is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. C.1880 BC, Pharaoh Senwosret II starts to rule, C.1878 BC, Senwosret III started to rule. 1876 BC, Israelites enter Egypt after two years of famine, C.1874 BC, Pharaoh Senwosret II dies. C.1874 BC, Pharaoh Senwosret III starts to rule, C.1860 BC, Senusret III inspects the Nubian frontier, he leads four punitive campaigns against the Nubians. C.1855 BC, Pharaoh Senwosret III dies, C.1839 BC, Senwosret III died. 1836 BC-1818 BC, Head of Senusret III is made and it is now kept at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. 1807 BC–1797 BC—Amenemhat III of Egypt 1806 BC-1802 BC—Sobekneferu of Egypt
19th century BC
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Pyramid of Senusret II at
El-Lahun. He was a Twelfth Dynasty Pharaoh
5.
18th century BC
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The 18th century BC was the century which lasted from 1800 BC to 1701 BC.1800 BC, Iron age in India 1800 BC, Beginning of the Nordic Bronze Age in the period system devised by Oscar Montelius. 1800 BC –1300 BC, Troy VI flourishes, C.1800 BC, Sedentary Mayan communities in Mesoamerica c.1800 BC, Hyksos start to settle in the Nile Delta. They had the capital at Avaris in northeastern Nile Delta,1800 BC Adichanallur urn-burial site in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu. In 2004, a number of dating from around 3,800 years ago. 1800 BC Indo-Aryan migration c.1792 BC –1750 BC, – Hammurabi rules Babylonia and has to deal with Mari, C.1792 BC –1750 BC, – Stela of Hammurabi, from Susa is made. It is now in Musée du Louvre, Paris,1787 BC –1784 BC, Amorite conquests of Uruk and Isin. 1786 BC, Egypt, Queen Sobekneferu dies, end of Twelfth Dynasty, start of Thirteenth Dynasty, start of Fourteenth Dynasty. 1779 BC, Zimrilim, the King of Mari, starts to rule,1770 BC, Babylon, capital of Babylonia becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from Thebes, capital of Egypt. 1766 BC, Shang conquest of Xia Dynasty,1764 BC –1750 BC, Wars of Hammurabi. 1757 BC, Mari sacked by Hammurabi,1757 BC, Zimrilim, the King of Mari, dies. 1750 BC, Hyksos occupation of Northern Egypt,1750 BC, A colossal volcanic eruption at Mount Veniaminof, Alaska. C.1750 BC, Vedic period starts in India, C.1750 BC, Investiture of Zimrilim, facsimile of a wall painting on mud plaster from the Zimrilim palace at Mari, Court 106, is made. It is now in Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1740–1720 BC, reigns of pharaoh Neferhotep I and his brother Sobekhotep IV, marking the apex of the Egyptian 13th Dynasty. 1749 BC –1712 BC, Mesopotamian Rebellions, early Unetice culture, beginning of the Bronze Age in Central Europe. Minoan civilization, phase II of the Middle period, C.1700 BC, The last species of mammoth became extinct on Wrangel Island. C.1700 BC, Indus Valley Civilization comes to an end but is continued by the Cemetery H culture c.1700 BC, Minoan Old Palace period ends and Minoan Second Palace period starts in Crete. C.1700 BC, Aegean metalworkers are producing decorative objects rivaling those of Ancient Near East jewelers, C.1700 BC, Lila-Ir-Tash started to rule the Elamite Empire. C.1700 BC, Bronze Age starts in China, C.1700 BC, Shang Dynasty starts in China
18th century BC
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An inscription of the
Code of Hammurabi, one of the earliest known sets of laws
6.
17th century BC
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C.1700 BC, Minoan Old Palace period ends and Minoan Second Palace period starts in Ancient Greece. C.1700 BC, beginning of the Late Minoan period on Crete, C.1700 BC, Aegean metalworkers are producing decorative objects rivaling those of Ancient Near East jewelers, whose techniques they seem to borrow. C.1700 BC, Lila-Ir-Tash started to rule the Elamite Empire, C.1700 BC,1450 BC, Young girl gathering saffron crocus flowers, detail of wall painting, Room 3 of House Xeste 3, Akrotiri, Thera, is made. It is now kept in Thera Foundation, Petros M. Nomikos, C.1700 BC, Bronze Age starts in China. C.1698 BC, Lila-Ir-Tash the ruler of the Elamite Empire died, Temti-Agun I started to rule the Elamite Empire. 1691 BC, Belu-bani, the King of Assyria died, C.1690 BC, Temti-Agun I, the ruler of the Elamite Empire, died. Tan-Uli started to rule the Elamite Empire,1690 BC, Libaia became the King of Assyria. C.1680 BC, Egypt, Development of leavened bread,1675 BC, Tang of Shang, first ruler of the Shang Dynasty becomes ruler in China. C.1673 BC, Sharma-Adad I became the King of Assyria, C.1661 BC, Iptar-Sin became the King of Assyria. C.1655 BC, Tan-Uli, the ruler of the Elamite Empire,1633 BC—May 2—Lunar Saros 34 begins. 1627 BC, Beginning of a cooling of world climate lasting several years recorded in all over the world. It might have been caused by the Minoan eruption of Thera or the Avellino eruption of Mount Vesuvius,1625 BC, Samsu-Ditana becomes King of Babylon. 1621 BC, Lullaia becomes the King of Assyria,1620 BC, Mursili I becomes King of the Hittite Empire. 1615 BC, Shu-Ninua became the King of Assyria, jie, The last ruler of Xia Dynasty, ruled China for 52 years until 1600 BC according to the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project. 1686 BC—Hammurabi 1684 BC—Heremon, Irish legend The last known population of mammoth, preserved on Wrangel Island. See, List of sovereign states in the 17th century BC
17th century BC
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Nebra sky disk, central Europe 1600 BC. The inlaid gold depicted the a crescent moon and the
Pleiades star cluster in a specific arrangement forming the earliest known depiction of celestial phenomena.
17th century BC
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Satellite image of Thera, centre location of the
Minoan eruption, one possible source of 17th century BC climatic disturbances
7.
16th century BC
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The 16th century BC is a century which lasted from 1600 BC to 1501 BC.1700 BC –1500 BC, Hurrian conquests. 1601 BC, Sharma-Adad II became the King of Assyria, C. c.1600 BC, The date of the earliest discovered rubber balls. C.1600 BC, Early Mycenaean culture, weapons, Cyclopaean walls, C.1600 BC, Unetice culture ends in Czech Republic, eastern Europe Development of the windmill in Persia. 1595 BC, Sack of Babylon by the Hittite king Mursilis I. c.1595 BC, The overthrow of the ruling Amorite dynasty in Aleppo,1570 BC, Cretan palaces at Knossos and other centres flourish despite disasters. 1567 BC, Egypt, End of Fifteenth Dynasty, end of Sixteenth Dynasty, end of Seventeenth Dynasty, C.1550 BC, The city of Mycenae, located in the northeast Peloponnesus, comes to dominate the rest of Achaea, giving its name to Mycenaean civilization. 1556 BC, Cecrops I builds or rebuilds Athens following the flood of Deucalion. He becomes the first of several Kings of Athens whose life account is considered part of Greek mythology,1556 BC, Shang Dynasty of China established *. 1525 BC, End of Fifteenth dynasty of Egypt, C.1512 BC, The flood of Deucalion, according to OFlaherty, Augustine, Eusebius, and Isidore. 1506 BC, Cecrops I, legendary King of Athens, dies after a reign of 50 years, having survived his own son, he is succeeded by Cranaus. 1504 BC, Egypt started to conquer Nubia and the Levant, C.1500 BC, Many scholars date early parts of the Rig Veda to roughly the 16th century. C.1500 BC, Queen Hatsheput in Egypt, C.1500 BC, The element Mercury has been discovered in Egyptian tombs dating from this decade. C.1500 BC, Settlers from Crete, Greece move to Miletus, C.1500 BC, Early traces of Maya civilization developing in Belize. C.1500 BC, The Phoenicians develop an alphabet—see Timeline of communication technology, C.1500 BC, Indo-Aryan migration is often dated to the 17th to 16th centuries. Tang of Shang, first ruler of Shang Dynasty, ruled China for 29 years since 1600 BC according to the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project,1597 BC—Aaron born to Amram and his wife Jochebed. Kamose, last Pharaoh of the 17th Dynasty of Egypt, ahmose I, Pharaoh and founder of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. Hatshepsut, first female Pharaoh of Egypt c.1473 BC See, List of sovereign states in the 16th century BC
16th century BC
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The royal
Grave Circle in
Mycenae,
Greece (left) and the '
Mask of Agamemnon ' (right) found in one of the graves.
16th century BC
8.
15th century BC
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The 15th century BC is a century which lasted from 1500 BC to 1401 BC.1504 BC –1492 BC, Egypt conquers Nubia and the Levant. 1500 BC –1400 BC, The Rigveda was composed around this time,1500 BC –1400 BC, The Battle of the Ten Kings took place around this time. C.1490 BC, Cranaus, legendary King of Athens, is deposed after a reign of 10 years by his son-in-law Amphictyon of Thessaly, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha. 1487 BC, Amphictyon, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha and legendary King of Athens, dies after a reign of 10 years and is succeeded by Erichthonius I of Athens, C.1480 BC, Queen Hatsheput succeeded by her stepson and nephew Thutmosis III. C.1469 BC, In the Battle of Megiddo, Egypt defeats Canaan, C.1460 BC, The Kassites overrun Babylonia and found a dynasty there that lasts for 576 years and nine months. 1437 BC, Legendary King Erichthonius I of Athens dies after a reign of 50 years and is succeeded by his son Pandion I.1430 BC –1160 BC,1430 BC –1178 BC, Beginning of Hittite empire. C.1420 BC, Crete conquered by Mycenae—start of the Mycenaean period,1400 BC, In Crete the use of bronze helmets. 1400 BC, Palace of Minos destroyed by fire, C.1400 BC, Linear A reaches its peak of popularity. C.1400 BC, The height of the Canaanite town of Ugarit, royal Palace of Ugarit is built. Myceneans conquers Greece and border of Anatolia, see, List of sovereign states in the 15th century BC
15th century BC
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Statue of Thutmosis III at the
Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Vienna
9.
14th century BC
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1390 BC, In Mesopotamia, emergence of Assyrians as independent power. 1385 BC, Pharaoh Amenhotep III of Egypt marries Tiy, his Chief Queen,1380 BC, Amenhotep III connects the Nile and the Red Sea with a canal. 1372 BC, The Hittites conquer all of the Kingdom of Mitanni west of the Euphrates,1357 BC, Danish Egtvedpigen is buried. 1347 BC, King Erechtheus II is reportedly killed by lightning after a reign of 50 years and is succeeded by his younger brother Cecrops II,1346 BC, Pharaoh Amenhotep IV of Egypt begins his Cult of Aten and begins construction of Amarna intended to be his new capital. 1345 BC, Amenhotep IV renames himself Akhenaten,1336 BC, Akhenaten names Smenkhkare as a co-ruler. C.1334 BC, Tutankhaten becomes Pharaoh of Egypt and marries Ankhesenpaaten, daughter,1331 BC, Tutankhaten renames himself to Tutankhamun and abandons Amarna, returning the capital to Thebes. 1324 BC, Pharaoh Ay is crowned king of Egypt 1320 BC, Egypt, End of Eighteenth Dynasty, C.1310 BC, The Bhagavad Gita is written, according to some Hindu traditions. C.1300 BC, Cecrops II, King of Athens, Pandion II was later driven into exile from Athens by the sons of Cecrops IIs brother Metion, so that Metion could take power. Pandion II fled to Megara, where he married the Kings daughter, after his death, Pandion IIs sons returned to Athens and drove out the sons of Metion. 1307 BC, Adad-nirari I becomes king of Assyria,1300 BC, The legendary King Pan Geng moved the capital of Shang Dynasty to Yin. c.1300 BC, Rise of the Urnfield culture. 1398 BC—Birth of Tiy to Egyptian nobleman Yuya and his wife Tjuyu and she later becomes the Chief Queen of Pharaoh Amenhotep III of Egypt and the matriarch of the Amarna family. 1391 BC—Pharaoh Amenhotep III started to rule,1368 BC—Death of Erichthonius, mythical King of Dardania. 1366 BC—Birth of Princess Tadukhipa to Tusratta, King of Mitanni and she will be later married to Amenhotep III and after his death to his son and heir Amenhotep IV Akhenaton. She is variously identified with Akhenatons Queens Nefertiti and Kiya,1365 BC—Ashur-uballit I rises to the throne of Assyria. 1362 BC—Birth of the later Pharaoh Amenhotep IV Akhenaton to Amenhotep III,1341 BC/1340 BC—Birth of Tutankhaten, later Pharaoh of Egypt as Tutankhamun. 1338 BC—Queen Tiy of Egypt, Chief Queen of Amenhotep III and matriarch of the Amarna family,1337 BC—Queen Nefertiti of Egypt vanishes from the historical record. 1334 BC/1333 BC—Death of Smenkhkare, Pharaoh of Egypt and co-ruler with Akhenaton,1334 BC/1333 BC—Death of Akhenaton, Pharaoh of Egypt. 1323 BC—Death of Pharaoh Tutankhamun of Egypt,1320 BC—Birth of later Pharaoh Ramses II of Egypt
14th century BC
–
The northern
Colossus of Memnon
10.
13th century BC
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The 13th century BC was the period from 1300 to 1201 BC.1300 BC, Cemetery H culture comes to an end in the Indus Valley. 1292 BC, End of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, start of the Nineteenth Dynasty,1282 BC, Pandion II, legendary King of Athens, dies after a nominal reign of 25 years. He reportedly only reigned in Megara while Athens and the rest of Attica were under the control of an alliance of Nobles led by his uncle Metion and his four sons lead a successful military campaign to regain the throne. Aegeus becomes King of Athens, Nisos reigns in Megara, Lykos in Euboea,1279 BC, Ramesses II becomes leader of Ancient Egypt. 1278 BC, Seti I dies,1 year after his son,1274 BC, The Battle of Kadesh in Syria. Egyptians and Hittites sign the earliest known peace treaty at the end of the Battle of Kadesh,1269 BC, Ramses II, king of ancient Egypt, and Hattusilis III, king of the Hittites, sign the earliest known peace treaty. 1251 BC, A solar eclipse on this date might mark the birth of legendary Heracles at Thebes,1250 BC, Wu Ding King of Shang Dynasty to 1192 BC.1250 BC, The Lion Gate at Mycene is constructed. C.1230 BC, Aegeus, legendary King of Athens, receives a message that his designated heir Theseus. Theseus had been sent to his overlord Minos of Crete as an offering to the Minotaur, medus, Aegeus only other son, had been exiled in Asia and would become legendary ancestor to the Medes. Believing himself without heirs the King commits suicide after a reign of 48 years and he is succeeded by Theseus, who actually still lives. The Aegean Sea is reportedly named in his honor,1210 BC, Pharaoh Merneptah defeats a Libyan invasion. 1213 BC, Theseus, legendary King of Athens, is deposed and succeeded by Menestheus, great-grandson of Erechtheus, Menestheus is reportedly assisted by Castor and Polydeuces of Sparta, who want to reclaim their sister Helen from her first husband Theseus. The latter seeks refuge in Skyros, whose King Lycomedes is an old friend, Lycomedes, however, considers his visitor a threat to the throne and proceeds to assassinate him. 1212 BC, Death of Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses the Great,1207 BC, Pharaoh Merneptah claims a victory over the people of Israel. 1206 BC, Approximate starting date of Bronze age collapse, a period of migration, unrest and destruction in the eastern Mediterranean and Near East. 1204 BC, Theseus, legendary King of Athens, is deposed after a reign of 30 years and succeeded by Menestheus, great-grandson of Erichthonius II of Athens and second cousin of Theseus father Aegeus. Menestheus is reportedly assisted by Castor and Polydeuces of Sparta, who want to reclaim their sister Helen from her first husband Theseus, Theseus seeks refuge in Skyros, whose King Lycomedes is an old friend and ally. Lycomedes, however, considers his visitor a threat to the throne, C.1200 BC, Earliest writing that survived exists in Ancient China
13th century BC
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Eastern Hemisphere in 1300 BC.
13th century BC
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Chinese ritual bronze wine vessel,
Shang Dynasty, 13th century BC,
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.
11.
12th century BC
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The 12th century BC is the period from 1200 to 1101 BC. The Late Bronze Age collapse in the ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean is often considered to begin in this century,1200 BC, The first civilization in Central and North America develops in about 1200 BC in the coastal regions of the southern part of the Gulf of Mexico. Known as the Olmec civilization, its site is at San Lorenzo. Read more 1200 BC, The Phoenicians found the port of Lisbon, Portugal 1197 BC, The beginning of first period by Shao Yongs concept of the I Ching,1197 BC, Ramses III of Egypt repels attacks by northern invaders. 1194 BC, The beginning of the legendary Trojan War,1192 BC, Wu Ding, King of Shang Dynasty, died. 1191 BC, Menestheus, legendary King of Athens, dies during the Trojan War after a reign of 23 years and is succeeded by his nephew Demophon, other accounts place his death a decade later and shortly after the Trojan War. 1186 BC, End of the Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt, start of the Twentieth Dynasty, april 24,1184 BC, Traditional date for the fall of Troy, Asia Minor to the Mycenaeans and their allies. This marks the end of the Trojan War of Greek mythology,1181 BC, Menestheus, legendary King of Athens and veteran of the Trojan War, dies after a reign of 23 years and is succeeded by his nephew Demophon, a son of Theseus. Other accounts place his death a decade earlier and during the Trojan War,1180 BC, The last Kassite King, Anllil-nadin-akhe, is defeated by the Elamites 1180 BC, Collapse of Hittite power in Anatolia with the destruction of their capital Hattusa. April 16,1178 BC, A solar eclipse may mark the return of Odysseus, legendary King of Ithaca and he discovers a number of suitors competing to marry his wife Penelope, whom they believe to be a widow, in order to succeed him on the throne. He organizes their slaying and re-establishes himself on the throne,1160 BC, Death of Pharaoh Ramesses V, from smallpox. 1159 BC, The Hekla 3 eruption triggers an 18-year period of climatic worsening,1154 BC, Death of King Menelaus of Sparta. 1154 BC, Death of exiled Queen Helen of Sparta at Rhodes, C.1150 BC, End of Egyptian rule in Palestine. 1147 BC, Demophon, legendary King of Athens and veteran of the Trojan War,1137 BC, Ramses VII begins his reign as the sixth ruler of the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt. 1135 BC, Oxyntes, legendary King of Athens, dies after a reign of 12 years and is succeeded by his elder son Apheidas,1134 BC, Apheidas, legendary King of Athens, is assassinated and succeeded by his younger brother Thymoetes after a reign of 1 year. 1126 BC, Thymoetes, legendary King of Athens, dies childless after a reign of 8 years and he is succeeded by his designated heir Melanthus of Pylos, a fifth-generation descendant of Neleus who had reportedly assisted him in battle against the Boeotians. 1122 BC, Legendary founding date of the city of Pyongyang, C.1120 BC, destruction of Troy VIIb11115 BC, Tiglath-Pileser I becomes King of Assyria. 1110 BC, Cádiz founded by Phoenicians in southwestern Spain,1100 BC, Tiglath-Pileser I of Assyria conquers the Hittites
12th century BC
–
Walls of the excavated city of
Troy, supposed center of the legendary
Trojan War
12.
11th century BC
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The 11th century BC comprises all years from 1100 BC to 1001 BC. Although many human societies were literate in this period, some of the individuals mentioned below may be rather than historically accurate. 1089 BC, Melanthus, legendary King of Athens, dies after a reign of 37 years and is succeeded by his son Codrus,1069 BC, Ramses XI dies, ending the Twentieth Dynasty. He is succeeded by Smendes I, who founds the Twenty-first Dynasty,1068 BC, Codrus, legendary King of Athens, dies in battle against Dorian invaders after a reign of 21 years. Athenian tradition considers him the last King to have absolute power. Modern historians consider him the last King whose life account is part of Greek mythology and he is succeeded by his son Medon. 1050 BC, Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant from Israel in battle,1048 BC, Medon, King of Athens, dies after a reign of 20 years and is succeeded by his son Acastus. 1046 BC, King Wu of Zhou overthrows the last Shang Dynasty King Di Xin,1044 BC, On the death of Smendes I, king of Egypt, he is succeeded by two co-regents, Psusennes I and Neferkare Amenemnisu. 1042 BC, King Cheng of Zhou succeeds King Wu as ruler of the Zhou Dynasty in China, C.1040 BC, David, King of Israel, is born. 1039 BC, Neferkare Amenemnisu, king of Egypt, dies, C.1020 BC, Destruction of Troy VIIb2. 1026 BC, Saul the King becomes the first king of the Israelites,1020 BC, King Kang of Zhou succeeds King Cheng as ruler of the Zhou Dynasty in China. 1012 BC, Acastus, King of Athens, dies after a reign of 36 years and is succeeded by his son Archippus,1003 BC, David succeeds Saul the King. 1000s BC, Earliest evidence of farming in the Kenya highlands, C.1000 BC, Latins arrive in Italy. C.1000 BC, Archaeological evidence obtained from inscriptions excavated in 2005 dates the Tamil language, see, List of sovereign states in the 11th century BC
11th century BC
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David and Saul (1885) by
Julius Kronberg. The two men are considered the first Kings of the
United Monarchy of Israel
13.
Bronze Age
–
The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen. An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition, although the Iron Age generally followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic. Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing, according to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia and Egypt developed the earliest viable writing systems. The overall period is characterized by use of bronze, though the place and time of the introduction. Human-made tin bronze technology requires set production techniques, tin must be mined and smelted separately, then added to molten copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of use of metals. The dating of the foil has been disputed, the Bronze Age in the ancient Near East began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy and mathematics, the usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used. Instead, a division based on art-historical and historical characteristics is more common. The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people, ur in the Middle Bronze Age and Babylon in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The earliest mention of Babylonia appears on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd century BC, the Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over 100 years later, it took over the other city-states. Babylonia adopted the written Semitic Akkadian language for official use, by that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use. Elam was an ancient civilization located to the east of Mesopotamia, in the Old Elamite period, Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a role in the Gutian Empire and especially during the Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it
Bronze Age
–
Chalcolithic copper mine in
Timna Valley,
Negev Desert,
Israel.
Bronze Age
–
Diffusion of metallurgy in
Europe and
Asia Minor. The darkest areas are the oldest.
Bronze Age
–
A
Shang Dynasty two-handled bronze gefuding gui (1600–1046 BC).
Bronze Age
–
Spring and Autumn Period pu bronze vessel with interlaced
dragon design (722–481 BC)
14.
Middle Kingdom of Egypt
–
Some scholars also include the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt wholly into this period as well, in which case the Middle Kingdom would finish c. 1650, while others only include it until Merneferre Ay c.1700 BC, during the Middle Kingdom period, Osiris became the most important deity in popular religion. The period comprises two phases, the 11th Dynasty, which ruled from Thebes and the 12th Dynasty onwards which was centered on el-Lisht, after the collapse of the Old Kingdom, Egypt entered a period of weak Pharaonic power and decentralization called the First Intermediate Period. Towards the end of period, two rival dynasties, known in Egyptology as the Tenth and Eleventh, fought for power over the entire country. The Theban 11th Dynasty only ruled southern Egypt from the first cataract to the Tenth Nome of Upper Egypt, to the north, Lower Egypt was ruled by the rival 10th Dynasty from Herakleopolis. The struggle was to be concluded by Mentuhotep II, who ascended the Theban throne in 2055 B. C, during Mentuhotep IIs fourteenth regnal year, he took advantage of a revolt in the Thinite Nome to launch an attack on Herakleopolis, which met little resistance. After toppling the last rulers of the 10th Dynasty, Mentuhotep began consolidating his power over all Egypt, for this reason, Mentuhotep II is regarded as the founder of the Middle Kingdom. Mentuhotep II commanded military campaigns south as far as the Second Cataract in Nubia and he also restored Egyptian hegemony over the Sinai region, which had been lost to Egypt since the end of the Old Kingdom. He also sent the first expedition to Punt during the Middle Kingdom, by means of ships constructed at the end of Wadi Hammamat, Mentuhotep III was succeeded by Mentuhotep IV, whose name significantly is omitted from all ancient Egyptian king lists. The Turin Papyrus claims that after Mentuhotep III came seven kingless years, despite this absence, his reign is attested from a few inscriptions in Wadi Hammamat that record expeditions to the Red Sea coast and to quarry stone for the royal monuments. The leader of expedition was his vizier Amenemhat, who is widely assumed to be the future pharaoh Amenemhet I. Mentuhotep IVs absence from the king lists has prompted the theory that Amenemhet I usurped his throne, while there are no contemporary accounts of this struggle, certain circumstantial evidence may point to the existence of a civil war at the end of the 11th dynasty. Inscriptions left by one Nehry, the Haty-a of Hermopolis, suggest that he was attacked at a place called Shedyet-sha by the forces of the reigning king, but his forces prevailed. Khnumhotep I, an official under Amenemhet I, claims to have participated in a flotilla of 20 ships to pacify Upper Egypt, donald Redford has suggested these events should be interpreted as evidence of open war between two dynastic claimants. What is certain is that, however he came to power, from the 12th dynasty onwards, pharaohs often kept well-trained standing armies, which included Nubian contingents. These formed the basis of larger forces which were raised for defence against invasion, however, the Middle Kingdom was basically defensive in its military strategy, with fortifications built at the First Cataract of the Nile, in the Delta and across the Sinai Isthmus. Early in his reign, Amenemhet I was compelled to campaign in the Delta region, in addition, he strengthened defenses between Egypt and Asia, building the Walls of the Ruler in the East Delta region. Perhaps in response to this perpetual unrest, Amenemhat I built a new capital for Egypt in the north, known as Amenemhet Itj Tawy, or Amenemhet, the location of this capital is unknown, but is presumably near the citys necropolis, the present-day el-Lisht
Middle Kingdom of Egypt
–
An
Osiride statue of the first pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom, Mentuhotep II
Middle Kingdom of Egypt
–
The head of a statue of Senusret I.
Middle Kingdom of Egypt
–
Statue head of Senusret III
15.
Babylonia
–
Babylonia was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in central-southern Mesopotamia. A small Amorite-ruled state emerged in 1894 BC, which contained at this time the city of Babylon. Babylon greatly expanded during the reign of Hammurabi in the first half of the 18th century BC, during the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards, Babylonia was called Māt Akkadī the country of Akkad in the Akkadian language. It was often involved in rivalry with its older fellow Akkadian-speaking state of Assyria in northern Mesopotamia and it retained the Sumerian language for religious use, but by the time Babylon was founded, this was no longer a spoken language, having been wholly subsumed by Akkadian. The earliest mention of the city of Babylon can be found in a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad. During the 3rd millennium BC, a cultural symbiosis occurred between Sumerian and Akkadian-speakers, which included widespread bilingualism. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian and vice versa is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a scale, to syntactic, morphological. This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the millennium as a sprachbund. Traditionally, the religious center of all Mesopotamia was the city of Nippur. The empire eventually disintegrated due to decline, climate change and civil war. Sumer rose up again with the Third Dynasty of Ur in the late 22nd century BC and they also seem to have gained ascendancy over most of the territory of the Akkadian kings of Assyria in northern Mesopotamia for a time. The states of the south were unable to stem the Amorite advance, King Ilu-shuma of the Old Assyrian Empire in a known inscription describes his exploits to the south as follows, The freedom of the Akkadians and their children I established. I established their freedom from the border of the marshes and Ur and Nippur, Awal, past scholars originally extrapolated from this text that it means he defeated the invading Amorites to the south, but there is no explicit record of that. More recently, the text has been taken to mean that Asshur supplied the south with copper from Anatolia and these policies were continued by his successors Erishum I and Ikunum. During the first centuries of what is called the Amorite period and his reign was concerned with establishing statehood amongst a sea of other minor city states and kingdoms in the region. However Sumuabum appears never to have bothered to give himself the title of King of Babylon, suggesting that Babylon itself was only a minor town or city. He was followed by Sumu-la-El, Sabium, Apil-Sin, each of whom ruled in the same manner as Sumuabum. Sin-Muballit was the first of these Amorite rulers to be regarded officially as a king of Babylon, the Elamites occupied huge swathes of southern Mesopotamia, and the early Amorite rulers were largely held in vassalage to Elam
Babylonia
–
The extent of the Babylonian Empire at the start and end of Hammurabi's reign
Babylonia
–
Old Babylonian
Cylinder Seal,
hematite, The king makes an animal offering to
Shamash. This seal was probably made in a workshop at
Sippar.
Babylonia
–
Geography
16.
Middle Bronze Age alphabets
–
It is also referred to as Sinaitic, Proto-Canaanite, Old Canaanite, and Canaanite. The earliest Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions are dated to between the mid-19th and the mid-16th century BC. The principal debate is between an early date, around 1850 BC, and a date, around 1550 BC. The choice of one or the other date decides whether it is proto-Sinaitic or proto-Canaanite, the so-called Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions were discovered in the winter of 1904–1905 in Sinai by Hilda and Flinders Petrie. The Wadi el-Hol inscriptions strongly suggest a date of development of Proto-Sinaitic writing from the mid-19th to 18th centuries BC, the Sinai inscriptions are best known from carved graffiti and votive texts from a mountain in the Sinai called Serabit el-Khadim and its temple to the Egyptian goddess Hathor. The mountain contained turquoise mines which were visited by repeated expeditions over 800 years, many of the workers and officials were from the Nile Delta, and included large numbers of Canaanites who had been allowed to settle the eastern Delta. The date of the inscriptions is placed in the 17th or 16th century BC. Four inscriptions have been found in the temple, on two small statues and on either side of a small stone sphinx. They are crudely done, suggesting that the workers who made them were illiterate apart from this script and they are all very short, most consisting of only a couple of letters, and may have been written by Canaanite caravaners or soldiers from Egypt. They sometimes go by the name Proto-Canaanite, although the term Proto-Canaanite is also applied to early Phoenician or Hebrew inscriptions, the Wadi el-Hol inscriptions were carved on the stone sides of an ancient high-desert military and trade road linking Thebes and Abydos, in the heart of literate Egypt. They are in a wadi in the Qena bend of the Nile, 25°57′N 32°25′E, among dozens of hieratic and hieroglyphic inscriptions. If the latter, h1 and h2 may be graphic variants rather than different consonants, some scholars think that the רב rb at the beginning of Inscription 1 is likely rebbe, and that the אל ʾl at the end of Inscription 2 is likely ʾel god. Brian Colless has published a translation of the text, in some of the signs are treated as logograms or rebuses Excellent banquet of the celebration of ʿAnat. ʾEl will provide plenty of wine and victuals for the celebration and we will sacrifice to her an ox and a prime fatling. This interpretation fits into the pattern in some of the surrounding Egyptian inscriptions, according to the alphabet hypothesis, the shapes of the letters would have evolved from Proto-Sinaitic forms into Phoenician forms, but most of the names of the letters would have remained the same. Below is a table showing selected Proto-Sinaitic signs and the correspondences with Phoenician letters. Also shown are the values, names, and descendants of the Phoenician letters. The Other section shows the corresponding Archaic Greek, Modern Greek, Etruscan, abjad Byblos syllabary Ugaritic script Albright, Wm. F
Middle Bronze Age alphabets
–
A specimen of Proto-Sinaitic script containing a phrase which may mean 'to Ba'alat'. The line running from the upper left to lower right may read mt l b c lt.
Middle Bronze Age alphabets
–
Traces of the 16 and 12 characters of the two Wadi el-Hol inscriptions. (Photos here and here)
17.
Indo-Iranians
–
Some scholars now use the term Indo-Iranian to refer to this group, while the term Aryan is used to mean Indo-Iranian by other scholars such as Josef Wiesehofer and Jaakko Häkkinen. Population geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, in his 1994 book The History and Geography of Human Genes, historical linguists broadly estimate that a continuum of Indo-Iranian languages probably began to diverge by 2000 BC, if not earlier, preceding both the Vedic and Iranian cultures. The earliest recorded forms of languages, Vedic Sanskrit and Gathic Avestan, are remarkably similar. The origin and earliest relationship between the Nuristani languages and that of the Iranian and Indo-Aryan groups is complex, two-wave models of Indo-Iranian expansion have been proposed by and Parpola. The Indo-Iranians and their expansion are strongly associated with the Proto-Indo-European invention of the chariot and it is assumed that this expansion spread from the Proto-Indo-European homeland north of the Caspian sea south to the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Iranian plateau, and Northern India. They also expanded into Mesopotamia and Syria and introduced the horse, sumerian texts from EDIIIb Girsu already mention the chariot and Ur III texts mention the horse. Linguistic remains can be found in a Hittite horse-training manual written by one Kikkuli the Mitannian, other evidence is found in references to the names of Mitanni rulers and the gods they swore by in treaties, these remains are found in the archives of the Mitannis neighbors. The time period for this is about 1500 BC, in a treaty between the Hittites and the Mitanni, the deities Mitra, Varuna, Indra, and Nasatya are invoked. Kikkulis horse training text includes technical terms such as aika, tera, panza, satta, the numeral aika one is of particular importance because it places the superstrate in the vicinity of Indo-Aryan proper as opposed to Indo-Iranian or early Iranian in general. The standard model for the entry of the Indo-European languages into South Asia is that this first wave went over the Hindu Kush, either into the headwaters of the Indus, the earliest stratum of Vedic Sanskrit, preserved only in the Rigveda, is assigned to roughly 1500 BC. From the Indus, the Indo-Aryan languages spread from c.1500 BC to c.500 BC, over the northern and central parts of the subcontinent, sparing the extreme south. The Indo-Aryans in these areas established several kingdoms and principalities in the region. The latter lasted until the 4th century BC, when it was conquered by Chandragupta Maurya, in eastern Afghanistan and southwestern Pakistan, whatever Indo-Aryan languages were spoken there were eventually pushed out by the Iranian languages. Most Indo-Aryan languages, however, were and still are prominent in the rest of the Indian subcontinent, today, Indo-Aryan languages are spoken in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Fiji and the Maldives. The second wave is interpreted as the Iranian wave, the first Iranians to reach the Black Sea may have been the Cimmerians in the 8th century BC, although their linguistic affiliation is uncertain. They were followed by the Scythians, who are considered a branch of the Central Asian Sakas. The populous Sarmatian tribe of the Massagetae, dwelling near the Caspian Sea, were known to the rulers of Persia in the Achaemenid Period. In the east, the Saka occupied several areas in Xinjiang, the Medes, Parthians and Persians begin to appear on the Iranian plateau from c.800 BC, and the Achaemenids replaced Elamite rule from 559 BC
Indo-Iranians
–
Map of the
Sintashta-Petrovka culture (
red), its expansion into the
Andronovo culture (
orange) during the
2nd millennium BC, showing the overlap with the
BMAC (
chartreuse green) in the south. The location of the earliest
chariots is shown in
magenta.
18.
Iranian plateau
–
The Persian Plateau, or Iranian Plateau, is a geological formation in Western Asia and Central Asia. As a historical region, it includes Parthia, Media, Persis, the Zagros Mountains form the plateaus western boundary, and its eastern slopes may be included in the term. The Encyclopædia Britannica excludes lowland Khuzestan explicitly and characterizes Elam as spanning the region from the Mesopotamian plain to the Iranian Plateau, from the Caspian in the northwest to Baluchistan in the south-east, the Iranian Plateau extends for close to 2,000 km. It is a geologically well-studied area because of general interest in continental collision zones, the Iranian plateau in geology refers to a geographical area north of the great folded mountain belts resulting from the collision of the Arabian plate with the Eurasian plate. In this definition, the Iranian plateau does not cover southwestern Iran and it extends from East Azerbaijan Province in northwest of Iran all the way to Pakistan west of the Indus River. It also includes parts of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. Its mountain ranges can be divided into five major sub-regions, the region is known as the Anti-Taurus, and the average elevation of its peaks exceeds 3,000 m. Mount Ararat, at 5,137 meters the highest point in Turkey, is located in the Anti-Taurus, Lake Van is situated in the mountains at an elevation of 1,546 meters. Several small streams empty into the Black Sea or landlocked Lake Van also originate in these mountains. The Indus River begins in the highlands of Tibet and flows the length of Pakistan almost tracing the eastern edge of the Iranian plateau, the Indus River forms the Iranian plateaus eastern boundary. Southeast Anatolia lies south of the Anti-Taurus Mountains and it is a region of rolling hills and a broad plateau surface that extends into Syria. Elevations decrease gradually, from about 800 meters in the north to about 500 meters in the south, traditionally, wheat and barley are the main crops of the region. The kingdoms of Aratta known from cuneiform sources may have located in the Central Iranian Plateau. In classical antquity the region was known as Persia, due to the Persian Achaemenid dynasty, originating in Persia proper, the Middle Persian Erān began to be used in reference to the state from the Sassanid period. Oak forests are found around Shiraz, aspen, elm, ash, willow, walnut, pine, and cypress are also found, though the latter two are rare. As of 1920, poplar was harvested for making doors, other trees like acacia, cypress, and Turkestan elm were used for decorative purposes. Flower wise, the plateau can grow lilac, jasmine, hawthorn and Cercis siliquastrum are common, which are both used for basket weaving. The Iranian plateau harvests trees for making doors, ploughs, pears, apples, apricots, quince, plums, nectarines, cherries, mulberries, and peaches were commonly seen in the 20th century
Iranian plateau
–
Closeup of the boundaries with the Eurasian, Arabian and Indian plates.
Iranian plateau
–
Topographic map of the Iranian plateau connecting to
Anatolia in the west and
Hindu Kush and
Himalaya in the east. The
Caspian Sea is absent from the topographic rendering. It is located in what appears here as the flatland depression directly north of the
Persian Gulf at the border of the
Alborz mountain range.
19.
Indian subcontinent
–
Geologically, the Indian subcontinent is related to the land mass that rifted from Gondwana and merged with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago. Geographically, it is the region in south-central Asia delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west. Politically, the Indian subcontinent usually includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, sometimes, the term South Asia is used interchangeably with Indian subcontinent. There is no consensus about which countries should be included in each and it is first attested in 1845 to refer to the North and South Americas, before they were regarded as separate continents. Its use to refer to the Indian subcontinent is seen from the twentieth century. It was especially convenient for referring to the region comprising both the British India and the states under British Paramountcy. The term Indian subcontinent also has a geological significance and it was, like the various continents, a part of the supercontinent of Gondwana. A series of tectonic splits caused formation of basins, each drifting in various directions. The geological region called the Greater India once included the Madagascar, Seychelles, Antartica, as a geological term, Indian subcontinent has meant that region formed from the collision of the Indian basin with Eurasia nearly 55 million years ago, towards the end of Paleocene. The Indian subcontinent has been a particularly common in the British Empire. The region, state Mittal and Thursby, has also labelled as India, Greater India. The BBC and some sources refer to the region as the Asian Subcontinent. Some academics refer to it as South Asian Subcontinent, the terms Indian subcontinent and South Asia are sometimes used interchangeably. There is no accepted definition on which countries are a part of South Asia or Indian subcontinent. In dictionary entries, the term subcontinent signifies a large, distinguishable subdivision of a continent, the region experienced high volcanic activity and plate subdivisions, creating Madagascar, Seychelles, Antartica, Austrolasia and the Indian subcontinent basin. The Indian subcontinent drifted northeastwards, colliding with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago and this geological region largely includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The zone where the Eurasian and Indian subcontinent plates meet remains one of the active areas. The English term mainly continues to refer to the Indian subcontinent, physiographically, it is a peninsular region in south-central Asia delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Arakanese in the east
Indian subcontinent
–
Indian subcontinent
20.
Chariot
–
A chariot is a type of carriage driven by a charioteer using primarily horses to provide rapid motive power. Chariots were used by armies as transport or mobile platforms, for hunting or for racing. The word chariot comes from the Latin carrus, itself a loanword from Gaulish, a chariot of war or one used in military parades was called a car. In ancient Rome and some other ancient Mediterranean civilizations, a required two horses, a triga three, and a quadriga four. The critical invention that allowed the construction of light, horse-drawn chariots was the spoked wheel, the earliest spoke-wheeled chariots date to ca.2000 BCE. The use of chariots peaked around 1300 BCE, Chariots had lost their military importance by the 1st century CE, but chariot races continued to be popular in Constantinople until the 6th century. The domestication of the horse was an important step toward civilization, an increasing amount of evidence supports the hypothesis that horses were domesticated in the Eurasian Steppes approximately 4000-3500 BCE. The invention of the used in transportation most likely took place in Europe. Evidence of wheeled vehicles appears from the mid 4th millennium BCE near-simultaneously in the Northern Caucasus, the earliest vehicles may have been ox carts. Starokorsunskaya kurgan in the Kuban region of Russia contains a grave of the Maikop Culture. The two solid wooden wheels from this kurgan have been dated to the half of the fourth millennium. Soon thereafter the number of burials in this Northern Caucasus region multiplied. As David Anthony writes in his book The Horse, the Wheel and Language, in Eastern Europe and it is a clay pot excavated in a Funnelbeaker settlement in Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship in Poland. The oldest securely dated real wheel-axle combination in Eastern Europe is the Ljubljana Marshes Wheel, horses were introduced to Transcaucasia at the time of the Kura-Araxes culture, beginning about 3300 BCE. Prior to that, horse bones were not found, during the Kura-Araxes period, horses seem to become rather widespread, with signs of domestication. It is widely believed that wheeled transport was invented in Mesopotamia, nevertheless, recent archaeological evidence seems to indicate otherwise, pointing to Neolithic Europe. At the same time, in Mesopotamia, some intriguing early pictograms of a sled that rests on wooden rollers or wheels have been found and they date from about the same time as the early wheel discoveries in Europe and may indicate knowledge of the wheel. The earliest depiction of vehicles in the context of warfare is on the Standard of Ur in southern Mesopotamia, the hybrids were used by the Eblaite, early Sumerian, Akkadian and Ur III armies
Chariot
–
A chariot drawn by horses
Chariot
–
Relief of early
war wagons on the
Standard of Ur, c. 2500 BC
Chariot
–
Hittite chariot (drawing of an
Egyptian relief)
Chariot
–
Ramses II fighting from a chariot at the
Battle of Kadesh with two archers, one with the reins tied around the waist to free both hands (relief from
Abu Simbel)
21.
Greece
–
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
Greece
–
Fresco displaying the Minoan ritual of "bull leaping", found in
Knossos,
Crete.
Greece
–
Flag
Greece
–
The
Lion Gate,
Mycenae
Greece
–
The
Parthenon on the
Acropolis of Athens is one of the best known symbols of
classical Greece.
22.
Aegean Sea
–
The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the Greek and Anatolian peninsulas, i. e. between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles, the Aegean Islands are within the sea and some bound it on its southern periphery, including Crete and Rhodes. The sea was known as Archipelago, but in English this words meaning has changed to refer to the Aegean Islands and, generally. In ancient times, there were various explanations for the name Aegean, a possible etymology is a derivation from the Greek word αἶγες – aiges = waves, hence wavy sea, cf. also αἰγιαλός, hence meaning sea-shore. The Venetians, who ruled many Greek islands in the High and Late Middle Ages, popularized the name Archipelago, in some South Slavic languages the Aegean is often called White Sea. The Aegean Sea covers about 214,000 square kilometres in area, the seas maximum depth is 3,543 metres, east of Crete. The Aegean Islands are found within its waters, with the following islands delimiting the sea on the south, Kythera, Antikythera, Crete, Kasos, Karpathos, many of the Aegean Islands, or chains of islands, are actually extensions of the mountains on the mainland. One chain extends across the sea to Chios, another extends across Euboea to Samos, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Aegean Sea as follows, On the South. In the Dardanelles. A line joining Kum Kale and Cape Helles, the dense Mediterranean water sinks below the Black Sea inflow to a depth of 23–30 metres, then flows through the Dardanelles Strait and into the Sea of Marmara at velocities of 5–15 cm/s. The Black Sea outflow moves westward along the northern Aegean Sea, Aegean Sea Intermediate Water – Aegean Sea Intermediate Water extends from 40–50 m to 200–300 metres with temperatures ranging from 11–18 °C. Aegean Sea Bottom Water – occurring at depths below 500–1000 m with a uniform temperature. The current coastline dates back to about 4000 BC, before that time, at the peak of the last ice age sea levels everywhere were 130 metres lower, and there were large well-watered coastal plains instead of much of the northern Aegean. When they were first occupied, the islands including Milos with its important obsidian production were probably still connected to the mainland. The present coastal arrangement appeared c.7000 BC, with post-ice age sea levels continuing to rise for another 3,000 years after that, the subsequent Bronze Age civilizations of Greece and the Aegean Sea have given rise to the general term Aegean civilization. In ancient times, the sea was the birthplace of two ancient civilizations – the Minoans of Crete and the Mycenean Civilization of the Peloponnese, later arose the city-states of Athens and Sparta among many others that constituted the Athenian Empire and Hellenic Civilization. Plato described the Greeks living round the Aegean like frogs around a pond, the Aegean Sea was later invaded by the Persians and the Romans, and inhabited by the Byzantine Empire, the Bulgarians, the Venetians, the Genoese, the Seljuq Turks, and the Ottoman Empire. The Aegean was the site of the democracies, and its seaways were the means of contact among several diverse civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean. Many of the islands in the Aegean have safe harbours and bays, in ancient times, navigation through the sea was easier than travelling across the rough terrain of the Greek mainland
Aegean Sea
–
Map of the Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea
–
Topographical and
bathymetric map
Aegean Sea
–
Panoramic view of the
Santorini caldera, taken from Oia.
23.
Hittite Empire
–
The Hittites were an Ancient Anatolian people who established an empire centered on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia around 1600 BC. Between the 15th and 13th centuries BC the Hittite Empire came into conflict with the Egyptian Empire, Middle Assyrian Empire, the Assyrians eventually emerged as the dominant power and annexed much of the Hittite empire, while the remainder was sacked by Phrygian newcomers to the region. They referred to their land as Hatti. The conventional name Hittites is due to their identification with the Biblical Hittites in 19th century archaeology. Before the discoveries, the source of information about Hittites had been the Old Testament. Francis William Newman expressed the view, common in the early 19th century. Uriah was a captain in King Davids army and counted among one of his mighty men in 1 Chronicles 11, french scholar Félix Marie Charles Texier discovered the first Hittite ruins in 1834, but did not identify them as Hittite. The first archaeological evidence for the Hittites appeared in tablets found at the Assyrian colony of Kültepe, some names in the tablets were neither Hattic nor Assyrian, but clearly Indo-European. The script on a monument at Boğazköy by a People of Hattusas discovered by William Wright in 1884 was found to match peculiar hieroglyphic scripts from Aleppo, in 1887, excavations at Tell El-Amarna in Egypt uncovered the diplomatic correspondence of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his son Akhenaton. Shortly after this, Archibald Sayce proposed that Hatti or Khatti in Anatolia was identical with the kingdom of Kheta mentioned in these Egyptian texts, as well as with the biblical Hittites. Others, such as Max Müller, agreed that Khatti was probably Kheta, sayces identification came to be widely accepted over the course of the early 20th century, and the name Hittite has become attached to the civilization uncovered at Boğazköy. He also proved that the ruins at Boğazköy were the remains of the capital of an empire that, at one point, under the direction of the German Archaeological Institute, excavations at Hattusa have been under way since 1907, with interruptions during the world wars. Kültepe was successfully excavated by Professor Tahsin Özgüç from 1948 until his death in 2005, the Hittites used Mesopotamian Cuneiform script. The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara, Turkey houses the richest collection of Hittite, the Hittite kingdom was centred on the lands surrounding Hattusa and Neša, known as the land Hatti. For example, the reward for the capture of a slave after he managed to flee beyond the Halys is higher than that for a slave caught before he could reach the river. To the west and south of the core territory lay the region known as Luwiya in the earliest Hittite texts and this terminology was replaced by the names Arzawa and Kizzuwatna with the rise of those kingdoms. Nevertheless, the Hittites continued to refer to the language originated in these areas as Luwian. Prior to the rise of Kizzuwatna, the heart of territory in Cilicia was first referred to by the Hittites as Adaniya
Hittite Empire
–
Bronze religious standard from a pre-Hittite tomb at
Alacahöyük, dating to the third millennium B.C., from the
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations,
Ankara.
Hittite Empire
–
The Hittite Empire, ca. 1300 BC (shown in Blue).
Hittite Empire
–
Jewelry from
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations.
Hittite Empire
–
Hittite chariot, from an Egyptian relief
24.
Iron Age
–
The Iron Age is an archaeological era, referring to a period of time in the prehistory and protohistory of the Old World when the dominant toolmaking material was iron. It is commonly preceded by the Bronze Age in Europe and Asia with exceptions, meteoric iron has been used by humans since at least 3200 BC. Ancient iron production did not become widespread until the ability to smelt ore, remove impurities. The start of the Iron Age proper is considered by many to fall between around 1200 BC and 600 BC, depending on the region, the earliest known iron artifacts are nine small beads dated to 3200 BC, which were found in burials at Gerzeh, Lower Egypt. They have been identified as meteoric iron shaped by careful hammering, meteoric iron, a characteristic iron–nickel alloy, was used by various ancient peoples thousands of years before the Iron Age. Such iron, being in its metallic state, required no smelting of ores. Smelted iron appears sporadically in the record from the middle Bronze Age. While terrestrial iron is abundant, its high melting point of 1,538 °C placed it out of reach of common use until the end of the second millennium BC. Tins low melting point of 231, similarly, recent archaeological remains of iron working in the Ganges Valley in India have been tentatively dated to 1800 BC. By the Middle Bronze Age, increasing numbers of smelted iron objects appeared in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, African sites are turning up dates as early as 1200 BC. Modern archaeological evidence identifies the start of iron production in around 1200 BC. Between 1200 BC and 1000 BC, diffusion in the understanding of iron metallurgy and use of objects was fast. As evidence, many bronze implements were recycled into weapons during this time, more widespread use of iron led to improved steel-making technology at lower cost. Thus, even when tin became available again, iron was cheaper, stronger, and lighter, and forged iron implements superseded cast bronze tools permanently. Increasingly, the Iron Age in Europe is being seen as a part of the Bronze Age collapse in the ancient Near East, in ancient India, ancient Iran, and ancient Greece. In other regions of Europe, the Iron Age began in the 8th century BC in Central Europe, the Near Eastern Iron Age is divided into two subsections, Iron I and Iron II. Iron I illustrates both continuity and discontinuity with the previous Late Bronze Age, during the Iron Age, the best tools and weapons were made from steel, particularly alloys which were produced with a carbon content between approximately 0. 30% and 1. 2% by weight. Steel weapons and tools were nearly the same weight as those of bronze, however, steel was difficult to produce with the methods available, and alloys that were easier to make, such as wrought iron, were more common in lower-priced goods
Iron Age
–
Archaeological artifact from the work developed in the area of
Citânia de Briteiros
Iron Age
Iron Age
–
Cross or cruzado in Citânia de Breteiros
Iron Age
–
A pedra formosa
25.
World population
–
In demographics, the world population is the total number of humans currently living. As of March 2017, it was estimated at 7.49 billion, the United Nations estimates it will further increase to 11.2 billion in the year 2100. World population has experienced growth since the end of the Great Famine of 1315–17 and the Black Death in 1350. The highest population growth rates – global population increases above 1. 8% per year – occurred between 1955-1975 peaking to 2. 06% between 1965-1970, the growth rate has declined to 1. 18% between 2010-2015 and is projected to decline to 0. 13% by the year 2100. World population reached 7 billion on October 31,2011 according to the United Nations Population Fund, and on March 12,2012 according to the United States Census Bureau. The median age of the population was estimated to be 30.1 years in 2016, with the male median age estimated to be 29.4 years. 2003 UN Population Division population projections for the year 2150 range between 3.2 and 24.8 billion. One of many independent mathematical models supports the estimate, while a 2014 estimate forecasts between 9.3 and 12.6 billion in 2100, and continued growth thereafter. Some analysts have questioned the sustainability of further population growth, highlighting the growing pressures on the environment, global food supplies. Estimates on the number of humans who have ever lived range in the order of 106 to 108 billion. Six of the Earths seven continents are permanently inhabited on a large scale, Asia is the most populous continent, with its 4.3 billion inhabitants accounting for 60% of the world population. The worlds two most populated countries alone, China and India, together constitute about 37% of the worlds population, Africa is the second most populated continent, with around 1 billion people, or 15% of the worlds population. Europes 733 million people make up 12% of the population as of 2012. Northern America, primarily consisting of the United States, Mexico, and Canada, has a population of around 352 million, and Oceania, the least-populated region, has about 35 million inhabitants. Though it is not permanently inhabited by any fixed population, Antarctica has a small, fluctuating international population and this population tends to rise in the summer months and decrease significantly in winter, as visiting researchers return to their home countries. Estimates of world population by their nature are an aspect of modernity, more refined estimates, broken down by continents, were published in the first half of the 19th century, at 600 to 1000 million in the early 1800s and at 800 to 1000 million in the 1840s. Estimates of the population of the world at the time agriculture emerged in around 10,000 BCE have ranged between 1 million and 15 million. Even earlier, genetic evidence suggests humans may have gone through a bottleneck of between 1,000 and 10,000 people about 70,000 BCE, according to the Toba catastrophe theory
World population
–
Greater Los Angeles lies on a coastal mediterranean
savannah with a small
watershed that is able to support at most one million people on
its own water; as of 2015, the area has a population of over 18 million. Researchers predict that similar cases of resource scarcity will grow more common as the world population increases.
World population
World population
–
Illegal
slash-and-burn agriculture in
Madagascar, 2010.
World population
–
India is anticipated to overtake China as the world's most populous country by 2022.
26.
Chalcolithic
–
The Copper Age was originally defined as a transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. The archaeological site of Belovode on the Rudnik mountain in Serbia contains the worlds oldest securely dated evidence of copper smelting from 5000 BCE, the multiple names result from multiple recognitions of the period. Originally, the term Bronze Age meant that either copper or bronze was being used as the hard substance for the manufacture of tools. In 1881, John Evans, recognizing that the use of copper often preceded the use of bronze and he did not include the transitional period in the tripartite system of Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age but placed it at the beginning outside of it. He did not, however, present it as a fourth age, in 1884, Gaetano Chierici, perhaps following the lead of Evans, renamed it in Italian as the Eneo-litica, or Bronze-stone transition. The phrase was never intended to mean that the period was the one in which both bronze and stone were used. The Copper Age features the use of copper, excluding bronze, moreover, litica simply names the Stone Age as the point from which the transition began and is not another -lithic age. Subsequently, British scholars used either Evanss Copper Age or the term Eneolithic, around 1900, many writers began to substitute Chalcolithic for Eneolithic, to avoid the false segmentation. It was then that the misunderstanding began among those who did not know Italian, the -lithic was seen as a new -lithic age, a part of the Stone Age in which copper was used, which may appear paradoxical. Today Copper Age, Eneolithic and Chalcolithic are used synonymously to mean Evanss original definition of Copper Age, there was an independent invention of copper and bronze smelting first by Andean civilizations in South America extended later by sea commerce to the Mesoamerican civilization in West Mexico. The literature of European archaeology, in general, avoids the use of Chalcolithic, the Copper Age in the Middle East and the Caucasus began in the late 5th millennium BCE and lasted for about a millennium before it gave rise to the Early Bronze Age. The transition from the European Copper Age to Bronze Age Europe occurs about the same time, an archaeological site in Serbia contains the oldest securely dated evidence of coppermaking from 7,500 years ago. In Serbia, an axe was found at Prokuplje, which indicates that humans were using metals in Europe by 7,500 years ago. Knowledge of the use of copper was far more widespread than the metal itself, the European Battle Axe culture used stone axes modeled on copper axes, even with imitation mold marks carved in the stone. Ötzi the Iceman, who was found in the Ötztal Alps in 1991, examples of Chalcolithic cultures in Europe include Vila Nova de São Pedro and Los Millares on the Iberian Peninsula. Pottery of the Beaker people has found at both sites, dating to several centuries after copper-working began there. The Beaker culture appears to have copper and bronze technologies in Europe. The term Chalcolithic is not generally used by British prehistorians, who disagree whether it applies in the British context, in Bhirrana, the earliest Indus civilization site, copper bangles and arrowheads were found
Chalcolithic
–
Painting of a Copper Age walled city,
Los Millares,
Iberia
Chalcolithic
–
Chalcolithic copper mine in
Timna Valley,
Negev Desert,
Israel
27.
Ancient Near East
–
The ancient Near East is studied in the fields of Near Eastern archaeology and ancient history. The ancient Near East is considered one of the cradles of civilization and it also saw the creation of the first writing system and law codes, early advances that laid the foundations of astronomy and mathematics, and the invention of the wheel. During the period, states became increasingly large, until by the end the region was controlled by military empires who had conquered a number of different cultures. The phrase ancient Near East utilizes the 19th-century distinction between Near East and Far East as global regions of interest to the British Empire, the distinction began during the Crimean War. The two theatres were described by the statesmen and advisors of the British Empire as the Near East, shortly, they were to share the stage with Middle East, which came to prevail in the 20th century and continues in modern times. Meanwhile, ancient Near East had become distinct, the Near East ruled by the Ottoman Empire ranged from Vienna to the north to the tip of the Arabian Peninsula to the south, from Egypt in the west to the borders of Iraq in the east. The 19th-century archaeologists added Iran to their definition, which was never under the Ottomans, but they excluded all of Europe and, generally, Egypt, which had parts in the empire. Ancient Near East periodization is the attempt to categorize or divide time into discrete named blocks, or eras, the result is a descriptive abstraction that provides a useful handle on Near East periods of time with relatively stable characteristics. Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia. It was followed by the Sumerian civilization, the late Uruk period saw the gradual emergence of the cuneiform script and corresponds to the Early Bronze Age. Sumer, located in southern Mesopotamia, is the earliest known civilization in the world, the Akkadian Empire, founded by Sargon the Great, lasted from the 24th to the 21st century BC, and was regarded by many as the worlds first Empire. The Akkadians eventually fragmented into Assyria and Babylonia, Ancient Elam lay to the east of Sumer and Akkad, in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province. In the Old Elamite period, c.3200 BC, it consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered on Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered on Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Elam was absorbed into the Assyrian Empire in the 9th to 7th centuries BC, however, the Proto-Elamite civilization existed from c.3200 BC to 2700 BC, when Susa, the later capital of the Elamites, began to receive influence from the cultures of the Iranian plateau. In archaeological terms, this corresponds to the late Banesh period and this civilization is recognized as the oldest in Iran and was largely contemporary with its neighbour, the Sumerian civilization. The Proto-Elamite script is an Early Bronze Age writing system briefly in use for the ancient Elamite language before the introduction of Elamite Cuneiform, the Amorites were a nomadic Semitic people who occupied the country west of the Euphrates from the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. In the earliest Sumerian sources, beginning about 2400 BC, the land of the Amorites is associated with the West, including Syria and Canaan and they ultimately settled in Mesopotamia, ruling Isin, Larsa, and later Babylon. Assyria, after enduring a period of Mitanni domination, emerged as a great power from the accession of Ashur-uballit I in 1365 BC to the death of Tiglath-Pileser I in 1076 BC
Ancient Near East
–
Overview map of the ancient Near East
28.
Bronze Age Anatolia
–
The prehistory of Anatolia stretches from the Paleolithic era through to the appearance of classical civilisation in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. It is generally regarded as being divided into three ages reflecting the dominant materials used for the making of domestic implements and weapons, Stone Age, Bronze Age, the term Copper Age is used to denote the period straddling the stone and Bronze Ages. Anatolia, also known by the Latin name of Asia Minor, is considered to be the westernmost extent of Western Asia, the earliest representations of culture in Anatolia can be found in several archaeological sites located in the central and eastern part of the region. Stone Age artifacts such as bones and food fossils were found at Burdur. After the fall of the Hittites, the new states of Phrygia and Lydia stood strong on the western coast as Greek civilization began to flourish, only the threat from a distant Persian kingdom prevented them from advancing past their peak of success. The Stone Age is a period in which stone was widely used in the manufacture of implements. In 2014, a tool was found in the Gediz River that was securely dated to 1.2 million years ago. Evidence of paleolithic habitation include the Yarimburgaz Cave, Karain Cave, examples of paleolithic humans can be found in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, in the Archaeological Museum in Antalya, and in other Turkish institutions. Evidence of fruit and of animal bones has been found at Yarimburgaz, the caves of the Mediterranean region contain murals. Original claims of 250, 000-year-old, Middle Pleistocene, Homo sapiens footprints at Kula, remains of a mesolithic culture in Anatolia can be found along the Mediterranean coast and also in Thrace and the western Black Sea area. Mesolithic remains have been located in the caves as the paleolithic artefacts. Additional findings come from the Sarklimagara cave in Gaziantep, the Baradiz cave, as well as the cemeteries and open air settlements at Sogut Tarlasi, Biris and Urfa. Because of its location at the intersection of Asia and Europe. Neolithic settlements include Çatalhöyük, Çayönü, Nevali Cori, Aşıklı Höyük, Boncuklu Höyük Hacilar, Göbekli Tepe, Norsuntepe, Kosk, Çatalhöyük is considered the most advanced of these, and Çayönü in the east the oldest. We have an idea of the town layout at Çayönü, based on a central square with buildings constructed of stone. Archeological finds include farming tools that suggest both crops and animal husbandry as well as domestication of the dog, religion is represented by figurines of Cybele, a mother goddess. Hacilar followed Çayönü, and has dated to 7040 BCE. Straddling the Neolithic and early Bronze Age, the Chalcolithic era is defined by the first metal implements made with copper and this age is represented in Anatolia by sites at Hacilar, Beycesultan, Canhasan, Mersin Yumuktepe, Elazig Tepecik, Malatya Degirmentepe, Norsuntepe, and Istanbul Fikirtepe
Bronze Age Anatolia
–
A royal tomb in
Alaca Höyük
Bronze Age Anatolia
–
A drawing of rock-carved reliefs of a procession of Hittite deities in
Yazılıkaya, Turkey.
Bronze Age Anatolia
–
Lydian electrum coin, depicting a lion and bull.
29.
Bronze Age Caucasus
–
Up to including the early 19th century, the Southern Caucasus and a part of the Northern Caucasus all formed part of the Persian Empire. In 1813 and 1828 by the Treaty of Gulistan and the Treaty of Turkmenchay respectively, Russia conquered and annexed the rest of the Northern Caucasus in the course of the 19th century in the Caucasian Wars. The Northern Caucasus became the scene of fighting during the Second World War. The Nazis intended to establish a Reichskommissariat Kaukasus to control the Caucasian territories of the Soviet Union, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia became independent nations. The nascent Russian Empire gained territories in the North Caucasus in the Russo-Persian war of 1722/3, following the death of Nader Shah, Kartli and Kakheti were merged into the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti in 1762, seceding from Persian overlordship. King Erekle II concluded the Treaty of Georgievsk with the Russian Empire, catherine the Great used Georgia as a base of operations against both Iran and the Ottoman Empire. The Qajar dynasty attempted to restore Persian hegemony over the Caucasus, while Georgia and Armenia remained Christian, the Chechens gradually adopted Sunni Islam. The Circassians were mostly Islamized under the influence of the Crimean Tatars, a Little War that Shook the World, Georgia, Russia, and the Future of the West. ISBN 0-8147-1945-7 Gasimov, Zaur, The Caucasus, European History Online, Mainz, Institute of European History,2011, retrieved, Azerbaijan Diary, A Rogue Reporters Adventures in an Oil-Rich, War-Torn, Post-Soviet Republic. Chechnya Diary, A War Correspondents Story of Surviving the War in Chechnya, Georgia Diary, A Chronicle of War and Political Chaos in the Post-Soviet Caucasus. Everyday life of the Caucasian highlanders
Bronze Age Caucasus
–
Etchmiadzin Cathedral in
Armenia, completed in 303 AD,
UNESCO World Heritage Site, religious centre of the Armenia.
Bronze Age Caucasus
–
Palace of the Shirvanshahs in
Azerbaijan, completed in 13th or 14th century AD,
UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Bronze Age Caucasus
–
Karte des Kaukasischen Isthmus. Entworfen und gezeichnet von J. Grassl, 1856.
Bronze Age Caucasus
–
Poster from Russian civil war period
