1.
4th millennium BC
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The 4th millennium BC spans the years 4000 through 3000 BC. Some of the changes in human culture during this time included the beginning of the Bronze Age and the invention of writing. The city states of Sumer and the kingdom of Egypt were established, world population in the course of the millennium doubled, approximately from 7 to 14 million people. C.4000 BC—First neolithic settlers in the island of Thera, Greece, C.4000 BC—Beaker from Susa is made. It is now at Musée du Louvre, Paris, 4000–2000 BC—People and animals, a detail of rock-shelter painting in Cogul, Lleida, Spain, are painted. It is now at Museo Arqueológico, Barcelona, C.3900 BC—5.9 kiloyear event, one of the most intense aridification events during the Holocene. It ended the Neolithic Subpluvial and likely initiated the most recent desiccation of the Sahara desert, triggering migration to river valleys, babylonian influence predominant in Mediterranean regions of Asia. In Colombia, circa 3600 BC, first rupestrian art Chiribiquete,3600 BC—Construction of the Ġgantija megalithic temple complex on the Island of Gozo, Malta, the worlds oldest extant unburied free-standing structures, and the worlds oldest religious structures. 3600–3000 BC—Construction of the Ta Ħaġrat and Kordin III temples on Malta,3500 Metalcasting began in the Mohenjodaro area. C.3500 BC—Figures of a man and a woman, from Cernavodă and they are now at National Historical Museum, Bucharest. 3500–3400 BC—Jar with boat designs, from Hierakonpolis is created, 3500–2340 BC—First cities developed in Southern Mesopotamia. The cuneiform script proper emerges from pictographic proto-writing in the later 4th millennium, mesopotamias proto-literate period spans the 35th to 32nd centuries. The first documents written in the Sumerian language date to the 31st century. 3300–2900 BC—Construction of the Newgrange solar observatory/passage tomb in Ireland, 3300—Bronze Age starts in Indus Valley. C.3300 BC—Ötzi the Iceman dies near the border between Austria and Italy, only to be discovered in 1991 buried in a glacier of the Ötztal Alps. His cause of death is believed to be homicide, 3250–3000 BC—Construction of three megalithic temples at Tarxien, Malta. 3200–2500 BC—Construction of the Ħaġar Qim megalithic temple complex on Malta, C.3150 BC—Predynastic period ended in Ancient Egypt. The period includes 1st and 2nd Dynasties, C.3150 BC a lesser Tollmanns hypothetical bolide event may have occurred
2.
2nd millennium BC
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The 2nd millennium BC spans the years 2000 through 1000 BC. It marks the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age and its first half is dominated by the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and Babylonia. Indo-Iranian migration onto the Iranian plateau and onto the Indian subcontinent propagates the use of the chariot, chariot warfare and population movements lead to violent changes at the center of the millennium, a new order emerges with Greek dominance of the Aegean and the rise of the Hittite Empire. The end of the sees the transition to the Iron Age. World population begins to rise steadily, reaching some 50 million towards 1000 BC, the Pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and their contemporary Kings of Babylon, of Amorite origin, brought good governance without much tyranny, and favoured elegant art and architecture. Farther east, the Indus Valley civilization was in a period of decline, possibly as a result of intense, Egypt and Babylonias military tactics were still based on foot soldiers transporting their equipment on donkeys. Combined with an economy and difficulty in maintaining order, this was a fragile situation that crumbled under the pressure of external forces they could not oppose. About a century before the middle of the millennium, bands of Indo-European invaders came from the Central Asian plains and swept through Western Asia and they were riding fast two-wheeled chariots powered by horses, a system of weaponry developed earlier in the context of plains warfare. This tool of war was unknown among the classical civilizations, Egypt and Babylonias foot soldiers were unable to defend against the invaders, in 1630 BC, the Hyksos swept into the Nile Delta, and in 1595 BC, the Hittites swept into Mesopotamia. The peoples in place were quick to adapt to the new tactics, among the great states of the time, only Babylon refrained from taking part in battles, mainly due to its new position as the worlds religious and intellectual capital. Also contributing to the changes were the Sea Peoples, ship-faring raiders of the Mediterranean, the civilizations, kingdoms and dynasties in this section are organized according to the United Nations geoscheme The events in this section are organized according to the United Nations geoscheme. It is difficult to pinpoint the year or even the correct century for many events of the 2nd Millennium BC. c.1700 BC–1300 BC—Palace complex in Knossos. C.1600 BC–1360 BC Egyptian domination over Canaan and Syria, in the history of the Egyptian language, the early 2nd millennium saw a transition from Old Egyptian to Middle Egyptian. As the most used form of the Ancient Egyptian language. The earliest attested Indo-European language, the Hittite language, first appears in cuneiform in the 16th century BC, Hittite is the best known and the most studied language of the extinct Anatolian branch of Indo-European languages. The first Northwest Semitic language, Ugaritic, is attested in the 14th century BC, the first fully phonemic script Proto-Canaanite developed from Egyptian hieroglyphs, becoming the Phoenician alphabet by 1200 BC. Mycenaean Greek, the most ancient attested form of the Greek language, was used on the Greek mainland, Crete, the people in this section are organized according to the United Nations geoscheme The Canadian–American speculative fiction author S. M. Stirling has written a set in Bronze Age era, circa the 1250s BC
3.
30th century BC
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The 30th century BC is a century which lasted from the year 3000 BC to 2901 BC. Before 3000 BC, Image of a deity, detail from a cong recovered from Tomb 12, Fanshan, Yuyao and it is now kept at Zhejiang Provincial Museum, Hangzhou. C.3000 BC, Early agriculture in North Africa,3000 BC –2600 BC, Early Harappan period continues in the Indus Valley c.3000 BC, Neolithic period ends. C.3000 BC, Djer, third pharaoh of united Egypt, C.3000 BC, Troy is founded. C.3000 BC, There is a phase of burial at Duma na nGiall on the Hill of Tara. C.3000 BC, Stonehenge begins to be built, in its first version, it consists of a circular ditch and bank, with 56 wooden posts. C.3000 BC, Cycladic civilization in the Aegean Sea starts c.3000 BC, C.3000 BC, Helladic period starts. C.3000 BC, Norte Chico civilization in Northern Peru starts, C.3000 BC, Aegean Bronze Age starts. C.3000 BC, Middle Jōmon period starts in Japan, C.2955 BC, Djer, third pharaoh of Egypt, dies c.2950 BC, first definitive use of a Nebty name by Egyptian First Dynasty pharaoh, Semerkhet. C.2920 BC, Djet, fourth pharaoh of Egypt, Djer, Djet, Merneith, Den, Anedjib, Semerkhet—Pharaohs of the First dynasty of Egypt. Ötzi, a man whose mummified remains were found in the Ötztal Alps 3000 BC–2000 BC, Hieroglyphic writing in Egypt, potters wheel in China, C.3000 BC—Sumerians start to work in various metals. C.3000 BC—Knowledge of Ancient Near Eastern grains appears in Ancient China,3000 BC-2000 BC - Settled villages are widespread in Mesoamerica. The shekal was introduced in Mesopotamia as a monetary and weight unit, see ancient weights and measures,3067 BC, Setting of The Mummy Returns
4.
29th century BC
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The 29th century BC is a century which lasted from the year 2900 BC to 2801 BC. c.2900 BC, Beginning of the Early Dynastic Period I in Sumer. C.2900 BC –2400 BC, Sumerian pictographs evolve into phonograms,2900 BC –2334 BC, Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period. C.2900 BC –2600 BC, Votive statues from the Square Temple of Eshnunna were made, one of them is now in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. 2897 BC, Hùng Vương established the Hồng Bàng Dynasty in Vietnam,2890 BC, Egypt, Pharaoh Qaa died. End of First Dynasty, start of Second Dynasty,2880 BC, Estimated germination of the Prometheus Tree c.2874 BC, The 365-day calendar year was installed in ancient Egypt, with fixed lunar months of 30 days +5 epagomenal days. 2852 BC, The beginning of the period of the Three August Ones, possibly causing the Burckle crater and Fenambosy Chevron. Ur becomes one of the richest cities in Sumer
5.
28th century BC
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The 28th century BC is a century which lasted from the year 2800 BC to 2701 BC. c.2800 BC –2700 BC, Seated Harp Player, from Keros, Cyclades, is made. It is now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,2775 BC –2650 BC, Second Dynasty wars in Ancient Egypt. Around 2773 BC - the 365-day calendar is introduced in Egypt,2750 BC, End of the Early Dynastic I Period, and the beginning of the Early Dynastic II Period in Mesopotamia. C. c.2715 BC, Start of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, according to Herodotus, somewhere around 2750 BC, the city of Tyre was founded
6.
27th century BC
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The 27th century BC was a century which lasted from the year 2700 BC to 2601 BC.2700 BC-2660 BC, Early Dynastic period ended in Ancient Egypt. This period includes 1st and 2nd Dynasties, C.2700 BC, Merit-Ptah is worlds first female physician mentioned by name. C.2700 BC, Old Kingdom started in Ancient Egypt,2686 BC, Egypt, End of Second Dynasty, start of Third Dynasty. C.2685 BC, Bull lyre, from the tomb of Queen Puabi and it is now in University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. C.2681 BC – c.2662 BC, Reign of Djoser, Pharaoh of Egypt, C.2667 BC, Pharaoh Djoser starts to rule. C.2648 BC, Pharaoh Djoser dies,2630 BC –2611 BC, Imhotep, Vizier of Egypt, constructs the Pyramid of Djoser 2613 BC, Egypt—End of Third Dynasty, start of Fourth Dynasty. C.2613 BC –2494 BC, The Great Sphinx at Giza is built, C.2601 BC – c.2515 BC, Great Pyramids at Giza are built for Menkaure, Khafre and Khufu. C.2697 BC, The Yellow Emperor starts to reign in China, C.2640 BC, The cultivation and weaving of silk starts to be a closely guarded secret in China. C.2685 BC, Bull lyre, from the tomb of Queen Puabi and it is now in University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. 2627 BC –2000 BC, Construction of the Caral metropolis in Peru 2600 BC, the civilization began using the mature Indus script for its writing system. 2600 BC, End of the Early Dynastic II Period and the beginning of the Early Dynastic IIIa Period in Mesopotamia,2700 BC, Mesoamericans begin to plant and domesticate corn. 2900 BC –2334 BC, Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period, Djoser, first Pharaoh of the Third dynasty of Egypt Imhotep, Vizier of Egypt and architect Merit Ptah, chief physician in Egypt
7.
26th century BC
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The 26th century BC was a century which lasted from the year 2600 BC to 2501 BC. c.2900 BC –2334 BC, Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period continue. C.2600 BC, The Harappan civilization rises to become a powerful civilization, C.2600 BC, Pre-Palace Period, phase I, in Crete c.2600 BC –2500 BC, Wild horses still provide hunting feasts in Denmark. C.2600 BC –1900 BC, Large water tank, possibly a public or ritual bathing area, Mohenjo-Daro, Indus Valley Civilization, C.2589 BC, Pharaoh Khufu starts to rule. C.2575 BC, Old Kingdom in Egypt 4th Dynasty Snofru is Pharaoh, C.2570 BC, Khafra started to rule in Ancient Egypt. C.2566 BC, Pharaoh Khufu dies, C.2558 BC, Pharaoh Khafra starts to rule. C.2550 BC, Estimated date of completion of the Great Pyramid of Giza. c.2550 BC, Egyptian rulers contact Western Desert oases and it is now kept at University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia. C.2533 BC, Menkaura started to rule in Ancient Egypt, C.2532 BC, Pharaoh Khafra dies. C.2532 BC, Pharaoh Menkaura starts to rule, C.2510 BC –2460 BC, Ti watching a hippopotamus hunt, tomb of Ti, Saqqara, Fifth dynasty of Egypt, is made. Discovered by French archeologist Auguste Mariette in 1865, C.2503 BC, Pharaoh Menkaura dies. C.2500 BC, Menkaura and a Queen, perhaps his wife, Queen Khamerernebty II sculpture and it is now in Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Butmir culture existed in Butmir, near Ilidža, Bosnia and Herzegovina,2575 BC—Old Kingdom in Egypt, 4th Dynasty, Sneferu is Pharaoh. Khufu dies Rock drawings at Rødøy in Norway show the use of skis Bactrian Camel and Dromedary are domesticated
8.
25th century BC
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The 25th century BC was a century which lasted from the year 2500 BC to 2401 BC. c.2900 BC –2334 BC, Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period. C.2500 BC, Rice was first introduced to Malaysia c.2500 BC, C.2500 BC, Assyria is established. C.2500 BC, Cylinder seal from Sumer and its impression are made and it is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. C.2500 BC, Excavation and development of the Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni at Paola, Malta, C.2500 BC, Valley Temple of Khafra, Giza, is built. C.2500 BC, Khafra from Giza Valley, Temple of Khafra is made and it is now kept in Egyptian Museum, Cairo. C.2500 BC, People in Peru rely on fish, C.2500 BC, Skara Brae is abandoned after approximately 600 years of occupation. C.2500 BC –2000 BC, Mohenjo-daro is about 7 square miles in size and has a population of c.20,000 to 50,000, C.2494 BC, End of Fourth Dynasty, start of Fifth Dynasty in Egypt. C.2494 BC –2345 BC, Sculptors at work, relief from Saqqara and it is now at Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Egypt. C.2494 BC –2345 BC, The Seated Scribe and it is now in Musée du Louvre, Paris. 2492 BC, Traditional date for the foundation of Armenia by Hayk. c.2450 BC, End of the Early Dynastic IIIa Period. C.2450 BC, Kish is lost to Hamazi tribesmen of the Kurdistan mountains, C.2410 BC, By this time, kings in Sumer have ceased to be automatically high priests of the city deity. Infiltration and conquest of Mesopotamia by ancient Semitic-speaking peoples begins, C.2400 BC–2200 BC, Construction of Stonehenge Megalithic culture begins to spread through Europe and the western Mediterranean. Earliest signs of Corded Ware culture from the Caucasus, southeastern Spain is settled from the Mediterranean, by people using Prehistoric Egyptian-style pottery. Amorites and Canaanites occupy Syria and Lebanon,2492 BC—Hayk founds Armenia 2491 BC—Mythical Chinese Emperor Zhuanxu 2490 BC—Menkaure is Pharaoh. 2465 BC—Fifth Dynasty of Egypt, Userkaf is Pharaoh 2458 BC—Sahure is Pharaoh 2446 BC—Neferirkare Kakai is Pharaoh 2426 BC—Shepseskare is Pharaoh c. Its heartland lay in the Indus River in Pakistan, but settlements spread as far as the Makran coast, Balochistan, Afghanistan, eastern Punjab, Kutch and Saurashtra. They included cities like Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Kalibangan, Dholavira, ports like Lothal, Sutkagen-dor and Sokhta Koh and they used irrigation to farm and constructed cities. The two main cities had sewage systems, bronze, trade tokens, and hieroglyphs, there were even baths at one of the villages, besides the great baths of brick in each city
9.
24th century BC
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The 24th century BC was a century which lasted from the year 2400 BC to 2301 BC. c.2900 BC –2334 BC, Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period continue. C.2350 BC, First destruction of the city of Mari. c.2345 BC, C.2345 BC, Sixth Dynasty of Egypt starts. C.2340 BC –2180 BC, Akkadian Empire, C.2334 BC –2279 BC, Semitic chieftain Sargon of Akkads conquest of Sumer and Mesopotamia. City of Lothal founded under the Indus Valley Civilisation, some Koreans think of it as the earliest Korean state and of Dangun as the ancestor of Koreans. From 1948 until December 1961, the Republic of Korea officially reckoned years by adding 2333 to the Common Era year, the year 2333 BC and the related myth are sometimes presented matter-of-factly as history rather than mythology in Korea
10.
23rd century BC
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The 23rd century BC was a century which lasted from the year 2300 BC to 2201 BC.2334 BC –2279 BC, Sargon of Akkads conquest of Mesopotamia. C.2300 BC, Indus Valley Civilization flourishing in modern day eastern Pakistan - western India, C.2300 BC, Metals start to be used in Northern Europe. C.2300 BC, Unetice culture emerges in the modern day Czech Republic, C.2300 BC –2184 BC, Disk of Enheduanna, from Ur, is made. It is now in University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, C.2300 BC –2200 BC, Head of a man from Nineveh is made. It is now in Iraq Museum, Baghdad, C.2300 BC, Canal Bahr Yusuf is created when the waterway from the Nile to the natural lake is widened and deepened to create a canal. C.2288 BC, Queen Merye-ankhnes and her son Pepy II is sculpted, the alabaster statuette is now at The Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York. C.2285 BC, Enheduanna, high priestess of the moon god Nanna in Ur, was born, C.2278 BC, Pharaoh Pepi II starts to rule. C.2254 BC –2218 BC, Stela of Naram-Sin, probably from Sippar and it is now in Musée du Louvre, Paris. C.2250 BC Earliest evidence of cultivation in Central America. C.2240 BC, Akkad, capital of the Akkadian Empire, becomes the largest city in the world, surpassing Memphis, C.2220 BC Scord of Brouster farmstead established in Shetland, Scotland c.2220 BC Mount Edgecumbe volcano erupts near present-day Sitka, Alaska. C.2215 BC, A Guti army swept down from the Zagros Mountains and they took Agade, the capital of Akkad, and destroyed it thoroughly. C July 2215 BC, Comet Hale-Bopp visits the inner solar system, Sargon of Akkad, founder of the Akkadian Empire and the earliest empire builder in recorded history 2279 BC—Death of Sargon I
11.
22nd century BC
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2217 BC –2193 BC, Nomadic invasions of Akkad. C.2184 BC, Possible date for the death of pharaoh Pepi II Neferkare, C.2184 BC, ephemeral rule of Merenre Nemtyemsaf II in Egypt. 2184-2181 BC, Reign of Netjerkare Siptah, last pharaoh of the 6th Dynasty of Egypt, C.2181 BC, estimated date for the end of the Old Kingdom in Ancient Egypt and the start of the First Intermediate Period. Another proposed date is c.2160 BC with the end of the 8th Dynasty, the fall of the Old Kingdom may have been caused by a conjunction of severe droughts, strong decentralization of the state and confusion following the extremely long reign of Pepi II. C.2181 BC, start of the combined 7th/8th Dynasty in Egypt with Menkare, C.2180 BC, Akkadian Empire fell under attack by the Guti, a mountain people from the northeast. C.2160 or 2130 BC, Egypt, end of the reign of pharaoh Neferirkare, Beginning of the 9th Dynasty, possibly after overthrowing Neferirkare. C.2160 BC, Beginning of Middle Minoan period in Crete, 2150–2030 BC, Gilgamesh epic was written. C.2144 BC, Gudea, the ruler of the city of Lagash, C.2125 BC –2055 BC, Model of a house and garden, from Thebes. It is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,2124 BC, Gudea, the ruler of the city of Lagash, died. C.2120 BC, Votive statue of Gudea from Lagash was made and it is now in the Musée du Louvre. 2119 BC –2113 BC, Utu-hengal, first king of the dynasty of Ur.2116 BC –2110 BC. 2112 BC –2095 BC, Sumerian campaigns of Ur-Nammu,2104 BC –2103 BC, Approximate date of the Biblical flood according to the Hebrew Calendar
12.
21st century BC
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The 21st century BC was a century which lasted from the year 2100 BC to 2001 BC. c.2100 BC – c.2050 BC, Nanna Ziggurat, Ur was built. 2091 BC, Beginning of the Patriarchal Age was traditionally set in this year,2080 BC, Ninth Dynasty wars in Egypt. 2080 BC, First Intermediate Period of Egypt ended, middle Kingdom began in Ancient Egypt. 2071 BC, Magh Ithe, first recorded battle in Ireland myths,2070 BC, Yu the Great set up the Xia Dynasty, which isnt verified by archeological findings, some propose the Erlitou culture. C.2064 BC –1986 BC, Twin Dynasty wars in Egypt, C.2055 BC, End of First Intermediate Period of Egypt. C.2055 BC, Mentuhotep II from Thebes managed to reunite Ancient Egypt, C.2055 BC –1985 BC, Funerary Stele of Amenemhat I was made. It is now kept in Egyptian Museum, Cairo, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. C.2050 BC, The Eruption of Mt. Mariveles in the Philippines, C.2049 BC, Oak trees for Seahenge felled. 2040 BC, Beginning of the Xia Dynasty, the first dynasty,2034 BC –2004 BC, Ur–Amorite wars. C.2009 BC –1997 BC, Funerary temple of Mentuhotep III was built,2004 BC, Elamite destruction of Ur. c.2000 BC, Aegean Bronze Age ended. See, List of sovereign states in the 21st century BC
13.
Bronze Age
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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
14.
Imperialism
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Imperialism is an action that involves a country extending its power by the acquisition of territories. It may also include the exploitation of these territories, an action that is linked to colonialism, colonialism is generally regarded as an expression of imperialism. However, both are examples of imperialism, the word imperialism originated from the Latin word imperium, which means supreme power. It first became common in Great Britain, during the 1870s and was used with a negative connotation, the term was and is mainly applied to Western political and economic dominance, especially in Asia and Africa, in the 19th and 20th centuries. Its precise meaning continues to be debated by scholars, some writers, such as Edward Said, use the term more broadly to describe any system of domination and subordination organised with an imperial center and a periphery. This definition encompasses both nominal empires and neocolonialism, the word empire comes from the Latin word imperium, for which the closest modern English equivalent would perhaps be sovereignty, or simply rule. The greatest distinction of an empire is through the amount of land that a nation has conquered and expanded, Political power grew from conquering land, however cultural and economic aspects flourished through sea and trade routes. A distinction about empires is that although political empires were built mostly by expansion overland, economic, some of the main aspects of trade that went overseas consisted of animals and plant products. European empires in Asia and Africa have come to be seen as the forms of imperialism. European expansion caused the world to be divided by how developed, the two main regions are the core and the periphery. The core consists of areas of income and profit, the periphery is on the opposing side of the spectrum consisting of areas of low income. These critical theories of Geo-politics have led to increased discussion of the meaning and this idea from Lenin stresses how important new political world order has become in our modern era. Geopolitics now focuses on states becoming major players in the market, some states today are viewed as empires due to their political. The term imperialism is often conflated with colonialism, however scholars have argued that each have their own distinct definition. Imperialism and colonialism have been used in order to describe ones superiority, domination, colonialism in modern usage also tends to imply a degree of geographic separation between the colony and the imperial power. Thus it can be said that imperialism includes some form of colonialism, colonialism is seen to be the architect deciding how to start dominating areas and then imperialism can be seen as creating the idea behind conquest cooperating with colonialism. Colonialism is when the imperial nation begins a conquest over an area, colonialisms core meaning is the exploitation of the valuable assets and supplies of the nation that was conquered and the conquering nation then gaining the benefits from the spoils of the war. The meaning of imperialism is to create an empire, by conquering the states lands
15.
Middle East
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The Middle East is a transcontinental region centered on Western Asia and Egypt. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the noun is Middle-Easterner. The term has come into usage as a replacement of the term Near East beginning in the early 20th century. Arabs, Turks, Persians, Kurds, and Azeris constitute the largest ethnic groups in the region by population. Indigenous minorities of the Middle East include Jews, Assyrians and other Arameans, Baloch, Berbers, Copts, Druze, Lurs, Mandaeans, Samaritans, Shabaks, Tats, in the Middle East, there is also a Romani community. European ethnic groups form a diaspora in the region include Albanians, Bosniaks, Circassians, Crimean Tatars, Franco-Levantines. Among other migrant populations are Bengalis as well as other Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Indonesians, Pakistanis, the history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, with the importance of the region being recognized for millennia. Most of the countries border the Persian Gulf have vast reserves of crude oil. The term Middle East may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office, however, it became more widely known when American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to designate the area between Arabia and India. During this time the British and Russian Empires were vying for influence in Central Asia, Mahan realized not only the strategic importance of the region, but also of its center, the Persian Gulf. Mahan first used the term in his article The Persian Gulf and International Relations, published in September 1902 in the National Review, a British journal. The Middle East, if I may adopt a term which I have not seen, will some day need its Malta, as well as its Gibraltar, it does not follow that either will be in the Persian Gulf. The British Navy should have the facility to concentrate in force if occasion arise, about Aden, India, mahans article was reprinted in The Times and followed in October by a 20-article series entitled The Middle Eastern Question, written by Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol. During this series, Sir Ignatius expanded the definition of Middle East to include regions of Asia which extend to the borders of India or command the approaches to India. After the series ended in 1903, The Times removed quotation marks from subsequent uses of the term, in the late 1930s, the British established the Middle East Command, which was based in Cairo, for its military forces in the region. After that time, the term Middle East gained broader usage in Europe, the description Middle has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the First World War, Near East was used in English to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, while Middle East referred to Iran, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Turkestan. The first official use of the term Middle East by the United States government was in the 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine, the Associated Press Stylebook says that Near East formerly referred to the farther west countries while Middle East referred to the eastern ones, but that now they are synonymous
16.
Eurasia
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Eurasia /jʊˈreɪʒə/ is a combined continental landmass of Europe and Asia. The term is a portmanteau of its constituent continents, in geology, Eurasia is often considered as a single rigid megablock. However, the rigidity of Eurasia is debated based on the paleomagnet data, Eurasia covers around 55,000,000 square kilometres, or around 36. 2% of the Earths total land area. The landmass contains around 5.0 billion people, equating to approximately 70% of the human population, humans first settled in Eurasia between 60,000 and 125,000 years ago. Physiographically, Eurasia is a single continent, the concepts of Europe and Asia as distinct continents date back to antiquity and their borders are geologically arbitrary. Eurasia is connected to Africa at the Suez Canal, and Eurasia is sometimes combined with Africa as the largest contiguous landmass on Earth called Afro-Eurasia. Eurasia formed 375 to 325 million years ago with the merging of Siberia, Kazakhstania, and Baltica, chinese cratons collided with Siberias southern coast. Eurasia has been the host of ancient civilizations, including those based in Mesopotamia. In the Axial Age, a belt of civilizations stretched through the Eurasian subtropical zone from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This belt became the mainstream of world history for two millennia, originally, “Eurasia” is a geographical notion, in this sense, it is simply the biggest continent, the combined landmass of Europe and Asia. However, geopolitically, the word has different meanings, reflecting the specific geopolitical interests of each nation. “Eurasia” is one of the most important geopolitical concepts, as Zbigniew Brzezinski observed, how America manages Eurasia is critical. A power that dominates “Eurasia” would control two of the three most advanced and economically productive regions. About 75 per cent of the people live in “Eurasia”. “Eurasia” accounts for about three-fourths of the known energy resources. ”At the moment one of the most prominent projects of the European Union is the Russia - EU Four Common Spaces Initiative. A political and economic union of former Soviet states named the Eurasian Economic Union was established in 2015, the Russian concept of “Eurasia” corresponded initially more or less to the land area of Imperial Russia in 1914, including parts of Eastern Europe. One of Russias main geopolitical interests lies in ever closer integration with those countries that it considers part of “Eurasia. ”Every two years since 1996 a meeting of most Asian and European countries is organised as the Asia-Europe Meeting. In ancient times, the Greeks classified Europe and Asia as separate lands, where to draw the dividing line between the two regions is still a matter of discussion
17.
Ancient Egypt
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Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. It is one of six civilizations to arise independently, Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh Narmer. In the aftermath of Alexander the Greats death, one of his generals, Ptolemy Soter and this Greek Ptolemaic Kingdom ruled Egypt until 30 BC, when, under Cleopatra, it fell to the Roman Empire and became a Roman province. The success of ancient Egyptian civilization came partly from its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile River valley for agriculture, the predictable flooding and controlled irrigation of the fertile valley produced surplus crops, which supported a more dense population, and social development and culture. Its art and architecture were widely copied, and its antiquities carried off to far corners of the world and its monumental ruins have inspired the imaginations of travelers and writers for centuries. The Nile has been the lifeline of its region for much of human history, nomadic modern human hunter-gatherers began living in the Nile valley through the end of the Middle Pleistocene some 120,000 years ago. By the late Paleolithic period, the climate of Northern Africa became increasingly hot and dry. In Predynastic and Early Dynastic times, the Egyptian climate was less arid than it is today. Large regions of Egypt were covered in treed savanna and traversed by herds of grazing ungulates, foliage and fauna were far more prolific in all environs and the Nile region supported large populations of waterfowl. Hunting would have been common for Egyptians, and this is also the period when many animals were first domesticated. The largest of these cultures in upper Egypt was the Badari, which probably originated in the Western Desert, it was known for its high quality ceramics, stone tools. The Badari was followed by the Amratian and Gerzeh cultures, which brought a number of technological improvements, as early as the Naqada I Period, predynastic Egyptians imported obsidian from Ethiopia, used to shape blades and other objects from flakes. In Naqada II times, early evidence exists of contact with the Near East, particularly Canaan, establishing a power center at Hierakonpolis, and later at Abydos, Naqada III leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along the Nile. They also traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the desert to the west. Royal Nubian burials at Qustul produced artifacts bearing the oldest-known examples of Egyptian dynastic symbols, such as the crown of Egypt. They also developed a ceramic glaze known as faience, which was used well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets, and figurines. During the last predynastic phase, the Naqada culture began using written symbols that eventually were developed into a system of hieroglyphs for writing the ancient Egyptian language. The Early Dynastic Period was approximately contemporary to the early Sumerian-Akkadian civilisation of Mesopotamia, the third-century BC Egyptian priest Manetho grouped the long line of pharaohs from Menes to his own time into 30 dynasties, a system still used today
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Old Kingdom of Egypt
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The term itself was coined by eighteenth-century historians and the distinction between the Old Kingdom and the Early Dynastic Period is not one which would have been recognized by Ancient Egyptians. The Old Kingdom is most commonly regarded as the period from the Third Dynasty through to the Sixth Dynasty, many Egyptologists also include the Memphite Seventh and Eighth Dynasties in the Old Kingdom as a continuation of the administration centralized at Memphis. During the Old Kingdom, the king of Egypt became a god who ruled absolutely and could demand the services. Under King Djoser, the first king of the Third Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, the capital of Egypt was moved to Memphis. A new era of building was initiated at Saqqara under his reign, King Djosers architect, Imhotep is credited with the development of building with stone and with the conception of the new architectural form—the Step Pyramid. Indeed, the Old Kingdom is perhaps best known for the number of pyramids constructed at this time as burial places for Egypts kings. For this reason, the Old Kingdom is frequently referred to as the Age of the Pyramids, the first king of the Old Kingdom was Djoser of the third dynasty, who ordered the construction of a pyramid in Memphis necropolis, Saqqara. An important person during the reign of Djoser was his vizier and it was in this era that formerly independent ancient Egyptian states became known as nomes, under the rule of the king. The former rulers were forced to assume the role of governors or otherwise work in tax collection, Egyptians in this era worshipped their king as a god, believing that he ensured the annual flooding of the Nile that was necessary for their crops. Egyptian views on the nature of time during this period held that the worked in cycles. They also perceived themselves as a specially selected people, the Old Kingdom and its royal power reached a zenith under the Fourth Dynasty, which began with Sneferu. Using more stones than any king, he built three pyramids, a now collapsed pyramid in Meidum, the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur. However, the development of the pyramid style of building was reached not at Saqqara. Sneferu was succeeded by his son, Khufu who built the Great Pyramid of Giza, after Khufus death, his sons Djedefra and Khafra may have quarrelled. The latter built the pyramid and the Sphinx in Giza. Recent reexamination of evidence has led Egyptologist Vassil Dobrev to propose that the Sphinx had been built by Djedefra as a monument to his father Khufu, alternatively, the Sphinx has been proposed to be the work of Khafra and Khufu himself. There were military expeditions into Canaan and Nubia, with Egyptian influence reaching up the Nile into what is today the Sudan, the later kings of the Fourth Dynasty were king Menkaure, who built the smallest pyramid in Giza, Shepseskaf and, perhaps, Djedefptah. The Fifth Dynasty began with Userkaf and was marked by the importance of the cult of sun god Ra
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World population
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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
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Chalcolithic
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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
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Ancient Near East
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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
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Prehistory of Anatolia
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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
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History of the Caucasus
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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
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Elam
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The modern name Elam stems from the Sumerian transliteration elam, along with the later Akkadian elamtu, and the Elamite haltamti. Elamite states were among the political forces of the Ancient Near East. In classical literature, Elam was also known as Susiana, which is a derived from its capital. Elam was part of the early urbanization during the Chalcolithic period, the emergence of written records from around 3000 BC also parallels Sumerian history, where slightly earlier records have been found. In the Old Elamite period, Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan and its culture played a crucial role during the Persian Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded Elam, when the Elamite language remained among those in official use. Elamite is generally accepted to be an isolate unrelated to the much later arriving Persian. The Elamites called their country Haltamti, Sumerian ELAM, Akkadian Elamû, female Elamītu resident of Susiana, the Elamite civilization was primarily centered in the province of what is modern-day Khuzestān and Ilam in prehistoric times. The modern provincial name Khuzestān is derived from the Persian name for Susa, Old Persian Hūjiya Elam, in Middle Persian Huź Susiana, in geographical terms, Susiana basically represents the Iranian province of Khuzestan around the river Karun. In ancient times, several names were used to describe this area, the great ancient geographer Ptolemy was the earliest to call the area Susiana, referring to the country around Susa. Another ancient geographer, Strabo, viewed Elam and Susiana as two different geographical regions and he referred to Elam as primarily the highland area of Khuzestan. Disagreements over the location also exist in the Jewish historical sources says Daniel T. Potts, some ancient sources draw a distinction between Elam as the highland area of Khuzestan, and Susiana as the lowland area. Yet in other ancient sources Elam and Susiana seem equivalent, the uncertainty in this area extends also to modern scholarship. Since the discovery of ancient Anshan, and the realization of its importance in Elamite history. Some modern scholars argued that the centre of Elam lay at Anshan and in the highlands around it and they were Anshanites, Marhashians, Shimashkians, Zabshalians, Sherihumians, Awanites, etc. That Anshan played a role in the political affairs of the various highland groups inhabiting southwestern Iran is clear. Knowledge of Elamite history remains largely fragmentary, reconstruction being based on mainly Mesopotamian sources, the history of Elam is conventionally divided into three periods, spanning more than two millennia. At least three proto-Elamite states merged to form Elam, Anshan, Awan and Shimashki, references to Awan are generally older than those to Anshan, and some scholars suggest that both states encompassed the same territory, in different eras. To this core Shushiana was periodically annexed and broken off, in addition, some Proto-Elamite sites are found well outside this area, spread out on the Iranian plateau, such as Warakshe, Sialk and Jiroft in Kerman Province
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History of the ancient Levant
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It stretches 400 miles north to south from the Taurus Mountains to the Sinai desert, and 70 to 100 miles east to west between the sea and the Arabian desert. The term is sometimes used to refer to modern events or states in the region immediately bordering the eastern Mediterranean Sea, Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine. The term normally does not include Anatolia, the Caucasus Mountains, the Sinai Peninsula is sometimes included, though it is more considered an intermediate, peripheral or marginal area forming a land bridge between the Levant and northern Egypt. Multiple waves of humans came Out of Africa I, anatomically modern Homo sapiens are demonstrated at the area of Mount Carmel, during the Middle Paleolithic dating from about c.90,000 BC. This move out of Africa seems to have been unsuccessful and by c, a second move out of Africa is demonstrated by the Boker Tachtit Upper Paleolithic culture, from 52–50,000 BC, with humans at Ksar Akil XXV level being modern humans. This culture bears close resemblance to the Badoshan Aurignacian culture of Iran, stephen Oppenheimer suggests that this reflects a movement of modern human groups back into North Africa, at this time. This culture was quite successful spreading as the Antelian culture, as far as Southern Anatolia, after the Late Glacial Maxima, a new Epipaleolithic culture appears in Southern Palestine. The appearance of the Kebarian culture, of microlithic type implies a significant rupture in the continuity of Levantine Upper Paleolithic. The Kebaran culture, with its use of microliths, is associated with the use of the bow and arrow,24, 000–17,000 BC Halfan culture of Egypt, that came from the still earlier Aterian tradition of the Sahara. Some linguists see this as the earliest arrival of Nostratic languages in the Middle East, Kebaran culture was quite successful, and was ancestral to the later Natufian culture, which extended throughout the whole of the Levantine region. These people pioneered the first sedentary settlements, and may have supported themselves from fishing and this was replaced in 7500 BC by Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, dwelling in square houses, coming from Northern Syria and the Euphrates bend. During the period of 8500–7500 BC, another group, showing clear affinities with the cultures of Egypt was in Sinai. In the Amuq valley of Syria, PPNB culture seems to have survived and this period also witnessed the development of megalithic structures, which continued into the Bronze Age. The term Neo-Syria is used to designate the early Iron Age, the old Syrian period was dominated by the Eblaite first kingdom, Nagar and the Mariote second kingdom. The Akkadian Empire conquered large areas of the Levant and were followed by the Amorite kingdoms, 2000–1600 BC, which arose in Mari, Yamkhad and Qatna. Also following the Akkadians was the extension of Khirbet Kerak ware culture, showing affinities with the Caucasus, around the 17th and 16th centuries BC most of the older centers had been overrun. The Mitanni, for a time, menaced the Hittite kingdom, the Semitic Hyksos used the new technologies to occupy Egypt, but were expelled, leaving the empire of the New Kingdom to develop in their wake. From 1550 until 1100, much of the Levant was conquered by Egypt, at the end of the 13th century BC, all of these powers suddenly collapsed
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History of Mesopotamia
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While in the Paleolithic and early Neolithic periods only parts of Upper Mesopotamia were occupied, the southern alluvium was settled during the late Neolithic period. Mesopotamia has been home to many of the oldest major civilizations, entering history from the Early Bronze Age, Mesopotamia literally means between rivers in ancient Greek. The oldest known occurrence of the name Mesopotamia dates to the 4th century BC, later it was more generally applied to all the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris, thereby incorporating not only parts of Syria but also almost all of Iraq and southeastern Turkey. The neighbouring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the part of the Zagros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia. A further distinction is made between Upper or Northern Mesopotamia and Lower or Southern Mesopotamia. Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the Jezirah, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad, Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf. In modern scientific usage, the term Mesopotamia often also has a chronological connotation. It is usually used to designate the area until the Arab Muslim conquests in the 7th century AD, with Arabic names like Syria, Jezirah, two types of chronologies can be distinguished, a relative chronology and an absolute chronology. The former establishes the order of phases, periods, cultures and reigns, in archaeology, relative chronologies are established by carefully excavating archaeological sites and reconstructing their stratigraphy – the order in which layers were deposited. In general, newer remains are deposited on top of older material, absolute chronologies are established by dating remains, or the layers in which they are found, through absolute dating methods. These methods include radiocarbon dating and the record that can provide year names or calendar dates. By combining absolute and relative dating methods, a framework has been built for Mesopotamia that still incorporates many uncertainties. In this framework, many prehistorical and early historical periods have been defined on the basis of culture that is thought to be representative for each period. These periods are named after the site at which the material was recognized for the first time, as is for example the case for the Halaf, Ubaid. When historical documents become widely available, periods tend to be named after the dominant dynasty or state, examples of this are the Ur III and Old Babylonian periods. While reigns of kings can be securely dated for the 1st millennium BC, there is a large error margin toward the 2nd. Despite problems with the Middle Chronology, this chronological framework continues to be used by many recent handbooks on the archaeology, a study from 2001 published high-resolution radiocarbon dates from Turkey supporting dates for the 2nd millennium BC that are very close to those proposed by the Middle Chronology. This transition has been documented at sites like Abu Hureyra and Mureybet, Jarmo Samarra culture Halaf culture The Fertile Crescent was inhabited by several distinct, flourishing cultures between the end of the last ice age and the beginning of history
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Jiroft culture
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A Jiroft culture has been postulated as an early Bronze Age archaeological culture, located in the territory of present-day Sistan and Kermān Provinces of Iran. The proposed type site is Konar Sandal, near Jiroft in the Halil River area, other significant sites associated with the culture include, Shahr-e Sukhteh, Tepe Bampur, Espiedej, Shahdad, Tal-i-Iblis and Tepe Yahya. He speculates they may be the remains of the lost Aratta Kingdom, other conjectures have connected the Konar Sandal with the obscure city-state of Marhashi, that apparently lay to the east of Elam proper. The team uncovered more than two kilometers of remains from a city dating back to at least the late 3rd millennium BC. The data Madjidzadehs team has gathered demonstrates that Jirofts heyday was from 2500 B. C. to 2200 B. C, the Jiroft civilization hypothesis proposes that this intercultural style is in fact the distinctive style of a previously unknown, long-lived civilization. Muscarella does nevertheless acknowledge the importance of the site, earlier excavations at Kerman were conducted by Sir Aurel Stein around 1930. Archeological excavations in Jiroft led to the discovery of objects belonging to the fourth millennium BC. According to the French experts who studied this area, the evidence remained from these civilizations may be traced up to 11 meters under the ground, what is obvious is that the evidence of Tal-i-Iblis culture in Bardsir can be traced in all parts of the region. Tal-i-Iblis culture, known as Ali Abad period was revealed by Joseph R. Caldwell, American archaeologist, the primary Jiroft site, consists of two mounds a few kilometers apart, called Konar Sandal A and B with a height of 13 and 21 meters, respectively. At Konar Sandal B, a two-story, windowed citadel with a base of close to 13.5 hectares was found, Helmand culture of western Afghanistan was a Bronze Age culture of the 3rd millennium BC. Some scholars link it with Shahr-i Sokhta, Mundigak, and Bampur, the term Helmand civilization was proposed by M. Tosi. This civilization flourished between 2500 and 1900 BC, and may have coincided with the flourishing of the Indus Valley Civilization. This was also the phase of Periods III and IV of Shahr-i Sokhta. Thus, Jiroft culture is related to Helmand culture. Jiroft culture flourished in the eastern Iran, and the Helmand culture in western Afghanistan at the same time, in fact, they may represent the same cultural area. Mehrgarh culture, on the hand, is far earlier. The inscription, discovered in a palace, was carved on a brick whose lower left corner only has remained, explained Yusef Majidzadeh, the two remaining lines are enough to recognize the Elamite script, he added. Archeologists have found many artifacts confirming the existence of a rich civilization dating back to the third millennium BC, the sixth phase of Jiroft excavations will focus on the temple and the sites where the tablets were found during previous phases
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Canaan
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Canaan was a Semitic-speaking region in the Ancient Near East during the late 2nd millennium BC. The name Canaan occurs commonly in the Hebrew Bible, in particular, the references in Genesis 10 and Numbers 34 define the Land of Canaan as extending from Lebanon southward to the Brook of Egypt and eastward to the Jordan River Valley. References to Canaan in the Bible are usually backward-looking, referring to a region that had something else. The term Canaanites serves as an ethnic catch-all term covering various indigenous populations—both settled, the Amarna Letters and other cuneiform documents use Kinaḫḫu, while other sources of the Egyptian New Kingdom mention numerous military campaigns conducted in Ka-na-na. Canaan had significant geopolitical importance in the Late Bronze Age Amarna period as the area where the spheres of interest of the Egyptian, Hittite, Mitanni and Assyrian Empires converged. Much of the knowledge about Canaan stems from archaeological excavation in this area at sites such as Tel Hazor, Tel Megiddo. The English term Canaan comes from the Hebrew כנען, via Greek Χαναάν Khanaan and it appears as KUR ki-na-ah-na in the Amarna letters, and knʿn is found on coins from Phoenicia in the last half of the 1st millennium. It first occurs in Greek in the writings of Hecataeus as Khna, scholars connect the name Canaan with knʿn, Kanaan, the general Northwest Semitic name for this region. An early explanation derives the term from the Semitic root knʿ to be low, humble, purple cloth became a renowned Canaanite export commodity which is mentioned in Exodus. The dyes may have named after their place of origin. The purple cloth of Tyre in Phoenicia was well known far, however, according to Robert Drews, Speisers proposal has generally been abandoned. The Late Bronze Age state of Ugarit is considered quintessentially Canaanite archaeologically, Jonathan Tubb states that the term ga-na-na may provide a third millennium reference to Canaanite while at the same time stating that the first certain reference is in the 18th century BC. See Ebla-Biblical controversy for further details, Mari letters A letter from Mutu-bisir to Shamshi-Adad I of the Old Assyrian Empire has been translated, It is in Rahisum that the brigands and the Canaanites are situated. It was found in 1973 in the ruins of Mari, an Assyrian outpost at that time in Syria, additional unpublished references to Kinahnum in the Mari letters refer to the same episode. Alalakh texts A reference to Ammiya being in the land of Canaan is found on the Statue of Idrimi from Alalakh in modern Syria. After a popular uprising against his rule, Idrimi was forced into exile with his mothers relatives to seek refuge in the land of Canaan, the other references in the Alalakh texts are, AT154 AT181, A list of Apiru people with their origins. All are towns, except for Canaan AT188, A list of Muskenu people with their origins, the letters are written in the official and diplomatic East Semitic Akkadian language of Assyria and Babylonia, though Canaanitish words and idioms are also in evidence. May the king ask Yanhamu about these matters, may the king ask his commissioner, who is familiar with Canaan EA151, Letter from Abimilku to the Pharaoh, The king, my lord wrote to me, write to me what you have heard from Canaan
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Late Bronze Age collapse
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The palace economy of the Aegean Region and Anatolia that characterised the Late Bronze Age broke down to the isolated village cultures of the Greek Dark Ages. In the first phase of period, almost every city between Pylos and Gaza was violently destroyed, and many abandoned, examples include Hattusa, Mycenae. A very few states, particularly Assyria and Elam, were largely unaffected by the Bronze Age collapse. Before the Bronze Age collapse, Anatolia was dominated by a number of Indo-European peoples, Luwians, Hittites, Mitanni, and Mycenaean Greeks, together with the Semitic Assyrians, and Hurrians. From the 17th century BC, the Mitanni formed a ruling class over the Hurrians, similarly, the Hittites absorbed the Hattians, a people speaking a language that may have been of the North Caucasian group or a Language Isolate. Hattusas, the Hittite capital, was burned, abandoned, karaoğlan, near the present day city of Ankara, was burned and the corpses left unburied. Many other sites that were not destroyed were abandoned, the Hittite Empire was destroyed by the Indo-European-speaking Phrygians and by the Semitic-speaking Aramaeans. Troy was destroyed at least twice, before being abandoned until Roman times, other groups of Indo-European warriors followed into the region, most prominently the Lydians, the Cimmerians, and Scythians. The Semitic Arameans, Kartvelian-speaking Colchians, and Hurro-Urartuans also made an appearance in parts of the region, during the reign of the Hittite king Tudhaliya IV, the island was briefly invaded by the Hittites, either to secure the copper resource or as a way of preventing piracy. Shortly afterwards, the island was reconquered by his son around 1200 BC, some towns show traces of destruction at the end of LCII. Whether or not this is really an indication of a Mycenean invasion is contested, originally, two waves of destruction in c.1230 BC by the Sea Peoples and c.1190 BC by Aegean refugees have been proposed. The smaller settlements of Ayios Dhimitrios and Kokkinokremnos, as well as a number of sites, were abandoned. Kokkinokremos was a settlement, where various caches concealed by smiths have been found. That no one returned to reclaim the treasures suggests that they were killed or enslaved. Recovery occurred only in the Early Iron Age with Phoenician and Greek settlement and these sites in Cyprus show evidence of the collapse, Palaeokastro Kition Sinda Enkomi Ancient Syria had been initially dominated by a number of indigenous Semitic-speaking peoples. The East Semitic speaking Eblaites, the Canaanites language speaking Amorites, Syria during this time was known as The land of the Amurru. Levantine sites previously showed evidence of links with Mesopotamia, Egypt. Evidence, at Ugarit, shows that the destruction there occurred after the reign of Merneptah, the last Bronze Age king of the Semitic state of Ugarit, Ammurapi, was a contemporary of the Hittite king Suppiluliuma II
30.
Indus Valley Civilisation
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The Indus Valley Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation mainly in the northwestern regions of South Asia, extending from what today is northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India. Along with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia it was one of three early civilisations of the Old World, and of the three, the most widespread, at its peak, the Indus Civilisation may have had a population of over five million. Inhabitants of the ancient Indus river valley developed new techniques in handicraft, the Indus cities are noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, and clusters of large non-residential buildings. The discovery of Harappa, and soon afterwards, Mohenjo-Daro, was the culmination of work beginning in 1861 with the founding of the Archaeological Survey of India in the British Raj, excavation of Harappan sites has been ongoing since 1920, with important breakthroughs occurring as recently as 1999. This Harappan civilisation is called the Mature Harappan culture to distinguish it from the cultures immediately preceding and following it. The early Harappan cultures were preceded by local Neolithic agricultural villages, as of 1999, over 1,056 cities and settlements had been found, of which 96 have been excavated, mainly in the general region of the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra Rivers and their tributaries. Among the settlements were the urban centres of Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Dholavira, Ganeriwala in Cholistan. The Harappan language is not directly attested and its affiliation is uncertain since the Indus script is still undeciphered, a relationship with the Dravidian or Elamo-Dravidian language family is favoured by a section of scholars. Recently, Indus sites have been discovered in Pakistans northwestern Frontier Province as well, other IVC colonies can be found in Afghanistan while smaller isolated colonies can be found as far away as Turkmenistan and in Maharashtra. The largest number of colonies are in the Punjab, Sindh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Indus Valley sites have been found most often on rivers, but also on the ancient seacoast, for example, Balakot, and on islands, for example, Dholavira. There is evidence of dry river beds overlapping with the Hakra channel in Pakistan, many Indus Valley sites have been discovered along the Ghaggar-Hakra beds. Among them are, Rupar, Rakhigarhi, Sothi, Kalibangan, Harappan Civilisation remains the correct one, according to the common archaeological usage of naming a civilisation after its first findspot. John wrote, I was much exercised in my mind how we were to get ballast for the line of the railway and they were told of an ancient ruined city near the lines, called Brahminabad. Visiting the city, he found it full of hard well-burnt bricks, and, convinced there was a grand quarry for the ballast I wanted. These bricks now provided ballast along 93 miles of the track running from Karachi to Lahore. In 1872–75, Alexander Cunningham published the first Harappan seal and it was half a century later, in 1912, that more Harappan seals were discovered by J. J. H. MacKay, and Marshall. By 1931, much of Mohenjo-Daro had been excavated, but excavations continued, such as that led by Sir Mortimer Wheeler, director of the Archaeological Survey of India in 1944. Among other archaeologists who worked on IVC sites before the independence in 1947 were Ahmad Hasan Dani, Brij Basi Lal, Nani Gopal Majumdar, and Sir Marc Aurel Stein
31.
Ochre Coloured Pottery culture
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The Ochre Coloured Pottery culture is a 2nd millennium BC Bronze Age culture of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It is a contemporary of and successor to the Indus Valley Civilization, the OCP marked the last stage of the North Indian Bronze Age and was succeeded by the Iron Age black and red ware culture and the painted gray ware culture. Early specimens of the ceramics found near Jodhpura, Rajasthan date from the 3rd millennium. The culture reached the Gangetic plain in the early 2nd millennium, recently Archaeological Survey of India discovered copper axes and some piece of pottery in its exacavation at Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Ochre Coloured Pottery culture has potential to be called as a proper civilisation something like Harrapan civilisation, the term copper hoards refers to different assemblages of copper-based artefacts in the northern areas of the Indian Subcontinent that are believed to date from the 2nd millennium BC. Initially, the copper hoards were known mostly from the Ganges-Yamuna doab, characteristic hoard artefacts from southern Haryana/northern Rajasthan include flat axes, harpoons, double axes, and antenna-hilted swords. The doab has a related repertory, artefacts from the Chota Nagpur area are very different, they seem to resemble ingots and are votive in character. The raw material may have derived from a variety of sources in Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha. Some scholars regard the OCP culture as late or impoverished Harappan culture, V. N. Misra regards the OCP as only a final and impoverished stage of the Late Harappan culture and designates this phase as Degenerate Harappan. Together with the Cemetery H culture and the Gandhara Grave culture, kallur archaeological site Yule, P. Metalwork of the Bronze Age in India, Munich, C. H. Beck, ISBN 3-406-30440-0 Yule, P. Hauptmann, A. Hughes, the Copper Hoards of the Indian Subcontinent, Preliminaries for an Interpretation, Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz, pp.36, 193–275, ISSN 0076-2741 Gupta, S. P
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Cemetery H culture
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The Cemetery H culture was a Bronze Age culture in the Punjab, north-western India, from about 1900 BCE until about 1300 BCE. It has been related to both the phase of the Harappan civilisation, and the Indo-Aryan migrations. The Cemetery H culture was located in and around the Punjab region in present-day India and it was named after a cemetery found in area H at Harappa. Remains of the culture have been dated from about 1900 BCE until about 1300 BCE, according to Kennedy and Mallory & Adams, the Cemetery H culture also shows clear biological affinities with the earlier population of Harappa. Some traits of the Cemetery H culture have been associated with the Swat culture, according to Parpola, the Cemetery H culture represents a first wave of Indo-Aryan migration from as early as 1900 BCE, which was followed by a migration to the Punjab c. Together with the Gandhara grave culture and the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture, the distinguishing features of this culture include, The use of cremation of human remains. The bones were stored in painted pottery burial urns and this is completely different from the Indus civilization where bodies were buried in wooden coffins. The urn burials and the skeletons were nearly contemporaneous. Reddish pottery, painted in black with antelopes, peacocks etc. sun or star motifs, expansion of settlements into the east. Apparent breakdown of the trade of the Indus civilization, with materials such as marine shells no longer used. Continued use of mud brick for building, cremation in India is first attested in the Cemetery H culture, a practice previously described in the Vedas. The Rigveda contains a reference to the practice, in RV10.15.14. Indus Valley Tradition Painted Grey Ware Copper Hoard Culture http, //www. harappa. com harappa. com http, //pubweb. cc. u-tokai. ac. jp/indus/english/3_1_01. html journal
33.
Bronze Age Europe
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The European Bronze Age is characterized by bronze artifacts and the use of bronze implements. The regional Bronze Age succeeds the Neolithic and it starts with the Aegean Bronze Age in 3200 BC, and spans the entire 2nd millennium BC in Northern Europe, lasting until c.600 BC. The Aegean Bronze Age begins around 3200 BC when civilizations first established a trade network. This network imported tin and charcoal to Cyprus, where copper was mined and alloyed with the tin to produce bronze, Bronze objects were then exported far and wide, and supported the trade. Isotopic analysis of the tin in some Mediterranean bronze objects indicates it came from as far away as Great Britain, the Minoan civilization based from Knossos, Crete, appears to have coordinated and defended its Bronze Age trade. One crucial lack in this period was that modern methods of accounting were not available, the eruption of Thera, which according to archaeological data occurred in c.1500 BC, resulted in the decline of the Minoan. This turn of events gave the opportunity to the Mycenaeans to spread their influence throughout the Aegean, around c.1450 BC, they were in control of Crete itself and colonized several other Aegean islands, reaching as far as Rhodes. Thus the Mycenaeans became the dominant power of the region, marking the beginning of the Mycenaean Koine era, a highly uniform culture that spread in mainland Greece and the Aegean. Their syllabic script, the Linear B, offers the first written records of the Greek language, Mycenaean Greece was dominated by a warrior elite society and consisted of a network of palace states that developed rigid hierarchical, political, social and economic systems. At the head of this societies was the king, known as wanax, the Maykop culture was the major early Bronze Age culture in the North Caucasus. Some scholars date arsenical bronze artifacts in the region as far back as the mid-4th millennium BC, the Yamna culture was a late copper age/early Bronze Age culture dating to the 36th–23rd centuries BC. The culture was nomadic, with some agriculture practiced near rivers. Parallels with the Afanasevo culture, including provoked cranial deformations, provide a link to the East and it was preceded by the Yamna culture and succeeded by the western Corded Ware culture. The Catacomb culture in the Pontic steppe was succeeded by the Srubna culture from c. the 17th century BC. Some very rich burials, such as the one located at Leubingen with grave gifts crafted from gold, all in all, cemeteries of this period are rare and of small size. The Unetice culture is followed by the middle Bronze Age Tumulus culture, in the eastern Hungarian Körös tributaries, the early Bronze Age first saw the introduction of the Makó culture, followed by the Otomani and Gyulavarsánd cultures. The late Bronze Age Urnfield culture is characterized by cremation burials and it includes the Lusatian culture in eastern Germany and Poland that continues into the Iron Age. The Central European Bronze Age is followed by the Iron Age Hallstatt culture, in northern Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, Bronze Age cultures manufactured many distinctive and artistic artifacts
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Cycladic culture
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Cycladic civilization is an Early Bronze Age culture of the Cyclades, Greece, in the Aegean Sea, spanning the period from approximately 3200–2000 BC. These figures have been stolen from burials to satisfy the Cycladic antiquities market since the early 20th century, only about 40% of the 1,400 figurines found are of known origin, since looters destroyed evidence of the rest. Excavated sites include Saliagos and Kephala, which showed signs of copper-working, each of the small Cycladic islands could support no more than a few thousand people, though Late Cycladic boat models show that fifty oarsmen could be assembled from the scattered communities. The chronology of Cycladic civilization is divided into three sequences, Early, Middle and Late Cycladic. The early period, beginning c.3000 BC segued into the archaeologically murkier Middle Cycladic c.2500 BC, by the end of the Late Cycladic sequence there was essential convergence between Cycladic and Minoan civilization. There is some tension between the systems used for Cycladic civilization, one cultural and one chronological. Interest then lagged, but picked up in the mid-20th century, sites were looted and a brisk trade in forgeries arose. The context for many of these Cycladic Figurines has thus been mostly destroyed, another intriguing and mysterious object is that of the Cycladic frying pans. Early Cycladic culture evolved in three phases, between c.3300 and 2000 BC, when it was submerged in the rising influence of Minoan Crete. Excavations at Knossos on Crete reveal an influence of Cycladic civilization upon Knossos in the period 3400 to 2000 BC as evidenced from pottery finds at Knossos, Cycladic art Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art History of the Cyclades
35.
Minoan civilization
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The Minoan civilization was an Aegean Bronze Age civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean islands which flourished from about 2600 to 1100 BC. It preceded the Mycenaean civilization of Ancient Greece, the civilization was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of British archaeologist Arthur Evans. It has been described as the earliest of its kind in Europe, the term Minoan, which refers to the mythical King Minos, originally described the pottery of the period. Minos was associated in Greek mythology with the labyrinth and the Minotaur, according to Homer, Crete once had 90 cities. The Minoan period saw trade between Crete and Aegean and Mediterranean settlements, particularly the Near East, traders and artists, the Minoan cultural influence reached beyond Crete to the Cyclades, Egypts Old Kingdom, copper-bearing Cyprus, Canaan and the Levantine coast, and Anatolia. Some of its best art is preserved in the city of Akrotiri on the island of Santorini, although the Minoan language and writing systems remain undecipherable and are subjects of academic dispute, they apparently conveyed a language entirely different from the later Greek. The reason for the end of the Minoan period is unclear, theories include Mycenaean invasions from mainland Greece, the term Minoan refers to the mythical King Minos of Knossos. Its origin is debated, but it is attributed to archeologist Arthur Evans. Minos was associated in Greek mythology with the labyrinth, which Evans identified with the site at Knossos. However, Karl Hoeck had already used the title Das Minoische Kreta in 1825 for volume two of his Kreta, this appears to be the first known use of the word Minoan to mean ancient Cretan, Evans said that applied it, not invented it. Hoeck, with no idea that the archaeological Crete had existed, had in mind the Crete of mythology, although Evans 1931 claim that the term was unminted before he used it was called a brazen suggestion by Karadimas and Momigliano, he coined its archaeological meaning. Instead of dating the Minoan period, archaeologists use two systems of relative chronology, the first, created by Evans and modified by later archaeologists, is based on pottery styles and imported Egyptian artifacts. Evans system divides the Minoan period into three eras, early, middle and late. These eras are subdivided—for example, Early Minoan I, II and III, another dating system, proposed by Greek archaeologist Nicolas Platon, is based on the development of architectural complexes known as palaces at Knossos, Phaistos, Malia and Kato Zakros. Platon divides the Minoan period into pre-, proto-, neo-, the relationship between the systems in the table includes approximate calendar dates from Warren and Hankey. The Thera eruption occurred during a phase of the LM IA period. Efforts to establish the volcanic eruptions date have been controversial, the eruption is identified as a natural event catastrophic for the culture, leading to its rapid collapse. Although stone-tool evidence exists that hominins may have reached Crete as early as 130,000 years ago, evidence for the first anatomically-modern human presence dates to 10, the oldest evidence of modern human habitation on Crete are pre-ceramic Neolithic farming-community remains which date to about 7000 BC
36.
Mycenaean Greece
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Mycenaean Greece was the last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece. It represents the first advanced civilization in mainland Greece, with its states, urban organization, works of art. Among the centers of power emerged, the most notable were those of Pylos, Tiryns, Midea in the Peloponnese, Orchomenos, Thebes, Athens in Central Greece. The most prominent site was Mycenae, in Argolid, to which the culture of this era owes its name. Mycenaean and Mycenaean-influenced settlements also appeared in Epirus, Macedonia, on islands in the Aegean Sea, on the coast of Asia Minor, the Levant, Cyprus and Italy. Their syllabic script, the Linear B, offers the first written records of the Greek language, Mycenaean Greece was dominated by a warrior elite society and consisted of a network of palace states that developed rigid hierarchical, political, social and economic systems. At the head of society was the king, known as wanax. Various theories have proposed for the end of this civilization. Additional theories such as natural disasters and climatic changes have also suggested. The Mycenaean period became the setting of much ancient Greek literature and mythology. The Bronze Age in mainland Greece is generally termed as the Helladic period by modern archaeologists, after Hellas, the Greek name for Greece. This period is divided into three subperiods, The Early Helladic period was a time of prosperity with the use of metals, the Middle Helladic period faced a slower pace of development, as well as the evolution of megaron-type dwellings and cist grave burials. Finally, the Late Helladic period roughly coincides with Mycenaean Greece, the transition period from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age in Greece is known as Sub-Mycenaean. Moreover, it revealed that the bearers of Mycenaean culture were ethnically connected with the populations that resided in the Greek peninsula after the end of this cultural period. Various collective terms for the inhabitants of Mycenaean Greece were used by Homer in his 8th century BC epic, the Iliad, in reference to the Trojan War. The latter was supposed to have happened in the late 13th – early 12th century BC, Homer used the ethnonyms Achaeans, Danaans and Argives, to refer to the besiegers. These names appear to have passed down from the time they were in use to the time when Homer applied them as terms in his Iliad. There is an reference to a-ka-wi-ja-de in the Linear B records in Knossos, Crete dated to c.1400 BC
37.
Catacomb culture
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The Catacomb culture is a group of related cultures in the early Bronze Age occupying essentially what is present-day eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. The culture was the first to introduce corded pottery decorations into the steppes and shows a use of the polished battle axe. Parallels with the Afanasevo culture, including provoked cranial deformations, provide a link to the East and it was preceded by the Yamna culture. The Catacomb culture in the Pontic steppe was succeeded in the west by the Multi-cordoned ware culture from c. 22th century BC, the name Catacomb culture comes from its burial practices. These are similar to those of the Yamna culture, but with a space off the main shaft. Animal remains were incorporated into a minority of graves. The economy was essentially stock-breeding, although traces of grain have been found, there seem to have been skilled specialists, particularly metal-workers. The origin of the Catacomb culture is disputed, jan Lichardus gives three possibilities, a local development departing from the previous Yamna Culture only, a migration from Central Europe, or an oriental origin. The culture is first to introduce corded pottery decorations into the steppes and shows a use of the polished battle axe. Parallels with the Afanasevo culture, including provoked cranial deformations, provide a link to the East, excavations in 2012 of 26 mounds near Storozhove village in Chutove Region of Poltava Oblast revealed 3 layers of Catacomb culture archaeology. The earliest were the burials of the Donetsk phase of Catacomb culture, then came the burials of Inhul phase. Later material belonged to Berezhnivsko-Maivska type of Srubna culture, the Catacomb culture was replaced by the Srubna culture from c. 17th century BC. The language of the Catacomb culture must naturally remain unknown, within the context of the Kurgan hypothesis expounded by Marija Gimbutas, an Indo-European component is speculated about, particularly in the later stages. Placing the ancestors of the Greek, Albanian and Armenian dialects here is tempting, more recently, the Ukrainian archaeologist V. Kulbaka has argued that the Late Yamna cultures of c. 3200–2800 BC, esp. the Budzhak, Starosilsk, and Novotitarovka groups, might represent the Balkan-Indo-European-Iranian ancestors, however, according to recent glottochronological computations, these splits occurred much earlier. Grigoryevs version of the Armenian hypothesis connects Catacomb culture with Indo-Aryans, the same opinion is supported by Leo Klejn in his various publications. Shaft grave Media related to Catacomb culture at Wikimedia Commons Grigoryev, ISBN 966-7329-30-5 Mallory, J. P. Catacomb Culture, Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, Fitzroy Dearborn
38.
Srubna culture
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The Srubna culture, English, Timber-grave culture, was a Late Bronze Age culture in the eastern part of Pontic-Caspian steppe. It is a successor to the Late Catacomb culture and the Poltavka culture, the name comes from Russian cруб, timber framework, from the way graves were constructed. Animal parts were buried with the body, the economy was mixed agriculture and livestock breeding. The historical Cimmerians have been suggested as descended from this culture, the Srubna culture is succeeded by Scythians and Sarmatians in the 1st millennium BC, and by Khazars and Kipchaks in the first millennium AD. In a study published on 10 October 2015,14 individuals of the Srubna culture could be surveyed, extractions from 100% of the males were determined to be of Y-chromosome haplogroup R1a1
39.
Beaker culture
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The term was coined by John Abercromby, based on the cultures distinctive pottery drinking beakers. The Bell Beaker period marks a period of contact in Atlantic and Western Europe on a scale not seen previously. It has been suggested that the beakers were designed for the consumption of alcohol, beer and mead content have been identified from certain examples. However, not all Beakers were drinking cups, some were used as reduction pots to smelt copper ores, others have some organic residues associated with food, and still others were employed as funerary urns. They were used as status display amongst disparate elites, there have been numerous proposals by archaeologists as to the origins of the Bell Beaker culture, and debates continued on for decades. Several regions of origin have been postulated, notably the Iberian peninsula, similarly, scholars have postulated various mechanisms of spread, including migrations of populations, smaller warrior groups, individuals, or a diffusion of ideas and object exchange. Recent analyses have made significant inroads to understanding the Beaker phenomenon and they have concluded that the Bell Beaker phenomenon was a synthesis of elements, representing “an idea and style uniting different regions with different cultural traditions and background. An overview of all sources from southern Germany concluded that Bell Beaker was a new and independent culture in that area. The inspiration for the Maritime Bell Beaker is argued to have been the small and earlier Copoz beakers that have impressed decoration and which are found widely around the Tagus estuary in Portugal. Turek sees late Neolithic precursors in northern Africa, arguing the Maritime style emerged as a result of contacts between Iberia and Morocco in the first half of the third millennium BC. AOO and AOC Beakers appear to have evolved continually from a period in the lower Rhine and North Sea regions, at least for Northern. Furthermore, the ritual which typified Bell Beaker sites was intrusive into Western Europe. Such an arrangement is rather derivative of Corded Ware traditions although, instead of battle-axes, the initial moves from the Tagus estuary were maritime. A northern move incorporated the southern coast of Armorica, the enclave established in southern Brittany was linked closely to the riverine and landward route, via the Loire, and across the Gâtinais valley to the Seine valley, and thence to the lower Rhine. This was a long-established route reflected in early stone axe distributions, another pulse had brought Bell Beaker to Csepel Island in Hungary by about 2500 BC. But in contrast to the early Bell Beaker preference for the dagger and bow, here Bell Beaker people assimilated local pottery forms such as the polypod cup. These common ware types of pottery then spread in association with the bell beaker. From the Carpathian Basin Bell Beaker spread down the Rhine and eastwards into what is now Germany, by this time the Rhine was on the western edge of the vast Corded Ware zone
40.
Unetice culture
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The Únětice culture is an archaeological culture at the start of the Central European Bronze Age, dated roughly to about 2300–1600 BC. The eponymous site for culture, the village of Únětice, is located in the central Czech Republic. Today, this culture is known from Czech Republic and Slovakia from about 1,400 sites, from Poland. The Únětice culture is known from north-eastern Austria, and from western Ukraine. The Únětice culture originated in the territories of contemporary Bohemia, at the same time the first Úněticean burial ground was unearthed in Southern Moravia in Měnín by A. Rzehak. Following these initial discoveries and until the nineteen thirties, many sites, primarily cemeteries, were identified, e. g. Němčice nad Hanou, sites in vicinity of Prague. In Germany, a barrow in Leubingen was excavated by F. Klopfleisch already in 1877. At the same time, Adlerberg and Straubing groups were defined in 1918 by Schumacher, in Poland, the first archaeologist associated with the discovery and identification of the Únětice culture was Hans Seger. Seger not only discovered several Úněticean sites and supervised pioneering excavations e. g. in Przecławice, in 1935 Kostrzewski published the first data and findings of the Iwno culture, another and contemporaneous with Únětice EBA, archaeological culture from Western Poland. In 1960 Wanda Sarnowska begun excavations in Szczepankowice near Wrocław, southwest Poland, in 1969 she published a new monograph on the Únětice culture, in which she cataloged, analysed and described assemblages deriving from 373 known EBA Úněticean sites in Poland. The first unified system based on typology of ceramics and metal artifacts for the Únětice culture in Bohemia was introduced by Moucha in 1963. This chronological system, consisting of six sub-phases was considered as valid for the Bohemian groups of the Únětice culture, the ingots are found in hoards that can contain over six hundred pieces. Axe-hoards are common as well, the hoard of Dieskau contained 293 flanged axes, thus, axes might have served as ingots as well. After about 2000 BC, this hoarding tradition dies out and is resumed in the urnfield period. These hoards have formerly been interpreted as a storage by itinerant bronze-founders or riches hidden because of enemy action. This is likely as even today weapons are hoarded underground to them from the enemy. Hoards containing mainly jewellery are typical for the Adlerberg-group, but the Adlerberg cemetery of Hofheim/Taunus, contained the burial of a male who had died from an arrow-shot, the stone arrow-head still being located in his arm. The famous Sky Disk of Nebra is associated with Central Germany groups of the Únětice culture, from a technical point of view, Úněticean graves can be divided in two categories, flat graves and barrows
41.
Urnfield culture
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The Urnfield culture was a late Bronze Age culture of central Europe. The name comes from the custom of cremating the dead and placing their ashes in urns which were buried in fields. The Urnfield culture followed the Tumulus culture and was succeeded by the Hallstatt culture, linguistic evidence and continuity with the following Hallstatt culture suggests that the people of this area spoke an early form of Celtic, perhaps originally proto-Celtic. It is believed that in areas, such as in southwestern Germany, it was in existence around 1200 BC. As the transition from the middle Bronze Age to the Urnfield culture was gradual, the Urnfield culture covers the phases Hallstatt A and B in Paul Reineckes chronological system, not to be confused with the Hallstatt culture of the following Iron Age. This corresponds to the Phases Montelius III-IV of the Northern Bronze Age, whether Reineckes Bronze D is included varies according to author and region. The Urnfield culture is divided into the following sub-phases, The existence of the Ha B3-phase is contested, as can be seen by the arbitrary 100-year ranges, the dating of the phases is highly schematic. The phases are based on changes, which means that they do not have to be strictly contemporaneous across the whole distribution. All in all, more radiocarbon and dendro-dates would be highly desirable, the Urnfield culture grew from the preceding tumulus culture. The transition is gradual, in the pottery as well as the burial rites, in some parts of Germany, cremation and inhumation existed simultaneously. Some graves contain a combination of tumulus-culture pottery and Urnfield swords or tumulus culture incised pottery together with early Urnfield types, in the North, the Urnfield culture was only adopted in the HaA2 period. 16 pins deposited in a swamp in Ellmoosen cover the whole range from Bronze B to the early Urnfield period. This demonstrates a considerable ritual continuity, in the Loire, Seine and Rhône, certain fords contain deposits from the late Neolithic onwards up to the Urnfield period. The origins of the rite are commonly believed to be in Hungary. The neolithic Cucuteni-Trypillian culture of modern-day northeastern Romania and Ukraine were also practicing cremation rituals as early as approximately 5500 BC, some cremations begin to be found in the Proto-Lusatian and Trzciniec culture. The Urnfield culture was located in an area stretching from western Hungary to eastern France, metalwork is commonly of a much more widespread distribution than pottery and does not conform to these borders. It may have produced at specialised workshops catering for the elite of a large area. Important French cemeteries include Châtenay and Lingolsheim, an unusual earthwork was constructed at Goloring near Koblenz in Germany
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Hallstatt culture
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It is commonly associated with Proto-Celtic and Celtic populations in the Western Hallstatt zone and with Illyrians in the eastern Hallstatt zone. Parts of Britain and Iberia are included in the expansion of the culture. Social distinctions became increasingly important, with emerging elite classes of chieftains and warriors, society was organized on a tribal basis, though very little is known about this. Only a few of the largest settlements, like Heuneburg in the south of Germany, were rather than villages by modern standards. In 1846, Johann Georg Ramsauer discovered a prehistoric cemetery near Hallstatt, Austria. Eventually the excavation would yield 1,045 burials, although no settlement has yet been found and this may be covered by the later village, which has long occupied the whole narrow strip between the steep hillsides and the lake. Some 1,300 burials have been found, including around 2,000 individuals, with women and children, nor is there a princely burial, as often found near large settlements. The community at Hallstatt was untypical of the wider, mainly agricultural, culture and these had been worked from time to time since the Neolithic period, and in this period were extensively mined with a peak from the 8th to 5th centuries BC. The style and decoration of the goods found in the cemetery are very distinctive. Finds at Hallstatt extend from about 1200 BC until around 500 BC, in this period, people were cremated and buried in simple graves. In phase B, tumulus burial becomes common, and cremation predominates, little is known about this period in which the typical Celtic elements have not yet distinguished themselves from the earlier Villanova-culture. The Hallstatt period proper is restricted to HaC and HaD, corresponding to the early European Iron Age, Hallstatt lies in the area where the western and eastern zones of the Hallstatt culture meet, which is reflected in the finds from there. Hallstatt D is succeeded by the La Tène culture, Hallstatt C is characterized by the first appearance of iron swords mixed amongst the bronze ones. For the final phase, Hallstatt D, daggers, almost to the exclusion of swords, are found in western zone graves ranging from c, there are also differences in the pottery and brooches. Halstatt D has been divided into the sub-phases D1-D3, relating only to the western zone. Major activity at the site appears to have finished about 500 BC, many Hallstatt graves were robbed, probably at this time. There was widespread throughout the western Hallstatt zone, and the salt workings had by then become very deep. By then the focus of mining had shifted to the nearby Hallein Salt Mine, with graves at Dürrnberg nearby where there are significant finds from the late Hallstatt
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Apennine culture
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The Apennine culture is a technology complex in central and southern Italy from the Italian Middle Bronze Age. This phase is preceded by the Grotta Nuova facies and by the Protoapennine B facies, Apennine pottery is a burnished ware incised with spirals, meanders and geometrical zones, filled with dots or transverse dashes. The people of the Apennine culture were cattle herdsmen grazing their animals over the meadows. They lived in small hamlets located in defensible places, on the move between summer pastures they built temporary camps or lived in caves and rock shelters. Their range was not necessarily confined to the hills, their pottery has been found on the Capitoline hill at Rome as well as on the mentioned above. In the 19th and early 20th centuries various theorists made various imputations of ethnicity concerning the Apennine culture, in the 20th century, the Italian scholar, Massimo Pallottino, who specialized in Etruscan civilization, rejected them as oversimple. At least with reference to Italy, he discarded Kossinnas Law, therefore, Pallottino argued that terms such as the Terramare culture or the Apennine culture have no ethnic or linguistic significance. The Apennine drew to an end with the spread of the Proto-Villanovan culture from the north and it pervaded all of Italy and introduced cremation, however, in Italy cremation existed side-by-side with continued inhumation. By the start of the Villanovan regional cultures had evolved along two lines, those that practiced both cremation and inhumation and those that practiced inhumation only. The Tiber river was the dividing line and it also divided the two main language groups, Etruscan and Italic. Whatever the Proto-Villanovan represents culturally it cannot have been a language or ethnic group, hence. Pallottinos presentation of the view of how the Indo-European languages on the left bank of the Tiber. Three waves of Indo-European language speakers, speaking closely related languages, arrived in groups over time across the Adriatic sea. The first occurred in the Middle Neolithic starting with the Square-necked Pottery Culture and prevailed for the remaining Neolithic, the Latin language evolved ultimately from their speech, in Italy. The second wave is associated with Mycenaean civilization of the Late Bronze Age and brought the ancestors of the Italic language speakers into central and they prevailed during the remainder of the Apennine. The third wave came with the Proto-Villanovan Culture and is responsible for the Venetic language speakers. The Apennine culture was in this theory always practiced mainly by speakers of languages in the Italic branch of Indo-European. The term Proto-Italic, in Pallottinos view, is useful because there was no single proto-language in Italy
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Canegrate culture
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The Canegrate culture was a civilization of Prehistoric Italy who developed from the recent Bronze Age until the Iron Age, in the areas of what are now western Lombardy, eastern Piedmont, and Ticino. Canegrate represented a new cultural dynamic to the area expressed in pottery. The name comes from the locality of Canegrate in Lombardy, south of Legnano and 25 km north of Milan, where Guido Sutermeister discovered important archaeological finds. The site was first excavated in 1926 in the area of Rione Santa Colomba and it is one of the richer archeological sites of Northern Italy. The necropolis found in Canegrate is very similar to those realized in the period in the north of Alps. They brought a new funerary practice—cremation—which supplanted inhumation, from the archaeological evidence it can be deduced that their interactions with the native populations had not been completely peaceful. The uniform and isolated Canegrate finds do not show any trace of the preceding Polada culture, the origins of the Orobii, a population localized by classical writers in these areas and which founded the town of Como, have been linked to the Canegrate culture. Since ancient times, the inhabitants of Olona Valley lived mainly away from the river, in Multiple Authors, I Celti, Bompiani
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Golasecca culture
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The cultures material evidence is scattered over a wide area of 20,000 km² south of the Alps, between the rivers Po, Serio and Sesia, and bordered on the north by the Alpine passes. Most of the objects were from different graves located in the areas of Sesto Calende, Golasecca. Giani published a first report in 1824, but he misinterpreted the findings and he made several trips there bringing back to France part of the Abbot Gianis collection to enrich the Musée des Antiquités Nationales collections, of which he was Vice-curator. The excavations spread over various sites throughout the late 19th century, alexandre Bertrand, also curator of the Musée des Antiquités Nationales in turn went on site in 1873 and conducted some excavations by himself. It ended with the Gallic invasion of the Po Valley in 388 BC, the modern assessment of Golasecca culture is derived from the campaigns of 1965-69 on Monsorino, directed by A. Mira Bonomi. More recent chronological studies have produced by Raffaele De Marinis. More recent historical studies on the subject have been produced by Raffaele De Marinis, of the 44 graves identified in the excavations,33 were still almost intact. Subsequent phases of the Golasecca culture are so periodized, Canegrate culture, Type Ascona I or A Type Ascona II or B Type Ca’ Morta - Malpensa. Golasecca I A, 9th-8th century BC, Golasecca I B, late 8th - early 7th century BC. Golasecca I C, 7th century BC, Golasecca III A, 500-350 BC. G. III A1, 500-450 BC. G. III A2, 450-400 BC. G. III A3, 400-350 BC. In a broader context, the subalpine Golasecca culture is the very last expression of the Middle European Urnfield culture of the European Bronze Age, the cultures richest flowering was Golasecca II, in the first half of the 6th to early 5th centuries BC. It lasted until it was overwhelmed by the Gaulish Celts in the 4th century BC and was incorporated into the hegemony of the Roman Republic. The very earliest finds are of the Late Bronze Age, apparently building upon a local culture, in Golasecca culture some of the first evolved characteristics of historic society may be seen in the specialized use of materials and the adaptation of the local terrain. Hand-shaped ceramics, made without a wheel, were decorated in gesso. The use of the wheel is known from the carts in the Tomb of the Warrior at the Sesto Calende site, Amber beads from the Baltic Sea, doubtless brought down the Amber Road, and obsidian reveal networks of long-distance trade. Some legume and cereal crops were cultivated, nuts and fruits were collected, the dugout boats from Castelletto Ticino and Porto Tolle are conserved at the museum of Isola Bella. Metal, though rare, was in increasing use, the old sites—Golasecca, Sesto Calende, Castelletto Ticino—maintained their traditional autochthonous character through the 6th century BC, when outside influences begin to be detectable. At the beginning of the 5th century BC, pastoral practices resulted in the development of new settlements in the plains, deciphered written characters are found incised in ceramics or on stone, in the Celtic Lepontic language
