prehistory: a timeline

THE PLEISTOCENE EPOCH


The Middle Paleolithic

200,000 BP (Before Present) - first appearance of Homo sapiens in Africa

170,000 BP - humans begin wearing clothing

120,000-90,000 BP - the Sahara Desert is wet and fertile

82,000 BP - first appearance of jewelry

70,000 BP - first example of abstract art in South Africa

64,000 BP - the bow and arrow replaces throwing spears in Africa


The Upper Paleolithic

50,000-30,000 BP - Late Stone Age begins in Africa

45,000-43,000 BP - Cro-Magnon colonization of Europe

42,000 BP - earliest evidence of advanced deep sea fishing technology in the Pacific

40,000 BP - extinction of Homo neanderthalensis

40,000 BP - earliest example of figurative art in Germany

40,000 BP - earliest known cave paintings in Spain

40,000-30,000 BP - first human settlements

40,000-20,000 BP - earliest known ritual cremation

33,000 BP - earliest known domesticated dog skulls in Europe and Siberia

28,500 BP - New Guinea is populated by colonists from Asia or Australia

28,000 BP - oldest known twisted rope

28,000 - 24,000 BP - oldest known pottery

28,000 - 20,000 BP - harpoons and saws invented in Europe

26,000 BP - people begin using fibers to make baby carriers, clothes, bags, baskets, and nets

26,000-20,000 BP - the height of the last Ice Age

25,000 - oldest known permanent human settlement in Czech Republic


The Mesolithic 

20,000 BP - oldest pottery for cooking found in China

16,500-13,000 BP - first colonization of North America

15,000 BP - the woolly rhinoceros goes extinct

15,000-14,700 BP - earliest supposed dates for the domestication of pigs

13,000-10,000 BP - Ice Age comes to an end, and the climate warms as glaciers recede

13,000-11,000 BP - earliest supposed dates for the domestication of sheep

12,000 BP - earliest evidence for Jericho as a settlement

12,000 BP - earliest supposed date for the domestication of the goat



THE HOLOCENE EPOCH
   *dates now in BC


The Mesolithic, continued

10,000 BC - land ice leaves Denmark and southern Sweden

9,000 BC - earliest date for the oldest surviving proto-religious site, in Turkey

9,000 BC - giant short-faced bears and giant ground sloths go extinct

8,500 BC - earliest supposed date for the domestication of cattle

8,000 BC - the end of the Quaternary Extinction Event, which has been underway since the mid-Pleistocene. Casualties of the Quaternary extinction include many of the Ice Age megafauna (e.g. megatherium, Irish elk, and sabre-toothed cats). Mammoths dies out in Eurasia and North America but continue in isolation on islands until around 1650 BC.

The Neolithic

9500-5900 BC - the Sahara Desert becomes a savanna

9500 BC - earliest supposed date for the domestication of the cat

8000-7000 BC - the cultivation of wheat and barley begins in modern-day northern Iraq

6200 BC - first copper smelting appears in Anatolia

6000 BC - East Africa and Mesopotamia begin to dry out

5500 BC - evidence of copper smelting in modern Serbia

5200-4000 BC - first farming settlements show up on Malta

5000 BC - the wheel is invented

5000 BC - the invention of proto-writing

4000 BC - earliest supposed dates for the domestication of horses and chickens

3900 BC - the Sahara dries out, and Africans migrate towards the Nile to survive

3800 BC - earliest evidence for bronze working (mixing copper and tin)

3700 BC - Minoan civilization emerges in Crete

3500 BC - first evidence of mummification in Egypt

3500 BC - farming has spread across Europe

The Bronze Age

3500 BC - bronze tools and weapons are made in the Near and Middle East

3500 BC - bronze craftsmanship spreads through the Mediterranean

3400 BC - priests become the rulers of Mesopotamian cities

3000 BC - first evidence of habitation at Thebes, Egypt

3000 BC - first bronze age settlements in Jerusalem

2800-1900 BC - the Bell Beaker culture sweeps through Europe

2500 BC - the Indus Valley civilization employs bronze craftsmanship

2400 BC - bronze begins to be used in China

2300 BC - the Bronze Age begins in Europe

2100 BC - first ziggurats in Ur, Eridu, Uruk, and Nippur

2000 BC - bronze craftsmanship spreads to the British Isles

2000 BC - the pottery wheel is introduced to Minoan civilization on Crete

2000 BC - early Greeks settle on the Pelopponesian peninsula

1795-1750 BC - the reign of Hammurabi, king of Babylon

1772 BC - the Code of Hammurabi is written, one of the world's earliest law codes

1650 BC - volcanic eruption of Thera in the Mediterranean

1640 BC - the Egyptians embrace bronze tools and weapons in the wake of the Hyksos

1595 BC - the Hittites sack Babylon

1500 BC - Egyptian empire reaches its greatest extent under Thutmose I

1500 BC - pastoral farming spreads across the Eurasian steppes

1380 BC - first evidence of iron-working 

1100 BC - hill forts emerge in western Europe

The Iron Age

1100-600 BC - public buildings erected at the Agora in Athens

750 BC - iron-working is introduced to Egypt

700 BC - iron is in wide use throughout Europe