Return to home3.3k BC The beginning date of
the Mayan calendar.
3.3k BC Around this time the inhabitants of Sumer
in present day Iraq adopted the practice of storing tokens in sealed
clay jars. The tokens represented the counts of foodstuffs,
livestock , and land. The stored tokens provided a more permanent
record but required that jars be broken in order to examine the
record. Then someone hit on the idea of making marks in the soft
clay covers of the jars to represent the tokens inside.
Archeological evidence shows that the marked jars led almost
immediately to a system of marks on clay tablets.
(I&I, Penzias, p.42)
3.3k BC Archaic cylinder seals [of Sumeria] of
this time were later collected by financier Pierpont Morgan.
(SFC, 2/15/97, p.D1)
3.3k BC In 1991 German hikers Erica and
Helmut Simon found a well-preserved prehistoric corpse, dated to
about this time. He was later named Oetzi (Frozen Fritz). He was
found on Sep 19, 1991, in a glacier on the Hauslabjoch Pass, about
100 yards from Austria in northern Italy. It was kept at the Univ.
of Innsbruck for study. In 1998 analysis indicated that the Ice Man
had internal parasites and carried the woody fruit of a tree fungus
as a remedy. Tattoos on the body were also found to be placed over
areas of active arthritis. A flint arrow was also found in his back.
In 2007 forensic researchers said he died either from hitting his
head on a rock when he passed out or because his attacker hit him in
(SFC, 12/25/98, p.A4)(SFEC, 5/7/00, p.T4)(WSJ,
2/3/04, p.A1)(AP, 8/29/07)
3.3k BC - 3.2k BC In 1998 clay tablets were reported from this
date from the tomb of an Egyptian king named Scorpion. The tablets
had writing that recorded linen and oil deliveries as a tithe to the
king. The tomb was in a cemetery at Gebel Tjauti in Suhag province,
some 250 miles south of Cairo. Egyptologists John Coleman Darnell
and wife Deborah discovered the tableau in 1995.
(SFC, 12/15/98, p.C5)(SFC, 4/16/02, p.A4)
3.3k BC - 1k BC The earliest known civilizations
occupied the Aegean world. The Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations
rose and fell over this period.
3.25k BC King Scorpion ruled Upper (southern)
Egypt. Evidence of wine was found in his tomb and scientists
believed it was produced in Jordan and transported by donkey and
boat to Egypt.
(AM, 5/01, p.54)(SFC, 10/27/05, p.A2)
3.2k BC Semitic people come to the area around
Byblos, Lebanon. It was then called Gebal and the people Giblites,
who with flat axes cut timber from the mountains.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.174)
c3.2k BC A white limestone vase was made depicting
Sumerians offering gifts to the goddess Innin along with scenes of
daily life in Uruk. It survived for thousands of years and came to
be called the Sacred Vase of Warka.
(SFC, 6/13/03, p.A12)(WSJ, 9/18/03, p.D6)
3.2k BC Archeological evidence indicates that the
Sumerians used wheeled transportation.
3.2k BC The Sumerians developed pictographic
writing about this time.
(SFEC, 11/14/99, p.A6)
3.2k BC The National Museum of the American Indian
in New York City has Valdivian female figurines from Ecuador that
date back to 3200BC.
(SFC, 12/4/94, p.T-3)
3.2k BC - 2.5k BC Henges, enormous ditches
enclosing circular constructs dating to this period, were enigmatic
features of Neolithic and Bronze age Britain. In 2008 researchers
dating cremated bones concluded that Stonehenge was initially
established as a “domain of ancestors," and that burials were a
major component in all its stages.
(SFC,11/11/97, p.A12)(SFC, 5/30/08, p.A6)
3.2k BC - 2.2k BC The Orkney Island village of
Skara Brae was inhabited during this period. A huge storm in 1850
revealed its ruins. Inhabitants were settled farmers who ate sheep,
cattle, grain and fish.
3.2k BC - 2k BC The Cycladic culture, a network of small, sometimes
fortified farming and fishing settlements that traded with mainland
Greece, Crete and Asia Minor, flourished during this period. It is
best known for the elegant figurines: mostly naked, elongated
figures with arms folded under their chests. It was eclipsed by
Crete and Mycenaean Greece.
3.2k BC - 1.6k BC The Indus Valley civilization
grew up along the banks of the Indus River in what later became
Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. The cities of Harappa and
Mohenjo-Dara showed the development of multi-level houses and
city-wide plumbing. A natural disaster that altered the course of
the Indus River appears to have brought about the collapse of this
civilization. The Harappan (Indus) civilization slowly disintegrated
by about 1000 BC. It extended over more than 386,000 square miles (1
million square km) across the plains of the Indus River from the
Arabian Sea to the Ganges. In 2012 researchers said Harappans faced
climate change and apparently fled along an escape route to the east
toward the Ganges basin, where monsoon rains remained reliable.
3.1k BC Menes, the legendary first pharaoh of
Egypt, ruled upper Egypt from Nekhen before he conquered lower Egypt
and moved his capital to Memphis.
(NG, May 1985, p.586)
c3.1k BC The upper and lower kingdoms were united
to form the 1st Dynasty of Egypt. The fertile Nile Valley and
prevailing environmental conditions led to the formation of villages
along the river—Upper Egypt in the south and Lower Egypt in the
north. These villages grew into 'kingdoms' centered around Naqadah
(later Hierakonopolis) in the south and Behdet (later Buto) in the
delta. According to tradition, the upper and lower kingdoms were
united into one centralized government by King Menes around 3100BC.
However, modern scholars are unsure whether King Menes was actually
several kings, including Narmer and Aha. Menes' reign lasted a
substantial 62 years before being killed by a hippopotamus (again
according to tradition). The 1st dynasty lasted until about
c3.1k BC In the protodynastic period of Egypt
"Scorpion" ruled and was followed by Narmer. In 2002 Jan
Assmann authored "The Mind of Egypt: History and Meaning in the Time
of the Pharaohs.
(R4,1998)(SSFC, 4/28/02, p.M4)
3.1k BC Cuneiform writing emerged in Mesopotamia.
The wedge-shaped characters were used to record the first epics in
world history, including "Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta," and the
first stories about "Gilgamesh."
3.1k BC Writing was related to Sumerian language.
3.1k BC The first known incarnation of Stonehenge,
the ancient stone monument in the south of England, is thought to
have been built by native Neolithic peoples around this time.
Archaeological interpretation of the site is primarily based on a
series of modern excavations carried out since 1919. The studies
have concluded that there were three different building periods
representing markedly different materials and methods. Stonehenge I
was primarily an earthen structure built by native Neolithic peoples
using deer antlers as picks. Two entry stones were also placed to
the northeast of the circle, one of which (the "Slaughter Stone")
survives in the latest monument.
3.1k BC - 2.77k BC The Archaic Period of Egypt.
Narmer united Egypt and hieroglyphic writing developed.
3.1k BC - 2.7k BC In Egypt the limestone "Stele of
the Serpent King" has a bas-relief of a falcon in profile above a
nearly abstract curving stroke of a snake. It is now in the French
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
3.063k BC In 2010 Swiss archaeologists in
Zurich said they have unearthed a 5,000-year-old door that may be
one of the oldest ever found in Europe. Using tree rings to
determine its age, they believed the door could have been made in
the year 3,063 BC, around the time that construction on Britain's
world famous Stonehenge monument began.
c3.05k BC - 2.89k BC In Egypt Hor-Aha ruled and
was followed by Djer, Djet, Den, Anedjib, Semerkhet, and Qa'a. These
rulers comprised the 1st dynasty.
3.022k BC In Peru the pyramids of Aspero on the
Pacific coast dated to about this time.
(AM, 7/05, p.20)
c3k BC Evidence of human habitation in the
Yosemite Valley of California.
(SFEC, 5/18/97, Z1 p.4)
3k BC In California radiocarbon tests indicated
human habitation at the SF bay side foot of San Bruno Mountain back
to this time.
c3k BC "Bison Hunter" villages around Middle Lake
in Modoc Ct., Ca., were carbon-dated to this time.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.T9)
3k BC Excavations for the SF
Civic Center BART Station in 1969 unearthed a female skeleton that
dated back to about this time.
(SFC, 8/3/13, p.C3)
3k BC An earthen mound at what
later was known as Watson Brake, La. in the US was dated to this
(SFC, 9/19/97, p.A3)
c3k BC Maize and other crops were introduced in
the lowlands of what is now northern Belize.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.A)
3k BC The use of coca in
Bolivian culture can be traced back to at least this time. It is
commonly called hoja sagrada, or sacred loaf.
(SFC, 6/29/00, p.A12)
3k BC In Britain timber temples
were constructed about this time prior to stone circles. Remains of
one was found in 1997 at Stanton Drew in Somerset that measured 443
feet on the outer diameter.
3k BC In 2009 archeologists
identified a site named "Bluehenge," dating to about this time,
about a mile (2km) away from Stonehenge. It was named after the
color of the 27 Welsh stones that were laid to make up a path. The
stones were gone but the path of holes remained.
3k BC In 2013 British
researchers proposed a new theory for the origins of Stonehenge.
They said it may have started as a giant burial ground for elite
families around this time.
3k BC In 2013 Chinese
archaeologists said they have discovered some of the world's oldest
known primitive writing, dating back to about this time, in eastern
China. Some of the markings etched on broken axes resembled a modern
3k BC Chur, the capital of the
Swiss canton of Graubunden, dates back to this time.
(Wired, Dec. '95, p.76)
3k BC The fishing village of
Daixi at the eastern end of the Qutang Gorge in China is the site of
a Neolithic culture from this time.
(NH, 7/96, p.58)
3k BC Ships transported timber
from Byblos to Egypt.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.156)
3k BC Thoth developed the
Egyptian calendar about this time whose year begins with the autumn
equinox. The year was divided into 12 months of 30 days with 5 or 6
days added at the end but not counted as a part of any month.
3k BC The Egyptians used reed
brushes on papyrus to write hieroglyphics.
(SFC, 7/26/04, p.F4)(K.I.-365D.p.31)
3k BC Ayurveda, a holistic
Indian science, had its beginnings about this time. It later taught
that the balancing of the mind, spirit and body is the secret of
health, vitality, longevity and beauty.
(SFC, 4/25/00, p.C6)
3k BC Hatha Yoga, a combination
of mind and body exercises, began in India about this time.
(SSFC, 4/18/04, p.D16)
3k BC The earliest 6-sided dice
date to about this time from a site in northern Iraq.
(WSJ, 10/27/06, p.W5)
c3k BC In the area of present Lithuania at the end
of the 3rd millennium a new wave of nomadic cattle-raisers moved in
from the south and south-west and brought with them a corded pottery
(DrEE, 10/12/96, p.2)
3k BC In Macedonia the town of
Ohrid was established about this time on Lake Ohrid, the 2nd deepest
lake in the world.
(SFC, 8/9/99, p.A8)
3k BC A Neolithic temple at
Mnajdra, Malta, dates to about this time.
(AM, 7/01, p.15)
3k BC Banking developed in
Mesopotamia about this time.
(Econ, 2/25/12, SRp.4)
c3k BC The goddess as a cultural figure began
losing power about this time as the process of reading and writing
developed. In 1998 Dr. Leonard Shlain published "The Alphabet Versus
the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image."
(SFC, 1/19/99, p.B1)
c3k BC On the Orkney mainland the 12 Stones of
Stennes were built about this time.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.T3)
c3k BC Gold and silver began to be refined via
cupellation, a process that produces 300 parts lead for every part
(NH, 7/96, p.50)
c3k BC Bituminous surface deposits were exploited
in the Near East as early as this time.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.56)
3k BC It is suspected by Earth
scientists that the sun shone particularly brightly about this time.
This episode is called the Altithermal, and may have contributed to
the rise of the early civilizations. Another similar high heat
episode occurs around 1000 CE.
(NOHY, 3/90, p.127)
c3k BC Scientists say that the weather changed
about this time and that the first El Nino Pacific Ocean temperature
flip occurred. Analysis of Peruvian coastal middens of this period
indicated a diet change from tropical mollusks to cold water
mollusks. The idea was first proposed in 1983 and evidence was added
from Japan and Greenland. Skeptics claim that the change was due to
mollusks harvested from now vanished warm water lagoons.
(SFC, 9/13/96, p.E2)
3k BC Urartu existed in eastern
Anatolia starting about his time until it was defeated and destroyed
by the Medes.
c3k BC The Osceola mudflow from Mt. Rainier, Wa.,
struck. It was estimated to have been 60 times as massive as the
1985 mudflow in Columbia that killed 23,000 people.
(SFEC, 11/10/96, p.A16)
3k BC - 2.8k BC The Burckle Crater, an undersea
crater, formed during this period by a very large scale comet or
meteorite impact event. It is located to the east of Madagascar and
west of Western Australia in the southern Indian ocean and is
estimated to be about 30 km (18 mi) in diameter. In 2006 the
Holocene Impact Working Group believed that it was created when a
comet impacted in the ocean, and that enormous megatsunamis created
the dune formations which later allowed the crater to be
pin-pointed. As not only the Bible, but other ancient writings from
various cultures make reference to a 'great flood', it is
hypothesized that these legends are associated with this event.
3k BC - 2.5k BC On Malta the Tarxien phase is
marked by the collapse of the temple culture.
(AM, Jul/Aug '97 p.44)
3k BC - 2k BC During this period the genetic
profile of European skeletons changed radically, suggesting that
some mysterious event led to a huge turnover in the population that
made up Europe.
(Live Science, 4/23/13)
3k BC - 2k BC Bronze might have been invented in
ancient Afghanistan around this time. True urban centers rose in two
main sites in Afghanistan--Mundigak, and Deh Morasi Ghundai.
Mundigak (near modern day Kandahar) had an economic base of wheat,
barley, sheep and goats. Also, evidence indicates that Mudigak could
have been a provincial capital of the Indus valley civilization.
Ancient Afghanistan was a crossroads between Mesopotamia, and other
3k BC - 2k BC Early Minoan civilization, centering
around Crete, named after the legendary Cretan king. Early, middle,
and late are periods divided by Sir Arthur Evans. Pottery was
decorated with incised or pricked patterns filled in with white
powdered gypsum to make a pattern on a black background up to this
time. Early Minoan I began to make colored decoration. Ornament was
restricted to simple geometrical patterns. The pottery was made
without a wheel. In this period short, triangular daggers in copper
are found. In Early Minoan II Pottery designs are more free and
graceful, simple curves appear. The potter's wheel was introduced.
Rude and primitive idols in marble, alabaster, and steatite are
found, but the use of flint and obsidian was not wholly abandoned.
Early Minoan III begins to show seals with a kind of hieroglyphic
signs upon them, apparently imitated from Egyptian seals.
3k BC - 2k BC In Scotland the Clava cairns, a mile
from Culloden, are 3 sizable stone burial chambers encircled by
3k BC - 2k BC Ebla, Syria, was a commercial
capital of this era. In 1975 tens of thousands of cuneiform tablets
were found that supported Ebla's role.
(WSJ, 9/30/99, p.A26)
3k BC - 1.7k BC In China’s Late Neolithic,
Longshan period, a walled settlement existed at what was later
called the Puchengdian Ruins of Henan province.
(Arch, 1/05, p.12)
3k BC - 1.5k BC The city of Harappa flourished as
part of the Indus Valley civilization in Pakistan.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.A)
3k BC - 1.2k C The Bronze Age.
(MT, 3/96, p.5)
2.98k BC Egypt’s tomb of King Den, dated to about
this time, was later found to show evidence of mummification.
(AM, 9/01, p.13)
2.89k BC - 2.686k BC This is the period of Egypt’s
2nd Dynasty. Hotepsekhemwy ruled and was followed by Raneb,
Nynetjer, Weneg, Seth-Peribsen and Khasekhemwy.
c2.85k BC In China Emperor Fushi decreed that
people would be identified with a formal family name as well as a
familiar first name.
(SFEC, 5/18/97, Z1 p.6)
2.8k BC The Bronze Age began.
(WH, 1994, p.12)
2.8k BC The Bell Beaker culture emerged from the
Iberian Peninsula about this time. It is named for its distinctive
bell-shaped ceramics and its rich grave goods. The culture also
played a role in the expansion of Celtic languages along the coast.
(Live Science, 4/23/13)
c2.8k BC In Britain Stonehenge Phase I saw the
construction of the henge's bank and ditch. A pair of upright stones
formed a ceremonial entrance with a larger stone opposite. 56 small
pits encircled the whole area.
(HT, 3/97, p.22)
2.8k BC In Cyprus the town of Palaepaphos, 11
miles inland from modern Paphos, was founded about this time. It
later became the site of a temple of Aphrodite, the ancient goddess
of beauty who, according to mythology, was born in the sea off
2.772k BC In Egypt the 365 day calendar was
2.75k BC Gilgamesh, a Sumerian King, ruled the
city of Uruk (Babylonia) about this time, which had grown to a
population of over 50,000. Gilgamesh was the subject of many epics,
including the Sumerian "Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the Nether World"
and the Babylonian "Epic of Gilgamesh." In 1844 Westerners
discovered an epic poem based on Gilgamesh on stone fragments in
Mosul, Iraq. In 1853 clay tablets inscribed with the tale were found
in Nineveh, the former capital of Assyria. 5 Sumerian versions were
later acknowledged. George Smith completed his translation of the
Epic in 1874. In 2004 Stephen Mitchell published “Gilgamesh: A New
English Translation." Derek Hines authored “Gilgamesh."
(eawc, p.1)(SFC, 12/14/04, p.E4)(ON, 11/07,
p.4,6)(Arch, 5/05, p.16)
c2.75k BC Queen Paubi lived in the city of Ur in
(WSJ, 3/15/00, p.A24)
c2.75k BC In the Orkney Islands a chambered tomb,
Maes Howe, near the Stones of Stennes was constructed. It also
exhibits a collection of stone carved Viking runes. The tomb was
vandalized and rebuilt in 9th century Norse times.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.T3)(SFEM, 10/10/99, p.24)
2.737k BC Chinese emperor Shen Neng (Shennong)
prescribed marijuana tea to treat gout, rheumatism, malaria and poor
2.7k BC The Chinese developed India ink, mixing
soot from pine smoke and lamp oil with gelatin of donkey skin and
(SFC, 7/26/04, p.F4)
2.7k BC Chinese texts from this time describe
plants to treat fevers.
(Econ, 10/22/11, p.102)
2.7k BC Domesticated maize in Mexico goes back to
(SFEC, 4/18/99, Z1 p.2)
2.7k BC - 2.2k BC In southern Russia a group of
Novotitarovskaya steppe nomads roamed the Caucasus.
(Arch, 9/00, p.12)
2.7k BC - 700 BC The Harappan civilization
flourished in the Indus and Ganges valleys.
2.698k BC The beginning of the Chinese calendar.
Feb 19,1996 begins the Year of the Rat and the year 4694.
(enRoute, 2/96, p.24)(SFEC, 2/2/97, DB. p.7)
2.686k BC - 2.181k BC This is the period of
Egypt’s 3rd Dynasty.
2.686k BC - 2.668k BC Sanakhte, the older brother
of Djoser, founded Egypt’s 3rd Dynasty.
2.686k BC - 2.181k BC Chairs in the early
dynasties of Egypt stood on what looked like animals' legs. Low
reliefs of Egypt’s Old Kingdom, now in the French Louvre, enumerate
an ideal meal to be taken to a tomb.
(SFC, 5/11/96, p.E-4)(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
2.668k BC - 2.649k BC Djoser (Dzoser, Zoser) was
the 2nd ruler of Egypt’s 3rd Dynasty. The first step pyramid was
designed for Dzoser by Imhotep.
2.65k BC - 2.18k BC Egyptian wall paintings
included information on beer production. In 2004 Japan’s Kirin
Brewery produced a beer dubbed “The Old Kingdom Beer."
(WSJ, 10/14/04, p.A1)
2.649k BC - 2.643k BC Sekhemkhet was the 3rd ruler
of Egypt’s 3rd Dynasty.
2.643k BC - 2.637k BC Khaba was the 4th ruler of
Egypt’s 3rd Dynasty.
2.637k BC - 2.613k BC Huni was the 5th ruler of
Egypt’s 3rd Dynasty.
2.627k BC Parts of Caral, a city in the Supe
Valley of Peru, was built about this time. The 170-acre site, 14
miles from the coast, was discovered in 1905 but not dated till
2001. The city had pyramids up to 70 feet tall and its population
was believed to have reached about 3,000.
(SFC, 4/27/01, p.A3)(SFC, 6/15/01, p.D6)(AM,
2.62k BC - 2.5k BC A polychrome stele of Egyptian
Princess Nefertiabet depicts her dining in a one-shoulder
leopard-skin gown. It is now in the French Louvre.
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
2.62k BC - 2.5k BC An Egyptian painted limestone
statue of a "Seated Scribe" dates to this period. It is now in the
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
2.613k BC - 2.589k BC Snefru (Snofru), son of
Huni, was the 1st king of Egypt’s 4th Dynasty. Snefru’s scribes left
a description of 40 ships bearing timber arriving to Egypt from
Byblos. On Mar 9,1925, the Egyptian Ministry of Public Works
announced the discovery of the 5,000-year-old tomb of King Sneferu.
1974, p.156)(HN, 3/9/98)
2.601k BC In Egypt Nik’ure, the son of a pharaoh,
died and left what was later recognized as the oldest Last Will and
Testament. "Being of sound mind and body…" He left his wealth to his
wife, 3 children and to another woman.
(SFEC, 8/6/00, Z1 p.2)
c2.6k BC Tombs of the priest Kai were built about
this time in Egypt. In 1999 they were found in a cemetery west of
(SFC, 5/27/99, p.A18)
2.6k BC - 2.5k BC British archeologists reported
in 2007 that houses found at Durrington Walls near Stonehenge, the
world's largest known henge (an enclosure with a bank on the outside
and a ditch inside), were radiocarbon dated to this time.
2.6k BC - 1.9k BC The Indus Valley Civilization
flourished with Harappa as one of its great cities. Undeciphered
Indus Valley script on inscribed seals and molded tablets have been
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.C)
2.589k BC - 2.566k BC Khufu (Cheops), son of
Snefru and Queen Hetepheres, ruled as the 2nd king of Egypt’s 4th
dynasty. Khufu built the Great Pyramid. It rose about 100 feet. Two
more were built for his 2 wives, Henutsen and Meryetes. Laborers
reportedly went on strike to get a daily ration of garlic.
(eawc, p.1)(SFC, 1/3/98,
2.55k BC In 2006 a scientist proposed that
beginning about this time Egyptians started to use cast concrete in
their pyramids. His evidence was taken from samples of the Khufu
pyramid. The proposal was controversial in that concrete was later
used to restore pyramids.
(SFC, 12/1/06, p.A12)
2.55k BC - 2.4k BC The "Standard of Ur," a tapered
box with rows of people depicting a battle and its aftermath, was
made about this time.
(WSJ, 5/22/03, p.D8)
2.566k BC - 2.558k BC Djedefre (Radjedef)
succeeded his father Khufu and ruled as the 3rd king of Egypt’s 4th
2.558k BC - 2.532k BC Khafre ruled as the 4th king
of Egypt’s 4th dynasty. His pyramid is the 2nd largest on Egypt’s
Giza Plateau. The Sphinx was built under his rule. In 1996 a 4,500
year-old perfectly intact alabaster statue of Pharaoh Khaefre was
part of a 1996 show on loan from Cairo at St. Petersburg,
Florida. In 2002 Christine Zivie-Coche authored "Sphinx:
History of a Monument."
(WSJ, 1/16/96, p. A-16)(WSJ, 1/10/03,
2.532k BC - 2.504k BC Menkaure ruled, son of
Khafre, as the 5th king in Egypt’s 4th dynasty.
2.504k BC - 2.5k BC Shepseskaf, son of Menkaure,
ruled as the 6th king in Egypt’s 4th dynasty.
c2.5k BC African settlers came to the Canary
Islands about this time and brought with them a whistling language
later known as "silbo Gomero."
(SFC, 11/14/03, p.D5)
2.5k BC Shards of pottery dating to about this
time were later excavated in Wiltshire, England, close to
Stonehenge, followed patterns originating in Orkney, a Scottish
(Econ, 12/21/13, p.94)
2.5k BC At Stonehenge a ditch and bank area was
created on the grassy chalkland about this time.
(SSFC, 12/24/00, p.T5)
2.5k BC In 2015 British archaeologists said they
had found the buried remains of a mysterious prehistoric monument
close to the famous Stonehenge heritage site dating back to about
this time. The discovery was made at Durrington Walls -- a so-called
"superhenge" located less than three km (1.8 miles) from Stonehenge.
2.5k BC Cycladic figurines on the islet of Keros
were deliberately smashed around this time. In 2006 new research led
scientists to believe that Keros was a hugely important religious
site where the smashed artwork was ceremoniously deposited. The
sea-faring Cycladic culture consisted of a network of small,
sometimes fortified, farming and fishing settlements that traded
with mainland Greece, Crete and Asia Minor. It became renowned for
its elegant flat-faced marble figurines.
(SFC, 1/10/06, p.D7)(AP, 12/31/06)
2.5k BC A 330-foot-tall Egyptian pyramid was
erected about this time and came to be known as the ‘Bent’ pyramid,
located outside the village of Dahshur. In 2009 travelers were given
access to its inner chambers.
(SFC, 3/17/09, p.A2)
2.5k BC A flute made of vulture bone from this
time is on exhibit at the Paris Museum of Music.
(SFEC, 9/14/97, p.T7)
2.5k BC Wooden sandals represent the oldest shoes
on exhibit in Toronto at the Bata Shoe Museum, and are from an
Egyptian tomb estimated to be 4,500 years old.
(SFE, 10/1/95, p.T-10)
c2.5k BC The tomb of an Egyptian child from about
this time was found to contain toys that included miniature pins and
balls and a wicket, the first evidence of bowling.
(SFC, 7/28/97, p.A3)
c2.5k BC Aryan followers of King Yama crossed the
Aoxus River from Central Asia into Tajikistan and created a new
calendar with the new year (Now Roz, Now-Ruz) marked by spring. This
was later celebrated by people in Iran and Afghanistan.
(SSFC, 3/31/02, p.A22)
2.5 BC A study in 2015 said a wave of migrants
from the eastern fringes of Europe about this time left their trace
in the DNA — and possibly the languages — of modern Europeans. They
found that DNA associated with the Yamnaya people appeared strongly
in what is now northern Germany. The Yamnaya were herders who lived
in the steppe north of the Black and Aral Seas.
2.5k BC The first signs of human habitation at
Trier (Germany) date to this time.
(SFEC, 4/30/00, p.T8)
c2.5k BC In India excavations in 2000 revealed a
walled city of the middle 3rd millennium at the Dholavira site
in Gujarat state.
(AM, 11/00, p.22)
2.5k BC The Jiroft culture (later Assyria, Persia,
southeastern Iran) flourished about this time.
(Arch, 5/04, p.51)
2.5k BC On Malta by about his time the megalithic
temples were no longer in use.
(AM, Jul/Aug '97 p.47)
2.5k BC In 2006 researchers reported a
4,500-year-old burial in Mexico that showed front teeth ground down
so they could be mounted with animal teeth. It was the oldest
example of dental work in the Americas.
(SFC, 6/14/06, p.A2)
2.5k BC Mariners believed to be from Indonesia and
Malaysia set up shop among the islands of Palau about this time.
(SSFC, 3/1/15, p.L4)
2.5k BC The Nuraghic Civilization thrived in
(SFEC, 1/30/00, p.T4)
2.5k BC Troy II, the second oldest discernible
settlement on the site of the mound of Hissarlik in northwest
Turkey, a good 1200 years before the estimated date of the Trojan
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.49)
2.5k BC By this time the Sahara desert looked much
as it does today.
2.5k BC A queen named Shubad died about this time
in the city of Ur in Mesopotamia. She was buried with a staggering
amount of personal property later uncovered by English archeologist
Charles Leonard Wooley.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.8)
2.5k BC - 2k BC The Magan-period of Oman. Numerous
slag heaps and third millennium remains from mining and smelting
have been found at the oasis village of Maysar in central-eastern
Oman. Magan supplied copper ingots to the seafaring merchants of
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.49)(Arch, 9/00, p.48)
2.5k BC - 2k BC Scotland’s Ring of Brogar in
Orkney’s West Mainland dates to about this time. In 2005 36 of the
original 60 stones remained standing. The original stones stood in a
perfect circle 340 feet in diameter.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.T3)(SSFC, 11/13/05,
2.5k BC - 1.5k BC Cities flourished in the Indus
(WH, 1994, p.12)
2.5k BC - 1.5k BC Mohenjo-Daro in southern
Pakistan was an early urban center. As many as 40,000 people lived
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.74)(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.D)
2.5k BC - 1.3k BC In the Dhofar region of Oman, a
fortress was built at Shisur next to a permanent spring and used up
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.52)
2.5k BC - 800 BC The Saqqaq people, the earliest
known culture in southern Greenland, thrived over this period. In
2010 scientists sequenced the DNA from four frozen hairs of a
Greenlander who lived among the Saqqaq around 2,000BC. He appeared
to have originated in Siberia and was unrelated to modern
2.498k BC - 2.491k BC Userkaf, grandson of
Djedefre, ruled as the 1st king of Egypt’s 5th dynasty. He built a
pyramid complex at Saqqara.
2.494k BC Pharaoh Khafre, builder of the second
largest of the Giza Pyramids, died around this time.
2.491k BC - 2.477k BC Sahure ruled as the 2nd king
of Egypt’s 5th dynasty. He built a pyramid complex at Abusir. He
established an Egyptian navy and sent a fleet to Punt and traded
2.477k BC - 2.467k BC Neferirkare, brother of
Sahure, ruled as the 3rd king of Egypt’s 5th dynasty. In 1893 local
farmers discovered hieratic papyrus at his pyramid complex
consisting of some 300 fragments.
2.467k BC - 2.46k BC Shepseskare ruled in Egypt,
according to the Turin King-list, for 7 years. Some seal impressions
dated to his reign have been found at Abusir.
2.46k BC - 2.453k BC Neferefre ruled as the 5th
king of Egypt’s 5th Dynasty.
2.45k BC The Troy treasure discovered by Heinrich
Schliemann in 1873 was dated to a Bronze Age Troy of about this
(SFC, 4/16/96, p.A-9)
2.453k BC - 2.422k BC Niusserre (Nyuserre) ruled
as the 6th king of Egypt’s 5th dynasty. In 1893 local farmers
discovered hieratic papyrus at his pyramid complex consisting of
some 300 fragments.
2.422k BC - 2.414k BC Menkauhor ruled as the 7th
king of Egypt’s 5th dynasty.
2.414k BC - 2.375k BC Djedkare ruled at the end of
the 6th dynasty.
c2.4k BC A site at Chien-kou near Handan of
China's Longshan culture shows strong evidence of warfare between
(NH, Jul, p.30)
2.4k BC The earliest reference to circumcision
dates back to around 2400 B.C. A bas-relief in the ancient burial
ground of Saqqara depicts a series of medical scenes, including a
flint-knife circumcision and a surgeon explaining, "The ointment is
to make it acceptable," likely referring to some form of topical
c2.4k BC In Egypt the bas-reliefs lining the
Mastaba of Akhethetep depict the rural life of a prosperous
landowner. The chapel is in the French Louvre.
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
2.4k BC Dagan, a name that appears in early
Mesopotamia, and that enters into the composition of proper names in
Babylonia about this time. Dagan was later a name for head of the
2.4k BC The Mesopotamian city of Nagar (in
northeastern Syria) became the powerful state of Nagar about this
(MT, summer 2003, p.11)
2.4k BC - 2.2k BC Archeologists in 2008 said
evidence from Stonehenge dating to this period indicated that the
site was used as a place of pilgrimage for the sick.
(WSJ, 9/23/08, p.A26)
2.4k BC - 1.5k BC Late Danish Neolithic: In the
Ertebolle Culture amber pendants were shaped as animals. This
includes the Dagger Period of Northern Europe.
2.375k BC - 2.345k BC Unas ruled at the end of
Egypt’s 6th dynasty.
2.355k BC - 2.195k BC This is the period of
Egypt’s 6th Dynasty.
(AM, 7/05, p.14)
c2.35k BC Akhethetep, a high ranking official,
lived about this time. His mastaba tomb is located in Saqqara,
(AM, 11/04, p.72)
2.348k BC Jul 17, "My Bible also revealed that
Noah came ashore on Mt. Ararat on the 17th day of the seventh month,
2348BC." In 1999 William Ryan and Walter Pitman authored "Noah's
Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries about the Event That Changed
History." They demonstrate how the rising Mediterranean broke
through a natural dam in the Bosporus Strait and flooded a
freshwater lake that expanded into the Black Sea. [see 5,600BC]
(NG, Nov. 1985, edit., p.559)(NH, 12/98, p.13)
2.348k BC Nov 25, Biblical scholars have long
asserted this to be the day of the Great Deluge, or Flood. [see Jul
2.345k BC - 2.333k BC Teti ruled Egypt as the 1st
king of the 6th dynasty. In 2008 archeologists discovered a pyramid
in Saqqara dating to about this time. It was said to belong to Queen
Sesheshet, the mother of King Teti.
2.345k BC - 2.181k BC In Egypt the "Striding
Figure of Meryrahashtef," a 22.5 inch nude statue of a minor 6th
dynasty official, was made.
(WSJ, 1/16/02, p.A14)(Arch, 9/02, p.61)
2.334k BC - 2.279k BC Sargon I (2371BC-2315BC)
founded and ruled the city-state of Akkad, after he left the city of
Kish where he was an important official. He was the first ruler to
maintain a standing army. His empire lasted less than 200 years.
2.333k BC Userkare ruled in the 6th dynasty of
Egypt between Teti and Pepi. He is believed to be a proponent of the
group that killed Teti.
2.333k BC Go-Chosun (Kojoson) refers to the Korean
Empire founded by Tangun in 2333 BC that succeeded the first
kingdoms of Hwan Gook (7,197 BC) and Bae Dal (3,898 BC) (also known
as Gu Ri). The people of Go-Chosun were referred to by the Chinese
as "the eastern bowmen." Chosun means "The Land of the Morning
(www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Chosun)(Econ, 3/31/07, SR
2.332k BC - 2.283k BC Pepi I ruled as the 3rd king
of the 6th dynasty. A pyramid of Queen Ankh-sn-Pepi, wife of Pepi I,
was discovered in 2000. The "Pair Statue of Queen Ankh-Nes-Meryre II
and her son Pepi II Seated" was part of an Egyptian show on view at
the NY Met in 1999.
(WSJ, 9/21/99, p.A24)(SFC, 4/3/00,
2.32k BC Sargon conquered the independent
city-states of Sumer and instituted a central government.
c2.3k BC Phoenicians, a seafaring people, began
living along the Levantine coast.
(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A14)
2.3k BC Sumerian cuneiform texts mention the land
of Magan (possibly Oman) as a source of copper and diorite for the
states of Mesopotamia.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.49)
2.3k BC A culture traceable to Siberian ancestors
made its way eastward across Alaska and through the Arctic to
Ellesmere Island's Bache Peninsula. From there Greenland lies just
25 miles across open water in summer or solid sea ice in winter.
(NG, 6/1988, 762)
2.3k BC The Hmong people lived on the central
plains of China. The gradually moved to the mountains of Indochina
and Burma and then to Laos and Thailand.
(SFC, 6/9/96, DB p.2)
2.3k BC A civilization later called the Bactria
Margiana Archeology Complex existed about this time in what later
became Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Evidence of writing was found at
the Annau ruins in 2000.
(SSFC, 5/13/01, p.A12)
2.3k BC Cultural exchange began between the Indus
Valley civilization and Mesopotamia.
2.291k BC - 2.254k BC Naram-Sin ruled Akkad. He
defeated a rebel coalition in Sumer and re-established Akkadian
power. He re-conquered Syria, Lebanon, and the Taurus mountains,
destroying Aleppo and Mari in the process. During his reign
the Gutians sacked the city of Agade and eventually destroyed all of
Sumer (southern Iraq). During his reign Naram-Sin campaigned against
the region of Magan (Oman).
2.278k BC - 2.184k BC Pepi II ruled in Egypt as
the last king of the 6th dynasty and the last significant king of
the Old Kingdom.
2.254k BC - 2.23k BC Shar-Kali-Sharri, son of
Naram-Sin, ruled Akkad. He fought to preserve the realm but it
disintegrated under rebellion and invasion.
2.217k BC In 2013 scientists reported DNA evidence
that people from India arrived in Australia about this time and
mixed with the local aboriginals.
(Econ, 1/19/12, p.77)
2.205k BC -1.766k BC In China the Hsia Dynasty
unfolded. No archeological evidence has confirmed this. [see
2.2k BC In what is now Bahrain settlements and
temples of the city state of Dilmun, known as the city of the gods
in ancient Sumerian literature, were found by Danish archaeologists
in the 1950s. A culture contemporary with the city state of Dilmun
(now Bahrain) was found in 1959 on the island of Umm-an-Nar off of
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.48)
2.2k BC In Greece Indo-European invaders, speaking
the earliest form of Greek, entered the mainland.
2.2k BC In the Peruvian Andes a native culture
built a 33-foot pyramid about this time with an observatory marking
the summer and winter solstices. In 2006 archeologists working at
the Buena Vista site believed that fisherman from the coast had
moved to the site to grow cotton for making fishing nets.
(SFC, 5/15/06, p.A2)
2.2k BC A statue of the Sumerian king Entemena of
Lagash was made about this time. The head was later lost and in 2003
the remaining body was looted after the fall of Baghdad. In 2006 it
was returned to Iraq’s National Museum.
(SFC, 7/26/06, p.A3)
2.183k BC Merenre II followed Pepi II as ruler of
Egypt. He ruled for just over a year and was murdered. Nitocris, his
sister-wife, took rule.
2.183k BC - 2.18k BC Nitocris (Nitiqret), the
wife-sister-wife of Merenre, rule Egypt.
2.181k BC - 2.161k BC Egypt’s 7th and 8th
dynasties ruled during this period. Wadjkare ruled in Egypt’s 7th
dynasty and was followed by Qakare. Eusebius has a 7th Dynasty that
consisted of five kings of Memphis, who reigned for 75 days and an
Eighth Dynasty that consisted of five kings of Memphis, who reigned
for 100 years.
2.181k BC - 2.04k BC Egypt’s First Intermediate
Period. It began with the collapse of the Old Kingdom due to crop
failure and low revenues due to pyramid building projects. This
seemed to coincide with a period of cooling and drying.
p.2)(Econ, 12/20/03, p.114)
2.16k BC - 2.14k BC Egypt’s 9th and 10th Dynasties
ruled over this period from the capital at Herakleopolis. Pharaohs
included Meryibre, Merykare, Kaneferre, and Nebkaure.
2.145k BC Idin-Dagan, a king of Babylonia. and his
2.137k BC Oct 22, This is the date of the earliest
recorded eclipse according to the Shu King, the book of historical
documents of ancient China. Two royal astronomers, Hsi and Ho,
failed in their duties to predict the eclipse due to too much rice
wine and were executed.
2.134k BC - 2.117k BC Intef I (Antef I) ruled in
Egypt’s 11th Dynasty.
2.134k BC - 1.991k BC Period of Egypt’s 11th
2.13k BC By this time Sumer regained its
independence from Akkadian rule but did not revert to independent
city-states. Sumer was ruled from Ur.
2.117k BC - 2.069k BC Intef II (Antef II) ruled in
Egypt’s 11th Dynasty.
2.113k BC Ur's golden century began when King
Ur-Nammu expanded the Sumerian empire and made his capital the
wealthiest city in Mesopotamia. Ur-Namma was the founder of the
Third Dynasty of Ur. He made sure Magan (Oman) boats could freely
come and go from Ur’s harbor.
(AP, 4/15/03)(Arch, 9/00, p.46)
2.1k BC Byblos ( Pre-Phoenician city) was burned
to the ground probably by the Amorites.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.156)
2.1k BC The Sumerian King List was written. It
recorded all the kings and dynasties ruling Sumer from the earliest
times. Eridu was named as the earliest settlement and archeological
evidence seems to confirm the claim.
2.1k BC Gudeo served as governor of Lagash (Iraq).
(Arch, 9/00, p.46)
c2.1k BC Stonehenge Phase II incorporated 60
"bluestones" from the Preseli Mountains in southwest Wales, about
135 miles away. 90 bluestones were set up in a horseshoe shape
within a circle of another 60. Some 500 years after Stonehenge I
fell into disuse, builders created a radically different Stonehenge
with dozens of stone pillars weighing up to 4 tons.
(HT, 3/97, p.22)(SSFC, 12/24/00, p.T5)(HNQ,
2.1k BC Amorites came from the Arabian peninsula
and were the first important Semitic settlers in the area of
Damascus. They established many small states.
(SFEC, 11/21/99, p.A26)
c2.1k BC - 1.9k BC In Stonehenge Phase III the
builders encircled the bluestones with sarsen stones, a sandstone
(probably from a quarry in Avebury, 20 miles away). These were
topped by caps and the bluestones were re-arranged and dug into the
ground. The axis of the circle was also re-calculated so that one
way Stonehenge points to the summer solstice at sunrise and lined up
the other way it points to the winter solstice at sunset.
(HT, 3/97, p.22)(SD)
2.1k BC - 1.6k BC Xia Dynasty of China. The Ba
people controlled salt production on the Yangtze River. They then
slowly migrated upstream and in 316BC were subjugated by the Qin.
Fuling was a burial site for the kings of Ba. Fengdu was the first
capital of Ba. The 1996 Tujia minority claim descent from the Ba.
(NH, 7/96, p.31)
2.1k BC - 1.6k BC The protohistoric Xia period.
(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)
2.1k BC - 2k BC Some 15,000 tiny Golden rings,
estimated at 4,100 to 4,200 years old, were found in 2005 near
Dabene, Bulgaria. They were attributed to proto-Thracians, ancestors
of the Thracians, who lived in the area until they were assimilated
by invading Slavs in the 8th century.
(SFC, 8/17/05, p.A2)
2.07k BC In China the Xia period began according
to results from government funded studies in 2000 CE. This was about
the middle of the prehistoric Longshan culture.
(SFC, 11/10/00, p.D4)
2.069k BC - 2.06k BC Intef III (Antef III) ruled
in Egypt’s 11th Dynasty for 8 years.
2.068k BC Shulgi, king of Ur, accepted gold from
the king of Magan (Oman).
(Arch, 9/00, p.47)
2.06k BC - 2.01k BC Mentuhotep II (Nebhetepre),
son of Theban Inteff III, ruled for about 39-51 years in Egypt’s
2.058k BC Dungi was the king of the Mesopotamian
city of Ur.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.8)
2.005k BC Bur-Sin ruled as the king of Ur.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.8)
2.04k BC - 1.782k BC In Egypt the period of the
Middle Kingdom began with its capital at Thebes. It lasted to
1782BC. About this time "The Plea of the Eloquent Peasant" was
written calling for a benevolent ruler.
2.013k BC Sumerians built the Ziggurat at Ur
(later Iraq) to draw closer attention to the god of the moon.
(SSFC, 4/25/04, Par p.5)
2.01k BC - 1.998k BC Mentuhotep II, son of
Mentuhotep I, ruled in the 11th Dynasty of Egypt for about 12 years.
2k BC The first agricultural tribes appeared on
the Bactrian Plain (Afghanistan).
(NG, 3/90, p.62)
2k BC Bronze-age mounds from this time in Turkman
SSR indicate that Central Asians built cities around oases and
developed a flourishing civilization with monumental architecture,
sophisticated gold and silver craft, and irrigation agriculture.
c2k BC At Arbor Low in Derbyshire, England, a
Bronze Age stone circle was constructed.
(SFEM, 10/11/98, p.21)
c2k BC Silbury Hill, located on the
prehistoric site of Avebury (named after nearby Avebury, England),
is the largest prehistoric mound in Europe. The artificial hill,
which rises up 130 feet, was constructed over three separate phases
beginning at least 4,000 years ago. Although the shape of the mound
is similar to smaller earthen constructions used for burials, its
purpose remains a mystery.
2k BC The initial phase of what scientists call
Stonehenge III was begun about 100 years after Stonehenge II with
the lentil structure familiar to modern visitors. The builders
continued improvements on Stonehenge III up until about 1550BC, well
before historical records of the Druids or the Romans. Both
Stonehenge and a neighboring circular monument were added to
UNESCO's World Heritage List--a listing of cultural and natural
2k BC For as many as 4,000 years, the salty sand
of the Taklimakan Desert in China held well-preserved mummies
wearing colorful robes, boots, stockings and hats. The people were
Caucasian not Asian. The bodies have been exhumed from the Tarim
Basin of Xinjiang province since the late 1970s.
(SFC, 5/6/96, p.C-1)
2k BC Balathal, outside the city of Udaipur in
northeast India, was a Chalcolithic village. The people used copper
tools and weapons. Terra-cotta figurines of bulls have been found at
the site. It was abandoned and reoccupied c340BC.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.B)
2k BC Legends from Mecca indicate that the prophet
Abraham built the Kaaba about this time. The Kaaba is a shrine
meaning cube in Arabic, that enclosed the idols of their gods.
Religious rituals were performed around the Kaaba which had a black
stone embedded into a corner, said to be a gift to Abraham from the
angel Gabriel for his belief in one god. By CE 500 more than 360
idols were housed within the Kaaba.
2k BC About this time the Egyptians domesticated
the cat in order to catch snakes. Advances in astronomy enabled the
Egyptians to predict the annual flooding of the Nile.
c2k BC An Egyptian painting on an interior tomb
wall depicted 6 men scrubbing, wringing and folding a cloth.
(SFC, 10/11/97, p.E3)
2k BC It was later believed that emeralds were
first mined in Egypt about this time.
(WSJ, 2/7/07, p.A12)
2k BC In Egypt a Red Sea port was active around
this time at Wadi el-Jarf, nearly 110 miles south of Suez. An
exploration team found its remnants in 2013.
(SFC, 4/12/13, p.A2)
2k BC By this time Baltic amber reached the
Mediterranean and was found in ancient Mycenaean shaft graves.
(PacDis, Winter/'97, p.10)
2k BC The Timucuan Indians lived on Cumberland
Island, Georgia, back to this time.
(Sky, 4/97, p.43)
2k BC The Hittites lived around what is now
Cappadocia. They mixed with the already-settled Hatti and were
followed by the Lydians, Phrygians, Byzantines, Romans and Greeks.
The name Cappadocia comes from the Hittite for "land of pretty
(SFEC, 9/14/97, p.T14)
c2k BC In India Tantra, a quasireligious doctrine,
dates back to this time. Its first texts were in Sanskrit and the
original adherents practiced ritual copulation.
(WSJ, 12/7/98, p.A1)
2k BC The Ikom monoliths in Nigeria,
phallic-shaped pieces of volcanic rock largely ignored for
centuries, were said to date back to about this time. In 2007 they
were added to the World Monuments Fund's (WMF) list of sites in
danger and are on the "tentative" list for possible inclusion in
UNESCO's World Heritage Site list.
2k BC In 2007 a temple dating to about this time
was unearthed on the northern coast of Peru, making it one of the
oldest finds in the Americas. The mural filled temple, called
Ventarron, sits in the Lambayeque valley, near the ancient Sipan
complex unearthed in the 1980s.
2k BC In Peru the pyramid at El Paraiso was built
about this time. In 2013 two real estate development companies
destroyed the 20-foot tall pyramid, a few miles north of Lima.
(SFC, 7/4/13, p.A2)
2k BC In 2008 researchers reported that the
earliest known gold jewelry made in the Americas had been discovered
in southern Peru. The gold necklace, made nearly 4,000 years ago,
was found in a burial site near Lake Titicaca.
c2k BC The Sumerian goddess Inanna was a fertility
(SFEC, 9/27/98, BR p.7)
c2k BC A palace was built at Qatanah, 12 miles
south of Damascus, Syria, that was discovered in 1999.
(SFEC, 11/21/99, p.A6)
2k BC - 1.79k BC The wooden statue of chancellor
Nakhti and carved face of governor Hapidjefai date to Egypt’s Middle
Kingdom. They are now in the French Louvre.
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
2k BC - 1.6k BC In Mesopotamia the Old Babylonian
period began after the collapse of Sumer, probably due to an
increase in the salt content of the soil that made farming
difficult. Weakened by poor crops and lack of surplus goods, the
Sumerians were conquered by the Amorites, situated in Babylon. The
center of civility shifted north. The Amorites preserved much of the
Sumerian culture but introduced their own Semitic language, an early
ancestor to Hebrew, into the region.
2k BC - 1.6k BC The Middle Minoan period. Middle
Minoan I finds polychrome decoration in pottery with elaborate
geometrical patterns; we also discover interesting attempts to
picture natural forms, such as goats and beetles. There then follows
some great catastrophe. Middle Minoan II includes the period of the
great palace of Phaestos and the first palace of Knossos. This
period also includes the magnificent polychrome pottery called
Kamares ware. Another catastrophe occurs. The second great palace of
Knossos was built and begins the Middle Minoan III. It was
distinguished by an intense realism in art, speaking clearly of a
rapid deterioration in taste. Pictographic writing was clearly
developed, with a hieratic or cursive script derived from it,
adapted for writing with pen and ink.
2k BC - 1.6k BC In Oman a transitional culture
known as early Wadi Suq.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.49)
2k BC - 1.5k BC The events of the Indian Ramayana epic, written
around 500BC, supposedly took place about this time period.
(AM, 7/04, p.50)
2k BC - 1.55k BC The Babylonians built an empire.
(WH, 1994, p.12)
2k BC - 1.5k BC In Greece the Minoan civilization,
named after the Cretan ruler Minos, reached its height with central
power in Knossos on the isle of Crete. The culture was apparently
more female-oriented and peaceful than others of the time.
2k BC - 1k BC Early preclassic period of the Maya.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.B)
2k BC - 1k BC In Italy Indo-Europeans slowly began
to inhabit the north by way of the Alps. They brought the horse, the
wheeled cart, and artistic knowledge of bronze work to the Italian
peninsula. The Greeks and the Etruscans occupied different regions
of the peninsula during the 8th century.
2k BC - 500 BC Aryan tribes lived in Aryana
(Ancient Afghanistan). The City of Kabul is thought to have been
established during this time. Rig Veda may have been created in
Afghanistan around this time. Evidence of early nomadic iron age in
Aq Kapruk IV.
1.997k BC - 1.991k BC Mentuhotep III, the last
king of the 11th Dynasty of Egypt. He was the son of Imi, a
secondary wife of either Mentuhotep II or III. His name is missing
from most king’s lists.
1.995k BC In 2005 Chinese archeologists reported
their find of a 4,000 year-old container in northwestern China of
noodles made from millet.
(SFC, 10/13/05, p.A2)
1.991k BC - 1.962k BC Amenemhet I (Amenemhat I)
founded Egypt’s 12th Dynasty of Egypt and ruled for some 30 years.
In 2007 Prof. Jahi Issa and Salim Faraji authored “The Origin of the
Word Amen: Ancient Knowledge the Bible Has Never Told," in which
they argued that the word Amen is derived from a pre-dynastic
Egyptian culture found in the Sudan with roots in the ancient name
for pharaoh, Amen, spelled in some cases as Amun.
1.991k BC - 1.783k BC Egypt, time of the Twelfth
Dynasty, the peak of the Middle Kingdom when the Pharaohs won back
some of the power which the monarchs of the Old kingdom had enjoyed.
It ended with the Middle Kingdom in 1786BC. During the period power
was somewhat distributed through the social classes. Religion
shifted from a wealth-based system to one based on proper conduct.
1.98k BC - 1.971k BC Sesostris I (Senusret I)
became co-regent with Amenenhet I.
1.971k BC - 1.929k BC Sesostris I (Senusret I)
ruled during Egypt’s 12th dynasty.
1.929k BC - 1.926k BC Amenemhet II ruled in the
12th Dynasty of Egypt as co-regent with his father Sesostris I.
1.926k BC - 1.892k BC Amenemhet II held sole rule
during Egypt’s 12th Dynasty.
1.9k BC King Melchizedek ruled Salem before it
became Jerusalem. He charged everybody in his domain a flat 10% tax.
(SFEC, 4/6/97, Z1 p.5)
c1.9k BC The "Epic of Gilgamesh" was redacted from
Sumerian sources written in the Babylonian semetic. The legend was
written about 1,600BC.
(eawc, p.3)(SFC, 11/18/99, p.C6)
1.9k BC - 1.5k BC During this period a Semitic
group of nomads migrated from Sumer to Canaan and then on to Egypt.
They were led by a caravan trader, the Patriarch Abraham, who became
the father of the nation of Israel. Ishmael was a son of Abraham had
by Hagar. Isaac was a son of Abraham by Sarah. Hebrews trace their
lineage through Isaac, Arabs through Ishmael.
(eawc, p.3)(NW, 11/02, p.55)
c1.898k BC - 1.866k BC In Egypt the Sphinx of
Tanis was made. It was later moved to Paris.
(WSJ, 10/7/98, p.A20)
1.897k BC - 1.878k BC Sesostris II (Senusret II),
son of Amenenhet II, ruled as co-regent in Egypt’s 12th Dynasty.
c1.89k BC Sinuhe, a professional soldier of high
rank in Egypt, serving in the army of Amenemhat II was faced with a
change in political power and left Egypt. He fled to Byblos, where
he was befriended by a local ruler named Ammienshi, who governed the
land of Retenu. He later returned to Egypt, now ruled by Senusret.
1.878k BC - 1.841k BC Senusret III (Sesostris III)
ruled as Egypt’s 5th king in the 12th Dynasty. He built a funerary
complex to link himself with Osiris, lord of Abydos. Khakaure was
Senwosret’s throne name.
1.842k BC - 1.797k BC Amenemhet III ruled as
Egypt’s 6th in the 12th Dynasty.
1.8k BC King Shamshi-Adad I of Assyria passed the
area of Palmyra on his way to the Mediterranean at the beginning of
the 18th century BC. By this time Palmyra was the easternmost point
of the kingdom of Qatna.
1.8k BC By this time the Old Babylonians employed
advanced mathematical operations such as multiplication, division
and square roots. Their duodecimal system, based on 12 and 6 to
measure time, is still used today.
c1.8k BC In Egypt walls of limestone were marked
with alphabetic inscriptions in the Wadi el-Hol (Gulch of Terror).
In 1993 the graffiti markings were discovered by Egyptologist John
Coleman Darnell and his wife Deborah and later traced to Semitic
people, possibly mercenary soldier scribes or Canaanite workers,
living in the area.
(SFEC, 11/14/99, p.A6)(SFC, 11/23/99, p.B10)
1.8k BC About this time Abraham buried his wife,
Sarah, in a cave in Hebron. The area later became known to the Jews
as the Tomb of the Patriarchs and to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque.
(SFC, 12/4/08, p.A27)
1.8k BC - 1.4k BC The Second Semitic period.
Macalister has five historic divisions to cover his excavation of
Gezar (Vol. ii, pp. 128-241). This period in pottery shows Egyptian
and Cypriotic influence, and here for the first time painted
ornament becomes prominent. The figures are outlines in broad brush
strokes, and the spaces are filled in afterwards, wholly or partly,
with strokes in another color. The subjects are animals, birds,
fishes, and geometrical patterns generally, and there can be little
doubt that they are crude local imitations of models of Late Minoan
ware, directly imported into the country.
1.798k BC - 1.786k BC Amenemhet IV ruled in the
1.792k BC - 175k BC Hammurabi, king of Babylon,
established a code of laws during this period that became known as
the Code of Hammurabi. They were inscribed on a basalt column, later
found at Susa, Iran. One of the laws was that if a married woman was
caught lying with another man, both should be bound and thrown into
(WH, 1994, p.13)(SFEC, 10/20/96, Z1 p.2)(Econ,
1.790k BC Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep IV sent
a major expedition to Punt during the 8th year of his reign. In 2010
scientists used mummies of baboons to identify the region of Punt as
either the lowland area of eastern Sudan or the area where
Ethiopia and Eritrea confront each other.
(SFC, 5/8/10, p.A8)
1.785k BC - 1782k BC Queen Sobeknefru (Nefrusobek)
ruled in the 12th Dynasty of Egypt.
1.782k BC - 1.779k BC Wegaf ruled at the beginning
of Egypt’s 13th Dynasty.
1.782k BC - 1.65k BC Egypt’s XIII Dynasty was
marked by a period of decay, loss of unity, and many short-lived
rival Pharaohs. This lasted through the Sixteenth Dynasty. Over 70
kings are listed in this dynasty and their dates are not well known.
1.782k BC - 157k BC Egypt’s Second Intermediate
Period. Also dated from 1640-1540.
1.80k BC Vesuvius erupted about this time and
entombed settlements 15km northwest of the volcano. The Avellino
event left evidence at the Nola site that people were able to flee
(Econ, 3/11/06, p.73)
1.766k BC In China the Shang Dynasty, the 2nd
dynasty of the country according to tradition, began. It flourished
on the banks of the Yellow River from about 1400BC-1027BC. The
period is known for its use of bronze containers, oracle bones and
human sacrifice, which ended shortly after the collapse of the
1.763k BC Hammurabi, the Amorite King, conquered
all of Sumer. He wrote a "Code of Laws" that contained 282 rules
including the principles of "an eye for an eye" and "let the buyer
beware." It was one of the first codes of law in world history,
predated only by the Laws of Lipit-Ishtar.
c1.76k BC Hor ruled in the early part of Egypt’s
1.750k BC Hammurabi established a code of laws.
One of the laws was that if a married woman was caught lying with
another man, both should be bound and thrown into the river.
(WH, 1994, p.13)(SFEC, 10/20/96, zone 1 p.2)
1.75k BC Hammurabi died but his empire lasted
another 150 years when the Kassites, a non-Semitic people, conquered
most of Mesopotamia with the help of light chariot warfare.
c1.75k BC The 1st evidence for the lapidary
engraving wheel appeared about this time.
(Arch, 9/00, p.18)
1.75k BC - 1.54k BC The Hyksos from Syria and
Palestine occupied Egypt and introduced the horse and chariot.
Taking advantage of the unsettled state of Egypt, Asiatic invaders
from Palestine entered Egypt and set themselves up as kings, even
adopting Pharaonic titles and customs. The Jewish historian Josephus
claims to quote the words of an Egyptian chronicler, Manetho, in
describing this period of foreign rule. The Hyksos, whoever they
were, had a 'blitz-weapon' - the horse drawn chariot which they had
copied from the horse-rearing Mitanni of northern Mesopotamia. And
the Mitanni in turn got the horse from Persia, together with the art
of riding it. In 2005 Arthur Cotterrell authored “Chariot," a
history of the chariot.
(eawc, p.3)(WSJ, 6/17/05, p.W6)(L.C.-W.P.p.55-56)
c1.747k BC Khendjer, a Hyksos king, ruled in
c1.745k BC Sobekhotep II ruled in the 13th Dynasty
1.741k BC - 1.73k BC Neferhotep I ruled in the
13th Dynasty of Egypt.
1.73k BC - 1.72k BC Sobekhotep IV ruled in the
13th Dynasty of Egypt.
c1.72k BC The Hyksos in northern Egypt dominated
the Delta and founded their capital Avaris (Tanis).
1.704k BC - 1.69k BC Ay ruled in Egypt’s 13th
Dynasty. He was succeeded by Neferhotep II and Nehesy in the 14th
1.7k BC Canaanites, before the Hebrew conquest,
built a massive wall about this time when Jerusalem was a small,
fortified enclave. Archeologists first discovered the 26-foot-high
wall in 1909 and later believed it to have been part of a protected
passage built from a hilltop fortress to a nearby spring that was
the city's only water source and vulnerable to marauders.
1.7k BC A Canaanite palace stored wine in large
ceramic jars. In 2013 archeologists exploring the site in northern
Israel, known as Tel Kabri, announced the discovery of a storage
room holding the broken remains of the jars.
(SFC, 11/23/13, p.A5)
1.7k BC Nubia is known as the Kingdom of Kush in
the Bible. By this time the Nubians had established sizable cities
with a class society of workers, farmers, priests, soldiers
bureaucrats and an aristocracy with technological and cultural
skills on a level with other advanced civilizations of their day.
(MT, 10/95, p.10-11)
1.7k BC Knossos was first destroyed by an
earthquake. Mycenae, the great city of the Peloponnesus, was another
earthquake victim about this time.
1.7k BC A Larsa king ruled Ur about this time.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.8)
1.7k BC - 1.25k BC Troy VI, the bronze age
settlement of the site of the Trojan War. The inhabitants probably
spoke Luvian, an Indo-European language related to Hittite.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.49-50)
1.7k BC - 1.1k BC This is the Shang Dynasty
period of China. [see 1766BC]
(Arch, 9/00, p.34)
1.696k BC - 1.686k BC Neferhotep, the 22nd king of
the 13th Dynasty, ruled Egypt. He was the son of a temple priest in
Abydos. In 2005 archeologists unearthed a statue of him. His name
means "beautiful and good."
1.69k BC A kernel of corn was found in 1997 in the
McKuen Cave in Eastern Arizona that dated to this time.
(SFEC, 4/18/99, Z1 p.2)
1.674k BC Sheshi, a Hyksos ruler, conquered
Memphis (Egypt). Shesi ruled at the beginning of the 15th Dynasty
and was succeeded by Yakubher, Khyan, Apepi I, Apepi II, Anather in
the 16th Dynasty, Yakobaam, Sobekemsaf II in the 17th Dynasty, and
Intef VII. The Hyksos invaded Egypt in horse-drawn chariots.
1.664k BC - 1.559k BC Egypt was ruled for a century by the Hyksos, a
warrior people from Asia, possibly Semitic in origin, whose summer
capital was in the northern Delta area. In 2010 an Austrian
archaeological team used radar imaging to determine the extent of
the ruins of the one time capital of Egypt's foreign occupiers
underneath the green farm fields and modern town of Tel al-Dabaa.
1.663k BC - 1.555k BC The period of Egypt’s 15th
Dynasty. In Egypt the 15th, 16th and 17th dynasties ruled
c1.65k BC Egypt’s 14th Dynasty kings ruled mostly
from the Western Nile Delta. Their dates are not well known and they
may have been contemporary with the 13th Dynasty.
1.627k BC The volcano Thera, or Santorini in the
Aegean Sea, erupted about this time. Akrotiri, a Minoan city on the
south part of Thera, was later excavated. About 3-6 feet (1-2 m) of
ash fell on the city which had a population of about 30,000. The
explosion of Thera about this time released energy equal to 200,000
H-bombs. In 1939 Spyridon Marinatos authored “The Volcanic
Destruction of Minoan Crete."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_eruption)(NH, 5/96, p.3)
1.6k BC - 1.25k BC An earthen mound on the
southern Mexico-Guatemala border dated to this period and was
considered part of a chiefdom center of the Mokaya people.
(Arch, 1/06, p.43)
1.64k BC - 1.54k BC Egypt’s 2nd Intermediate
c1.633k BC Tao I ruled in Egypt’s 17th Dynasty. In
Egypt the 15th, 16th and 17th dynasties ruled simultaneously.
1.628k BC The palace at Knossos, Crete, is
depicted in the opening of the 1996 book: "Europe: A History" by
(WSJ, 11/18/96, p.A10)
c1.6k BC The Nebra disk, a 12-inch bronze and gold
disk from this time, was evidence of ancient German astronomy. It
recorded images of the sun, moon and 32 stars.
(AM, 3/04, p.42)
c1.6k BC Chocolate originated in northern
(SFEC, 5/16/99, BR p.8)
c1.6k BC The Middle Helladic - Late Helladic I.
This archeological period describes the settlement patterns of
Greece at about this time.
(LSA., Fall 1995, p.6)
1.6k BC The Phaestos Disc (Phaistos) of
terra-cotta found in the excavation of the Cretan palace of Phaestos
dating to the Middle Minoan III. It is a roughly circular tablet,
15.8-16.5 cm. in diameter. On each face is a spiral band of four
coils, indicated by a roughly drawn meandering line; and an
inscription, in some form of picture-writing, has been impressed on
this band, one by one, from dies, probably resembling those used by
bookbinders... On one face of the disc there are 119 signs; on the
other face there are 123. they are divided in what appear to be
word-groups... by lines cutting across the spiral bands at right
angles. These word-groups contain from two to seven characters each.
There are forty-five different characters employed.
1.6k BC In Egypt a revolution against Hyksos rule
began in the south and spread throughout the country.
1.6k BC The Kassites, a non-Semitic people,
conquered most of Mesopotamia with the help of light chariot
1.6k BC Mounded royal tombs containing artifacts
from about this time were found in the ruins of the city of Kerma
from ancient Nubia.
(MT, 10/95, p.10-11)
1.6k BC A gate in a curved wall in Shekhem city
was built by skilled engineers around this time. The king of
Shekhem, Labaya, is mentioned in the cuneiform tablets of the
Pharaonic archive found at Tel al-Amarna in Egypt, which are dated
to the 14th century BC. The king had rebelled against Egyptian
domination, and soldiers were dispatched north to subdue him, but
failed. Romans later abandoned the original site and built a new
city to the west, calling it Flavius Neapolis. The Greek name
Neapolis, or "new city," later became enshrined in Arabic as Nablus.
A German team began excavating at the site in 1913.
1.6k BC Farmers began to settle the above 3,000
meters on the Tibetan plateau about this time and gradually moved up
to 4,700 meters with barley as the dominant crop.
(Econ, 11/22/14, p.75)
1.6k BC - 1.5k BC Art pieces attributed to the Xia
Dynasty of China are on exhibit at the Shanghai Museum. These
include an ax blade, a three legged food vessel, and 3 wine vessels.
(WSJ, 5/9/96, p.A-16)
1.6k BC - 1.5k BC In India the Aryans invaded the
Indus Valley region. In 1999 researchers reported that gene patterns
confirmed that Caucasoid invaders entered India between 1000 and
(eawc, p.3)(SFC, 5/26/99, p.C2)
1.6k BC - 1.4k BC Late Minoan period. Late Minoan
I pottery is distinguished from the earlier period by the convention
that its designs as a rule are painted dark on a light background.
The palace of Phaestos was rebuilt. Fine frescoes and admirably
sculptured vases in steatite are found. In Late Minoan II the
naturalistic figures become conventionalized, and a degeneration in
the arts sets in which continues into Late Minoan III. At the end of
Late Minoan II an invasion from the mainland occurs apparently
resulting in the destruction of the Knossos.
1.6k BC - 1.4k BC In 2010 Russian researchers said
traces of a previously unknown Bronze Age civilization have been
discovered in the peaks of the Caucasus Mountains thanks to aerial
photographs taken 40 years ago. The civilization dated from the 16th
to the 14th centuries BC, high in the mountains south of Kislovodsk.
The decorations and forms of bronze items found in the area
indicated that the civilization is linked to the Kuban civilization,
which was discovered at the end of the 19th century at the foot of
1.6k BC - 1.3k BC Messenia, the home of King
Nestor, mentioned in Homer's Iliad, is the site of a well excavated
palace that dates to this period.
(LSA., Fall 1995, p.6)
1.6k BC - 1.3k BC In Oman a transitional culture
known as late Wadi Suq.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.49)
1.6k -1.25k BC An earthen mound in southern
Mexican-Guatemala border dated to this period and was considered
part of a chiefdom center of the Mokaya people.
(Arch, 1/06, p.43)
1.6k BC - 1.2k BC The Mycenaean civilization on
the Greek peninsula emerged. It was named after the leading Greek
city of this period.
1.6k BC - 1k BC In India the Early Vedic period of
Indian civilization unfolded.
1.6k BC - 1.046k BC Chinese inscribed bronzes and
oracle bones of the Shang dynasty date from about this time.
1.595k BC The Hittites captured Babylon and
retreated. They left the city open to Kassite domination which
lasted about 300 years. The Kassites maintained the
Sumerian/Babylonian culture without innovations of their own.
1.575k BC - 1.532k BC Ipepi (Apophis) ruled as a Hyksos 17th Dynasty
king of Egypt.
1.574k BC Tao II ruled in the 17th Dynasty of
1.573k BC - 1.57k BC Kamose ruled as a Hyksos 17th
Dynasty king of Egypt.
1.57k BC - 1.546k BC Ahmose, Pharaoh of Egypt,
ruled in Egypt’s 17th Dynasty. His sister-wife was Queen
Ahmosep-Nefertary. During his reign he defeated the Hyksos led by
Apophis. Ahmose engaged the Hyksos at their city of Avaris, and the
city of Sharuhen for three years.
1.57k BC - 107k BC Egypt’s New Kingdom Period.
Thebes (which encompassed the site known today as Luxor) was the
chief city of Egypt. Pharaohs began to abandon royal pyramids in
favor of hidden tombs in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes. A bust
of the Royal scribe Meniou was made in limestone during Egypt’s New
Kingdom. It is now in the French Louvre.
(AM, 7/01, p.58)(WSJ, 1/29/98,
1.57k BC - 107k BC Egyptian wall paintings
included information on beer production. In 2004 Japan’s Kirin
Brewery produced a beer dubbed “The New Kingdom Beer."
(WSJ, 10/14/04, p.A1)
1.551k BC - 1.524k BC Amenhotep I (Ahmenophis),
son of Amasis I (Ahmose), ruled at the beginning of the 18th Dynasty
of Egypt. Inscriptions indicate that he engaged the Nubians in
the land of Kush. Some of the southern foes were evidently
cave-dwellers (troglodytes), since the inscription goes on to say
that 'His majesty captured the Nubian Troglodyte in the midst of his
c1.55k BC During the beginning in Egypt’s 18th
Dynasty the Opet Festival celebrated the Theban triad of the sun and
creator Amun, his consort Mut, and their son Khonsu.
(Arch, 7/02, p.36)
1.55k BC A wealthy young teenager, later dubbed
"The Boy with the Amber Necklace," was buried near Britain's
mysterious Stonehenge monument at about this time. Scientists in
2010 determined that he came from the Mediterranean hundreds of
miles away, proof of the site's importance as a travel destination
in prehistoric times.
1.55k BC In India writing disappeared for a time
with the destruction of the Indus Valley civilization.
1.55k BC - 1.295k BC During
Egypt’s 18th Dynasty private people began building small pointy
pyramids above their tombs.
(Arch, 9/02, p.56)
1.55k BC - 1.2k BC The Late Bronze Age.
(MT, 3/96, p.2)
1.532k BC - 1.522k BC Khamudi (Aseth) ruled as a
Hyksos 15th Dynasty king of Egypt.
1.24k BC - 1.518k BC Tuthmosis I (Thutmose I)
ruled at the beginning of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt.
1.518k BC - 1.504k BC In Egypt Tuthmosis II ruled
in the 18th Dynasty. Hatshepsut was married to her sickly
half-brother when she was about 12.
1.504k BC - 1.45k BC Tuthmosis III, a son of one
of the lesser wives of Tuthmosis I, ruled in the 18th Dynasty. In
the 15th cent. BC Thutmose III led his army from Egypt to
Megiddo and outflanked the chariots of the Canaanite forces that had
revolted against him. [see 1479-1426]
1.5k BC The Basketmaker culture of the Ancient
Pueblo People began about this time and continued until about AD 500
with the beginning of the Pueblo I Era. In 2014 archeologists
discovered an ancient village built during the Basketmaker period
with 50-70 pit houses organized in rings on about 66 acres Arizona’s
Petrified Forest National Park.
(SFC, 10/11/14, p.A8)
1.5k BC Before this time in India the sap of the
palmyra palm was used to make a fermented drink later called a
"toddy" by the English.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, Z1 p.5)
1.5k BC Domesticated dogs companied people to
Timor, New Guinea and Australia by about this time. The dogs
reverted to a feral existence and in Australia became dingoes.
(NH, 11/1/04, p.14)
1.5k BC The Shang dynasty began in China.
(WH, 1994, p.13)
c1.5k BC Stonehenge, a circle of large stones in
southern England, was constructed to observe the seasons.
(NG, March 1990, p.110)
c1.5k BC Linguistic evidence shows that the
Canaanites (now more commonly known as the Phoenicians) were
non-Jewish Semites whose language was almost identical with Hebrew.
(MT, Spg. '97, p.12)
1.5k BC The Egyptian “Book of the Dead" dates to
about this time.
(Econ, 12/22/12, p.24)
c1.5k BC Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and
established a calendar with Egyptian features but based on a seven
day week. The later 8-day Sukkot festival commemorates the fall
harvest and the wandering of the Hebrews in the Sinai desert after
the Exodus. In 1998 Jonathan Kirsch authored "Moses: A Life." Miriam
was the sister of Moses and led the celebration following the
crossing of the Red Sea. [see 1280BC]
(K.I.-365D, p.58)(SFEC,10/19/97, p.A26)(SFEC,
12/13/98, BR p.5)(WSJ, 4/7/00, p.W17)
c1.5k BC Egyptian tombs show paintings of
apparently Cretan messengers and merchants, called by the name
Keftiu, bearing Cretan goods: and in addition we find the actual
tangible goods themselves, deposited with the Egyptian dead.
c1.5k BC A boy named Djehuti-Irdis (13) died in
Thebes. In 2000 a biopsy confirmed that he died of pneumonia.
(SFC, 1/3/01, p.A13)
1.5k BC By this time the kingdom of Kush was
established south of Egypt. The Kushites were dark-complexioned
1.5k BC In Guam the pre-latte period dates to
about this time when the first wave of migration is believed to have
taken place. Between 2006 and 2008, excavations at the Naton Beach
site turned up more than 400 burials from the pre-latte and latte
periods of prehistoric Guam.
1.5k BC In 2009 Spain's scientific research agency
(CSIC) announced that a tomb decorated with 3,500-year-old paintings
was discovered in Luxor by Jose Manuel Galan, a Spanish
Egyptologist. The person was in the service of the 18th dynasty
Queen Hatshepsut, the most powerful female pharaoh and who ruled for
21 years from 1479 to 1458 BC.
c1.5k BC In 1978 Greek grave robbers at Aidonia
dug into ancient tombs believed to be a 3,500BC-year-old palatial
cemetery of the Mycenaeneans. The looters plundered 18 graves but
left one undisturbed. Objects from the single pit provided
archeologists evidence to match the objects of an attempted 1993
(SFC, 8/13/96, p.B2)
1.5k BC Chersonesos on the edge of Sevastopol was
the Greek world's most northern colony.
1.5k BC The Laws of Manu, a Hindu sacred text,
dated to about this time. It sanctified the caste system of India.
(www.fordham.edu/halsall/india/manu-full.html)(Econ, 10/6/07, p.15)
c1.5k BC In 2002 in southern Italy a settlement
was found dating to this time on the River Sarno 6 miles northeast
of Pompeii. It was abandoned after being destroyed by a flood in the
6th century BC. It was uncovered by archeologists in 2000.
(SFC, 3/22/02, p.A10)(Arch, 7/02, p.15)
1.5k BC A court to play ulama was built about this
time in Chiapas, Mexico. Olmecs used latex balls for the game. The
Olmecs processed rubber using latex from rubber trees mixed with
juice from the morning glory vine. The rubber was used to make a
bouncy ball for their ball games.
(SFC, 6/19/99, p.A9)(Econ, 4/24/04, p.81)
1.5k BC - 1.4k BC The Canaanite "Poem of Aqhat," a
work of seasonal writing, dates to this time.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, BR p.9)
1.5k BC - 1.2k BC The Late Bronze Age. The
Amorites in the time of Moses came from northeast Syria. The
languages of northeast Syria and Palestine appear to have been 1/3
Semitic, 1/3 Indo-European and 1/3 Hurrian.
(MT, Spg. '97, p.11)
c1.5k BC - 1.2k BC The Persian prophet Zoroaster
(Zarathustra) founded the religion known as Zoroastrianism. The
principal beliefs included the existence of a supreme deity called
Ahura Mazda and a cosmic struggle between the spirit of good, Spenta
Mainyu, and the spirit of evil, Angra Mainyu. Later adherents to
Zoroastrianism are represented by the Parsees of India and the
Gabars of Iran.
1.5k BC - 1.1k BC Evidence found in 1998 revealed terraced farming
for corn back to this time in northeast Mexico on a hilltop
overlooking the Rio Casa Grandes.
(SFC, 3/13/98, p.A11)
1.5k BC - 1k BC Nubia was colonized by Egypt.
(MT, 10/95, p.10-11)
1.5k BC - 400 BC This period of Greek history was
covered by Charles Freeman in his 1999 book "The Greek Achievement."
(WSJ, 8/31/99, p.A20)
1.5k BC - 300 BC The Lapita archaeological culture
of the Western Pacific. It represents an Austronesian-speaking
Neolithic population that colonized Oceania.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.22)
1.479k BC Thotmosis II died. He was succeeded by
Queen Hatshepsut and his step-son Thotmosis III. Queen Hatshepsut,
the only woman to have reigned as a pharaoh, ruled Egypt as 18th
Dynasty regent for Thutmose III. Her name translates as "The
Foremost of Noble Ladies." In 1996 Joyce Tyldesley authored
"Hatshepsut, The Female Pharaoh."
(AFP, 4/21/06)(ON, 10/99, p.8)(AP,
1.479k BC - 1.425k BC Thotmosis III ruled as
pharaoh of Egypt. His initial reign was under the guidance of his
mother, Queen Hatsheppsut.
1.471k BC Tuthmosis III of Egypt built rafts
on the Lebanese coast, put them on wagons, and transported them to
the Euphrates in order to cross the river and defeat the King of
Mitanni. This was his eighth campaign in the thirty-third year of
his reign. This was well over 250 miles. He died in the fifty-fourth
year of his reign. An inscription at Napata in Nubia tells us about
c1.47k BC The 97-foot obelisk at Karnak, Egypt,
was erected as part of a sun dial and cast its shadow on a temple of
the sun god Amun Ra.
(AM, 3/04, p.42)
1.461k BC Egyptians erected a 68.5 foot obelisk in
Heliopolis. The Romans moved it to Alexandria in 14BC. An earthquake
soon after 1300 left it lying prone on the coast.
(ON, 6/20/11, p.9)
1.458k BC In Egypt Queen Hatshepsut, mother of
Tuthmosis III, died. Tuthmosis III, in his early thirties, declared
war on the Prince of the Syrian city of Kadesh, who had organized a
confederacy in Palestine and Syria. Tuthmosis defeated the Syrians
following an 8 month siege of Megiddo. In 2007 Egyptian
archaeologists said the mummy of an obese woman, who likely suffered
from diabetes and liver cancer, has been identified as that of Queen
Hatshepsut, Egypt's most powerful female pharaoh. Hatshepsut, who
ruled Egypt in the 15th century B.C., was known for dressing like a
man and wearing a false beard. But when her rule ended, all traces
of her mysteriously disappeared, including her mummy. Discovered in
1903 in the Valley of the Kings, the mummy was left on site until
2007, when it was brought to the Cairo Museum for testing.
(ON, 3/01, p.11)(AFP, 4/21/06)(AP, 6/27/07)
1.45k BC - 1.3k BC The Hittite culture reached its
highpoint and dominated the territory North and East of Babylon
including Turkey and northern Palestine. By this time the Hittites
have constructed a mythology with a state pantheon.
1.427k BC – 1.401k BC Amenhotep II (Amenophis II),
son of Tuthmose III, ruled in the 18th Dynasty. In the same Giza
stele which describes his prowess with a 33-foot oar, there is an
account of his skill as a archer. There is no doubt that he did
conquer the Asiatic powers of Djahi, Retenu, Mitanni, and 'God's
1.401k BC – 1.391k BC Tuthmosis IV, son of
Amenhotep II, ruled in Egypt’s 18th Dynasty with his son as
1.4k BC Around Greece after the destruction of
Knossos the Mycenaean civilization replaced the Minoan. Bronze
weapons, war scenes on art, Cyclopean defense walls and the burial
of male warriors with their weapons indicates that the Mycenaeans
were militaristic. The horse drawn chariot emerged about this time.
The Mycenaeans dominated the Aegean world for about 200 years.
1.4k BC Michael Ventris (d.1956) and John Chadwick
(d.1998 at 78) in 1956 published "Documents in Mycenaean Greek."
This was a translation of Greek writings known as Linear B
discovered by Sir Arthur Evans at the Minoan palace of Cnossos
[Knossos] in 1900 and dated to 1400BC.
(SFC, 12/8/98, p.B6)
c1.4k BC The Temple of Hatshepsut was built in
1.4k BC The tomb of Kha Mirit from this time was
later put on display in the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy.
(SSFC, 1/22/06, p.E6)
1.4k BC Sumerian writing remained pictographic
until about this time.
(SFEC, 11/14/99, p.A6)
c1.4k BC A major earthquake occurred in the Middle
1.4k BC This was the Kassite period of the
Mesopotamian city of Ur.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.8)
1.4k BC – 1.3k BC In 2010 Israeli archaeologists
said a newly discovered clay fragment from the 14th century BC is
the oldest example of writing ever found in antiquity-rich
Jerusalem. Dig director Eilat Mazar of Hebrew University said the
2-centimeter-long fragment bears an ancient form of writing known as
Akkadian wedge script.
1.4k BC - 1.2k BC The spread of the debased Cretan
culture over Southern Asia Minor, Cyprus, and North Syria must have
been due to the movements of peoples, one incident in which was the
sack of Knossos (and the collapse of the island of Thera): and this
is true, whether those who carried the Cretan art were refugees from
Crete, or were the conquerors of Crete seeking yet further lands to
1.4k BC - 1k BC The Third Semitic period, historic
period of pottery which includes the time of the Philistine
supremacy. The designs had in fact become 'hieratic', and the fine
broad lines in several colors had given place to thin-line
monochrome patterns... this change can be most easily accounted for
by the assumption that the art passed from one race to another. And
the sudden disappearance of fine-line technique coincides so
completely with the subjugation of the Philistines, that we can
hardly hesitate to painted ware displaying the peculiar Third
Semitic characters 'Philistine'.
1.4k BC - 400BC The Olmecs, who called themselves
Xi, were the earliest known civilization of Mesoamerica. They
influenced the subsequent civilizations of the Maya and Aztec. They
inhabited the Gulf Coast region of what is now Mexico and Central
America. Their capital was San Lorenzo, near the present day city of
(WSJ, 1/16/96, p. A-16)(SFC, 8/2/05, p.A2)
1.391k BC Amenhotep III (Amenophis III), son of
Tuthmose IV, began ruling Egypt about this time and continued to
about 1351. His reign marked the culmination of the 18th Dynasty. In
2010 a red-granite top half of his statue was discovered at the site
of his funerary temple in the southern city of Luxor.
1.384k BC In China P'an Keng founded the city of
Anyang. A mature culture with writing and art was developed by this
1.35k BC - 1336k BC Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) ruled
during the 18th Dynasty Amarna Period of Egypt. He became concerned
about abuses in the Osiris cult. He posited a new monotheistic
religion dedicated to the worship of the sun. His wife was
Nefertiti, daughter-in-law of Amenophis III and Queen Tiye. He moved
the capital from Thebes to El-Amarna. After his death the capital
was moved back to Thebes, and his successor, a young boy named
Smenkhkare reigned for three years. The city of Amarna later
(NG, 9/98, p.17)(WSJ, 7/17/00,
1.35k BC The 1st recorded smallpox epidemic took
place during an Egyptian-Hittite war. Hittite warriors caught the
disease from Egyptian prisoners. The king and heir were fatally
infected and the empire fell apart.
(SFC, 10/19/01, p.A17)(NW, 10/14/02, p.46)
1.345k BC Tutankhamen (King Tut), Egypt’s boy
king, was born. His wet nurse was named Maia.
(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A7)(USAT, 1/20/04, p.6D)
1.345k BC The Ebers Papyrus indicated the medical
use of willow bark. It contained salicylic acid, an ingredient of
(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.M6)
c1.340k BC A bust of Nefertiti was made that later
ended up in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin.
(SFC, 7/7/96, T5)
1.336k BC - 1.334k BC The period of the 18th
Dynasty under Smenkhkare.
1.334k BC - 1.325k BC Tutankhamen (10), son of
Akhenaten, was Pharaoh of Egypt. Aye, became regent while Tut was
growing up and effectively ruled the country.
(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A7)
c1.33k BC The capital of Amarna was abandoned. In
2004 it was reported that black plague bacteria was found in the
remains of fossilized fleas from Amarna.
(AM, 7/04, p.12)
1.33k BC A memorial to the servant who suckled
Tutankhamen was reported found by French archeologists in 1997 at
the Saqqara necropolis 13 miles south of Cairo. Hieroglyphics and a
relief that showed a woman with breast and nipple exposed pay
tribute to Maya, "who fed the body of a god."
1.323k BC Tutankhamen died about this time at age
19. It was later suspected that the young prince was killed on his
way to Egypt under the orders of Ay or Horemhab. Howard Carter
discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922. In 2005 a CT scan
indicated that Tut was not murdered by a blow to the head, nor was
his chest crushed in an accident. His death remained a mystery. In
2005 a researcher reported evidence that analysis of wine jugs found
in his tomb indicated that the wine was red. In 2007 his face was
made public for the first time. In 2010 scientists reported that a
study of his mummy revealed that King Tutankhamun suffered from a
cleft palate and club foot, likely forcing him to walk with a cane,
and died from complications from a broken leg exacerbated by
(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A7)(SFC, 10/27/05, p.A2)(AP,
1.323k BC - 1.321k BC King Ay succeeded
Tutankhamun. In 1931 a ring was found by Percy Newberry in a Cairo
antiquities shop that bore an inscription indicating that Aye and
Ankhesenaten were married.
1.321k BC Aye died after three years on Egypt’s
throne and the walls of his tomb showed another woman, Tiy, as his
(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A7)
1.321k BC - 1.295k BC A soldier named Horemhab
succeeded King Ay. Some regard him as the last Pharaoh of the 18th
Dynasty while others think he was the founder of the 19th. Horemhab
is thought to have prevented the dynastic marriage of Ankhesnamun,
the widow of Tutankhamun, to prince Zananza, son of the Hittite
king, Suppilliliumas. Documents discovered at the Hittite capital of
Boghaz-Koy in Turkey prove beyond doubt that the young queen was
writing to Suppililiumas imploring him to send her one of his sons
so that she might make him King of Egypt.
1.315k BC - 1.201k BC In 2010 the intricately
decorated tomb and coffin of Ken-Amun, the overseer of the royal
records during the 19th Dynasty (1315-1201 B.C.), was found near
Ismailia, 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Cairo.