CHRONOLOGY
All dates are BC / BCE, before the Common Era. Due to the uncertainty of many dates in prehistory, dates are fixed at the midpoint between a range usually derived from radiocarbon dating results. Dates in brackets refer to the end of the given period. Natural events are italicised.
18 000 Mezin ivories, Ukraine (-15 000)
14 000 Gobustan rock art, Azerbaijan (-7000)
12 500 Late Glacial Maximum. Increasing rainfall in southern Levant (-9500)
11 000 Natufian culture horizon (-8500), cultivation techniques, southern Levant.
10 700 Hallan Çemi culture, pig domestication, southeast Turkey (-9210)
10 400 Hilazon Tachtit cave shaman burial, Israel (-10 000). Natufian culture
10 078 Wadi Faynan, Jordan (-8220)
10 000 Younger Dryas event (Clovis Comet hypothesis). Colder, drier climate worldwide (-9600)
Increased rainfall in North Africa, 'Green Sahara' (-5500)
Tell Qaramel (stone towers -9650) and Mureybet, Syria (-8000). Jericho communal buildings, Jordan. Late Natufian culture
9800 Nemrik 9, northern Iraq (-8270)
9700 Göbekli Tepe layer III, southeast Turkey (-9400)
9650 Jerf al-Ahmar, Syria (-8610), Mureybet culture horizon
9600 Netiv Hagdad, Levant-Jordan. Abu Hureyra, Syria. Year round farming in the Levant, long distance trade. Natufian culture (-8500)
9400 Rapid growth of cereal use in the Middle East
9300 Mureybet, token system, Mureybet culture, Syria (-8600)
9100 Göbekli Tepe Enclosures D and C, layer II (-8600), Taşlı Tepe, Körtik Tepe, Sefer Tepe,
Cafer Höyük, southeast Turkey. Şanlıurfa culture horizon (-7000)
9000 Karahan Tepe and Djade al-Mughara, Syria
Shigir Idol, Middle Urals, Russia
Nabta Playa settled, southwestern Egypt
Roundhead culture Phase 1, Djado plateau, northeastern Niger (-6000)
8870 Zawi Chemi Shanidar, northern Iraq
8820 Amesbury settled, England
8800 Çayönü culture horizon, Syria (-8500)
8500 Nevalı Çori (-7000) and Hamzan Tepe, Turkey. (Şanlıurfa culture)
Çayönü 'skull building' and channelled building phase, Syria
Boncuklu Höyük, central Turkey (-7500)
8200 Aşıklı Höyük, Turkey (-7400) (Şanlıurfa culture)
Obsidian trade across the Middle East
Çayönü II, mixed animal domestication, Syria (-7150)
8000 Göbekli Tepe layer I (-7000), Karahan Tepe, Cafer Höyük, Yeni Mahalle, Adiyaman-Kilisik
and Aşikli Höyük, Turkey. Çayönü trade, farming. (Şanlıurfa-Çayönü culture horizon)
7550 Kiffian culture, Gobero, Niger (-6200)
7500 Çatalhöyük East, central Turkey (-6800)
Pastoral rock art, Sahara (-3000)
7400 Göbekli Tepe eradication begins. Şanlıurfa-Çayönü culture collapse horizon (-6900)
7300 Çayönü III-V, animal domestication (-7150)
Dotted Wavy Line pottery horizon, Niger
7200 Çayönü revolts and collapse, Nevalı Çori dismantled, Göbekli Tepe final dissolution (-6900)
7100 Jarmo, Iraq
7000 Maglemosian culture, Zealand (-6000)
Tazina rock art horizon, North Africa (-3500/2000)
Migrations between Scandinavia (Saami) and northern Africa (Amizagh) populations
6900 Tell Seker al-Aheimar, northeast Syria. Earliest ceramics in the Middle East (-6700)
Ship navigation in Sudan, North Africa
6800 Çatalhöyük East abandoned
6700 Cardial impressed pottery, North Africa and western Mediterranean
6600 Çatalhöyük West, central Turkey (-5500)
6500 Kösk Höyük, Tepecik-Çiftlik, central Turkey
Ubaid culture, Syria/Iraq (-4000)
Hassuna culture, Iraq (-3800)
Samarra culture, Syria/Iraq (-5500)
Hacilar, western Turkey (-4800)
Increased rainfall in Morocco (-5000)
6250 Climatic crisis ('8.2 kiloyear event', meltwater pulse reaches Northern hemisphere,
'Black Sea Flood event'). Aridification and cooling (-6000/5800). Mesolithic sites in
Spain abandoned (-5400). Sahara aridity and migrations to southern Spain and Portugal
6250 Tenerian culture, Gobero, Niger (-2550)
6200 Karanovo culture, Bulgaria (-5500)
6100 Nabta Playa ceremonial centre, cattle burials, southwestern Egypt (-5600)
6000 Starčevo-Criş-Körös culture (Eastern Linear Pottery culture) horizon,
eastern Hungary/Romania/Serbia/Montenegro/Bosnia/Croatia (-5250)
Old Europe civilization and Danube Script horizon
Roundhead culture Phase 2, Tassili n'Ajer, southeast Algeria (-3500)
Kongemose culture, southern Scandinavia (-5200)
5900 Ulucakhöyük, western Turkey
Cucuteni-Trypillian culture horizon; Romania, Moldova and Ukraine,
Old Europe civilization (-3400)
5800 Halaf culture, Syria and Iraq (-4500)
Uğurlu, northern Aegean, Greece. Danube Script horizon
Sesklo culture (middle period), Greece (-5300)
Ceramics and domestic animals in Algeria and northern Morocco (-4900)
5700 Hacilar, central Turkey (-5000)
5500 Çatalhöyük West decline
Hacilar destroyed and rebuilt
Merhgarh culture, Pakistan (-3500), Indus Valley civilization horizon
Linear Pottery culture (LBK) (-4500)
Pronounced climate transition, increased dryness (-3100)
Bovidian style (naturalistic cattle) rock art, Sahara (-3900)
5450 Neolithic in western Algarve, Portugal
5400 Cattle in Algeria
Neolithic in Maghreb, western Sahara
Old Europe civilization mature stage:
Early Vinča-Turdaș culture, southeastern Europe copper and gold metallurgy (-4800)
Starčevo-Körös-Criş culture, central-southeastern Europe (-4500)
Karanovo-Gumelnita culture, Bulgaria and Romania (-4200)
Tiszapolgár culture, central Balkans (-4300)
Danube Script maturity (-4500)
5370 Tărtăria tablets, central Romania, Old Europe civilization (-5140)
5300 Ertebølle culture, southern Scandinavia and northern Germany (-3950)
Early Ubaid culture, Iraq (-4500)
Herxheim, Germany (LBK culture) (-4950
Cattle sacrifices, Messak Settafet plateau, Libya (-4100)
5200 Hamangia culture, Romania and Bulgaria (-4500), Old Europe civilization
Adrar Bous, Niger cattle burials (-4100)
Middle Pastoral culture, stone monuments, north Africa (-3700)
5000 'Neolithic Humid'. Wet, warm. Middle Holocene climatic optimum.
Domesticated cattle across the Sahara (-2500)
5000 Hacilar decline
Lengyel culture, Hungary, Old Europe civilization (-3400)
Tazina style rock art, Morocco (-2000)
4900 Ring enclosures in central Europe (eg. Goseck, Herxheim)
Stroke-Ornamented Ware (STK) (-4600)
4800 Megalithic building, Brittany and Portugal
Late Vinča-Turdaș culture, southeastern Europe (-4200). Old Europe civilization
4730 Uan Telocat rock shelter, Acacus Mountains, Libya
4700 Gumelniţa-Karanovo-Varna culture, eastern Bulgaria/Romania, Old Europe civilization (-4350)
4650 Vinča-Turdaș culture, southeast Europe, Old Europe civilization.
Tin-bronzes at Pločnik, Serbia
4625 Rossen culture, Germany (-4250
4600 Nabta Playa megalithic phase, Bunat El Ansalm people, southwestern Egypt (-3600)
4500 Amber bear from Jutland (Ertebølle), contact with LBK settlements in Limburg,
similar amulets from the Baltic
Plough introduced in Europe
Sumer, Iraq (-4001), proto-writing, Ubaid culture
Khvalynsk culture, middle Volga, Ukraine (-3500)
Cucuteni-Trypillian culture migrations to Caucasus, Sredni Stog culture,
Kemi Oba culture, Ukraine (-3500 Yamnaya culture)
Karanova VI culture, Bulgaria
Bodrogkeresztúr culture, Romania
4400 Sredni Stog culture intrusion into eastern Europe (Early Proto-Indo European Wave 1)
(-4200/3900)
Old Europe civilization:
Varna culture, Bulgaria. Gold and copper metallurgy (-4100)
Boian culture, Romania / Bulgaria (-3500)
Classical Cucuteni-Trypillian culture; Romania / Moldova/Ukraine (-4000)
Badarian culture apex, cattle burials, Upper Egypt (-4000)
4200 Piora Oscillation / Early Subboreal climate event, cold period (-3800)
Gumelniţa, Karanovo VI, Varna Cultures abandoned,
decline of Old Europe civilization in the region (-3900)
Susa founded, Ubaid culture, western Iran
Nabatya Playa, Egypt
4250 Carnac megaliths, Brittany
Alta petroglyphs, Norway
4000 Maikop culture, Western Caucasus (-3000)
Funnelbeaker (TRB) culture horizon (-2800)
Susa, Uruk, Sumerian civilization, Iraq/Iran (-3100)
3900 5.9 kiloyear event, worldwide migrations to river valleys, Sahara begins aridification
Late Pastoral culture, north Africa (-1700)
3800 Tell Brak massacres, advanced warfare in Syria (-3600)
Mild climate restored in Europe
Late Cucuteni-Trypillian culture; Romania, Moldova and Ukraine;
Old Europe civilization (-3500)
3700 Kemi Oba culture (Maikop culture), Western Caucasus and Ukraine (-2200)
3600 Yamnaya culture, middle Volga, Ukraine (-2300)
3525 Mankhor, Algeria, cattle burials (-2865)
3500 Cucuteni-Tripolye culture peak population
Tell Hamoukar destroyed, Syria
Funnelbeaker/TRB culture, north Germany. 5000 megalithic tombs (-3200)
Sahara and Arabia desertification (-2500/1600, depending on location)
Naqada II, Egypt (Gerzeh culture) (-3200)
Yamnaya culture kurgan expansions into Europe (Indo-European Wave 2 hypothesis) (-3000), Maikop culture resulting in advances of "kurganized" hybrid cultures into northern Europe
around 3000 BC (Globular Amphora culture, Baden culture, and ultimately Corded Ware
culture)
Wheeled vehicles north of Caucasus, Mesopotamia, Northern Europe (-3100)
Pit Grave culture peaks, Proto-Indo European society, Ukraine (-3000)
Proto-cuneiform writing, Iraq / Iran (-3100)
3300 Fertile Crescent Bronze Age
3250 Potter's wheel in the Near East
Novosvobodnaya culture (Maikop), North Caucasus (-2900)
3200 Uruk IV, stone-cone temple, Iraq
Piora Oscillation (-2900), abrupt cold and wet period.
Proto-Elamite, Iran (-2700)
3114 Start of Mayan calendar
3102 Kali Yuga, India
3100 Sumer, Jemdet Nasr period (-2900), emerging bureaucracy, more inequality, Syria / Iraq
Cucuteni-Trypillian culture population at 15 000
3000 Burckle-Madagascar Impact hypothesis (-2800)
Cucuteni-Tripolye culture in decline, Old Europe civilization
2900 Sumer dynastic period, Iraq.
Gilgamesh