40th century BC

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During the 40th century BC, the Eastern Mediterranean region was in the Chalcolithic period (Copper Age), transitional between the Stone and the Bronze Ages. Northwestern Europe was in the Neolithic. China was dominated by the Neolithic Yangshao culture. The Americas were in a phase of transition between the Paleo-Indian (Lithic) to the Meso-Indian (Archaic) stage. This century started in 4000 BC and ended in 3901 BC.

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Cultures

Near East

Europe

East Asia

Events and innovations

Jade bi from the Liangzhu culture. The ritual object is a symbol of wealth and military power. CMOC Treasures of Ancient China exhibit - jade disk.jpg
Jade bi from the Liangzhu culture. The ritual object is a symbol of wealth and military power.

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Related Research Articles

The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic or (A)eneolithic, is an archaeological period characterized by regular human manipulation of copper, but prior to the discovery of bronze alloys. Modern researchers consider the period as a subset of the broader Neolithic, but earlier scholars defined it as a transitional period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. It is also considered the first phase, of three, in the Metal Ages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neolithic</span> Archaeological period, last part of the Stone Age

The Neolithic or New Stone Age is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Europe, Asia and Africa. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts of the world. This "Neolithic package" included the introduction of farming, domestication of animals, and change from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one of settlement. The term 'Neolithic' was coined by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system.

The 3rd millennium BC spanned the years 3000 to 2001 BC. This period of time corresponds to the Early to Middle Bronze Age, characterized by the early empires in the Ancient Near East. In Ancient Egypt, the Early Dynastic Period is followed by the Old Kingdom. In Mesopotamia, the Early Dynastic Period is followed by the Akkadian Empire. In what is now Northwest India and Pakistan, the Indus Valley civilization developed a state society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4th millennium BC</span> Millennium between 4000 BC and 3001 BC

The 4th millennium BC spanned the years 4000 BC to 3001 BC. Some of the major changes in human culture during this time included the beginning of the Bronze Age and the invention of writing, which played a major role in starting recorded history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sumer</span> Ancient Mesopotamian civilization

Sumer is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia, emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of civilization in the world, along with ancient Egypt, Elam, the Caral-Supe civilization, Mesoamerica, the Indus Valley Civilisation, and ancient China. Living along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Sumerian farmers grew an abundance of grain and other crops, the surplus from which enabled them to form urban settlements. Proto-writing dates back to c. 4000 – c. 2500 BC. The earliest texts come from the cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr, and date to between c. 3350 – c. 2500 BC.

The Ubaid period is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. The name derives from Tell al-'Ubaid where the earliest large excavation of Ubaid period material was conducted initially in 1919 by Henry Hall and later by Leonard Woolley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cradle of civilization</span> Locations where civilization emerged

A cradle of civilization is a location and a culture where civilization was created independent of other civilizations in other locations. The formation of urban settlements (cities) is the primary characteristic of a society that can be characterized as "civilized". Other characteristics of civilization include a sedentary non-nomadic population, monumental architecture, the existence of social classes and inequality, and the creation of a writing system for communication. The transition from simpler societies to the complex society of a civilization is gradual.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prehistoric Egypt</span> Period of earliest human settlement to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt

Prehistoric Egypt and Predynastic Egypt span the period from the earliest human settlement to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period around 3100 BC, starting with the first Pharaoh, Narmer for some Egyptologists, Hor-Aha for others, with the name Menes also possibly used for one of these kings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prehistoric Cyprus</span> Period of history

The Prehistoric Period is the oldest part of Cypriot history. This article covers the period 10,000 to 800 BC and ends immediately before the documented history of Cyprus begins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uruk period</span> Archaeological culture

The Uruk period existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, after the Ubaid period and before the Jemdet Nasr period. Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this period saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia and the Sumerian civilization. The late Uruk period saw the gradual emergence of the cuneiform script and corresponds to the Early Bronze Age; it has also been described as the "Protoliterate period".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prehistoric Europe</span> Period of history

Prehistoric Europe refers to Europe at a stage populated by humans but before the start of recorded history, beginning in the Lower Paleolithic. As history progresses, considerable regional irregularities of cultural development emerge and increase. The region of the eastern Mediterranean is, due to its geographic proximity, greatly influenced and inspired by the classical Middle Eastern civilizations, and adopts and develops the earliest systems of communal organization and writing. The Histories of Herodotus is the oldest known European text that seeks to systematically record traditions, public affairs and notable events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Mesopotamia</span>

The history of Mesopotamia ranges from the earliest human occupation in the Paleolithic period up to Late antiquity. This history is pieced together from evidence retrieved from archaeological excavations and, after the introduction of writing in the late 4th millennium BC, an increasing amount of historical sources. While in the Paleolithic and early Neolithic periods only parts of Upper Mesopotamia were occupied, the southern alluvium was settled during the late Neolithic period. Mesopotamia has been home to many of the oldest major civilizations, entering history from the Early Bronze Age, for which reason it is often called a cradle of civilization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prehistory of France</span> Paleolithic to Iron Age prehistory of France

Prehistoric France is the period in the human occupation of the geographical area covered by present-day France which extended through prehistory and ended in the Iron Age with the Roman conquest, when the territory enters the domain of written history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Late Neolithic</span> Later part of the Neolithic period in Southwest Asia

In the archaeology of Southwest Asia, the Late Neolithic, also known as the Ceramic Neolithic or Pottery Neolithic, is the final part of the Neolithic period, following on from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and preceding the Chalcolithic. It is sometimes further divided into Pottery Neolithic A (PNA) and Pottery Neolithic B (PNB) phases.

Prehistoric Armenia refers to the history of the region that would eventually be known as Armenia, covering the period of the earliest known human presence in the Armenian Highlands from the Lower Paleolithic more than 1 million years ago until the Iron Age and the emergence of Urartu in the 9th century BC, the end of which in the 6th century BC marks the beginning of Ancient Armenia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prehistory</span> Span of time before recorded history

Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins c. 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of symbols, marks, and images appears very early among humans, but the earliest known writing systems appeared c. 5,000 years ago. It took thousands of years for writing systems to be widely adopted, with writing spreading to almost all cultures by the 19th century. The end of prehistory therefore came at very different times in different places, and the term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient Near East</span> Home of early civilizations within the area of the modern Middle East

The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, ancient Persia, Anatolia/Asia Minor and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, Cyprus and the Arabian Peninsula. The ancient Near East is studied in the fields of Ancient Near East studies, Near Eastern archaeology and ancient history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art of Mesopotamia</span>

The art of Mesopotamia has survived in the record from early hunter-gatherer societies on to the Bronze Age cultures of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. These empires were later replaced in the Iron Age by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires. Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Mesopotamia brought significant cultural developments, including the oldest examples of writing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romanian art</span> Overview of art in Romania

Romanian art consists of the visual and plastic arts originating from the geographical area of Romania. The production of art in Romania is as old as the Paleolithic, an example being a cave painting from the Cuciulat Cave. During the Neolithic, multiple cultures lived on the modern territory of Romania. Their material culture included pottery and abstract clay statuettes decorated with geometric patterns. These may give hints on the way these civilizations used to dress and maybe tattoo. A good examples of this is the Thinker of Hamangia, a clay figurine produced by the Hamangia culture. Important cultures of the Neolithic era include Starčevo–Körös–Criș, Boian, Gumelnița–Karanovo, and other ones, the most famous and at the same time the most evolved among them in art being the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture. During Antiquity, the Geto-Dacians produced art and built multiple cities of the dava type. Greek colonies appear in Dobruja, including Tomis, and Mangalia. After the Dacian Wars, Emperor Trajan transformed a big part of Dacia into a province of the Roman Empire. The province underwent an intense process of Romanization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leyla-Tepe culture</span>

The Leyla-Tepe culture of the South Caucasus belongs to the Chalcolithic era. It got its name from the site in the Agdam district of modern day Azerbaijan. Its settlements were distributed on the southern slopes of Central Caucasus, from 4350 until 4000 B.C.

References

  1. Fagan, Brian (1996). The Oxford Companion to Archaeology. Oxford University Press. p. 194. ISBN   0195076184 . Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  2. "Naqadan Culture". Ancient Egypt Online. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  3. Mark, Joshua. "Uruk". World History Encyclopedia . Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  4. Federico Lara Peinado, Universidad Complutense de Madrid: "La Civilización Sumeria". Historia 16, 1999.
  5. Walker, Brian. "Scientists discover 'oldest' winery in Armenian cave". CNN. CNN. Retrieved 6 December 2016.