Timeline
Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age): Pliocene Epoch (5,000,000 - 1,800,000 years ago)
| c. 7,000,000 ya | | Possible ancestor to Humans and chimpanzees, Sahelanthropus, in Chad, Africa |
| c. 4,400,000 | | A possibly bipedal treeclimber, Ardipithecus ramidus, or "Ardi," in Ethiopia |
| c. 3,600,000 | | Footprints indicate bipedal hominid in Tanzania, Africa |
| c. 3,500,000 | | Australopithecus afarensis "Lucy" in Ethiopia |
| c. 2,400,000 | | Stone tools used in Hadar |
| c. 1,800,000 | | Homo erectus in Southeast Asia |
Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age): Pleistocene Epoch (1,800,000 - 11,000 years ago)
| c. 1,600,000 | Fire used in Chesowanja, Kenya and Swartkrans (S. Africa) |
| c. 1,200,000 | Homo antecessor cannibals in Europe |
| c. 1,000,000 | Beginning of the modern Pleistocene Ice Age |
| c. 1,000,000 | Homo erectus in Europe and Asia |
| c. 400,000 | Wooden spear used in Schoningen, Germany |
| c. 300,000 | Blade production line used near Tel Aviv, Israel |
| c. 300,000 | A hut is used in Amata, France |
| c. 200,000 | Mitochondrial Eve in East Africa |
| c. 150,000 | Homo sapien neanderthalensis in Europe and Asia |
| c. 142,000 | Y-Chromosome Adam in Central-Northwest Africa |
| c. 135,000 | Homo sapien sapien in Omo, Ethiopia |
| c. 100,000 | Ochre tool kit used in South Africa |
| c. 90,000 | Homo sapien sapien in Qafzeh, Israel |
| c. 71,000 | Toba eruption in Indonesia causes global cooling |
| Homo sapien sapien population dwindles to between 1,000 and 100,000 |
| c. 60,000 | Symbolic lines etched on eggshells in South Africa |
| c. 45,000 | A flute is played in North Africa |
| c. 42,000 | Deep sea hunters in East Timor collect shark and tuna bones |
| c. 40,000 | Modern humans and Neanderthals in Europe |
| c. 40,000 | Stone tools used in Jordan |
| c. 37,000 | Evolution of Microcephalin, a gene that influences brain size |
| c. 35,000 | Australian aboriginal hunter-gatherer traditions emerge |
| c. 32,000 | Cave art and lunar calendar in Europe |
| c. 28,000 | Last known Neanderthals live in southern Spain |
| c. 24,000 | "Willendorf Venus" carved in Germany |
| c. 23,000 | Mammoth tusk Boomerang in Poland |
| c. 18,000 | Height of the Pleistocene Ice Age |
| c. 13,600 ya | Skeleton in Mexico looks more south Asian than north Asian |
Proto-Neolithic Age: Holocene Epoch (12,500 B.C. to 9,500 B.C.)
| c. 11,000 B.C.E. | Domesticated dogs in the Middle East |
| Humans in South America |
| c. 10,500 | Pottery in Japan |
| c. 10,000 | Agriculture in the Middle East |
| Shaman woman buried with animal parts in Israel |
| c. 9,400 | Cermaics used in Mali, Africa |
| c. 9,000 | Jericho first known city |
| c. 8,500 | Wheat and barley in the Middle East |
| Temple with T-shaped pillars built in Turkey |
| Clovis culture begins in North America |
c. 8,000 | Mammoths become extinct |
| Farming in the Middle East |
| Sheep herding in the Zagros Mountains, Iraq |
| End of the Pleistocene Ice Age |
| Large-scale Agriculture in the Middle East |
Neolithic Age ("New Stone Age") (7500-3800 B.C.)
| c. 6700 | Chatal Hyuk, Turkey settlement |
| c. 6500 | Hussuna culture begins |
| c. 6200 | Copper smelting in Turkey |
| c. 6000 | Cattle domesticated in the Middle East |
| Halafian and Samarran cultures replace Hussuna |
| Farming spreads to southern Europe |
| Bahrain island (Dilmun?) breaks away from the Arabian mainland |
| c. 5900 | Ubaid culture begins |
| c. 5825 | Instant cereal eaten in Bulgaria |
| c. 5800 | Evolution of ASPM, a gene that influences brain size |
c. 5500 | Samarran cultures ends |
| Black Sea Flood |
| Human sacrificed in Sudan |
| Cave-houses and pottery workshops in China |
| c. 5400 | Halafian culture ends |
| Farming used in central Europe |
| c. 5000 | First towns, temples, and irrigation in Mesopotamia |
| c. 4700 | Civilization in Europe |
| c. 4500 | Plow, sail, potter wheel used in Mesopotamia |
Uruk Period (4300-3100 B.C.)
| c. 4300 | Copper working practiced in Sumer |
| Ubaid culture ends |
| 4004 | Victorian date for Adam and Eve |
| 4000 | Pitch balls used for war in Syria |
Early Bronze Age (3800-2000 B.C.)
| c. 3800 | Bronze produced in Elam (Iran) |
| Seafarring ships used in Egypt | |
| c. 3500 | Cities built and wars are waged in Mesopotamia |
| First hundred settlements in Israel |
| Unknown Indus Valley script used on pottery and mass-produced wands |
| Logograms used in Sumer |
| 3474 | Victorian date for Adam's death |
| 3400 | Pictographs used in Sumer |
| Priests take a governmental role in Sumer |
| c. 3300 | Writing used in Egypt's tomb of the Scorpion King |
Jemdet Nasr Period (3100-2900 B.C.)
| c. 3100 | Extensive irrigation used in Sumer |
| c. 3000 | Sumerian logograms develop linguistic character |
| Semitic spell to ward off snakes used in Egyptian pyramid |
| Military rivalry between cities in Sumer |
| 2948 | Victorian date for Noah's birth |
Early Dynastic Period (2900-2334 B.C.)
There is about a 70 year discrepancy of opinion for some of the dates.
| c. 2900 | Euphrates river floods Shurrupuk |
| Defensive walls built around Sumerian cities |
| Tin bronze used in Sumer |
| Development of cuneiform script |
| c. 2800 | Brain surgery performed in Burnt City of Iran |
| 2780 | First pyramid built by Imhotep in Egypt |
| 2750 | Secular rulers achieve increasing importance in Sumer |
| 2680 | Great Pyramid of Giza built by King Khufu |
| 2650 | Dumuzi the Fisherman rules Uruk |
| 2625 | King Bilgames' rules Uruk |
| c. 2600 | Sumerian logograms generalized into cuneiform |
| Mass suicide burials take place in Ur's "Royal Cemetery" |
| 2400 | Four-wheeled war wagons used |
| 2350 | Urukagina of Lagash promulgates law code |
| Lugal-Zagesi unites Sumer and Akkad |
| 2348 | Victorian date for Noah's Flood |
Akkadian Period (2334-2000 B.C.)
| 2334 | Sharru-Kin (Sargon) conquers Mesopotamia (Gen. 10:8) |
| c. 2200 | Settlement crisis in Israel causes mass immigration (Gen. 12:10) |
| 2193 | Gutians invade Mesopotamia and the Akkadian Empire falls |
| 2112 | Ur-Nammu founds Ur III |
| 2100 | Ur-Nammu builds ziggurats in Ur, Eridu, Uruk, and Nippur |
| 2034 | Amorites begin to infiltrate Mesopotamia |
| 2004 | Elamites sack Ur (Gen. 12:1) |
Middle Bronze Age (2000-1600 B.C.)
| 1998 | Victorian date for Noah's death |
| 1996 | Victorian date for Abraham's birth |
| 1921 | Victorian date for Abraham leaving Ur (Gen 12:1) |
| 1896 | Victorian date for Isaac's birth |
| 1894 | Amorite dynasty established in Babylon |
| 1836 | Victorian date for Jacob's birth |
| 1821 | Victorian date for Abraham's death |
| 1813 | Shamshi-Adad ruler of Assyria |
| c. 1800 | Semitic alphabet in Egypt |
| 1792 | Hammurapi takes throne in Babylon |
| 1787 | Hammurapi conquers Uruk and Isin |
| 1757 | Hammurapi destroys Mari |
| 1763 | Rim-Suen of Larsa is defeated by Hammurabi |
| 1760 | Victorian date for famine causing Israelite immigration into Egypt (Gen. 46) |
| c. 1750 | Indus Valley civilization collapses |
| 1745 | Victorian date for Joseph's birth |
| c. 1700 | Horse drawn chariots are used |
| 1680 | Hurrians occupy Assyria |
| 1635 | Victorian date for Joseph's death |
| c. 1600 | Canaanites use alphabetic script |
| 1595 | King Mursilis of the Hittites sacks Babylon |
| 1550 | Settlement crisis in Israel leads to mass immigration (Gen. 46) |
| c. 1400 | Mycaeanian Greeks use Linear B script |
| c. 1300 | Hebrew script used in Jerusalem |
|