Science, Tech, Math › Social Sciences World History Timelines - Mapping Two Million Years of Humanity Timelines of World History Print Social Sciences Archaeology Basics Ancient Civilizations Excavations History of Animal and Plant Domestication Psychology Sociology Economics Ergonomics By K. Kris Hirst K. Kris Hirst Archaeology Expert M.A., Anthropology, University of Iowa B.Ed., Illinois State University K. Kris Hirst is an archaeologist with 30 years of field experience. Her work has appeared in scholarly publications such as Archaeology Online and Science. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on August 31, 2019 Most of the history of the ancient world has been collected by archaeologists, built, in part, by the use of fragmentary records, but also through myriad dating techniques. Each of the world history timelines on this list is part of larger resources addressing the culture, artifacts, customs, and people of the many many cultures who have lived on our planet for the past 2 million years. Stone Age/Paleolithic Timeline Sculptor's Rendering of the Hominid Australopithecus afarensis. Dave Einsel / Getty Images The Stone Age (known to scholars as the Paleolithic era) in human prehistory is the name given to the period between about 2.5 million and 20,000 years ago. It begins with the earliest human-like behaviors of crude stone tool manufacture, and ends with fully modern human hunting and gathering societies. Jomon Hunter-Gatherer Timeline Applique Pot, Middle Jomon, Sannai Maruyama Site. Perezoso The Jomon is the name of the early Holocene period hunter-gatherers of Japan, beginning about 14,000 BCE and ending about 1000 BCE in southwestern Japan and 500 CE in northeastern Japan. European Mesolithic Timeline Artifact from Lepenski Vir, Serbia. Mazbln The European Mesolithic period is traditionally that time period in the Old World between the last glaciation (ca. 10,000 years BP) and beginning of the Neolithic (ca. 5000 years BP), when farming communities began to be established. Pre-Pottery Neolithic Timeline Artist's conception of the city of Catalhoyuk, with its one-room houses which were accessed from the roof, about 7th-6th millennium BCE. De Agostini Picture Library / Getty Images Plus The Pre-Pottery Neolithic (abbreviated PPN) is the name given to the people who domesticated the earliest plants and lived in farming communities in the Levant and Near East. The PPN culture contained most of the attributes we think of Neolithic—except pottery, which was not used in the region until ca. 5500 BCE. Pre-Dynastic Egypt Timeline A procession of the early dynastic Pharaoh Narmer is illustrated on this facsimile of the famous Narmer Palette, found at Hierakonpolis. Keith Schengili-Roberts The Predynastic period in Egypt is the name archaeologists have given to the three millennia before the emergence of the first unified Egyptian state society. Mesopotamian Timeline Ziggurat of Warka, Mesopotamia, image taken by an unnamed photographer at the American Colony at Jerusalem between 1898 and 1946]. Matson (G. Eric and Edith) Photograph Collection, US Library of Congress, LC-M31- 14546 [P&P] Mesopotamia is an ancient civilization that took up pretty much everything that today is modern Iraq and Syria, a triangular patch wedged between the Tigris River, the Zagros Mountains, and the Lesser Zab River Indus Civilization Timeline Stamp Seal, Indus Valley Script, 26th-25th century BC. DEA / G. NIMATALLAH / Getty Images The Indus civilization (also known as the Harappan Civilization, the Indus-Sarasvati or Hakra Civilization and sometimes the Indus Valley Civilization) is one of the oldest societies we know of, including over 2600 known archaeological sites located along the Indus and Sarasvati rivers in Pakistan and India, an area of some 1.6 million square kilometers. Read More A Beginner's Guide to the Paleolithic Period or Stone Age By K. Kris Hirst Minoan Timeline View of Palace of Knossos, Crete, Greece, Minoan civilization, 18th-15th century BC. De Agostini / Archivio J. Lange / Getty Images The Minoans lived in the Greek islands during what archaeologists have called the early part of the prehistoric Bronze Age of Greece. Dynastic Egypt Timeline The Pyramids at Giza, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Cairo, Egypt, North Africa, Africa. Gavin Hellier / Getty Images Ancient Egypt is considered to have begun about 3050 BCE, when the first pharaoh Menes united Lower Egypt (referring to the river delta region of the Nile River), and Upper Egypt (everything south of the delta). Longshan Culture Timeline White Pottery Gui, Longshan Culture, Rizhao, Shandong Province. Editor at Large The Longshan culture is a Neolithic and Chalcolithic culture (ca 3000–1900 BCE) of the Yellow River Valley of Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia provinces of China. Shang Dynasty Timeline Shang Dynasty Chariot from Royal Tomb at Yinxu. Keren Su / Getty Images The Bronze Age Shang Dynasty in China is roughly dated between 1700-1050 BC, and, according to the Shi Ji, it began when the first Shang emperor, T'ang, overthrew the last of the Xia (also called Erlitou) dynasty emperors. Kush Kingdom Timeline The 3,500 year-old mud-brick Western Deffufa, the seat of the first independent kingdom of Kush, Kerma, Sudan, Africa. Andrew McConnell / robertharding / Getty Images The Kingdom of Kush is one of several names used for the region of Africa directly south of ancient Dynastic Egypt, approximately between the modern cities of Aswan, Egypt, and Khartoum, Sudan. Hittite Timeline Lion Gate at the Hittite Site of Hattusha. ImageCaravan / iStock / Getty Images Plus Two different types of "Hittites" are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament): the Canaanites, who were enslaved by Solomon; and the Neo-Hittites, Hittite kings of northern Syria who traded with Solomon. The events related in the Old Testament occurred in the 6th century BCE, well after the glory days of the Hittite Empire. Olmec Civilization Timeline Sculpture of the Olmec Monkey God, at the City of La Venta, Mexico. Richard I'Anson / Getty Images The Olmec civilization is the name given to a sophisticated central American culture with its heyday between 1200 and 400 BCE. The Olmec heartland lies in the Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco, at the narrow part of Mexico west of the Yucatan peninsula and east of Oaxaca. Zhou Dynasty Timeline Bronze Vessel, Zhou Dynasty Tomb. Andrew Wong / Getty Images The Zhou Dynasty (also spelled Chou) is the name given to a historical period roughly consisting of the last two-fifths of the Chinese Bronze Age, traditionally marked between 1046 and 221 BCE (although scholars are divided on the starting date) Etruscan Timeline Gold ring. Etruscan civilization, 6th Century BC. DEA / G. NIMATALLAH / Getty Images The Etruscan civilization was a cultural group in the Etruria region of Italy, from the 11th through the first century BCE (Iron Age into Roman times). African Iron Age Timeline Great Zimbabwe is a ruined city in the southeastern hills of Zimbabwe near Lake Mutirikwe and the town of Masvingo. It was the capital of the Late Iron Age Kingdom of Zimbabwe from the 11th-15th centuries AD. Luis Davilla / Getty Images The African Iron Age is roughly between the 2nd century –1000 CE. In Africa, unlike the Europe and Asia, the Iron Age is not prefaced by a Bronze or Copper Age, but rather all the metals were brought together. Persian Empire Timeline Bas reliefs of Persian guards, Winter Palace of Darius (Tashara). Chris Bradley / Design Pics / Getty Images The Persian Empire included all of what is now Iran, and in fact Persia was the official name of Iran until 1935; the traditional dates for the classic Persian Empire are about 550 BCE–500 CE. Ptolemaic Egypt Entrance door with frescoed door frame and small statues of sphinxes, Tomb 2, Necropolis of Mustapha Pasha, Alexandria, Egypt, Ptolemaic Period, 2nd century BCE. G. Dagli Orti / De Agostini Picture Library / Getty Images Plus The Ptolemies were the final dynasty of Egyptian pharaohs, and their progenitor was a Greek by birth: one of Alexander the Great's generals, Ptolemy I. The Ptolemies ruled Egypt between 305–30 BCE, when the last of the Ptolemies, Cleopatra, famously committed suicide. Aksum Timeline Tomb of the Brick Arches, Axum. Niall Crotty Aksum (also spelled Axum) is the name of a powerful, urban Iron Age Kingdom in Ethiopia, that flourished in the centuries before and after the time of Christ; ca 700 BCE–700 CE. Moche Culture Moche Spondylus Effigy Pot, Museum of Precolumbian Art, Cusco, ca 1-800 AD. Ed Nellis The Moche culture was a South American society, whose sites were located along the arid coast of what is now Peru between 100 and 800 CE, and wedged between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes mountains. Angkor Civilization Timeline The East gate of Angkor Thom featuring a giant face at the famous temple area of Angkor Archeological Park on December 5, 2008 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Ian Walton / Getty Images News / Getty Images The Angkor Civilization or Khmer Empire (ca 900–1500 CE) ran most of Cambodia, and parts of Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam during the middle ages. They were terrific engineers, building roads, waterways and temples with great skill--but they were done in by the occurrence of a great drought, which combined with war and changes in the trade network resulted in the end of the powerful polity. Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Hirst, K. Kris. "World History Timelines - Mapping Two Million Years of Humanity." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/world-history-timelines-of-humanity-172901. Hirst, K. Kris. (2023, April 5). World History Timelines - Mapping Two Million Years of Humanity. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/world-history-timelines-of-humanity-172901 Hirst, K. Kris. "World History Timelines - Mapping Two Million Years of Humanity." 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