Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures
The synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures gives a rough picture of the relationships between the various principal cultures of Prehistory outside the Americas, Antarctica, Australia and Oceania. It also serves as an index of the broad features of that prehistory to be followed through links to articles. Drawing parallels between the sets of information here and in the Timeline of glaciation might also be informative in some cases.
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"'The Principal prehistoric
s of the
Old World- bgcolor=#bbfbff!!
Prehistoric Europe!!
History of Africaand!
African archaeology!
Near Eastern archaeology!
History of Asia!
- bgcolor=#bbbdffff! Period & Climate! Western Europe! Central Europe
and Eastern Europe! North Africa,
West Africa and Sahara! Central Africa,
South and East Africa! Middle East! South Asia, India and
Central Asia! East Asia and South-East Asia
-
After the year 1,000 CE
"
Medieval"|Iron Age of the
Chad Basin|
-bgcolor=#ddffbb
1,000 CE
Opening of the Middle Ages
End of "Antiquity"
Iron AgeIron Age in
Niger, "Roman Empire"Iron Age in Kenya, Uganda
Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe
"
Roman Empire"||-
1 BCEIron Age
Iron Age
Nigeria, Great Lakes
First cultivators
of the equatorial forest
"Empire of Alexander"
"Persian Empire"
Phoenicians
Mauryan Empire (India) Steppe Scythians
Indian Iron Age
Chinese Iron Age
Chinese
Zhou period
-bgcolor=#ddffbb
1,000 BCEBronze AgeBronze Age
"Myceneans"
Copper Age in Niger
development of agriculture
in
"
Hittites""Assyrians"
development of
pastoralism in India
Bactrian towns
Chinese Bronze Age
Chinese
Shang period
-
2,000 BCEBell beaker
Chalcolithic
corded
ceramicdomestication of the horseNeolithic of Tichit
Tenerean|
Akkad Empire
Sumerian KingdomIndus Valley civilisation
writing
Chinese
of Longshan
-bgcolor=#ddffbb
3,000 BCE
enclosed villages
first
megalithsChalcolithicof Central Europe|
Beginning of the Hunter-gatherer art
of South Africa
Bronze Age||
-
4,000 BCE
Lower
NeolithicNeolithicMediterranean
and Egyptian
(copper metallurgy)Neolithic
of IranNeolithic
of Yang-Shao
rice-growing (?)
-bgcolor=#ddffbb
5,000 BCE
Cardial
(agriculture, stock-rearing,
cultures
agriculture, stock-rearing (
pigs, bovine, sheep)Neolithic of the Sahara/Sahelagriculture ceramic Cyprus
(and Caucasian)
irrigationcultivation of millet
pig rearing
-
6,000 BCESauveterrian cultures
(gathering of legumes)
in Greece
and the Eastern Mediterraneanceramic|
Neolithic with ceramic
raising
sheep & goats
end of pre-ceramic B aceramic Cyprus
pre-ceramic of
IranAfghanistan
and
Baluchistan
of northern
China-bgcolor=#ddffbb
7,000 BCE
|
Backed point
culture|
Wiltonian
Pre-ceramic B
(
,
barley)
NeolithicPre-ceramic A|
hunter gatherers
of
(ancient
Japan)
-
8,000 BCE
and Asiloid cultures |
Capsian|||
Hoabinhian of Southeast Asia
-bgcolor=#ddffbb
9,000 BCE
late
Gravettianlate
Gravettian plains
complex (
Kostienki
)|
Magosian|
-
10,000 BCE Holocene began
glacial ended (10,000 BCE)
glacial at its coldest (18,000 BCE)
MagdalenianSolutrean
EpigravettianEpigravettian
Ibero-maurusian
SebilianLupemban cultureAthlitian|
pre-Jōmon
Paleo-Siberian hunters move to North America (one possible timing)
-bgcolor=#ddffbb
20,000 BCE
Pavlovian
Aurignacian (art)||Aurignacian (art)|Sơn Vi culture (northern Vietnam)
-
30,000 BCEChatelperronianSzeletianAterianStillbayAngara cultureSen-Doki
-bgcolor=#ddffbb
40,000 BCE
||||
Emirian||
-
50,000 BCE
(earliest graves)Mousterian MousterianFauresmithianMousterianMousterianSoanian
Ngandong
culture
-bgcolor=#ddffbb
80,000 BCE
latest glacial began (95,000 BCE) Micoquian
|MicoquianMousteroid
||
-
100,000 BCE
glacial ended (130,000 BCE)
Upper
AcheuleanUpper
Acheulean|
Sangoan|
AcheuleanSoanian
Fen Culture
-bgcolor=#ddffbb
200,000 BCE
glacial began (350,000 BCE)