Prehistory,palaeolithic,neolithic,metal,bronze and iron ages.Mesopotamia.Egypt.

By Inés Medranda
  • 40,000 BCE

    Cave painting.

    Appeared at the end of the palaeolithic period.
    Was undertaken on the walls and ceilings of caves or in natural shelters.The paintngs represented animals and schematically drawn human beings in scenes of hunting, war or rituals.
    The meaning of these works were possibly related to magic or religious rituals.
  • Period: 10,000 BCE to 4500 BCE

    Neolithic

    Agriculture and livestock farming: an interglacial period began, gave rise to increase the temperature and a process of climatic change on Earth.
    Productive economy: agriculture began to be developed, the forms of agriculture practised were based on all the cultivation of cereals. Livestock farming arose the custom of confining animals in pens.
    Way of life: sedentary, were located on the banks of rivers.
    Inventions: tools of stone, pottery, woven textiles, wheel, plough and sail.
    Metallurgical.
  • 5000 BCE

    The birth of Egyptian civilisation.

    Neolithic populations located in the Nile valley learnt to predict and control the annual flooding of the river.
    They undertook drainage work and dried out the boggy marshes.
    Built irrigation cannals and increased crop growing areas.
    They learnt to use the silt as a natural fertiliser.This enbled the development of agriculture and population increase.
    Settlements grew and became independent cities ruled by nomarchs or local governors.
  • 4500 BCE

    Metalworking.

    Metalworking of copper, was the first known.
    It arose in Neolithic and urban societies in the Fertile Crescent, the durability of copper, was used for adorments.
  • 3500 BCE

    The first city-states.

    Sumerians are considered to begun Mesopotamian civilisation.The people,whose origin is unknown,established themselves in Lower Mesopotamia,until then been uninhabited region of marshes.Sumerians used walls to control the river's periodic rises and they built irrigation canals,extending the crop growing areas with irrigation.
    The subsequent agricultural development gave rise to independent city-states.City-states:a city and surrounding territories with independent economy and political system.
  • Period: 3500 BCE to

    Sumerians.

    Inhabited southern Mesopotamia.Were the first known civilisation.
    They lived in city-states:independent cities with their own goverments ruled by
    Ensi:the management of the state,its administration.
    Prince:governed and undertook the organisation of civilian activities.
    High priest:oversaw the worship of gods and maintained the temples and their property.He had absulute religious authority,wasn't a god.
    Invented cuneiform writing,system of writing which marked the start of history.
    Build temples.
  • Period: 3500 BCE to 539 BCE

    Historical evolution.

    The fertile soil of the region attracted numerous peoples and they disputed control over the region.The region's history is divided into periods defined by the people that controlled the region.
  • Period: 3500 BCE to 539 BCE

    MESOPOTAMIA.

    Political:first states and empires were formed by river civilisations.Power was held by princes or kings.Political power.
    Economy: agriculture.
    Society:social gruops were distinguished by wealth or social prestige.
    Culture and science, kings and emperors encouraged artistic progress.
    Territory:between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.Is divided in 2 regions:Lower Mesopotamia-south and Upper Mesopotamia-north.
    Economic activities:irrigation-based agriculture and foreign trade.
    Sculpture and relief
  • Period: 3500 BCE to 539 BCE

    MESOPOTAMIA.

    Organisation of society:
    nobility:upper social strata.Kings and his family,civil servants and priests.
    People:free citizens.Intermediary group:traders and civil servants inferior group:peasants and artisans.
    Slave:prisioners of war.
    Religionpolytheists,which means they believed in a number of gods.
    Gods: Anu,god of heaven,the father of gods;Enlil,god of wind and river floods;Marduk,lord of the gods;Ishtar,goddess of love,fertility,war and hunting.
    Culture:maths,astronomy and literature.
    Ziggurat
  • 3250 BCE

    Cuneiform script.

    Was invented by:Sumerians.
    The earliest known system of writing.
    Was done by marking wedge-shaped marks on clay tablet with a stylus.
    Numerous administrative and economic documents,were written by using this form of writing.
  • 3250 BCE

    Hieroglyphic script.

    Writing was used in Egypt.Hieroglyphic scrip`t was used,was represented with figures and drawings.Egyptians used this writing for inscriptions on walls of temples and tombs.Used it to draw up official documents written on papyrus.
    Papyrus:a form of paper obtained from the plant of the same name.
    This was deciphered in 19th century thanks to the study of Rosetta Stone.
  • 3100 BCE

    Egyptian civilisation.

    The legendary king Menes unified the territories of Upper and Lower Egypt and began the history of Egyptian civilisation.
  • Period: 3100 BCE to

    OLD KINGDOM.

    The capital citty was Memphis.
    They built large pyramids and tombs.
    In this period mastabas and pyramids were built, containing internal corridors, many rooms and the funerary chamber.
    The most famous pyramids were built during the reigns of pharaons Cheops, Chephren and Mykerions on Giza.
  • Period: 3100 BCE to 30 BCE

    DWELLINGS AND SETTLEMENTS.

    Egyptian houses were built of adove walls made with clay from Nile.Walls were painted white to reduce effect of sun's heat.
    Roof was made of palm tree trunks tied together and interlaced with palm leaves.Bound together with clay.
    Houses were built on a rectangular plan,had a wooden door,few windows,a hole on the roof.Latrine was built over a deep pit.
    Dwelling sizes and furnishings depend on social status of owners.Poorest houses had 1 floorand little furniture.Wealthier group 2 floors,rooms.
  • Period: 3100 BCE to 30 BCE

    EGYPTIAN RELIGION.

    Gods:people were religious and believed in gods,were represented with human and animal features.
    Gods:Amun-Ra,sun god;Horus,god of sky;Anubis,guardian of tombs and patron of embalmers;Hathor,goddess of love,joy and music;Isis, goddess of fertility;Osiris,god of dead and agriculture,she brought back to life after having been murdered,by Seth,god of desert.
    Each divinity had their own temple,the god's house.A statue of gods was in a temple.Were rituals and prayers.
  • Period: 3100 BCE to 30 BCE

    SCULPTURE and PAINTING.

    Sculpture:statues and reliefs.Were produced in stone and represented pharaohs and godson a scale.
    Sculptures were made of other people,on a smaller scale.Were represented in a natural manner.Sculptures were polychromed to give them a greater sense of realism.
    Painting:was used to decorated the interior walls of temples and tombs with religious scenes and images of everyday.In paintings,human figure is depicted as frontalism:legs and head are shown in profile and the body and eye are depicted.
  • Period: 3100 BCE to 30 BCE

    Political organisation of society.

    Egyptian leader:pharaoh.
    Pharaohs:were considered to be the incarnations of Horus,the god of the sky.Pharaoh was worshipped to the Nile's floods,social order would maintained.They held political,military and religious powers.
    King,pharaoh governed,made laws,acted as judge,hydraulic works,organised agricultural property and controlled the collecting of taxes,foreign trade.
    Military leader,the pharaoh was in charge of the army.
    Religious leader,pharaohs ordered to build temples,offerings to gods.
  • Period: 3100 BCE to 30 BCE

    A HIERARCHICAL SOCIETY.

    Various social grups:
    Upper strata:the pharaoh and his family,the nobility and the priests.Were all owners of large areas of land.
    Nobles:undertook senior roles in state administration.
    Priests:were responsible for worshipping the gods,mantain temples and manag temple properties.
    Intermediate strata:wealthy merchants,specialised artisans and scribes.Education from the age 5,were the people who knew to write and read.
    Lower strate:free people.Peasants,farmed land.Artisans,small merchants,slaves.
  • Period: 3100 BCE to 30 BCE

    IRRIGATION-BASED AGRICULTURE.

    Was the fundation of Egyptian economy and was employed in the River Nile.Crops in winter.Season of inundation,were harvest in spring,dry season.
    Agricultural land:the pharaoh's property,he allowed priests and nobles to use.Peasnants worked the land had to pay tributes from their produce,undertook jobs.
    Main crops were wheat,was used to make bread and barley to made beer.Egyptians drank a beer to its nutritional value.
    Agricultural tools were rudimentary:wooden plough,the hoeand the sickle.
  • Period: 3100 BCE to 30 BCE

    ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES.

    Livestock farming was important.For this work,peasants uesd animals.They bred sheep and poultry and fish in the Nile.
    The production of food enabled many people to devote themselves to other forms of work and live in the cities.
  • Period: 3100 BCE to 30 BCE

    EGYPTIAN DRESS.

    Egyptians wore from the remains found in tombs or from reliefs,sculptures and paintings.
    Clothing was simple:
    Men wore a wrap-around skirt that reached the knees and was fastened at the waist with a clasp.
    Women wear a long,tight-fitting tunic,reached down to ankles.
    Men and women shave their bodies also the head.Use wings made of hair or plant fibres.Women devoted great care to their bodies:they bathed frequently,wore eye make-up and used body lotions and perfumes.
  • Period: 3100 BCE to 30 BCE

    JUDGEMENT OF OSIRIS.

    Egyptians believed in life after death,death was view with optimism.To attain life after death,had to pass the Jedgement of Osiris.
    The god Anubis placed the heart of deceased in one side of a set of scales and the feather of the goddess Maat,symbolised justice and truth.
    Gods questioned the deceased about their conduct during life,the weight of heart would increase or decrease.If the soul was free of guilt,would be rewarded with eternal life,if is not free wil be devoured by Ammit.
  • 3000 BCE

    Sumerian clothing.

    The clothing were different for each people.They are known through the artistic representations that have conserved.
    Sumerian men shaved their heads and wore fringed skirts.Left their shoulders and chest bare and wore a cord belt at the waist.
    Sumerian women wore a form of dress that covered their upper body and was worn over the left shoulder.The free women completed this outfit with a veil covering the head.
  • Period: 2300 BCE to 2140 BCE

    Akkadians.

    Lived to the north of the Sumerians.
    Expanded their territory to the south,they conquered the Sumerian territory.
    The conquest of Sumerians was led by Sargon, the king of Akkad.
    The first empire of history was built by Akkadians and under Naram-Sin.
    They also built palaces,they were surrounded by walls fitted with large gateways and had many rooms, were adorned with reliefs,glazed ceramics and frescoes.
  • 2200 BCE

    Metalworking.

    Metalworking of bronze.
    The search for more durable metals led the use of this metal, an alloy of copper and tin.
  • Period: 2055 BCE to 1795 BCE

    Middle Kingdom.

    The capital city was transferred to Thebes and Egypt extended its empire to the south with its conquest of Nubia.
  • Period: 1792 BCE to 1750 BCE

    Babylonians.

    Created a new empire,reached the height of its splendour during the region of Hammurabi.
    This king unified the laws of the cities and created the legal code that bears his name.
    One of the powerful kings:Hammurabi,introduced: The Code of Hammurabi.
  • 1760 BCE

    The Code of Hammurabi.

    Was written on stone stele, divided in two parts:
    at the top is a depiction of Hammurabi, standing in front of the Sun god of Mesopotamia.
    Below some of the code's articles.
    Was written using the cuneiform script.
  • Period: 1550 BCE to 1069 BCE

    New kingdom.

    Thebes continued to be the capital city and Syria and Palestine were conquered.During this period, renowned pharaons, as:Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten), Tutankhamun and Ramesses II,ruled.
    During this period,they preferred to be burried in hypogea,were tombs carved into the rock, a steep corridor,a number of rooms and the funerary chamber.The best know hypogea are Tutankhamun and Nefertari, located in the Valleys of the kings and Queens.
    Dress:wrap-around skirt covered with a skirt,a tunic over torso.
  • Period: 1530 BCE to 625 BCE

    Assyrians.

    1530-1200 and 932-625 BC.
    Lived in northen Mesopotamia.
    They were fearsome warriors who developed advanced military techniques and were able to create a great empire.
    Then Neobabilonians and Persians occupied these territory.
    Were a warlike people.
    Warlike people formed a powerful empire which achieve its maximum extension under Ashurnasirpal II.
  • 1500 BCE

    Metalworking.

    Metalworking of iron.
    Was discovered in a location between the Black Sea and the Armenian mountains.
    The use of iron gave a greater superiority to the peoples that understood this metallurguical process.
    It took some time to spread.
  • Period: 715 BCE to 31 BCE

    Ptolemaic Kingdom.

    Egypt entered a period of decline and was dominated by foreign peoples, such as: Assyrian, Babylonians, Persians and Greeks.
    In 31 BC, Egypt was annexed by Romans and disappeared as a civilisation.
  • Period: 625 BCE to 539 BCE

    Neo-Babylonian.

    The city of Babylon reached its peak of grandeur under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar II.
    Mesopotamian territory was conquered by the Persians.
  • Period: 4 BCE to 4500 BCE

    Stone age.

    2 periods: Palaeolithic and Neolithic
  • Period: 4 BCE to 10 BCE

    Palaeolithic

    First humans: inhabited in Africa, they moved to Europe and Asia.
    Way of feeding: predatory.
    Nomadic life: they were constantly moving fom one place to other (nomadism).
    Inventions: stone tools and fire.
    Tribal society: was structured by tribes.
    Beliefs and spiritual life: beliefs in the power of natural elements, magic rituals and veneration of dead.
    The birth of art: portable art and cave painting.
    Chronology: 4.4 million years ago, until the discovery of agriculture and livestock, in 10000B.C
  • 1 CE

    Fire.

    Chronology: 1.5 million years ago.
    It was one of the their principal inventions, it provided light and heat when used inside caves, frightened savage animals and could be used to cook food and dry animals hides.
    Also favoured social relations.
  • 2

    Homo habilis.

    First hominid that made tools.Was the first representative of the Homo genus considered as human.
    Geographical location: Africa.
    Chronology: 2.4 million years ago.
  • 4

    Australopithecus.

    Geographical location: Southern Africa.
    It was biped and walked upright.It used tools, as sticks or stones,to dig for roots or butcher animals, but it did not make tools.
    Chronology: 4.2 million years ago.
  • 4

    Ardipithecus.

    It walked upright,because the big toes of its feet were opposable,it could not travel long distances.It could climb and hang onto tree branches.It fed on fruits,leaves and branches.
    Geographical location: Eastern Africa.
    Chronology: 4.4 million years ago.
  • Period: 4 to

    Human evolution.

    Hominids acquired their own features over a long period of evolution.This process,referred to as the hominisation process,began in Africa.The cause could have been a climatic change,caused a transition from a humid to tropical climate.
  • 65

    Origin and evolution of human beings.

    According to the theory of Charles Darwin,human beings evolved from primates,a species of mammal that appeared on Earth.
  • Period: to

    Invention of writing.

    This invention separated two eras: the prehistorical and the historical.
  • Period: to 1000

    Copper,Bronze and Iron Ages

    This began when human beings began making tools of metal.The three periods are distinguished by the metal used:
    First:copper
    Second:bronze
    Third:iron.
    Social transformation:the population increase.Settlements grew and became small cities, some constructed walls for defensive purposes.
    First forms of architecture emerged: megalithic monuments, were created with large stones or megalithis.
    Menhirs:elements of megalithic structures.
    Cromlechs:formed of a number of menhirs placed in circle.
    Dolmens

  • River civilizations.

    First historical civilizations with a knowledge of writing emrged.
    They are referred to as river civilizations because, the Neolithic peoples learnt to use the river water to irrigate their fields.
    The most influential river civilizations grew up over the course of history were the Mesopotamian, the Egyptian, the Indian and the Chinese.
    These societies gave rise to changes that would have an impact on all areas of life.

  • Homo erectus.

    It used fire and made tools.
    Geographical location: Africa,Asia and Europe.
    Date : 1.8 million years ago.

  • Origin and evolution of human beings.

    A number of distinctive species evolved from primates:the HOMINID,along with large simian species.

  • Homo sapiens.

    It made tools from stone and bone.They created the first art forms.
    Geographical location: arose in Africa and extended across all the continents

  • Homo neanderthalensis.

    It lived in the glacial period and took refuge in caves, used fire, made instruments and buried their dead.
    Geographical location: Europe.
    Chronology: between 200000 and 35000 years ago.