Ca. 2 million years ago: Homo erectus
emerges and spreads to Asia and Europe
ca. 1 million–500,000 years ago: Homo
erectus gains the ability to make fi re
ca. 200,000–100,000 years ago: Homo
sapiens emerges and spreads to Europe
and Asia.
ca. 27,500–ca. 25,000 B.C.E.: Date of the
earliest-known rock art in Africa, found
in eastern and southern Africa and pro-
duced by the San.ca. 11,000 B.C.E.: Beginning of the African
Humid Period, a period of warmer and
wetter weather on the African continent.
ca. 9000 B.C.E.: New Stone Age begins in
Egypt.
ca. 8500 B.C.E.: The harpoon is developed
in present-day Sudan, allowing for the
exploitation of deepwater fi sh.
ca. 7700 B.C.E.: Nile Valley forms part of
the Fertile Crescent.
ca. 7500 B.C.E.: Egyptians fi rst begin using
reed boats; earliest-known African pottery
is produced in the Sahara.
ca. 6000 B.C.E.: Onset of dry conditions
begins the desertifi cation of the Sahara.AFRICA
ca. 10,000 B.C.E.: Emergence of Natufi an
culture in the Middle East, to the west of
the Euphrates River; establishment of the
town of Abu Hureyra in present-day Syria;
earliest fi rm evidence of domesticated
dogs from a grave in Palestine.
ca. 11,000 B.C.E.: As the glaciers retreat,
fi elds of wild grain begin to appear in the
Near East.ca. 10,000 B.C.E.: Hunter-gatherers begin
to domesticate the goat.
ca. 9000 B.C.E.: The New Stone Age
begins in Mesopotamia.
ca. 8000 B.C.E.: Agriculture begins in the
Near East; farmers use sticks to scratch
up the earth to plant grains; thick beer
(“drinkable bread”) fi rst brewed in
Mesopotamia by the Sumerians; clay
tokens fi rst used for counting purposes in
Mesopotamia.
ca. 7700 B.C.E.: Milk from ewes (sheep)
used widely as a food source in Near East.
ca. 7500 B.C.E.: Reed boats come into use
in Mesopotamia.
ca. 7000 B.C.E.: Emmer wheat becomes a
major food crop in portions of the Middle
East.THE MIDDLE EAST
prehistory – 10,000 B.C.E.10,000 B.C.E. – 5000 B.C.E.
(continues)1195-1234_SocCultAnctWrld-v4_bm.1220 1220 10/10/07 3:30:40 PM