Transcript Archaeology

History of Civilisation
• Paleolithic
(2.3 Myr – 20,000 BC)
– Early stone age
– The origin of simple tools, art, burial, villages
• Mesolithic
(20,000 – 10,000 BC)
– Middle stone age
– Complex tools, archery, boats
• Neolithic
(10,000 – 3,300 BC)
– Late stone age
– Pottery, agriculture, cities, trade
• Bronze age (3,300 – 1,300 BC)
• Iron Age (1,300 BC - 400 AD)
© Colin Frayn, 2008
www.frayn.net
Civilisation in 2500 BC
(When the flood allegedly occurred)
• Egyptians had just finished building the pyramids
of Giza
– The Old Kingdom stood between 3rd and 6th dynasties (c.
2686 – 2134 BC)
– No record in Egyptian texts of a flood
– Unbroken line of Egyptian pharoahs
• Stretches back to ~3150 BC
• Bristlecone pine “Methuselah” is 200 years old
– Germinated ~ 2,700 BC
– A global flood would have killed it
• Construction of Stonehenge begins
© Colin Frayn, 2008
www.frayn.net
Civilisation in 4004 BC
(The alleged year of creation)
• The Uruk period of Sumerian history
• The Chalcolithic (copper) age
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Just before the Bronze age (~3300 BC)
First appearance of copper artefacts
First stable towns and cities
Trade routes established of over 1,000 miles
• The City of Mehrgarh
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Located in Pakistan, discovered in 1974
Continuously occupied 7000 – 2600 BC
Evidence of farming and herding before 5000 BC
Evidence of pottery, ornaments, burial sites
• 5000 BC: Development of writing, farming, rice, maize
• 4000 BC: Development of brewing, the wheel
© Colin Frayn, 2008
www.frayn.net
The Oldest Farmers
• Farming arose before 10,000 BC
– The “Neolithic Revolution”
– The first domestication of plants
• Domestication of crops can be traced using DNA
studies to identify age of common ancestors
• Individual grains can be dated using Carbon-14
• 7000 BC : Domestication of cattle & pigs
• 6000 BC : Farming reaches the banks of the Nile
• 5000 BC : Farming reached Western Europe
© Colin Frayn, 2008
www.frayn.net