Thoughts on the Late Brone Age

Another timeline. I'm soon going to string all these together into one big mega-post that will speak to history, pre-history, and evolutionary biology beginning around 63 million years ago.  Right now we're looking at the late Bronze Age, the period from 4000 to 2000 BC. 

I'm going to use "BC" rather than BCE here, for no better reason than that the AP style guide approves of it. 

On second thought, I won't use BC or BCE here. I'll just assume you, dear reader, know that is what is meant in each of the (always approximate) years provided. So ... here we go.

4000 -- farming settlements first established in the Indus River Valley. 

Another point around this time: horses have begun to be domesticated on the Eurasian steppes, modern-day Ukraine and west Kazakhstan.

3600 -- in the land between the great rivers Euphrates and Tigris, i.e. Sumer, copper begins to be mixed with tin to create Bronze, giving this era a name. 

3500 -- the desertification of much of northern Africa has begun by this time. This forced the population of the region to drift east, toward the Nile Valley. It turns out that migration can be a good thing for the destination: this development made Egypt strong. 

3100 Four hundred-ish years later, North and South Egypt united into a single state

3000 BC, Aryans (nomads from central Asia) begin migrating into the Indus Valley

2900 Earliest known roll of papyrus (paper writing!) in Egypt

Also 2900 BC, A likely date for the creation of the institution of MONARCHY as we know it, a family claiming divine right to rule and passing that alleged right through the generations. This innovation has been attributed to the leading family in Lagash, a city in Sumer. 

2620 BC, first known pyramid built in Egypt. this was a step pyramid -- the smooth sides we associate with Egyptian pyramids were a later innovation.

2500 BC  -- most likely date for the creation of Stonehenge

2200 BC, a great city in Asia Minor is destroyed by fire. This may be the nearest thing to a real-life instantiation of Homer's Troy. 

2130 BC, a two hundred year long period of political chaos begins in Egypt. The chaos represents the fall of what is called the "Old Kingdom." The 200 years is called the "Intermediate Period" followed by the "Middle Kingdom."

2000 BCE, earliest known evidence of the Minoan civilization on Crete