The 8000 year old Settlements found in Middle-east and South-Asia come under the category of Proto-Civilisations. This was the time the transistion from tribal to urban culture was taking place.
The Indus-Sarasvati civilisation came to an end because of Ecological destruction and over-grazing as did some of the Central-American civilisations.
There is evidence of a 400 year old drought about 4500 years ago which probably played a role in the disappearance of these civilisations in Asia.
The first people who migrated to Americas 25,000 years ago are the Aborginees, related to the Australian natives and Africans. They were basicaly Negroid. Another migration from Asia 8000 years ago, The Mongolid migration completely wiped out the Aborginee population, the original human inhabitants from the Americas.
It's not clear if it's disease or genocide or just competition for resources wiped them out. The population of Americas was completely replaced by the Mongoloid stock who are the Red-indians.
"Archeological findings place knowledge of Persian
prehistory at middle paleolithic times (100,000 years ago)."
Genetic evidence indicates modern Humans came out of Africa 80,000 years ago. Agriculture started around 14,000-BCE to 12,000-BCE, which is around the same time sedantary cultures began to take root on form of settlements and villages. But these cannot be called as civilisations. The first true civilisations took root in or around 4000-BCE.
anon_couscous_ff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 16:44:33 -0000
Subject: [FairfieldLife] archeological evidence of civilisations
Subject: [FairfieldLife] archeological evidence of civilisations
25000-35000 B.C. Time of paleo-Indian migration to Americas from
Siberia, according to genetic evidence. Groups likely traveled across
the Pacific in boats.
Wheat and barley grown from wild ancestors in Sumer. 6000 BC
5000 BC In what many scientists regard as humankind's first and
greatest feat of genetic engineering, Indians in southern Mexico
systematically breed maize (corn) from dissimilar ancestor species.
3000 BC The Americas' first urban complex, in coastal Peru, of at
least 30 closely packed cities, each centered around large
pyramid-like structures
Great Pyramid at Giza 2650 BC
32 BC First clear evidence of Olmec use of zero--an invention, widely described as the most important mathematical discovery ever made, which did not occur in Eurasia until about 600 A.D., in India (zero
was not introduced to Europe until the 1200s and not widely used until
the 1700s)
The oldest granary yet found dates back to 9500 BCE and is located in
the Jordan Valley. The earliest known settlement in Jericho (9th
millennium BCE) in modern-day Palestine, was a PPNA culture that
eventually gave way to more developed settlements later, which
included in one early settlement (8th millennium BCE) mud-brick houses surrounded by a stone wall, having a stone tower built into the wall.
Sumer 35002334 BCE
The Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer officially began at around
4000-3500 BCE, and ended at 2334 BCE with the rise of Assyria. It was
the world's first civilization. The oldest granary yet found dates
back to 9500 BCE and is located in the Jordan Valley. The earliest
known settlement in Jericho (9th millennium BCE) in modern-day
Palestine, was a PPNA culture that eventually gave way to more
developed settlements later, which included in one early settlement
(8th millennium BCE) mud-brick houses surrounded by a stone wall,
having a stone tower built into the wall. In this time there is
evidence of domesticated emmer wheat, barley and pulses and hunting of
wild animals. However, there are no indications of attempts to form
communities (early civilizations) with surrounding peoples.
Nevertheless, by the 6th millennium BCE we find what appears to be an
ancient shrine and cult, which would likely indicate intercommunal
religious practices in this era. Findings include a collective burial
(with not all the skeletons completely articulated, jaws removed,
faces covered with plaster, cowries used for eyes). Other finds from
this era include stone and bone tools, clay figurines and shell and
malachite beads. Around 1500 to 1200 BCE Jericho and other cities of
Canaan had become vassals of the Egyptian empire.
Several miles southwest of Ur, Eridu was the southernmost of a
conglomeration of early temple-cities, in Sumer, southern Mesopotamia,
with the earliest of these settlements carbon dating to around 5000
BCE. The Sialk ziggurat of Kashan, Iran, also dates to this era. By
the 4th millennium BCE, in Nippur we find, in connection with a sort
of ziggurat and shrine, a conduit built of bricks, in the form of an
arch. Sumerian inscriptions written on clay also appear in Nippur. By
4000 BCE an ancient city of Susa, in Mesopotamia, seems to emerge from
earlier villages. Sumerian cuneiform script dates to no later than
about 3500 BCE. Sumer, which was Mesopotamia's first civilization in
what is now Iraq, is recognized as the world's earliest civilization.
Other villages begin to spring up around this time in the Ancient Near
East (Middle East) as well.
[edit]
Ancient Egypt 320080 BCE
The Egyptian civilization of the Nile Valley began at around 3200 BCE,
and ended at around 80 BCE when Augustus conquered the Nile Valley. It is one of the three oldest civilizations in the world. Anthropological and archaeological evidence both indicate a grain-grinding culture farming along the Nile in the 10th millennium BC using sickle blades.
But another culture of hunters, fishers and gathering peoples using
stone tools replaced them. Evidence also indicates human habitation in
the southwestern corner of Egypt, near the Sudan border, before 8000
BC. Climate changes and/or overgrazing around 8000 BC began to
desiccate the pastoral lands of Egypt, eventually forming the Sahara
(c.2500 BC), and early tribes naturally migrated to the Nile river
where they developed a settled agricultural economy and more
centralized society. Domesticated animals had already been imported
from Asia between 7500 BC and 4000 BC (see Sahara: History, Cattle
period), and there is evidence of pastoralism and cultivation of
cereals in the East Sahara in the 7th millennium BC. The earliest
known artwork of ships in ancient Egypt dates to 6000 BCE.
By 6000 BC predynastic Egyptians in the southwestern corner of Egypt
were herding cattle and constructing large buildings. Symbols on
Gerzean pottery, c.4000 BC, resemble traditional hieroglyph writing
[2]. In ancient Egypt mortar (masonry) was in use by 4000 BC, and
ancient Egyptians were producing ceramic faience as early as 3500 BC.
There is evidence that ancient Egyptian explorers may have originally
cleared and protected some branches of the Silk Road. Medical
institutions are known to have been established in Egypt since as
early as circa 3000 BC. ancient Egypt gains credit for the tallest
ancient pyramids and early forms of surgery, mathematics, and barge
transport (see ancient Egypt: Ancient Achievements).
[edit]
Indus Valley 33001700 BCE
The Indus Valley civilization first appeared around 3300 BCE at
Harappa, followed by Mohenjo-Daro a few centuries later. By 2600 BCE, it had developed into the most advanced civilization of its time,
covering almost all Pakistan and North-Western India. The
earliest-known farming cultures in South Asia emerged in the hills of
Balochistan, Pakistan, which included Mehrgarh in 7000 BCE. These
semi-nomadic peoples domesticated wheat, barley, sheep, goat and
cattle. Pottery was in use by the 6th millennium BC. The oldest
granary yet found in Mehrgarh in the Indus Valley dates from 6000 BC.
Their settlement consisted of mud buildings that housed four internal
subdivisions. Burials included elaborate goods such as baskets, stone
and bone tools, beads, bangles, pendants and occasionally animal
sacrifices. Figurines and ornaments of sea shell, limestone,
turquoise, lapis lazuli, sandstone and polished copper have been
found. By the 4th millennium BCE we find much evidence of
manufacturing. Technologies included stone and copper drills, updraft
kilns, large pit kilns and copper melting crucibles. Button seals
included geometric designs.
By 4000 BCE, a pre-Harappan culture emerged, with trade networks
including lapis lazuli and other raw materials. Villagers domesticated
numerous other crops, including peas, sesame seed, dates, and cotton,
plus a wide range of domestic animals, including the water buffalo
which still remains essential to intensive agricultural production
throughout Asia today. There is also evidence of sea-going craft.
Archaeologists have discovered a massive, dredged canal and docking
facility at the coastal city of Lothal, India, perhaps the world's
oldest sea-faring harbor. Judging from the dispersal of artifacts the
trade networks integrated portions of Afghanistan, the Persian coast,
northern and central India, Mesopotamia (see Meluhha) and Ancient
Egypt (see Silk Road).
Archaeologists studying the remains of two men from Mehrgarh,
Pakistan, discovered that these peoples in the Indus Valley
Civilization had knowledge of medicine and dentistry as early as circa
3300 BC. Recently there was found dentistry as early as 7000 BC ( see
http://archaeology.about.com/od/inventions/qt/dentistry.htm). The
Indus Valley Civilization gains credit for the earliest known use of
decimal fractions in a uniform system of ancient weights and measures,
as well as negative numbers (see Timeline of mathematics). Ancient
Indus Valley artifacts include beautiful, glazed stone faïence beads.
The Indus Valley Civilization boasts the earliest known accounts of
urban planning. Major cities included Lothal (2400 BCE), Harappa (3300
BCE), and Mohenjo-Daro (2500 BCE) As seen in Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and (recently discovered) Rakhigarhi, India, their urban planning included the world's first urban sanitation systems. Evidence suggests
efficient municipal governments. Streets were laid out in perfect grid
patterns comparable to modern New York City. Houses were protected
from noise, odors and thieves. The sewage and drainage systems
developed and used in cities throughout the Indus Valley were far more
advanced than that of contemporary urban sites in Mesopotamia and
Egypt and also more advanced than that of any other Bronze Age or even Iron Age civilization. For an unknown reason, the Harappan
civilization came to an end at around 1700 BCE.
Some historians, however, believe in an ancient civilization in
present-day Gujarat known as the Sorath civilization, dating back to
3700 BCE. This view is starting to gain credence among historians, but
has not yet been verified. This civilization was completely different
from the Harappan civilization, with 90% different pottery, different
crops, and a rural rather that urban aspect.
Another earlier claim was presented by oceanographical researchers of
an Indian institution called NIOT in the Gulf of Cambay which consists
in possible underwater structures resembling Harappan ones but dated
about 7000 BC.
[edit]
Elam 2700539 BCE
The Elamite Kingdom is one of the oldest civilizations on record,
beginning around 2700 BCE and discovered and acknowledged very
recently. This civilization was a hub of activity in the Middle East
and would probably have been in contact with the civilizations of
Sumer. There is evidence of an even older civilization called the
Jiroft Kingdom, but not everybody acknowledges this civilization.
There are records of numerous ancient and technologically advanced
civilizations on the Iranian plateau before the arrival of Aryan
tribes from the north, many of whom are still unknown to historians
today. Archeological findings place knowledge of Persian prehistory at
middle paleolithic times (100,000 years ago).[3] The earliest
sedentary cultures date from 18,000-14,000 years ago. In 6000 BC the
world saw a fairly sophisticated agricultural society and proto-urban
population centers. 7000 year old jars of wine excavated in the Zagros
Mountains (now on display at The University of Pennsylvania) and ruins of 7000 year old settlements such as Sialk are further testament to this. Many a dynasty have ruled Persia throughout the ages. Scholars and archeologists are only beginning to discover the scope of the independent, non-Semitic Elamite Empire and Jiroft civilizations (2)
5000 years ago. At the end of second millennium, the Aryan nomads from central Asia settled in Persia.
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