Hominids
Located in southern and eastern Africa, these primates lived over 3m years ago. Mary and Louis Leakey discovered the first fossil of these primates in 1974. Different from earlier primates, they walked upright and could formulate speech.
Paleolithic Era
During the Paleolithic period, the economy was based on hunting and gathering as this was before the establishment of agrarian practices. Paleolithic society was a collection of clans based on extended families. They followed a polytheistic faith, practic
Homo Sapiens
Homo sapiens refers to human beings, the earliest forms of whom included Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon . They were known for their use of tools, clothing and dwellings.
Hunting and gathering
Typical prior to the formation of settlements, hunting and gathering was seen in early civilizations prior to the development of established agriculture and the domestication of animals. Targeted animals could be anything that hunters were game enough (no
Aborigines
It is thought that the first Australians arrived on the continent some 50,000 years ago. Hunters and gatherers, they traveled in clans that followed a patrilineal line of descent. The passed down their heritage, culture and history through "dreaming" as p
Neolithic Era
The Neolithic period was based on the establishment of sedentary agriculture and domestication of animals around 10,000 BCE. The first of these civilizations developed in the Middle East and from there, spread to India, Europe and East Asia. The increase
Jomon culture
The Jomon culture was a Mesolithic culture most known for their pottery. Most of the artifacts and archeological evidence of the culture have been uncovered in the northern island of Hokkaido but also seen as far south as the Ryukyu Islands. They lived in
�atal H�y�k
Found in modern-day Turkey near the modern city of �umra, �atal H�y�k was a Neolithic settlement that existed between c. 6500-c.5800 BCE. The settlement was organized along lines of development and was known for its paintings and reliefs of hunting scenes
Sumer
Sumer made up the southern Mesopotamia region and is known as one of the earliest known civilizations. First settled by a non-Semitic group called the Ubaidians, the Sumerians arrived around 3300 BCE. , creating the world's first known cities. The legacy
Minoan Civilization
A civilization that arose upon the island of Crete, their economic and political power was based on their usage of the sea. The center of their culture was the city of Knosses and the civilization was named after King Minos. It was the first known civiliz
Bantu Migrations
The migrations refer to the movement of Africans between 3,000BCE to 500 CE. They spoke languages associated with the Niger-Congo region and today, these languages and their offshoots are referred to as Bantu languages. The Bantu created decentralized soc
The Bronze Age
The Bronze Age period is associated with the development of metallurgy and the use of copper. People of the period later combined copper with tin to create bronze. Tools made of this material first originated in Mesopotamia around 4000 BCE.
Yellow River Civilization
This term refers to a series of civilizations (dynasties) that emerged from the Huang He (Yellow River). The hued river gets its name from the loess soil that blows in from the north and Mongolia. Its regular flooding has earned the river the nickname of
Phoenicians
A city-state society based on shipping and trade, the Phoenicians were found along the Mediterranean coast of modern-day Lebanon and Israel. Their greatest achievement however, might have been in the area of writing, in particular, cuneiform. Because of t
Mesopotamia
This is the name of the region between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers in modern day Iraq. The region was the origin of world's first cities (Ur and Babylon), writing (cuneiform and pictographs) and large public works like canals and bridges.
Nile River
The Nile River civilization was based on agricultural settlements around 5500 BCE. It would eventually grow into the Egyptian society and the uniting of upper (southern) and lower (northern) regions by King Menes. The society, religiously, was a polytheis