Ancient World
La Venta: The Olmec Ceremonial Centre of Tabasco
La Venta became the leading Olmec centre after San Lorenzo and left monuments that define Olmec art; it declined around 400 BC.
Era · c. 3000 BC – AD 500
Ancient World
The first cities, empires and written records, from the pyramids of Egypt to Greece and the Roman Empire.
Ancient World
Ashurnasirpal II and the Northwest Palace at Nimrud
Kalhu became the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire for about 170 years, and its palace reliefs became world-famous.
Ancient World
Battle of Qarqar (853 BC): Shalmaneser III Against a Coalition
Shalmaneser III claimed victory, but the coalition held and Assyria did not advance further south for years.
Ancient World
Settlement of Tonga and Samoa: The Birth of Polynesia
The settlement of Tonga and Samoa created the homeland where Ancestral Polynesian language and culture developed before the later voyages into eastern Polynesia.
Ancient World
Tel Dan Stele: The 'House of David' Aramaic Inscription
The stele provided the first widely accepted reference to the 'House of David' outside the Bible.
Ancient World
Mesha Stele: Moabite King's Account of War with Israel
The stele gives a Moabite version of Moab's break from Israel and preserves early references to Israel, Omri and Yahweh.
Ancient World
Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III: Assyria's Tribute Monument
A royal monument recording 31 years of Assyrian campaigns and the tribute of five foreign rulers, among them Jehu of Israel.
Ancient World
Founding of Carthage: Phoenician Tyre's Colony in North Africa
Tyrian settlers founded Qart-hadasht, the 'New City', which grew into the leading Phoenician power of the western Mediterranean until its destruction by Rome in 146 BC.
Ancient World
Sammu-ramat: The Assyrian Queen Behind the Semiramis Legend
A queen mother of unusual influence in Assyria who, transformed by Greek writers, became the legendary warrior queen Semiramis.
Ancient World
Arzhan Kurgans: Early Scythian Royal Tombs in Tuva, Siberia
The Arzhan mounds showed that the Scythian royal burial tradition and animal-style art were already developed in southern Siberia by the 9th-7th centuries BC.
Ancient World
Hallstatt Culture: Salt, Iron and Early Celtic Europe
The Hallstatt culture spread iron working and a wealthy elite society across central Europe and was followed by the La Tène culture.
Ancient World
Greek Alphabet (c. 800 BC): Adapting the Phoenician Script
The Greeks created the first alphabet with regular signs for vowels, which became the ancestor of the Latin, Cyrillic and many other scripts.