Era · Before c. 3000 BC

Prehistory

From the formation of Earth and the age of dinosaurs to the first cave art and monuments, before writing was invented.

Dawenkou Culture: Neolithic Shandong and Its Rich Grave Goods

Dawenkou communities grew increasingly unequal and developed into the Longshan culture of Shandong, an important step towards early Chinese states.

c. 4100–2600 BC · 5 min read

Prehistory

Neolithic Britain: How Farming Arrived Around 4000 BC

Farming communities from continental Europe largely replaced Britain's Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and introduced crops, livestock, pottery and monuments.

c. 4000 BC · 6 min read

Prehistory

Secondary Products Revolution: Milk, Wool and the Plough

Sherratt's model remains influential, but scientific evidence shows that milking began thousands of years earlier, while traction and wool spread mainly in the fourth millennium BC.

c. 4000-3000 BC · 6 min read

Prehistory

Naqada Culture: Predynastic Egypt Before the Pharaohs

The Naqada culture spread across Egypt and its rulers founded the unified Egyptian state around 3100 BC.

c. 4000-3000 BC · 6 min read

Prehistory

Nahal Mishmar Hoard: Copper Age Treasure from the Judean Desert

The hoard revealed the advanced metalworking of the Ghassulian Chalcolithic and is now displayed at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

c. 4000-3500 BC · 6 min read

Prehistory

Xishuipo Dragon: Neolithic Shell Mosaic Burial of Puyang

The Xishuipo mosaics became one of the most famous early dragon images in China and a key piece of evidence in debates on prehistoric Chinese astronomy.

c. 4000 BC · 5 min read

Prehistory

Hal Saflieni Hypogeum: Malta's Underground Neolithic Necropolis

The Hypogeum became the only known prehistoric underground temple-like burial complex of its kind and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.

c. 4000–2500 BC · 8 min read

Prehistory

Sannai-Maruyama: Large Jōmon Settlement in Northern Japan

The site changed views of the Jōmon as small mobile bands and became part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021.

c. 3900–2200 BC · 6 min read

Prehistory

Sweet Track: Britain's Neolithic Timber Walkway of 3807 BC

One of the oldest dated timber trackways in the world, preserved in peat and studied by the Somerset Levels Project.

3807 BC · 5 min read

Prehistory

Valdivia Culture: Early Pottery and Villages of Ancient Ecuador

Valdivia became one of the earliest known settled, pottery-making societies of the Americas, laying foundations for later Ecuadorian cultures such as Machalilla and Chorrera.

c. 3800–1500 BC · 6 min read

Prehistory

Poulnabrone Dolmen: Neolithic Portal Tomb of the Burren

Excavation revealed the remains of more than 30 Neolithic people, making Poulnabrone one of the best-studied portal tombs in Ireland.

c. 3800–3200 BC · 6 min read

Prehistory

Dolmen of Menga: Antequera's Giant Megalithic Tomb in Spain

Menga became one of the largest and most sophisticated megalithic monuments in Europe and the centrepiece of the Antequera Dolmens World Heritage Site.

c. 3750–3650 BC · 6 min read