Bronze Age Timeline

Timeline

  • c. 6200 BCE
    First copper smelting in Anatolia.
  • 3800 BCE
    Earliest bronze working.
  • 3650 BCE
    Invention of the wheel.
  • 3500 BCE
    Farming has spread across Europe.
  • 3400 BCE
    Priests become the rulers of Mesopotamian cities.
  • c. 3000 BCE
    First habitation of Epidaurus site.
  • 3000 BCE - 2550 BCE
    Troy I - First stone-walled village settlement
  • 3000 BCE - 2200 BCE
    The first archaeological evidence of organised communities in the Cyclades.
  • 3000 BCE - 2000 BCE
    Distinctive minimalistic standing marble figurines are produced in the Cyclades.
  • 3000 BCE
    First evidence of habitation at Thebes.
  • c. 3000 BCE
    First Bronze Age settlement in Jerusalem.
  • 2800 BCE - 1900 BCE
    Bell beaker culture in western Europe.
  • 2550 BCE - 2300 BCE
    Troy II - origin of gold 'treasure' found by Schliemann
  • 2500 BCE - 1100 BCE
    Bronze Age in Cyprus.
  • 2300 BCE
    Bronze is used in the Aegean.
  • 2300 BCE - 1750 BCE
    Troy III - Troy V
  • 2200 BCE - 1700 BCE
    Evidence of town planning and more sophisticated architecture in the Cylades.
  • 2100 BCE
    Ziggurats in use in Sumerian cities of Eridu, Uruk, Ur, Nippur and elsewhere
  • c. 2000 BCE
    Pottery wheel introduced to Minoan civilization on Crete.
  • 2000 BCE
    Early Greeks settle the Peloponnese.
  • 2000 BCE
    Domesticated horses introduced in Mesopotamia.
  • 2000 BCE - 1500 BCE
    Wessex culture introduces bronze working to Britain.
  • c. 2000 BCE - c. 1400 BCE
    Early Bronze Age in Scotland.
  • c. 2000 BCE
    Bronze Age begins in Northern Europe.
  • c. 2000 BCE
    Akrotiri becomes an important Aegean trading centre.
  • 2000 BCE - 1650 BCE
    Akrotiri on Thera reaches its peak of prosperity and becomes a flourishing Mediterranean trading centre.
  • 2000 BCE
    First shaft graves at Thebes.
  • 1894 BCE
    Amorite dynasty established in Babylon.
  • 1850 BCE - 1550 BCE
    Phaistos disk manufactured on Crete.
  • 1800 BCE
    Bronze working introduced to Egypt.
  • 1795 BCE - 1750 BCE
    Reign of Hammurabi, king of Babylon.
  • 1787 BCE
    Hammurabi of Babylon conquers Uruk and Isin.
  • c. 1772 BCE
    The Code of Hammurabi: One of the earliest codes of law in the world.
  • c. 1760 BCE - c. 1757 BCE
    Hammurabi of Babylon destroys the city of Mari. The people of Mari are spared according to Hammurabi.
  • 1750 BCE - 1300 BCE
    Troy VI - probable Troy of Homer's Iliad. City at its zenith.
  • 1700 BCE - 1400 BCE
    The culture in the Cyclades is increasingly influenced by Minoan Crete.
  • 1680 BCE
    Hurrians occupy Assyria.
  • 1650 BCE - 1550 BCE
    Eruption of Thera and consequent tidal waves, destruction of Akrotiri and other Aegean centres.
  • c. 1600 BCE
    Rhodes has significant contact with Minoan Crete.
  • c. 1600 BCE - c. 1550 BCE
    The palace at Tel Kabri is destroyed and the site is abandoned for the rest of the Bronze Age.
  • 1595 BCE
    King Mursilis of the Hittites sacks Babylon. Begin of Babylonian "dark ages."
  • 1550 BCE
    The Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni is founded.
  • 1504 BCE - 1492 BCE
    Egyptian empire reaches greatest extent under Thutmose I.
  • 1500 BCE
    Pastoral farming spreads across Eurasian steppes.
  • 1500 BCE
    Egyptian empire extends to the Euphrates.
  • 1500 BCE - 1300 BCE
    Mycenaean Thebes at its peak of prosperity and influence.
  • 1500 BCE
    The site of Delphi is first settled.
  • 1472 BCE
    Mittani annexes Assyria.
  • c. 1450 BCE
    Mycenaean monumental architecture first appears at Epidaurus.
  • c. 1450 BCE - 1200 BCE
    The city of Ugarit flourishes.
  • c. 1400 BCE
    Rhodes has significant contact with the Mycenaean civilization.
  • 1400 BCE
    Assyria regains its independence.
  • c. 1400 BCE - c. 900 BCE
    Middle Bronze Age in Scotland.
  • 1400 BCE - 1100 BCE
    Culture in the Cyclades is increasingly influenced by the Mycenaean civilization of mainland Greece.
  • 1330 BCE - 1300 BCE
    Sinking of the Uluburun shipwreck off the coast of Lycia.
  • c. 1321 BCE
    Western Mittani is conquered by the Hittites.
  • 1300 BCE - 950 BCE
    Troy VIIa - VIIb Notable decline in architectural and artisitic standards
  • 1250 BCE - 1200 BCE
    Mycenaean chamber tombs constructed at Thebes.
  • c. 1200 BCE - c. 1100 BCE
    Mycenaean Epidaurus at its peak of prosperity.
  • 1100 BCE
    Hillforts in western Europe.
  • c. 1100 BCE
    Evidence of settlement destruction and abandonment across the Cyclades.
  • c. 900 BCE - c. 400 BCE
    Late Bronze Age in Scotland.
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