Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures

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[edit] Purpose

The table gives a rough picture of the relationships between the various principal cultures of Prehistory outside the Americas, Antarctica, Australia and Oceania. It also serves as an index of the broad features of that prehistory to be followed through links to articles. Drawing parallels between the sets of information here and in the Timeline of glaciation might also be informative in some cases.

[edit] Table

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The Principal prehistoric cultures of the Old World
	Prehistoric Europe		History of Africa and	African archaeology	Near Eastern archaeology	History of Asia
Period & Climate	Western Europe	Central Europe and Eastern Europe	North Africa, West Africa and Sahara	Central Africa, South and East Africa	Middle East	South Asia, India and Central Asia	Far East and South-East Asia
After the year 1000 CE	Medieval		Iron Age of the Chad Basin
1000 CE	Opening of the Middle Ages End of Antiquity	Iron Age	Iron Age in Niger, Roman Empire	Iron Age in Kenya, Uganda Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe	Roman Empire
1 BCE	Iron Age	Iron Age	Nigeria, Great Lakes	First cultivators of the equatorial forest	Empire of Alexander Persian Empire Phoenicians	Mauryan Empire (India) Steppe Scythians Indian Iron Age	Chinese Iron Age Chinese Zhou period
1000 BCE	Bronze Age Bell beaker	Bronze Age Myceneans	Copper Age in Niger	development of agriculture in East Africa	Hittites Assyrians	development of pastoralism in India Bactrian towns	Chinese Bronze Age Chinese Shang period
2000 BCE	Chalcolithic	corded ceramic domestication of the horse	Neolithic of Tichit Tenerean		Akkad Empire Sumerian Kingdom	Indus Valley civilisation writing	Chinese Neolithic of Longshan
3000 BCE	enclosed villages first megaliths	Chalcolithic of Central Europe		Beginning of the Hunter-gatherer art of South Africa	Bronze Age
4000 BCE	Lower Neolithic	Danubian Neolithic	Mediterranean and Egyptian Neolithic		Chalcolithic (copper metallurgy)	Neolithic of Iran	Neolithic of Yang-Shao rice-growing (?)
5000 BCE	Cardial (agriculture, stock-rearing, pottery) Tardenoisian cultures	agriculture, stock-rearing (pigs, bovine, sheep)	Neolithic of the Sahara/Sahel		irrigated agriculture ceramic Cyprus	(and Caucasian) irrigation	cultivation of millet pig rearing
6000 BCE	Sauveterrian cultures (gathering of legumes)	in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean	ceramic		Neolithic with ceramic raising sheep & goats end of pre-ceramic B aceramic Cyprus	pre-ceramic of Iran Afghanistan and Baluchistan	Neolithic of northern China
7000 BCE		Backed point culture		Wiltonian	Pre-ceramic B (wheat, barley) Neolithic Pre-ceramic A		hunter gatherers of Jomon (ancient Japan)
8000 BCE	Azilian and Asiloid cultures		Capsian				Hoabinhian of South-East Asia
9000 BCE	late Gravettian	late Gravettian plains complex (Mezine Kostienki)		Magosian	Natufian	Khandivili
10 000 BCE Holocene began glacial ended (10,000BCE) glacial at its coldest (18,000BCE)	Magdalenian Solutrean Epigravettian	Epigravettian	Ibero-maurusian Sebilian	Lupembian	Kebarian Athlitian		pre-Jomon ceramic(Japan)
20 000 BCE	Gravettian Aurignacian (art)	Pavlovian Aurignacian (art)			Aurignacian (art)
30 000 BCE	Chatelperronian	Szeletian	Aterian	Stillbayan	Emirian	Angara culture	Sen-Doki
40 000 BCE					Amoudian
50 000 BCE	Mousterians (earliest graves)	Mousterian	Mousterian	Fauresmithian	Jabroudian Mousterian	Soanian	Ngandong culture
80 000 BCE latest glacial began (95000BCE)	Micoquian		Micoquian	Mousteroid			Ordos culture
100 000 BCE glacial ended (135,000BCE)	Upper Acheulean	Upper Acheulean		Sangoen		Acheulean Soanian	Fen Culture
200 000 BCE glacial began (195,000 BCE) glacial ended (240,000BCE) glacial began (285,000BCE)	Tayacian		Acheulean	Acheulean	Acheulean
300 000 BCE	middle Acheulean Clactonian	middle Acheulean				Pre-Soanian
500 000 BCE	Lower Acheulean worked pebbles	Lower Acheulean worked pebbles	Lower Acheulean				Padjitanian
1 000 000 BCE	worked pebbles	worked pebbles	worked pebbles	lower Acheulian Olduwan			worked pebbles
2 000 000 BCE
Period & Climate	Western Europe	Central Europe and Eastern Europe	North Africa, West Africa and Sahara	Central Africa, South and East Africa	Middle East	South Asia, India and Central Asia	Far East and South-East Asia