Culture & IdeasThe 4th millennium BCE

Culture & Ideas in the 4th millennium BCE

Every event in the Terralore archive tagged culture and ideas — art, language, science and learning, narrowed to the 4th millennium BCE — 6 of them, drawn from 5 nations, running from 4000 BCE to 3200 BCE. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.

Events
6
Nations
5
Earliest
4000 BCE
Latest
3200 BCE
Africa
2
Europe
2
Asia
1
South America
1

Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.

  1. Holocene — Africa:

    Niger

    Rock art of a green Sahara

    Across the Aïr and Ténéré, engraved and painted rock art recorded cattle, giraffes and elephants, documenting a watered landscape utterly unlike the desert that exists today.

    Era: The Green Sahara and the peoples of the Ténéré

    Sources: Archaeology of the Green Sahara · NigerHeritage, History of Niger · Wikipedia

  2. c. 3600 BCE — Europe:

    Malta

    The temples of Ggantija raised on Gozo

    The two megalithic temples of Ggantija were built on Gozo, the South Temple around 3600 BCE, ranking among the oldest free-standing monumental buildings in the world.

    Era: The Temple Builders and Prehistoric Malta

    Sources: The Megalithic Temples of Malta · World History Encyclopedia, Ggantija Archaeological Park · Heritage Malta

  3. c. 3600–2500 BCE — Europe:

    Malta

    The Maltese temple culture flourishes

    A Neolithic society raised the temples of Hagar Qim, Mnajdra, Tarxien, Skorba and Ta' Hagrat in successive phases, creating monumental architecture without the use of metal tools.

    Era: The Temple Builders and Prehistoric Malta

    Sources: The Megalithic Temples of Malta · World History Encyclopedia

  4. c. 3500–2700 BCE — Africa:

    Central African Republic

    The megaliths of Bouar are raised

    Farmers near Bouar in the west erected multi-ton standing stones (tazunu), among the most important prehistoric monuments in Central Africa and evidence of organised Neolithic communities.

    Era: Megaliths and Early Peoples

    Sources: Central African Republic — History · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of the Central African Republic · Kiddle Encyclopedia, Bouar (megaliths) · Wikipedia

  5. c. 3500 BCE — South America:

    Ecuador

    The Valdivia ceramic culture

    On the Pacific coast the Valdivia people make fired-clay vessels and figurines among the oldest pottery in the Americas, evidence of early settled, farming village life.

    Era: Valdivia Potters and the Chiefdoms of the Andes

    Sources: History of Ecuador · Encyclopaedia Britannica

  6. c. 3200 BCE — Asia:

    Iraq

    The Sumerians invent cuneiform writing

    In the Sumerian city of Uruk, scribes develop cuneiform — wedge-shaped marks pressed into clay — first to keep accounts and then to record law, literature and history, making Mesopotamia the cradle of the written word.

    Era: Sumer, Akkad and Babylon — the First Cities

    Sources: How to write cuneiform · The British Museum, Mesopotamia — collection gallery · The British Museum