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. HoloceneAfrica

    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 BCEEurope

    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 BCEEurope

    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 BCEAfrica

    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 BCESouth 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 BCEAsia

    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