4,000,000 B.C.	"Lucy" Early hominids in East Africa
2,000,000-600,000 B.C.	Eolithic Period: earliest tools; evolution towards true homo sapiens
600,000-120,000 B.C.	Lower Palaeolithic: Dispersal of man
120,000-35,000 B.C.	Middle Plaeolithic: Neanderthals in Europe and Near East
35,000-10,000 B.C.	Upper Palaeolithic: Cro-magnon (true man)
10,000-7,000 B.C.	Mesolithic: first hints of agriculture
7,000-5,000 B.C.	Neolithic: true agriculture in Near East; domestication of animals; growth of villages
5,000-3,500 B.C.	Chalcolithic: metallurgy and pottery. Copper smelted in Near East as early as 6,000 B.C. By 2800 B.C. working of bronze widespread.

Dr. Kenneth W. Harl
(Ph.D., Yale University 1978; prof.)
Classical Greece, Rome and Byzantium
Office: History 211 (504)862-8621
Fax: (504) 862-8739
Home: (504)866-5392

Last Updated 09/18/1999
Please report any problems to Richard DH Clark
Copyright 1999