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The history of Eurasia is the collective history of several distinct peripheral coastal regions: the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe, linked by the interior mass of the Eurasian steppe of Central Asia and Eastern Europe. While geographically on a separate continent, North Africa has historically been integrated into Eurasian history. Perhaps beginning with early Silk Road trade, the Eurasian view of history seeks establishing genetic, cultural, and linguistic links between European, African, Middle-Eastern, and Asian cultures of antiquity. For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ...
For other uses, see Silk Road (disambiguation). ...
For other uses, see Eurasia (disambiguation). ...
A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ...
Map of South Asia (see note on Kashmir). ...
This article is about the geographical region. ...
Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ...
For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ...
This article is about the ecological zone type. ...
Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to...
Eastern Europe is a concept that lacks one precise definition. ...
Northern Africa (UN subregion) geographic, including above North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa. ...
For other uses, see Silk Road (disambiguation). ...
Prehistory
Lower Paleolithic Fossilized remains of Homo georgicus, Homo ergaster and Homo erectus between 1.8 and 1.0 million years old have been found in Europe (Georgia (Dmanisi), Spain), Indonesia (e.g., Sangiran and Trinil), Vietnam, and China (e.g., Shaanxi). (see also:Multiregional hypothesis). The first remains are of Olduwan culture, later of Acheulean and Clactonian culture. Finds of later fossils, such as Homo cepranensis, are local in nature, so the extent of human residence in eurasia during 1000000 - 300000 bp remains a mystery. For the 2007 comedy film, see Homo Erectus (film). ...
Dmanisi is a site in eastern Georgia approximately 85 km southwest of Tbilisi in the Mashavera River Valley. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
Chopper with a Simple edge. ...
Acheulean hand-axes from Kent. ...
The Clactonian is the name given by archaeologists to an industry of European flint tool manufacture that dates to the early part of the interglacial period known as the Hoxnian, the Mindel-Riss or the Holstein interglacial (300,000–200,000 years ago). ...
Binomial name †Homo cepranensis Mallegni et al, 2003 Homo cepranensis is a proposed name for a hominin species discovered in 1994 known from only one skull cap. ...
Middle Paleolithic Geologic temperature records indicate two intense ice ages dated around 650000 ybp and 450000 ybp, these would have presented any humans outside tropics unprecedented difficulties. Indeed, fossils from this period are very few, and little can be said of human habitats in eurasia during this period. The few finds are of Homo antecessor and Homo heidelbergensis. Lantian Man in China. This article is devoted to temperature changes in Earths environment as determined from geologic evidence on multi-million to billion (109) year time scales. ...
A tropic is either of two circles of latitude: Tropic of Cancer, at 23½°N Tropic of Capricorn, at 23½°S Tropic is also the name of a town in Utah, United States. ...
Trinomial name Homo erectus lantianensis (J.K.Woo, 1964) The Lantian Man, Homo erectus lantianensis, initially Sinanthropus lantianensis, (and sometimes Lantien Man) refers to an ancestral human whose discovery in 1963 was first described by J.K.Woo in 1964. ...
Homo neanderthalensis, with his Mousterian technology emerged, in areas from Europe to western Asia, after this and continued to be the dominant group of humans in Europe and Middle East up until 70000-40000 ybp. Peking man has also been dated to this period. During Eemian Stage humans probably (see f.e. Wolf Cave) spread where ever their technology and skills allowed, Sahara dried up forming a difficult area for peoples to cross. Mousterian is a name given by archaeologists to a style of predominantly flint tools (or industry) associated primarily with Homo neanderthalensis and dating to the Middle Paleolithic, the middle part of the Old Stone Age. ...
Trinomial name Homo erectus pekinensis (Black, 1927) Peking Man (sometimes now called Beijing Man), also called Sinanthropus pekinensis (currently Homo erectus pekinensis), is an example of Homo erectus. ...
The Sahara Pump Theory is one which is used to explain the various phases by which African flora and African fauna have left that continent to penetrate the Middle East and possibly, thereafter, the rest of the world. ...
The birth of first modern humans (Homo sapiens idaltu) has been dated to be between 200000-130000 BP (see:Mitochondrial Eve, Single-origin hypothesis), to the coldest phase of Riss glaciation. Remains of Aterian culture appear on the archaeological evidence. Mitochondrial Eve (mt-mrca) is the name given by researchers to the woman who is the matrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) for all living humans. ...
In paleoanthropology, the single-origin hypothesis (or Out-of-Africa model) is one of two accounts of the origin of anatomically modern humans, Homo sapiens. ...
The Wolstonian glaciation is a name for an ice age period which occurred between 200,000 and 125,000 years ago. ...
The Aterian industry is a name given by archaeologists to a type of stone tool manufacturing dating to the middle Palaeolithic in the region around the Atlas Mountains and the north west Sahara. ...
Population bottleneck In the beginning of the last ice age a supervolcano erupted in Indonesia sometime between 75000 - 70000 BP. Theory states the effects of the eruption caused global climatic changes for many years, effectively obliterating most of the earlier cultures. Y-chromosomal Adam (90000 - 60000 BP) has been dated here. Neanderthals survived this abrupt change in the environment, so it's possible for other human groups too. According to the theory humans survived in Africa, and began to resettle areas north, as the effects of the eruption slowly vanished. Upper Paleolithic revolution began after this extreme event, the earliest finds are dated c.50000 BCE. The Wisconsin (in North America), Devensian (in the British Isles), Midlandian (in Ireland), Würm (in the Alps), and Weichsel (in northern central Europe) glaciations are the most recent glaciations of the Pleistocene epoch, which ended around 10,000 BCE. The general glacial advance began about 70,000 BCE, and...
Eruption column rising, Mount Redoubt, Alaska According to the Toba catastrophe theory, modern human evolution was affected by a recent, large volcanic event. ...
In human genetics, Y-chromosomal Adam (Y-mrca) is the male counterpart to mitochondrial Eve: the most recent common ancestor from whom all male human Y chromosomes are descended. ...
For other uses, see Neanderthal (disambiguation). ...
The Great Leap Forward (also known as the Upper Palaeolithic Revolution) is a critical event in human evolution, occurring between the Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic. ...
A divergence in genetical evidence occurs during the early phase of the glaciation. Descendants of female haplogroups M, N and male CT are the ones found among Eurasian peoples today. In the study of molecular evolution, a haplogroup is a large group of haplotypes, which are series of alleles at specific locations on a chromosome. ...
In human genetics, Haplogroup M is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup. ...
In human genetics, Haplogroup N is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup. ...
In human genetics, Haplogroup CT (P9. ...
Upper Paleolithic, the dispersal of modern humans  Humans have populated the whole ice-free Europe during Upper Paleolithic While it has been estimated (by molecular clock) that modern humans migrated to Eurasia during the early phases of the last glaciation, the findings are very few. Most remains are of neanderthals. It has been suggested that the earliest migrations (through Middle East (Cro magnon in Levant c. 60000 BC)) have happened along coasts of southern Asia. Neanderthal interaction with Cro-Magnons remains a vigorous topic of discussion. Eurasian Upper Paleolithic is traditionally dated to start with the earliest finds (circa 45000 BC) of more developed stone tools gradually replacing the Mousterian (Neanderthal) culture as seen f.e. in Santimamiñe. Asian finds are few. They've been tributed to Ordos culture. Cultural periods in the ice age include Châtelperronian culture, Aurignacian culture, Gravettian culture, Solutrean culture and Magdalenian culture. see also: Pre-history of the Southern Levant The molecular clock (based on the molecular clock hypothesis (MCH)) is a technique in genetics, which researchers use to date when two species diverged. ...
For the avant garde collective, see Cromagnon (band). ...
Around 45,000 years ago, the Neanderthals began to be displaced by, or assimilated with, modern humans (Homo sapiens), as the Cro-Magnon people appeared in Europe. ...
Santimamiñe cave, Kortezubi, Biscay, Basque Country is one of the most important archaeological sites of the Basque Country, including a nearly complete sequence from the Middle Paleolithic to the Iron Age. ...
Location of the archaeological finds of the Ordos culture. ...
Châtelperronian was the earliest industry of the Upper Palaeolithic in central and south western France. ...
Aurignacian is the name of a culture of the Upper Palaeolithic present in Europe and south west Asia. ...
The Gravettian was an industry of the European Upper Palaeolithic. ...
The Solutrean industry was an advanced flint tool making style of the Upper Palaeolithic. ...
The Magdalenian, also spelt Magdalénien, refers to one of the later culture of the Upper Palaeolithic in western Europe. ...
The Pre-history of the Southern Levant explains the various cultural changes that occurred, as revealed by archaeological evidence, prior to recorded traditions in the area of the Southern Levant, also referred to by a number of other largely overlapping historical designations, including Canaan, the Land of Israel (Eretz Israel...
Migrations  A model of human migration on the globe, based on mitochondrial genetics. Tracing back minute differences in the genomes of modern humans by methods of genetic genealogy, can and have been used to produce models of historical migration. Though these give indications of the routes taken by ancestral humans, the dating of the various genetic markers is not very accurate. The earliest migrations (dated c. 75.000 BP) from the Red Sea shores have been most likely along southern coast of Asia. After this, tracking and timing genetical markers gets increasingly difficult. What is known, is that on areas, of what is now Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afganistan, genetic markers diversify (from about 60000 BCE), and subsequent migrations emerge to all directions (even backwards to Levant) from here. Northeastbound were likely the ancestors of Samoyeds and Indigenous Americans (dated 50000 - 40000 BCE), northbound the ancestors of Uralic peoples, eastbound (maybe along Ganges) likely went the ancestors of Chinese. It is still largely unclear what routes different groups of Indo-European ancestors took to Europe (this likely happened later though). Genetic evidence suggests three - four separate migrations (1.Illyrians - Greeks 2.Celts - Italics, (3.Balts, if separately), 4.Goths - Slavs, - not necessarily in this order). Archaeologicical evidence has not been attributed to any particular group. On historical linguistic evidence, see f.e. classification of Thracian. The traditional view of associating early Celts with the chalcolithic Europe, European bronze age with germanic peoples, and Roman Empire with first widespread use of iron outside Paleobalkan area, is not considered good. Most likely there has been trade also in these periods f.e. with amber. In biology the genome of an organism is the whole hereditary information of an organism that is encoded in the DNA (or, for some viruses, RNA). ...
Genetic genealogy is the application of genetics to traditional genealogy. ...
mtDNA-based chart of large human migrations. ...
Location of the Red Sea The Red Sea is an inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. ...
The Levant The Levant (IPA: ) is an imprecise geographical term historically referring to a large area in the Middle East south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and by the northern Arabian Desert and Upper Mesopotamia to the east. ...
Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. ...
The classification of the Thracian language has long been a matter of contention and uncertainty, and widely varying hypotheses continue to be offered, from a grouping with Albanian, ancient Greek, Baltic, Slavic, to the isolate Burushaski language. ...
A simplified map archaeological cultures of the late Bronze Age (c. ...
For other uses, see Amber (disambiguation). ...
Influences from northern Africa via Gibraltar and Sicilia cannot be readily discounted. Many other questions remain open, too (f.e. Neanderthals were still present at this time). More genetical data is being gathered by various research programs. The Sicani (or Sikanoi) were an ancient people of Italy who dwelt along the Tiber river. ...
Early Holocene - See:Mesolithic
- See also:Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures
 Primary cultural areas in Europe c.4500 BC As the ice age ended, major environmental changes happened, such as sea level rise (est. 120m), vegetation changes, some animals disappearing. At the same time Neolithic revolution began and humans started to make pottery, began to cultivate crops and domesticated some animal species. The Mesolithic (Greek mesos=middle and lithos=stone or the Middle Stone Age[1]) was a period in the development of human technology between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods of the Stone Age. ...
The Neolithic Revolution is the term for the first agricultural revolution, describing the transition from nomadic hunting and gathering communities and bands, to agriculture and settlement, as first adopted by various independent prehistoric human societies, in numerous locations on most continents between 10-12 thousand years ago. ...
The table gives a rough picture of the relationships between the various principal cultures of Prehistory outside the Americas, Antarctica, Australia and Oceania. ...
Sea level measurements from 23 long tide gauge records in geologically stable environments show a rise of around 20 centimeters per century (2 mm/year). ...
The Neolithic Revolution is the term for the first agricultural revolution, describing the transition from nomadic hunting and gathering communities and bands, to agriculture and settlement, as first adopted by various independent prehistoric human societies, in numerous locations on most continents between 10-12 thousand years ago. ...
Pottery on display in Dilli Haat, Delhi, India. ...
This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...
Dogs and sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated. ...
Neolithic cultures in Eurasia are many, and best discussed in separate articles. Some of the articles on this subject include: Natufian culture, Jomon culture, List of Neolithic cultures of China and Mehrgarh. European sites are many, they are discussed f.e. in Prehistoric Europe. The finding of Ötzi the Iceman (dated 3300 BC) provides an important insight to Chalcolithic period in Europe. Proto-languages of various peoples have been forming in this period, though no literal evidence can (by definition) be found. Later migrations further complicate the study of migrations in this period. The Natufian culture existed in the Mediterranean region of the Levant. ...
The Jomon period (Japanese: 縄文時代 JÅmon-jidai) is the time in Japanese history from about 10,000 BCE to 300 BCE. Most scholars agree that by around 40,000 BCE glaciation had connected the islands with the mainland. ...
This is a list of Neolithic cultures of China that have been discovered by archaeologists, sorted in chronological order from the earliest founding to the latest. ...
Mehrgarh was an ancient settlement in South Asia and is one of the most important sites in archaeology for the study of the earliest neolithic settlements in that region. ...
“Ötzi†redirects here. ...
The Chalcolithic (Greek khalkos + lithos copper stone) period, also known as the Eneolithic (Aeneolithic) or Copper Age period, is a phase in the development of human culture in which the use of early metal tools appeared alongside the use of stone tools. ...
Proto-language may refer to either: a language that is the common ancestor of a set of related languages (a language family), or a system of communication during a stage in glottogony that may not yet be properly called a language. ...
Writing, the civilizations emerge Origins of writing are dated to fourth millennium BC. Writing may have started independently on various areas of Eurasia. It appears the skill spread relatively fast, giving people a new way of communication. Ancient redirects here. ...
Writing systems evolved in the Early Bronze Age (late 4th millennium BC) out of neolithic proto-writing. ...
For other uses, see Communication (disambiguation). ...
The three eastern regions of the Middle East, East Asia and South Asia developed in a similar manner with each of the three regions developing early civilizations around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and China (along the Yellow River and the Yangtze) shared many similarities and likely exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel. Ancient Egypt also shared this model. These civilizations were most likely in more or less regular contact with each other by the early versions of the silk road. Mesopotamia was a cradle of civilization geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq. ...
Excavated ruins of Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan. ...
For other Yellow Rivers, see Yellow River (disambiguation). ...
The Yangtze River or Chang Jiang (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), or Drichu in Tibetan (Tibetan: འབ; Wylie: bri chu) is the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world, after the Nile in Africa, and the Amazon in South America. ...
For other uses, see Wheel (disambiguation). ...
The pyramids are among the most recognizable symbols of the civilization of ancient Egypt. ...
For other uses, see Silk Road (disambiguation). ...
Europe was different, however. It was somewhat further north and contained no river systems to support agriculture. Thus Europe remained comparatively undeveloped, with only the southern tips of the region (Greece and Italy) being able to fully borrow crops, technologies, and ideas from the Middle East and North Africa. Similarly, civilization didn't arise in Southeast Asia until contact was made with ancient India, which gave rise to Indianized kingdoms in Indochina and the Malay archipelago. The steppe region had long been inhabited by mounted nomads, and from the central steppes they could reach all areas of the Asian continent. The northern part of the silk road traversed this region. Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ...
This article is about the history of the Indian Subcontinent prior to the Partition of British India in 1947. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Indochina 1886 Indochina, or the Indochinese Peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. ...
World map depicting Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago is a vast archipelago located between mainland Southeastern Asia (Indochina) and Australia. ...
One such central expansion out of the steppe is that of the Proto-Indo-Europeans which spread their languages into the Middle East, India, Europe, and to the borders of China (with the Tocharians). Throughout their history, up to the development of gunpowder, all the areas of Eurasia would be repeatedly menaced by the Indo-Iranian, Turkic and Mongol nomads from the steppe. The Proto-Indo-Europeans are the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, a prehistoric people of the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age. ...
The Tocharians or Tusharas as known in Indian literature were the easternmost speakers of an Indo-European language in antiquity, inhabiting the Tarim basin in what is now Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, northwestern Peoples Republic of China. ...
A modern black powder substitute for muzzleloading rifles in FFG size Gunpowder (also called black powder) is a pyrotechnic composition, an explosive mixture of sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate (also known as saltpetre or saltpeter) that burns rapidly, producing volumes of hot solids and gases which can be used as...
Map of the Sintashta-Petrovka culture (red), its expansion into the Andronovo culture during the 2nd millennium BC, showing the overlap with the BMAC in the south. ...
This article is about the various peoples speaking one of the Turkic languages. ...
For other uses, see Mongols (disambiguation). ...
A difference between Europe and most of the regions of Eurasia is that each of the latter regions has few obstructions internally even though it is ringed by mountains and deserts. This meant that it was easier to establish unified control over the entire region, and this did occur with massive empires consistently dominating the Middle East, China, and at times, much of India. Europe, however, is riddled with internal mountain ranges: The Carpathians, the Alps, the Pyrenees and many others. Throughout its history, Europe has thus usually been divided into many small states, much like the Middle East and Indian subcontinent for much of their history. Satellite image of the Carpathians. ...
Alp redirects here. ...
Pic de Bugatetin the Néouvielle Natural Reserve Central Pyrenees For the mountains in Victoria, Australia, see Pyrenees (Victoria). ...
A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ...
Map of South Asia (see note) This article deals with the geophysical region in Asia. ...
The Iron Age made large stands of timber essential to a nation's success because smelting iron required so much fuel, and the pinnacles of human civilizations gradually moved as forests were destroyed. In Europe the Mediterranean region was supplanted by the German and Frankish lands. In the Middle East the main power center became Anatolia with the once dominant Mesopotamia its vassal. In China, the economical, agricultural, and industrial center moved from the northern Yellow River to the southern Yangtze, though the political center remained in the north. In part this is linked to technological developments, such as the mouldboard plough, that made life in once undeveloped areas more bearable. Iron Age Axe found on Gotland In archaeology, the Iron Age is the stage in the development of any people where the use of iron implements as tools and weapons is preeminent. ...
This article is about two nested areas of Turkey, a plateau region within a peninsula. ...
The traditional way: a German farmer works the land with horses and plough. ...
The civilizations in China, India, and Mediterranean, connected by the silk road, became the principal civilizations in Eurasia in early CE times. Later development of Eurasian history of mankind is told in other articles. For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ...
History of Eurasia continues in The Silk Road connected many civilisations across Asia. ...
// In East Asia, the Neolithic period may have begun as early as 7500 BC. The earliest evidence suggests the existence of the Pengtoushan culture in northern Hunan province from about 7500 BC to 6100 BC and of the Peiligang culture in Henan province around from about The Jeulmun pottery period...
Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region The history of Central Asia is defined primarily by the areas climate and geography. ...
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