Bronze Age Timeline

• c. 6200 BCE
  First copper smelting in Anatolia.
• 3800 BCE
  Earliest bronze working.
• 3650 BCE
  Invention of the wheel.
• 3500 BCE
  Farming has spread across Europe.
• 3400 BCE
  Priests become the rulers of Mesopotamian cities.
• c. 3000 BCE
  First habitation of Epidaurus site.
• 3000 BCE - 2550 BCE
  Troy I - First stone-walled village settlement
• 3000 BCE - 2200 BCE
  The first archaeological evidence of organised communities in the Cyclades.
• 3000 BCE - 2000 BCE
  Distinctive minimalistic standing marble figurines are produced in the Cyclades.
• 3000 BCE
  First evidence of habitation at Thebes.
• c. 3000 BCE
  First Bronze Age settlement in Jerusalem.
• 2800 BCE - 1900 BCE
  Bell beaker culture in western Europe.
• 2550 BCE - 2300 BCE
  Troy II - origin of gold 'treasure' found by Schliemann
• 2500 BCE - 1100 BCE
  Bronze Age in Cyprus.
• 2300 BCE
  Bronze is used in the Aegean.
• 2300 BCE - 1750 BCE
  Troy III - Troy V
• 2200 BCE - 1700 BCE
  Evidence of town planning and more sophisticated architecture in the Cylades.
• 2100 BCE
  Ziggurats in use in Sumerian cities of Eridu, Uruk, Ur, Nippur and elsewhere
• c. 2000 BCE
  Pottery wheel introduced to Minoan civilization on Crete.
• 2000 BCE
  Early Greeks settle the Peloponnese.
• 2000 BCE
  Domesticated horses introduced in Mesopotamia.
• 2000 BCE - 1500 BCE
  Wessex culture introduces bronze working to Britain.
• c. 2000 BCE - c. 1400 BCE
  Early Bronze Age in Scotland.
• c. 2000 BCE
  Bronze Age begins in Northern Europe.
• c. 2000 BCE
  Akrotiri becomes an important Aegean trading centre.
• 2000 BCE - 1650 BCE
  Akrotiri on Thera reaches its peak of prosperity and becomes a flourishing Mediterranean trading centre.
• 2000 BCE
  First shaft graves at Thebes.
• 1894 BCE
  Amorite dynasty established in Babylon.
• 1850 BCE - 1550 BCE
  Phaistos disk manufactured on Crete.
• 1800 BCE
  Bronze working introduced to Egypt.
• 1795 BCE - 1750 BCE
  Reign of Hammurabi, king of Babylon.
• 1787 BCE
  Hammurabi of Babylon conquers Uruk and Isin.
• c. 1772 BCE
  The Code of Hammurabi: One of the earliest codes of law in the world.
• c. 1760 BCE - c. 1757 BCE
  Hammurabi of Babylon destroys the city of Mari. The people of Mari are spared according to Hammurabi.
• 1750 BCE - 1300 BCE
  Troy VI - probable Troy of Homer's Iliad. City at its zenith.
• 1700 BCE - 1400 BCE
  The culture in the Cyclades is increasingly influenced by Minoan Crete.
• 1680 BCE
  Hurrians occupy Assyria.
• 1650 BCE - 1550 BCE
  Eruption of Thera and consequent tidal waves, destruction of Akrotiri and other Aegean centres.
• c. 1600 BCE
  Rhodes has significant contact with Minoan Crete.
• c. 1600 BCE - c. 1550 BCE
  The palace at Tel Kabri is destroyed and the site is abandoned for the rest of the Bronze Age.
• 1595 BCE
  King Mursilis of the Hittites sacks Babylon. Begin of Babylonian "dark ages."
• 1550 BCE
  The Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni is founded.
• 1504 BCE - 1492 BCE
  Egyptian empire reaches greatest extent under Thutmose I.
• 1500 BCE
  Pastoral farming spreads across Eurasian steppes.
• 1500 BCE
  Egyptian empire extends to the Euphrates.
• 1500 BCE - 1300 BCE
  Mycenaean Thebes at its peak of prosperity and influence.
• 1500 BCE
  The site of Delphi is first settled.
• 1472 BCE
  Mittani annexes Assyria.
• c. 1450 BCE
  Mycenaean monumental architecture first appears at Epidaurus.
• c. 1450 BCE - 1200 BCE
  The city of Ugarit flourishes.
• c. 1400 BCE
  Rhodes has significant contact with the Mycenaean civilization.
• 1400 BCE
  Assyria regains its independence.
• c. 1400 BCE - c. 900 BCE
  Middle Bronze Age in Scotland.
• 1400 BCE - 1100 BCE
  Culture in the Cyclades is increasingly influenced by the Mycenaean civilization of mainland Greece.
• 1330 BCE - 1300 BCE
  Sinking of the Uluburun shipwreck off the coast of Lycia.
• c. 1321 BCE
  Western Mittani is conquered by the Hittites.
• 1300 BCE - 950 BCE
  Troy VIIa - VIIb Notable decline in architectural and artisitic standards
• 1250 BCE - 1200 BCE
  Mycenaean chamber tombs constructed at Thebes.
• c. 1200 BCE - c. 1100 BCE
  Mycenaean Epidaurus at its peak of prosperity.
• 1100 BCE
  Hillforts in western Europe.
• c. 1100 BCE
  Evidence of settlement destruction and abandonment across the Cyclades.
• c. 900 BCE - c. 400 BCE
  Late Bronze Age in Scotland.