\[ **BT: [[history]] | [[Pleistocene]] | [[Holocene]]** ] --- # prehistory ## prehistoric eras ### Palaeolithic - see: [[Palaeolithic]] ### Mesolithic [[Humans began wearing clothes approximately 170,000 years ago.]][^1] [[It has been strongly suggested that women, rather than men, were the earliest originators of the world's arts and crafts.]][^2] ### Neolithic - see: [[Neolithic]] ### Copper Age Also known as the **Chalcolithic** or **Eneolithic**.[^3] Absent in some parts of the world, such as Russia.[^4] #### Ötzi [[Among Ötzi's belongs were wads of tinder fungus (likely used to start fire) and fragments of birch polypore mushrooms (likely medicinal).]][^5] - see also: [[knowledge#the medicine of prehistoric peoples]] - ↬ [Ötzi The Iceman](https://www.iceman.it/en/oetzi/the-iceman) ### Bronze Age #### Bronze Age in China [[The Chinese word for dragon (‘long’) has been used since the Bronze Age.]][^6] #### Early Bronze Age - 2900s (30th century BCE) — first Egyptian dynasty - 2700s (28th century BCE) — tea is invented in China - 2600s (27th century BCE) — Indus civilisation blossoms - 2500s (26th century BCE) — Great Pyramid is built in Egypt #### Middle Bronze Age - 2100s (22nd century BCE) — 4.2 kiloyear event causes arid conditions worldwide + 2000s–1700s (22nd–18th centuries BCE) – Xia Dynasty in China (if historical) - 1900s (20th century BCE) — Stonehenge completed - 1700s (18th century BCE) — Hammurabi of Babylon enacts one of the earliest codes of law - 1600s (17th century BCE) — mammoths become extinct ### ### Iron Age #### Early Iron Age [[Davis, ‘Iron Age Men Left Home to Join Wives’ Families, DNA Study Suggests’, 2025|Iron Age Men Left Home to Join Wives’ Families, DNA Study Suggests]][^7] - **BT:** [[society#matrilocal residence|matrilocal residence]] #### Middle Iron Age / Classical Antiquity In regards to Europe, also known as **Classical Antiquity**. - see: - [[history--Europe#classical antiquity (800 BCE – 500 CE)]] #### Late Iron Age / Late Antiquity - see: - [[history--Europe#late antiquity]] [^1]: University of Florida, ‘[[University of Florida, ‘Humans First Wore Clothes 170,000 Years Ago’, 2011|Lice DNA Study Shows Humans First Wore Clothes 170,000 Years Ago]]’, ScienceDaily, 7 January 2011, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110106164616.htm. [^2]: Kang Yuwei, *[[Kang, One-World Philosophy, trans. Thompson, 1958|Ta T'ung Shu. The One-World Philosophy of K'ang Yu-wei]]*, trans. Laurance G. Thompson (Allen & Unwin, 1958), p. 155. [^3]: ‘Chalcolithic’, Wikipedia, last edited 29 March 2026, 23:46 (UTC), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalcolithic. [^4]: ‘Chalcolithic’, Wikipedia, last edited 29 March 2026, 23:46 (UTC). [^5]: Merlin Sheldrake, *[[Sheldrake, Entangled Life, 2021|Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures]]* (Vintage, 2021), p. 9. [^6]: J. Keith Wilson, ‘[[Wilson, ‘Powerful Form and Potent Symbol’, 1990|Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia]]’, *The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art*, vol. 77, no. 8 (1990), p. 287, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161297](https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161297).. [^7]: Nicola Davis, ‘[[Davis, ‘Iron Age Men Left Home to Join Wives’ Families, DNA Study Suggests’, 2025|Iron Age Men Left Home to Join Wives’ Families, DNA Study Suggests]]’, *The Guardian* (online), 16 January 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/jan/15/iron-age-men-left-home-join-wives-families-dna-study-reveals.