Human

===Ancient===
{{Main|Ancient history}}
[[File:All Gizah Pyramids.jpg|thumb|[[Giza pyramid complex|Great Pyramids of Giza]], [[ancient Egypt|Egypt]]]]
An [[urban revolution]] took place in the [[4th millennium BC|4th millennium BCE]] with the development of [[city-state]]s, particularly [[Sumer]]ian cities located in [[Mesopotamia]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Garfinkle | first= Steven J. | chapter= Ancient Near Eastern City-States | editor1= Peter Fibiger Bang | editor1-link= Peter Fibiger Bang | editor2= Walter Scheidel | editor2-link= Walter Scheidel | title= The Oxford Handbook of the State in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean | date= 2013 | publisher= Oxford Academic | doi= 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195188318.013.0004 |isbn=978-0-19-518831-8 | pages= 94–119 }}</ref> It was in these cities that the earliest known form of writing, [[cuneiform script]], appeared around 3000 BCE.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Woods C | chapter = The Emergence of Cuneiform Writing|date=28 February 2020 |title = A Companion to Ancient Near Eastern Languages|pages=27–46| veditors = Hasselbach-Andee R |edition=1st |publisher=Wiley|language=en|doi=10.1002/9781119193814.ch2|isbn=978-1-119-19329-6 | s2cid = 216180781}}</ref> Other major civilizations to develop around this time were [[Ancient Egypt]] and the [[Indus Valley Civilisation]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Robinson A | title = Ancient civilization: Cracking the Indus script | journal = Nature | volume = 526 | issue = 7574 | pages = 499–501 | date = October 2015 | pmid = 26490603 | doi = 10.1038/526499a | bibcode = 2015Natur.526..499R | s2cid = 4458743 | doi-access = free }}</ref> They eventually traded with each other and invented technology such as wheels, plows and sails.<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Crawford H |author-link=Harriet Crawford |title=The Sumerian World|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=978-1-136-21911-5 |pages=447–461|chapter=Trade in the Sumerian world}}</ref><ref name="Bodnár-2018">{{cite journal|vauthors=Bodnár M|date=2018|title=Prehistoric innovations: Wheels and wheeled vehicles|url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=714342|journal=Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae|language=English|volume=69|issue=2|pages=271–298|doi=10.1556/072.2018.69.2.3|s2cid=115685157|issn=0001-5210|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=23 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623152751/https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=714342|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Pryor FL|date=1985|title=The Invention of the Plow|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/178600|journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History|volume=27|issue=4|pages=727–743|doi=10.1017/S0010417500011749|jstor=178600|s2cid=144840498|issn=0010-4175|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=9 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409092618/https://www.jstor.org/stable/178600|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Carter">{{cite book|vauthors=Carter R |url=https://www.academia.edu/1576775|title=A companion to the archaeology of the ancient Near East|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|year=2012|isbn=978-1-4051-8988-0|veditors=Potts DT |location=Chichester, West Sussex|pages=347–354|chapter=19. [[Watercraft]]|access-date=8 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150428190743/https://www.academia.edu/1576775/Watercraft|archive-date=28 April 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Astronomy and mathematics were also developed and the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] was built.<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Pedersen O |title=Early physics and astronomy: A historical introduction.|publisher=CUP Archive|year=1993|isbn=978-0-521-40340-5|page=1|chapter=Science Before the Greeks}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Robson E |title=Mathematics in ancient Iraq: A social history.|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2008|pages=xxi}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Edwards JF|date=2003|title=Building the Great Pyramid: Probable Construction Methods Employed at Giza|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25148110|journal=Technology and Culture|volume=44|issue=2|pages=340–354|doi=10.1353/tech.2003.0063|jstor=25148110|s2cid=109998651|issn=0040-165X|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=6 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220306011135/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25148110|url-status=live}}</ref> There is evidence of a [[4.2-kiloyear event|severe drought]] lasting about a hundred years that may have caused the decline of these civilizations,<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Voosen P | title = New geological age comes under fire | journal = Science | volume = 361 | issue = 6402 | pages = 537–538 | date = August 2018 | pmid = 30093579 | doi = 10.1126/science.361.6402.537 | bibcode = 2018Sci...361..537V | s2cid = 51954326 }}</ref> with new ones appearing in the aftermath. [[Babylonia]]ns came to dominate Mesopotamia while others,<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Saggs HW |title=Babylonians|publisher=Univ of California Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0-520-20222-1|page=7}}</ref> such as the [[Poverty Point culture]], [[Minoan civilization|Minoans]] and the [[Shang dynasty]], rose to prominence in new areas.<ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Sassaman KE |date=1 December 2005|title=Poverty Point as Structure, Event, Process |journal=Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory|language=en|volume=12|issue=4|pages=335–364|doi=10.1007/s10816-005-8460-4|s2cid=53393440|issn=1573-7764}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Lazaridis I, Mittnik A, Patterson N, Mallick S, Rohland N, Pfrengle S, Furtwängler A, Peltzer A, Posth C, Vasilakis A, McGeorge PJ, Konsolaki-Yannopoulou E, Korres G, Martlew H, Michalodimitrakis M, Özsait M, Özsait N, Papathanasiou A, Richards M, Roodenberg SA, Tzedakis Y, Arnott R, Fernandes DM, Hughey JR, Lotakis DM, Navas PA, Maniatis Y, Stamatoyannopoulos JA, Stewardson K, Stockhammer P, Pinhasi R, Reich D, Krause J, Stamatoyannopoulos G | display-authors = 6 | title = Genetic origins of the Minoans and Mycenaeans | journal = Nature | volume = 548 | issue = 7666 | pages = 214–218 | date = August 2017 | pmid = 28783727 | doi = 10.1038/nature23310 | pmc = 5565772 | bibcode = 2017Natur.548..214L }}</ref><ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Keightley DN |title=The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC |publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0-521-47030-8 | veditors = Loewe M, Shaughnessy EL |pages=232–291|chapter=The Shang: China's first historical dynasty}}</ref>

The [[Late Bronze Age collapse]] around 1200 BCE resulted in the disappearance of a number of civilizations and the beginning of the [[Greek Dark Ages]].<ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Kaniewski D, Guiot J, van Campo E |date=2015|title=Drought and societal collapse 3200 years ago in the Eastern Mediterranean: a review |journal=WIREs Climate Change |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=369–382 |doi=10.1002/wcc.345 |bibcode=2015WIRCC...6..369K |s2cid=128460316}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Drake BL |date=1 June 2012|title=The influence of climatic change on the Late Bronze Age Collapse and the Greek Dark Ages |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=39|issue=6|pages=1862–1870 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2012.01.029 |bibcode=2012JArSc..39.1862D }}</ref> During this period iron started replacing bronze, leading to the [[Iron Age]].<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Wells PS | title =European Prehistory| chapter =The Iron Age|date=2011 |pages=405–460| veditors = Milisauskas S |series=Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology|place=New York, NY|publisher=Springer|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-1-4419-6633-9_11|isbn=978-1-4419-6633-9 }}</ref>

In the 5th century BCE, history started being [[Historiography|recorded as a discipline]], which provided a much clearer picture of life at the time.<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Hughes-Warrington M |title=History as Wonder: Beginning with Historiography.|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2018|isbn=978-0-429-76315-1 |location=United Kingdom|chapter=Sense and non-sense in Ancient Greek histories}}</ref> Between the 8th and 6th century BCE, Europe entered the [[classical antiquity]] age, a period when [[ancient Greece]] and [[ancient Rome]] flourished.<ref>{{cite web|date=2 October 2015|vauthors=Beard M|title=Why ancient Rome matters to the modern world|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/02/mary-beard-why-ancient-rome-matters|access-date=17 April 2021|website=The Guardian|language=en|archive-date=14 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414130448/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/02/mary-beard-why-ancient-rome-matters|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|vauthors=Vidergar AB|date=11 June 2015|title=Stanford scholar debunks long-held beliefs about economic growth in ancient Greece|url=https://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/june/greek-economy-growth-061115.html|access-date=17 April 2021|website=Stanford University|language=en|archive-date=18 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418190351/https://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/june/greek-economy-growth-061115.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Around this time other civilizations also came to prominence. The [[Maya civilization]] started to build cities and create [[Maya calendar|complex calendars]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Inomata T, Triadan D, Vázquez López VA, Fernandez-Diaz JC, Omori T, Méndez Bauer MB, García Hernández M, Beach T, Cagnato C, Aoyama K, Nasu H | display-authors = 6 | title = Monumental architecture at Aguada Fénix and the rise of Maya civilization | journal = Nature | volume = 582 | issue = 7813 | pages = 530–533 | date = June 2020 | pmid = 32494009 | doi = 10.1038/s41586-020-2343-4 | bibcode = 2020Natur.582..530I | s2cid = 219281856 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Milbrath S|date=March 2017|title=The Role of Solar Observations in Developing the Preclassic Maya Calendar|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1045663516000043/type/journal_article|journal=Latin American Antiquity|language=en|volume=28|issue=1|pages=88–104|doi=10.1017/laq.2016.4|s2cid=164417025|issn=1045-6635|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=30 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730032849/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/latin-american-antiquity/article/role-of-solar-observations-in-developing-the-preclassic-maya-calendar/CE9899861546A50ACE1819A6796D8694|url-status=live}}</ref> In Africa, the [[Kingdom of Aksum]] overtook the declining [[Kingdom of Kush]] and facilitated trade between India and the Mediterranean.<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Benoist A, Charbonnier J, Gajda I|date=2016|title=Investigating the eastern edge of the kingdom of Aksum: architecture and pottery from Wakarida|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45163415|journal=Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies|volume=46|pages=25–40|jstor=45163415|issn=0308-8421|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=28 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220428202622/https://www.jstor.org/stable/45163415|url-status=live}}</ref> In West Asia, the [[Achaemenid Empire]]'s system of centralized governance became the precursor to many later empires,<ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Farazmand A |date=1 January 1998|title=Administration of the Persian achaemenid world-state empire: implications for modern public administration |journal=International Journal of Public Administration|volume=21|issue=1|pages=25–86|doi=10.1080/01900699808525297|issn=0190-0692}}</ref> while the [[Gupta Empire]] in India and the [[Han dynasty]] in China have been described as [[golden ages]] in their respective regions.<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Ingalls DH|date=1976|title=Kālidāsa and the Attitudes of the Golden Age|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/599886|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=96|issue=1|pages=15–26|doi=10.2307/599886|jstor=599886|issn=0003-0279|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=9 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409092718/https://www.jstor.org/stable/599886|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Xie J|date=2020|title=Pillars of Heaven: The Symbolic Function of Column and Bracket Sets in the Han Dynasty|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0066622X20000015/type/journal_article|journal=Architectural History|language=en|volume=63|pages=1–36|doi=10.1017/arh.2020.1|s2cid=229716130|issn=0066-622X|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=30 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730032850/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/architectural-history/article/abs/pillars-of-heaven-the-symbolic-function-of-column-and-bracket-sets-in-the-han-dynasty/1B1C1C007216E36004F15A1B7D61C87F|url-status=live}}</ref>