Table of Contents
Archaeologists, historians and anthropologists sort human prehistory and early history into ages such as the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. Each age is named after the main materials and technologies people used at the time.
1. Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age)
The Paleolithic runs from about 2.5 million BCE to 10,000 BCE. Its people include early human groups such as Homo erectus and Homo sapiens, and the cave art cultures of Europe, such as Lascaux Cave in France (View Map), whose paintings are usually dated to 17,000 to 22,000 years ago.
2. Mesolithic Age (Middle Stone Age)
The Mesolithic runs from about 10,000 BCE to 8000 BCE. Two of its cultures are the Natufian culture of the Levant (View Map), dated 15,000 to 11,500 years before present, and the Maglemosian culture of Northern Europe, about 9000 to 6000 BC.
3. Neolithic Age (New Stone Age)
The Neolithic runs from about 8000 BCE to 3000 BCE. Its best known sites include Çatalhöyük in Anatolia, Turkey (View Map), settled from about 7400 BC, and Jericho in the Levant (View Map).
4. Chalcolithic Age (Copper Age)
The Chalcolithic runs from about 4500 BCE to 3300 BCE. It includes the Varna culture of the Balkans in Bulgaria (View Map), dated about 4500 BC, and the Uruk culture of Mesopotamia, whose period ran from about 4000 to 3100 BC.
5. Bronze Age
The Bronze Age runs from about 3300 BCE to 1200 BCE. Its civilizations include the Sumerians in Mesopotamia (View Map), the Ancient Egyptians in Egypt (View Map) and the Minoans on Crete (View Map).
6. Iron Age
The Iron Age runs from about 1200 BCE to 539 BCE. Its civilizations include the Assyrians in Mesopotamia (View Map), the Phoenicians in the Levant (View Map) and the Ancient Greeks in the Aegean (View Map).
7. Classical Age
The Classical Age runs from about 800 BCE to 476 CE. It covers the Greeks in the Aegean (View Map), the Romans in Italy (View Map) and the Persians in Iran (View Map).
8. Middle Ages
The Middle Ages run from 476 CE to 1453 CE. They cover the Byzantine Empire in Eastern Europe (View Map) and the Islamic Caliphates in the Middle East and North Africa (View Map).
9. Early Modern Age
The Early Modern Age runs from 1453 CE to 1750 CE. It covers the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East and Europe (View Map), the Ming Dynasty in China (View Map) and Renaissance Italy (View Map).
10. Modern Age
The Modern Age runs from 1750 CE to the present. It covers the British Empire (View Map) and the United States (View Map).
The Three-Age System
The split into a Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age is called the Three-Age System. It goes back to Christian Jürgensen Thomsen (1788 to 1865), a Danish antiquarian. In 1816 he was put in charge of the antiquarian collections in Copenhagen that later became the National Museum of Denmark, and between 1816 and 1825 he arranged the objects in order of the materials used for tools and weapons: stone, then bronze, then iron.
Thomsen dated objects by which other objects they were found with in “closed finds”, and his chronology was in place by 1825. Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae (1821 to 1885), later the second director of the National Museum, was the first to excavate and use stratigraphy, the order of soil layers, to prove Thomsen’s sequence.
Later scholars split the scheme into finer periods such as the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic, and extended it into historical ages like the Classical Age and Middle Ages. It became a basic tool of archaeology for comparing technology across cultures and regions.
The system is used most in Europe and the Near East, and its dates and terms vary around the world. Metalworking began at different times in different places, so a “Bronze Age” or “Iron Age” means something different in Mesopotamia, Egypt or Europe. Ignatius Donnelly traces the European side in The Bronze Age in Europe.
Examples why the Three-Age System doesn’t work
The table sets the ages against sites that do not fit neatly. Göbekli Tepe in Turkey was occupied from about 9500 BCE, before the Neolithic start date of 8000 BCE used here. The Great Orme mines in Wales show large-scale copper mining about 4,000 years ago, in the Bronze Age.
| Name & Time Period | Civilizations, Buildings, and Mines |
|---|---|
| Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age) Time Period: circa 2.5 million BCE to 10,000 BCE | - Early human groups (Homo erectus, Homo sapiens) - Cave art in Lascaux (France) |
| Neolithic Age (New Stone Age) Time Period: circa 8000 BCE to 3000 BCE | - Early agricultural societies - Çatalhöyük in Anatolia (Turkey) - Göbekli Tepe in Turkey |
| Chalcolithic Age (Copper Age) Time Period: circa 4500 BCE to 3300 BCE | - Varna Culture in Bulgaria - Early Mesopotamian societies (Uruk) |
| Bronze Age Time Period: circa 3300 BCE to 1200 BCE | - Sumerians in Mesopotamia - Ancient Egyptians (Pyramids of Giza) - Minoans in Crete - Great Orme Mines in Wales |
| Iron Age Time Period: circa 1200 BCE to 539 BCE | - Assyrians in Mesopotamia - Phoenicians in the Levant |
| Classical Age Time Period: circa 800 BCE to 476 CE | - Ancient Greeks (Parthenon, Athens) - Romans (Colosseum, Rome) |
| Middle Ages Time Period: 476 CE to 1453 CE | - Byzantine Empire - Islamic Caliphates - Gothic Cathedrals in Europe |
| Early Modern Age Time Period: 1453 CE to 1750 CE | - Ottoman Empire - Ming Dynasty in China - Renaissance Italy (Florence) |
| Modern Age Time Period: 1750 CE to present | - British Empire - Industrial Revolution (factories, railways) - United States (skyscrapers) |
