History of Aberystwyth
to the year 1 BC
Key
Aberystwyth
Wales
Britain
World
Geological Events
Medicine
Computation
Technical Development
550-490 million
Joined Up Life
For 2 billion years life on this planet was no more complex than single celled bacteria. Around 540 million years ago the fossil record starts to show many different multicelled creatures. Geologists call the rapid expansion in the diversity of life during this period the Cambrian Explosion
~500 million
Land Grab
Plants start to colonise land.
~425 million
Last One Out's a Fish
Animals start to colonise land.
~72000BC
Whoosh
A supervolcano, which many believe is the largest volcano in the history of the planet, erupts at Toba, Sumatra (Indonesia)
~35000BC
Counting
Oldest known counting artefact, a notched baboon bone, discovered in Swaziland
~23000BC
Gravettian
Gravettian culture established in Central and Eastern Europe expands east and west reaching into Britain
~13500BC
Big Thaw
The Ice Age ends. Glaciers retreat. Water levels rise by 40m mainly due to the melting of the North American ice sheet.
~10000BC
Chill
Period of intense cold. Glaciers in Britain re-form
~6500BC
Great Britain formed
Melting glaciers raise the sea levels, flooding the lower lying coastal parts of continental Europe. Some outlying lands become islands, the largest of these islands is now called Great Britain.
~6000BC
Flint
Flint is rare in this region, but during the Ice Age glaciers moving along the Irish Sea deposited flint on the beaches around Aberystwyth. Evidence has been found of a Mesolithic(8000-400BC) settlement just south of the harbour. Flint was fashioned into tools and weapons and is believed to have been traded with inland tribes in this area.
5500BC
Copper
Copper smelted for the 1st time (in Iran)
4800BC
Farming
Britain's earliest attempts at farming and forest clearing.
~3800BC
Thaw
Sea levels continue to rise - now 8m below the current levels
3100BC
Stonehenge
Earth circle built at Stonehenge
3000BC
Cotton
Cotton woven for the 1st time - Indus Valley, India
Silk
Silk produced in China
Backgammon
Earliest known game found at the city of Ur - Mesopotamia (Iraq). This is a recognisable precursor to backgammon.
2900BC
House of Stone
Zoser Pyramid is the worlds 1st large man-made stone structure (Egypt)
2850BC
Egypt
Egypt combined when the kingdom of Upper Egypt defeated Lower Egypt
2700BC
Horse
Horse 1st domesticated by nomads in Ukraine
2595BC
Medical text
Nei Ching: Worlds oldest known medical text (Huang Ti in China)
2575-2134BC
Pyramids
Pyramids built at Giza (Egypt)
2500BC
Iron
Iron Age starts in Middle East, it will take 1000 years for the knowledge of how to attain a temperature of 1500°C required for smelting iron to spread around Africa and Eurasia.
2095BC
Written Law
written for Ur-Nammu, ruler of Sumeria between 2112BC and 2095BC, and now know as the Ur-Nammu codex, is the earliest known sets if written laws. Iraq
2150BC
Stonehenge
Large stones transported from Wales by the Beaker People to form the stone circles of Stonehenge.
1800BC
Copper
Copper is mined at Plynlimon (Mountain 15km east of Aber and the wettest place in Britain where it rains 2 out of 3 days)
1750BC
Mathematics
Mathematics practised in Sumeria (southern Mesopotamia [southeastern Iraq])
Medicine
Medicine practised in Sumeria (southern Mesopotamia [southeastern Iraq])
1628BC
Volcano
Volcanic eruption of the Greek Aegean island of Santorini produces very cold winter
pre 1504 BC
1349BC
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun is buried at Thebes Egypt
1300BC
Celts
First Celts appear (in the upper Danube)
Stonehenge
Stone circle at Stonehenge completed
1170BC
Strike
After a period where the wages and promises due the builders and artisans at the Thebes' necropolis (Egypt) are forgotten, the workers go on strike. This is the world 1st ever recorded strike. When this proves ineffective they begin to loot the tombs.
1005BC
King David
David becomes king of Israel
970BC
King Solomon
Solomon becomes king of Israel
850BC
Homer
Homer inscribes the Iliad and Odyessy - collections of myths, folk tales and history from the previous couple of hundred years! (Greece)
776BC
Olympics
1st recorded Olympic Games (Greece)
753BC
Rome
Rome Founded Italy
750BC
Astronomy
Astronomy started in Babylon - able to predict eclipses (Iraq)
650BC
Coin
Coinage invented in Lydia Turkey
7C
University Takshashila 1st
World's 1st university formed at Takshashila Pakistan
563-483 BC
Buddha
Buddha born in what is now Nepal
560-480BC
Pythagoras
Pythagoras (Greece)
551-479BC
Confucius
Confucius the Chinese philosopher is born
525BC
Persia
Persian Empire absorbs Egypt
509BC
Republic
Rome becomes a Republic (Italy)
5C
University Nalanda 2nd
Buddhist university formed at Nalanda India
470-399BC
Socrates
Socrates (Greece)
433BC
Parthenon
Parthenon (in Athens) completed (Greece)
427-347BC
Plato
Plato (Greece)
390BC
Celts
Celts overrun Rome (Italy)
384-322BC
Aristotle
Aristotle (Greece)
372-287BC
Theophrastus - Botany
Amongst work on many subjects, Theophrastus, produces, Historia Plantarum and De Causis Plantarum which would remain the most important books on botany for 1500 years. (Greece)
C4-C1BC
Celts
'Celts' enter Britain.
Note that work on stonehenge started 1700 years before the Celts arrived in Britain.
Genetic and archaeological evidence indicates that the Celts didn't arrive in huge numbers and overrun the island, but rather that
the local population adopted many of the new technical advances and cultural fashions that a small number of people from the mainland brought with them.
335BC
Aristotle
Aristotle returns to Athens to open a lyceum containing a museum of natural history and a library (Greece)
331BC
Wheat
Large amounts of wheat is grown in south-east England and threshed in large barns
325-265BC
Euclid - Mathematics
Euclid's 13 volume compendium on geometry Elements remained the most important work on mathematics for over 2000 years. (Greece)
325BC
Alexander in Egypt
Egypt conquered by Alexander the Great
287-212BC
Archimedes
Archimedes born in Syracuse (Italy)
275BC
Library
Built in 323BC, the library and museum at Alexandria are, by this time, being used by the scholars of many nations
220-200BC
Wall
1st major 'Great Wall's of China' of which little now remains cf the wall that was started in 1368 Building the Great Wall of China.
~90BC
Silk Road
The 8000km trading route called the 'Silk Road' extends out of China as far west as Iran
500-51BC
Hill Fort
Evidence has been found of an Iron age Hill Fort on Pendinas (Hill on the southern edge of Aberystwyth) the ramparts of which can easily be seen today. From it's size it is believed to have supported a population of about 100. The fort is believed to have been built by invaders from the sea.
55BC
Expedition
Julius Caesar leads expedition into Britain
54BC
The Romans are Coming
Julius Caesar leads invasion of Britain
45BC
It's a Date
The Julian calendar with an average year length of 365¼ days is introduced into the Roman world
4BC
Jesus
Probable date of the birth of Jesus
1BC-1AD
Year Dot
In the current western calendar the year 1BC is followed by the year 1 AD - there is no year zero