History of Aberystwyth
to the year 1 BC
Key
Aberystwyth
Wales
Britain
World
Space
Geological Events
Medicine
Computation
Technical Development
Agricuture
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.
~251 million
Great Dying
Known as the Permian–Triassic extinction event, over 90% of marine and 70% of terrestrial life forms become extinct.
~65 million
Dinosaur Extinction
Known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event, many life forms become extinct including all the dinosaurs (except birds).
~200,000BC
Granny Goes walkabout
Modern Homo sapiens start to expand out of East Africa. Other human species expanded out of Africa much earlier in the past but are now all extinct.
~72,000BC
Whoosh
A supervolcano, which many believe is the largest volcano in the history of the planet, erupts at Toba, Sumatra (Indonesia)
~35,000BC
Counting
Oldest known counting artefact, a notched baboon bone, discovered in Swaziland
~30-25,000BC
The Last
Having coexisted with modern man for thousands of years Homo neanderthalensis, the closest species to modern man ever to have existed, finally becomes extinct.
~23,000BC
Gravettian
Gravettian culture established in Central and Eastern Europe expands east and west reaching into Britain
~13,500BC
Big Thaw
The Ice Age ends. Glaciers retreat. Water levels rise by 40m mainly due to the melting of the North American ice sheet.
Is Anybody Home?
Absent for thousands of years due to the ice age, humans begin to return to Britain, which is still connected by land to Europe.
~13,000BC
Dogs
Dogs domesticated
~10,000BC
Chill
Period of intense cold. Glaciers in Britain re-form
Chicken
Chicken domesticated in Vietnam
~9800BC
Wheat
Wheat domesticated in Levant
~9500BC
Ireland Island
Rising sea levels flooded the gouge left by a large glacier and separated Ireland from Europe-Britain.
~8500BC
Crops
Sheep, Cats & Goats Domesticated.
Barley, chickpeas, peas, beans, flax & in the Fertile Crescent
~8300-7300BC
Figs
Figs Trees domesticated around the Mediterranean
~8000BC
Rice
Rice domesticated in China
~7000BC
Agriculture
Pigs, cattle, barley, sesame, & eggplants are domesticated.
~6500BC
Great Britain
About 3000 years after Ireland became an island, continued melting ice 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.
~6250BC
Maize
Maize domesticated in Mexico
~6000BC
World Population
- -6000
- 0.01
- -4000
- 0.02
- -2000
- 0.03
- -1000
- 0.05
- - 500
- 0.10
- 1
- 0.20
- 1000
- 0.31
- 1750
- 0.79
- 1800
- 0.98
- 1850
- 1.26
- 1900
- 1.65
- 1950
- 2.52
- 1955
- 2.76
- 1960
- 2.98
- 1965
- 3.33
- 1970
- 3.69
- 1975
- 4.07
- 1980
- 4.43
- 1985
- 4.83
- 1990
- 5.26
- 1995
- 5.67
- 2000
- 6.07
- 2005
- 6.45
Chillies
Chilli peppers domesticated in Ecuador
Weave
Textiles are being woven in Turkey
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 has already been used for thousands of years but it comes form rare minerals that include native copper. Copper chemically combined with other elements is much less rare and can be released by a process called smelting. Smelting requires high temperatures, and this was now available in pottery kilns. Copper smelted for the 1st time (in Iran)
5000BC
Linen
Linen cloth is being made in Egypt
4800BC
Farming
Britain's earliest attempts at farming and forest clearing.
4000BC
World Population
- -6000
- 0.01
- -4000
- 0.02
- -2000
- 0.03
- -1000
- 0.05
- - 500
- 0.10
- 1
- 0.20
- 1000
- 0.31
- 1750
- 0.79
- 1800
- 0.98
- 1850
- 1.26
- 1900
- 1.65
- 1950
- 2.52
- 1955
- 2.76
- 1960
- 2.98
- 1965
- 3.33
- 1970
- 3.69
- 1975
- 4.07
- 1980
- 4.43
- 1985
- 4.83
- 1990
- 5.26
- 1995
- 5.67
- 2000
- 6.07
- 2005
- 6.45
Horse
Horse 1st domesticated by nomads in Ukraine (Dereivka)
Honey Bee
Honey Bees are being kept in kept in clay pots in Egypt
Silk
Silk is being produced in China
Cotton
Cotton is being woven in the Indus Valley, India
~3800BC
Thaw
Sea levels continue to rise - now 8m below the current levels
3300-400BC
Bronze Age
This is a period of thousands of years and defined by the use of bronze. The period starts at different times in different parts of the world depending when they acquired the technology. The technology requires some understanding of mining, minerals, smelting, high temperature kilns and metalworking. It is accompanied by the cultural and military advances that came with having access to advanced bronze tools. Smelted copper was already known for thousands of years but adding tin or arsenic made the metal much easier to work. Copper and Tin ore was not available everywhere and it is very rare to find them close to each other, so trade and transportation had to develop.
The bronze age started around 3300BC around the eastern Mediteranian and to the east of the Black Sea. Around 300 years later is was in India but it would be 700 years after that before started to spread into Europe.
3300BC
Writing
Decorative symbols developed into hieroglyphs (an early form of writing) developed in Egypt.
3100BC
Stonehenge
Earth circle built at Stonehenge
3000BC
Writing
Cuneiform (an early form of writing) developed in the city of Sumer - Mesopotamia (Iraq).
Iron
Iron is used in small quantities in the Middle East, it will take 1700 years for the knowledge of how to attain a temperature of 1537°C required for smelting iron to spread around Africa and Eurasia.
Backgammon
Earliest known game found at the city of Ur - Mesopotamia (Iraq). This is a recognisable precursor to backgammon.
2900BC
Pyramid
The necropolis at Sialk in Iran is built as a 3 stepped terraced pyramid on a mound (Ziggurat)
2850BC
Egypt
Egypt combined when the kingdom of Upper Egypt defeated Lower Egypt
2630-2611BC
Pyramid
The necropolis of Pharaoh Djoser at Saqqara becomes one of Egypt's 1st big Pyramids
2600-2000BC
Pyramid
The city of Caral in Peru includes several pyramids
~2600BC
Sun Flower
Sun Flower domesticated in Mexico
2575-2134BC
Pyramids
Pyramids built at Giza (Egypt)
2300BC
Stonehenge
Large stones transported from Wales by the Beaker People to form the stone circles of Stonehenge.
4000-700BC
Stones and Mounds
Some Standing Stones, Burial Mounds, Hill forts & Stone Circles can be found in this area of the Neolithic and Bronze Age style, but few have been dated with any precision.
2500-2100BC
2100-700BC
British Bronze Age
Although small numbers of bronze tools have been used in Britain for hundreds of years, these are believed to have been imported. It is not until about 2100BC that the technology to create bronze is found in Britain, making bronze tools much more common.
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
2000BC
World Population
- -6000
- 0.01
- -4000
- 0.02
- -2000
- 0.03
- -1000
- 0.05
- - 500
- 0.10
- 1
- 0.20
- 1000
- 0.31
- 1750
- 0.79
- 1800
- 0.98
- 1850
- 1.26
- 1900
- 1.65
- 1950
- 2.52
- 1955
- 2.76
- 1960
- 2.98
- 1965
- 3.33
- 1970
- 3.69
- 1975
- 4.07
- 1980
- 4.43
- 1985
- 4.83
- 1990
- 5.26
- 1995
- 5.67
- 2000
- 6.07
- 2005
- 6.45
Medical text
The favourite prescriptions and remedies written in cuneiform script on clay tablets by a Sumerian Physician and found at the city of Nippur in Iraq are the worlds oldest known medical text.
1800BC
Medical text
A text called the Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus covers medical issues relating to fertility, pregnancy, childbirth etc, was found at the village of El-Lahun in Egypt
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)
1760BC
Hammurabi Code
The best preserved set of laws from the ancient world is a large stone engraved with 282 laws know as the Hammurabi Code and was found in Susa (Iran)
1750BC
Mathematics
Mathematics practised in Sumeria (southern Mesopotamia [south eastern Iraq])
1700BC
Mammoth
The world's last remaining population of Woolly mammoths (on Wrangel Island Russia) becomes extinct.
1628BC
Volcano
Volcanic eruption of the Greek Aegean island of Santorini produces very cold winter
1600C
Medical text
A text called the Edwin Smith Papyrus is part of a text on trauma surgery. Egypt
pre 1504 BC
1349BC
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun is buried at Thebes Egypt
1300BC-400AD
Iron Age
About 2000 years after the start of the Bronze Age, furnace technology achieved even higher temperatures which allowed the smelting of iron ores which are much more plentiful.
Starting in the same area as the Bronze Age around 1300BC, the Iron Age spread out from the around the eastern Mediteranian and to the east of the Black Sea. Around 100 years later is was in India and it would be a further 200 years before started to spread into Europe.
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
1000BC
World Population
- -6000
- 0.01
- -4000
- 0.02
- -2000
- 0.03
- -1000
- 0.05
- - 500
- 0.10
- 1
- 0.20
- 1000
- 0.31
- 1750
- 0.79
- 1800
- 0.98
- 1850
- 1.26
- 1900
- 1.65
- 1950
- 2.52
- 1955
- 2.76
- 1960
- 2.98
- 1965
- 3.33
- 1970
- 3.69
- 1975
- 4.07
- 1980
- 4.43
- 1985
- 4.83
- 1990
- 5.26
- 1995
- 5.67
- 2000
- 6.07
- 2005
- 6.45
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)
800-100AD
British Iron Age
This is a period of about 900 years which started with the ability to make smelt iron. Iron tools became more much plentiful than bronze tools were, which led to many cultural changes. It is the distinctive cultural practices of this period that define it, and it is the cultural change that followed the Roman invasion of Britain that starts to end the British Iron Age.
776BC
Olympics
1st recorded Olympic Games (Greece)
753BC
Rome
Rome Founded Italy
750BC
Astronomy
Astronomers in Babylon reaches the point where they able to predict eclipses (Iraq)
650BC
Coin
Coinage invented in Lydia Turkey
6C
University Takshashila 1st
World's 1st university formed at Taxila 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)
500BC
World Population
- -6000
- 0.01
- -4000
- 0.02
- -2000
- 0.03
- -1000
- 0.05
- - 500
- 0.10
- 1
- 0.20
- 1000
- 0.31
- 1750
- 0.79
- 1800
- 0.98
- 1850
- 1.26
- 1900
- 1.65
- 1950
- 2.52
- 1955
- 2.76
- 1960
- 2.98
- 1965
- 3.33
- 1970
- 3.69
- 1975
- 4.07
- 1980
- 4.43
- 1985
- 4.83
- 1990
- 5.26
- 1995
- 5.67
- 2000
- 6.07
- 2005
- 6.45
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.
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)
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.
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)
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
300-200BC
Medical text
Huangdi Neijing: Oldest known chinese medical text (China)
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.
146BC
Greece/Rome
After many years of unrest Rome conquers Greece turning it into a province of the Roman Empire
~90BC
Silk Road
The 8000km trading route called the 'Silk Road' extends out of China as far west as Iran
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