Kindling | Archive of Human Genius

We are building the world’s largest database of social change milestones, from the first fire to today's good news. Change is not only possible, it has happened consistently throughout human history.

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First systems of writing begin to emerge in Sumeria

April 25, 1001

Cuneiform is a system of writing first developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia c. 3500-3000 BCE.

Damascus – perhaps the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world – is founded in modern-day Syria

April 25, 1001

Pottery from the 3rd millennium BCE has been discovered in the Old City of Damascus.

Ancient Sumerians create clay tablets listing hundreds of medicinal plants

April 25, 1001

In Mesopotamia, the written study of herbs dates back over 5,000 years to the Sumerians, who created clay tablets with lists of hundreds of medicinal plants (such as myrrh and opium).

Ancient Egyptians begin practice of mummification

April 25, 1001

The tomb was now considered a place of transformation in which the soul would leave the body to go on to the afterlife.

Minoan cultures begins in Crete

April 16, 1001

The Minoan civilization flourished in the middle Bronze Age on the Mediterranean island of Crete from ca. 2000 BCE until ca. 1500 BCE and, with their unique art and architecture, the Minoans made a significant contribution to the development of Western European civilization as it is known today.

Humans discover and settle Cuba

April 06, 1001

Cuba's earliest known human inhabitants colonized the island in the 4th millennium BC.

Humans invent leather shoes, perhaps in modern-day Armenia

April 05, 1001

The oldest leather shoe was found in a cave in Armenia and was about 5,500 years old. These simple shoes, made of a single piece of leather were stitched with leather.

The Sweet Track and Post Track causeways are built in Somerset Levels in modern-day England

April 04, 1001

The Sweet Track is a Neolithic timber walkway, located in the Somerset Levels, England. It was originally part of a network of tracks built to provide a dry path across the marshy ground.

The Egyptians and Phoenicians invent the sailboats

March 18, 1001

The Phoenicians and Egyptians sailed under cloth sails on single log and simple long narrow sailboats.

Humans settle on the Macau Peninsula for the first time

March 17, 1001

The human history of Macau stretches back up to 6,000 years, and includes many different and diverse civilizations and periods of existence. Evidence of human and culture dating back 4,000 to 6,000 years has been discovered on the Macau Peninsula and dating back 5,000 years on Coloane Island.

The peoples of sub-Saharan Africa begin metal smelting

March 17, 1001

Copper artifacts recovered from Nubia provide the earliest known evidence of metal smelting in sub-Saharan Africa, dating back sometime after 4000 B.C.E. - they were most likely imports from Egypt.

The Kura–Araxes culture thrives in the Caucauses

March 17, 1001

The Kura–Araxes culture was a civilization that existed from about 4000 BC until about 2000 BC. The earliest evidence for this culture is found on the Ararat plain; it spread northward in Caucasus by 3000 BC.E. Altogether, the early Transcaucasian culture enveloped a vast area approximately 1,000 km by 500 km,[4] and mostly encompassed, on modern-day territories, the Southern Caucasus (except western Georgia), northwestern Iran, the northeastern Caucasus, eastern Turkey, and as far as Syria.[5][6] The name of the culture is derived from the Kura and Araxes river valleys. Kura–Araxes culture is sometimes known as Shengavitian, Karaz (Erzurum), Pulur, and Yanik Tepe (Iranian Azerbaijan, near Lake Urmia) cultures.[7] It gave rise to the later Khirbet Kerak-ware culture found in Syria and Canaan after the fall of the Akkadian Empire.

Hunter-gatherers of the Wilton stone age culture inhabit Twyfelfontein in modern-day Namibia

March 17, 1001

Displaying one of the largest concentrations of rock petroglyphs in Africa, UNESCO approved Twyfelfontein as Namibia's first World Heritage Site in 2007.

The Funnelbeaker culture flourishes in north-central Europe

March 17, 1001

The Funnelbeaker culture developed as a technological merger of local neolithic and mesolithic techno-complexes, introducing farming and husbandry as a major source of food to the pottery-using hunter-gatherers north of this line.

Humans of the Yangshao period in China produce silk for the first time

March 17, 1001

According to Confucian text, the discovery of silk production dates to about 2700 BC, although archaeological records point to silk cultivation as early as the Yangshao period (50003000 BC).

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