| ca. 250,000 B.C.E. | ca. 3000 B.C.E. |
| – Homo sapiens evolve in Africa | – Development of wheeled transport; beginning of bronze technology |
| 250,000–9,000 B.C.E. | ca. 2500 B.C.E. |
| – Paleolithic era | – Bronze technology becomes common in many areas |
| 9000 B.C.E. | ca. 2300 B.C.E. |
| – Beginning of the Neolithic; crop raising; domestication of sheep and goats | – Establishment of the Akkadian empire |
| ca. 7000 B.C.E. | ca. 1800 B.C.E. |
| – Domestication of cattle; plow agriculture | – Hyksos people begin to settle in the Nile Delta |
| ca. 5500 B.C.E. | 1792–1750 B.C.E. |
| – Smelting of copper | – Hammurabi rules Babylon |
| ca. 3800 B.C.E. | 1258 B.C.E. |
| – Establishment of first Mesopotamian cities | – Peace treaty between Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II and Hittite king Hattusuli III |
| ca. 3200 B.C.E. | ca. 1200 B.C.E. |
| – Development of cuneiform and hieroglyphic writing | – “Bronze Age Collapse”; destruction and drought |
| ca. 3100 B.C.E | |
| – Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt | |