Editing 4th millennium BC

{{short description|Millennium between 4000 BC and 3001 BC}}
{{Millenniumbox|-4}}
<imagemap>File:4th millennium BC montage.jpg|thumb|400x400px|From top left clockwise: The Temple of [[Ġgantija]], one of the oldest freestanding structures in the world; [[Warka Vase]]; [[Bronocice pot]] with one of the earliest known depictions of a wheeled vehicle; [[Kish tablet]], an example for [[proto-writing]]; Pharaoh [[Narmer]] is credited with uniting Upper and Lower Egypt and is depicted as such in the [[Narmer Palette]].
rect 42 42 474 297 [[Ġgantija]]
rect 534 27 813 670 [[Warka Vase]]
rect 825 28 1246 320 [[Bronocice pot]]
rect 33 426 490 625 [[Kish tablet]]
rect 840 400 1260 700 [[Narmer Palette]]
</imagemap>
The '''4th millennium BC''' spanned the years 4000 BC to 3001 BC. Some of the major changes in human culture during this time included the beginning of the [[Bronze Age]] and the invention of [[writing]], which played a major role in starting [[recorded history]].

[[File:Monte D'Accoddi 07.JPG|thumbnail|260px|[[Monte d'Accoddi]] is an archaeological site in northern [[Sardinia]], [[Italy]], located in the territory of [[Sassari]] near [[Porto Torres]]. 4th millennium BC.]]

The [[Copper Age state societies|city states]] of [[Sumer]] and the (Predynastic) Kingdom of [[predynastic Egypt|Egypt]] were established and grew to prominence. [[Agriculture]] spread widely across [[Eurasia]].

[[World population estimates|World population]] growth relaxed after the burst that came about from the [[Neolithic Revolution]]. World population was largely stable in this time at roughly 50 million, growing at an average of 0.027% per year.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Jean-Noël Biraben |title=Essai sur l'évolution du nombre des hommes |journal=Population |volume=34 |issue=1 |year=1979 |pages=13–25 | doi=10.2307/1531855 |jstor=1531855|s2cid=143406315 }}, estimates 40 million at 5000 BC and 100 million at 1600 BC, for an average growth rate of 0.027% p.a. over the Chalcolithic to Middle Bronze Age.</ref>

==Culture==
{{more citations needed|date=September 2018}}
{{Neolithic}}
[[File:Priest-king from Uruk, Mesopotamia, Iraq, c. 3000 BCE. The Iraq Museum.jpg|thumb|180px|[[Sumer]]ian priest-king from [[Uruk]], Mesopotamia, circa 3300–3000 BC]]
;Near East
{{main|Ancient Near East}}
*[[Mesopotamia]]
**4100–3100 BC – the [[Uruk period]], with emerging [[Sumer]]ian hegemony during the Uruk Expansion and development of [[Proto-cuneiform]] [[history of writing|writing]]; [[base-60]] [[mathematics]], [[astronomy]] and [[astrology]], [[legal system|civil law]], complex [[hydrology]], the [[sailboat]], [[potter's wheel]] and [[wheel]]; the [[Chalcolithic]] proceeds into the [[Early Bronze Age]].
**[[3500 BC|3500]]–[[2340 BC]] – [[Sumer]]: [[carts|wheeled carts]], [[potter's wheel]], White Temple [[ziggurat]], bronze [[tool]]s and [[weapons]].<ref>Federico Lara Peinado, Universidad Complutense de Madrid: "La Civilización Sumeria". ''Historia'' 16, 1999.</ref>
**First to Fourth dynasty of [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]] in [[Mesopotamia]].
**Sumerian temple of Janna at [[Eridu]] erected.
**Temple at [[Al Ubaidi|Al-Ubaid]] and tomb of Mes-Kalam-Dug built near [[Ur]], [[Chaldea]].
**[[3000 BC]] – [[Tin]] is in use in Mesopotamia soon after this time.<ref>Roberts, J: ''History of the World''. Penguin, 1994.</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2016}}
**The [[cuneiform]] script proper emerges from pictographic proto-writing in the later 4th millennium. Mesopotamia's "proto-literate" period spans the 35th to 32nd centuries BC. The first documents unequivocally written in the Sumerian language date to the 31st century BC, found at Jemdet Nasr.
**Kura-Araxes culture expands Southwards towards Sumer. 
**Possible reigns of Lugalbanda and Enmerkar prior to 3250 BC. 
**Long distanced trade with polities in modern-day Afghanistan. 
**[[Dam]]s, [[canal]]s, [[stone sculpture]]s using [[inclined plane]] and [[lever]] in Sumer.
**[[Urkesh]] (northern Syria) founded during the fourth millennium BC possibly by the [[Hurrians]].
**The [[Courtyard]] is introduced to Mesopotamia.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KdlhaAfK1sYC&dq=Houses+in+Ancient+Sumeria&pg=PA148 |title=Dictionary of the Ancient Near East |year=2000 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=9780812235579}}</ref>
*Persian plateau
**4000 BC – [[Susa]] is a center of [[pottery]] production.
**{{Circa|4000 BC}} – [[Beaker (archaeology)|Beaker]] from [[Susa]] (modern [[Shush, Iran]]) is made. It is now at [[Musée du Louvre]], Paris.
**[[Proto-Elamite]] from 3200 BC.
*Anatolia and Caucasus
**{{Circa|3700 BC}} to 3000 BC – The [[Maykop culture]] of the [[Caucasus]], contemporary to the Kurgan culture, is a candidate for the origin of [[Bronze]] production and thus the [[Bronze Age]].
[[File:Shengavit Settlement 2.jpg|thumb|[[Shengavit Settlement]], {{Circa|3300 BC}}]]
**3400–2000 BC – [[Kura-Araxes culture|Kura-Araxes]]: earliest evidence found on the Ararat plain.
[[File:Kingscorpion.jpg|thumb|Pharaoh [[Scorpion II]] on the [[Scorpion Macehead]], {{Circa|3200 BC}}]]
*Egypt
** 4000–3000 BC – [[Naqada]] culture on the [[Nile]]. First hieroglyphs appear thus far around 3500 BC as found on labels in a ruler's tomb at Abydos.
** [[Predynastic Egypt|Predynastic pharaoh]]s [[Tiu (pharaoh)|Tiu]], [[Thesh]], [[Hsekiu]], [[Wazner]], [[Ro (pharaoh)|Ro]], [[King Scorpion|Serket]], [[Narmer]].
**[[3500 BC|3500]]–[[3400 BC]] – [[Jar]] with boat designs, from [[Hierakonpolis]] (today in the [[Brooklyn Museum]]) is created. [[Predynastic Egypt]].
**c. [[3150 BC]] – [[Predynastic Egypt|Predynastic]] period ended in [[Ancient Egypt]]. [[Early Dynastic Period of Egypt|Early Dynastic]] ([[Early Dynastic Period of Egypt|Archaic]]) period started (according to French [[Egyptologist]] [[Nicolas Grimal]]). The period includes 1st and 2nd Dynasties.
**{{Circa|3100 BC}} – [[Narmer Palette]].
**[[Sail]]s used in the [[Nile]].
**[[Mastaba]]s, the predecessors of the [[Egyptian pyramids]].
**[[Harp]]s and [[flute]]s played in Egypt.
**[[Lyre]]s and double clarinets ([[arghul]], [[mijwiz]]) played in Egypt.
**Earliest known [[numeral system|numerals]] in Egypt.

;Europe
{{main|Neolithic Europe}}
[[File:Yamnaya Steppe Pastoralists.jpg|thumb|280px|Bronze Age spread of [[Yamnaya culture|Yamnaya]] [[Western Steppe Herders|steppe pastoralist]] ancestry into two subcontinents—Europe and South Asia—from {{Circa|3300}} to 1500 BC.<ref>{{cite news |title=Steppe migrant thugs pacified by Stone Age farming women |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170404084429.htm |work=[[ScienceDaily]] |publisher=Faculty of Science – University of Copenhagen |date=4 April 2017}}</ref>]]
* [[Crete]]: Rise of [[Minoan civilization]].
**{{Circa|4000 BC}} – First neolithic settlers in the island of [[Santorini|Thera]] ([[Santorini]]), Greece, migrating probably from [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] [[Crete]].
*[[Pontic–Caspian steppe]]
** 3500–2300 BC – The [[Yamna culture]] ("Kurgan culture"), succeeding the [[Sredny Stog culture]] on the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe]] in the Caucasus and Central Asia. This culture is believed to have been the locus of the [[Proto-Indo-Europeans]], and thus the [[Urheimat]], or point of origin, of the [[Proto Indo-European language]], according to the [[Kurgan hypothesis]].
** 5500–2750 BC – The [[Cucuteni–Trypillia culture]] has cities with 15,000 citizens, eastern Europe.
**[[Kurgan culture]] of what is now [[Southern Federal District|Southern Russia]] and [[Ukraine]]; possibly the first [[domestication of the horse]].
*Balkans
**c. [[3500 BC]] – Figures of a man and a woman, from [[Cernavodă]], [[Romania]], are made. They are now at [[National Museum of Romanian History|National Historical Museum]], [[Bucharest]].
**c. [[3138 BC]] [[Ljubljana Marshes Wheel]] is a wooden [[wheel]] that was found in the [[Ljubljana Marsh]] in [[Slovenia]].<ref name="Slovenia">{{cite web |title=World's Oldest Wheel Found in Slovenia |url=http://www.ukom.gov.si/en/media_room/background_information/culture/worlds_oldest_wheel_found_in_slovenia/ |date=March 2003 |publisher=Government Communication Office of the Republic of Slovenia |author=Gasser, Aleksander |access-date=2015-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826021129/http://www.ukom.gov.si/en/media_room/background_information/culture/worlds_oldest_wheel_found_in_slovenia/ |archive-date=2016-08-26 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Radiocarbon dating showed that it is approximately 5,150 years old, which makes it the oldest wooden wheel yet discovered.
*c. 4000–2000 BC – People and animals, a detail of rock-shelter painting in [[El Cogul|Cogul]] ([[Roca dels Moros]]), [[Lleida]], Spain, are painted. It is now at [[Archaeology Museum of Catalonia]], [[Barcelona]].
*[[Arzachena culture|Arzachena]] & [[Ozieri culture]]s.
*[[Malta]][[File:Ggantija Temples, Xaghra, Gozo.jpg|thumb|The [[Ġgantija]] temples are the earliest of the [[Megalithic Temples of Malta]] ]]
**[[3600 BC]] – Construction of the [[Ġgantija]] megalithic temple complex on the [[Gozo|Island of Gozo]]: the world's oldest extant unburied free-standing structures, and the world's oldest religious structures. (See [[Göbekli Tepe]] for older, buried religious structures.)
**[[3600 BC|3600]]–[[3200 BC]] – Construction of the first temple within the [[Mnajdra]] solar temple complex, containing "furniture" such as stone benches and tables, that set it apart from other European megalith constructions.
**[[Neolithic decline|Great Neolithic Plague]] occurs from circa 5450 BC to circa 2700 BC. This ensures for the large scaled expansions of the later early bronze age. 
**[[3600 BC|3600]]–[[3000 BC]] – Construction of the Ta' Ħaġrat and Kordin III temples.
**[[3200 BC|3250]]–[[3000 BC]] – Construction of three megalithic temples at [[Tarxien]].
**[[32nd century BC|3200]]–[[2500 BC]] – Construction of the [[Ħaġar Qim]] megalithic temple complex, featuring both solar and lunar alignments.
*Northern Europe
* 4000–2700 BC – The [[Scandinavian prehistory|Funnelbeaker culture]], Scandinavia, originated in southern parts of Europe and slowly advanced up through today's Uppland.
**[[3300 BC|3300]]–[[2900 BC]] – Construction of the [[Newgrange]] solar [[observatory]]/passage tomb in Ireland.[[File:Tustrup gravpladsen (Norddjurs Kommune).Jættestue.Gang.2.47886.ajb.jpg|thumb|Tustrup-dysserne, the largest [[passage grave]] in Eastern [[Jutland]], is an example of [[Funnelbeaker culture]] circa 3200 BC]]
**c. [[3100 BC|3100]]–[[2600 BC]] – [[Neolithic]] settlement at [[Skara Brae]] in the [[Orkney Islands]], [[Scotland]], is inhabited.
**Construction in England of the [[Sweet Track]], the world's first known engineered roadway.
**[[Garth tsunami]] in the [[Northern Isles]].
** c. [[3100 BC]] – The earliest phase of the [[Stonehenge]] monument (a circular earth bank and ditch).
**The [[Céide Fields]] are developed, the first signs of the eventual complete [[deforestation]] of [[Ireland]].
*c. [[3300 BC]] – [[Ötzi the Iceman]] dies near the present-day border between Austria and Italy, only to be discovered in 1991 buried in a [[glacier]] of the [[Ötztal Alps]]. His [[cause of death]] is believed to be [[homicide]].

;Central Asia
** 3500–2500 BC – [[Afanasevo culture|Afanasevo]]: Siberia, Mongolia, Xinjiang, Kazakhstan—late copper and early Bronze Age.
**{{Circa|4000 BC}} – [[Domestication of the horse|Horses are domesticated]] in the western [[Eurasian Steppes]] in what is now northern [[Kazakhstan]] (see the [[Botai culture]]).
**Bactria Margiana civilization (circa 3000 BC) alongside trade routes connection with Proto-dynastic Egypt. 

;East Asia
* Neolithic Chinese settlements. They produced silk and pottery (chiefly the [[Yangshao culture|Yangshao]] and the [[Longshan culture]]s), wore hemp clothing, and domesticated pigs and dogs.
* 4000–[[2500 BC]] – Vietnamese Bronze Age culture. The [[Đồng Đậu Culture]], produced many wealthy bronze objects.
[[File:Statuette Mehrgarh.jpg|thumb|190px|Fertility figurine from [[Mehrgarh]], [[Indus Valley]], c. 3000 BC]]
;Indian Subcontinent
*[[Mehrgarh]] III–VI
*[[3500 BC]] [[Lost wax|Metalcasting]] began in the [[Mohenjodaro]] area.
*[[3300 BC]] – [[Bronze Age]] starts in [[Indus Valley civilization|Indus Valley]] ([[Harappa]]).
**[[Drainage]] and [[Sewage collection and disposal]]
*[[Ochre Coloured Pottery culture]]

;Americas
*c. [[3600 BC]] – In [[Colombia]], first rupestrian art [[Chiribiquete National Park#Rock art|Chiribiquete]] ([[Caquetá Department|Caquetá]]).
*c. 3000 BC – First [[pottery]] in [[Colombia]] at [[Puerto Hormiga archaeological site|Puerto Hormiga]] ([[Magdalena Department|Magdalena]]), considered one of the first attempts of pottery of the [[New World]]. First settlement at [[Bolívar Department#History|Puerto Badel]] ([[Bolívar Department|Bolívar]]).
*c. [[3600 BC]] – Evidence of maize domestication appear in the Valley of [[Tehuacán]].
*[[Norte Chico civilization]] in Northern [[Peru]] starts.

;Australia
* c. 3000 BC – The [[Sydney rock engravings]] in present-day ([[Sydney]], [[Australia]]).<ref>[http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/history-culture/2016/03/top-7-aboriginal-rock-art-sites/ Australia's top 7 Aboriginal rock art sites], ''Australian Geographic''</ref>

;Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa remains in the [[Later Stone Age|Paleolithic period]], except for the earliest neolithization of the [[Sahel]] following the [[African humid period#End|desiccation of the Sahara in c. 3500 BC]].<ref name="Manning 2014">{{cite journal |title=The demographic response to Holocene climate change in the Sahara |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=101 |pages=28–35 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.07.003 |year=2014 |last1=Manning |first1=Katie |last2=Timpson |first2=Adrian |bibcode=2014QSRv..101...28M |url=http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1450029/1/1-s2.0-S0277379114002728-main.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1450029/1/1-s2.0-S0277379114002728-main.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Kopytoff 1989">Igor Kopytoff, ''The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies'' (1989), 9–10 (cited after [http://amightytree.org/niger-congo-languages-and-history/ Igbo Language Roots and (Pre)-History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717224506/http://amightytree.org/niger-congo-languages-and-history/ |date=2019-07-17 }}, ''A Mighty Tree'', 2011).</ref> As the grasslands of the Sahara began drying after 3900 BC, herders spread into the Nile Valley and into eastern Africa ([[Eburran industry|Eburan 5]], [[Elmenteitan]]). The desiccation of the Sahara and the associated neolithisation of West Africa is also cited as a possible cause for the dispersal of the [[Niger-Congo]] linguistic phylum.<ref name="Manning 2014" /><ref name="Kopytoff 1989" />

==Environment==
{{Holocene}}
{{Main|Atlantic (period)}}
Based on studies by [[glaciologist]] [[Lonnie Thompson]], professor at [[Ohio State University]] and researcher with the [[Byrd Polar Research Center]], a number of indicators shows there was a global change in climate 5,200 years ago, probably due to a drop in solar energy output.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.news-about-space.org/story/2409.html |title=Major Climate Change Occurred 5,200 Years Ago: Evidence Suggests That History Could Repeat Itself |access-date=2004-12-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080115112153/http://www.news-about-space.org/story/2409.html |archive-date=2008-01-15 }}</ref>
* The [[Older Peron]] transgression was a period identified in 1961<ref name="Fairbridge 1961">{{cite journal |last1=Fairbridge |first1=Rhodes W. |year=1961 |title=Eustatic Changes in Sea Level |journal=Physics and Chemistry of the Earth |volume=4 |pages=99–185 |doi=10.1016/0079-1946(61)90004-0|bibcode=1961PCE.....4...99F }}</ref> happening between 6,000 and 4,600 years [[Before Present|BP]] when sea levels were 3 to 5 metres higher than today.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Colin |last1=Murray-Wallace |first2=Colin |last2=Woodroffe |title=Quaternary Sea-Level Changes: A Global Perspective |publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2014 |page=338|isbn=9781139867153 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l13BAgAAQBAJ&q=%22Older+Peron%22&pg=PA328}}</ref>
*Plants buried in the [[Quelccaya Ice Cap]] in the Peruvian Andes demonstrate the climate had shifted suddenly and severely to capture the plants and preserve them until now.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Thompson |first1=L. G. |last2=Mosley-Thompson |first2=E. |last3=Brecher |first3=H. |last4=Davis |first4=M.| last5=León |first5=B.| last6=Les |first6=D. |last7=Lin |first7=P. -N. |last8=Mashiotta |first8=T. |last9=Mountain |first9=K. |title=Inaugural Article: Abrupt tropical climate change: Past and present |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=103 |issue=28 |pages=10536–10543 |year=2006 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0603900103| pmid=16815970 |bibcode=2006PNAS..10310536T |pmc=1484420 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
*c. [[3750 BC]] – The last North American [[mammoth]]s, on [[Saint Paul Island (Alaska)|Saint Paul Island]], [[Alaska]], go extinct.
*Tree rings from Ireland and England show this was their driest period.<ref name="Science Daily 2004-12-04">{{cite web |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/12/041219142907.htm |title=Major Climate Change Occurred 5,200 Years Ago: Evidence Suggests That History Could Repeat Itself |work=[[Science Daily]]|access-date=19 December 2010}}</ref>
*Ice core records showing the ratio of two oxygen isotopes retrieved from the ice fields atop Africa's [[Mount Kilimanjaro]], a proxy for atmospheric temperature at the time snow fell.<ref name="Science Daily 2004-12-04" />
*Major changes in plant pollen uncovered from lakebed cores in South America.<ref name="Science Daily 2004-12-04" />
*Record lowest levels of [[methane]] retrieved from ice cores from [[Greenland]] and [[Antarctica]].<ref name="Science Daily 2004-12-04" />
*End of the [[Neolithic Subpluvial]], start of [[desertification]] of [[Sahara]] ([[35th century BC]]). North Africa shifts from a habitable region to a barren desert.<ref name="Science Daily 2004-12-04" />
*c. [[3150 BC]] – a lesser [[Tollmann's hypothetical bolide]] event may have occurred.
*3051 BC – [[Methuselah (pine tree)|The oldest currently (2013) living]] non-clonal organism germinated in the present-day Grove of the Ancients, Inyo County, California.

==Calendars and chronology==
*'''4000 BC''' – [[epoch (reference date)|Epoch]] of the [[Freemasonry|Masonic]] calendar's [[Anno Lucis]] era.
*'''3929 BC''' – Creation according to [[John Lightfoot]] based on the Old Testament of the Bible, and often associated with the [[Ussher chronology#Lightfoot's Creation|Ussher chronology]].
*'''3761 BC''' – Since the Middle Ages (12th century), the [[Hebrew calendar]] has been based on rabbinic calculations of the year of creation from the Hebrew [[Masoretic text]] of the bible. This calendar is used within Jewish communities for religious and other purposes. The calendar's epoch, corresponding to the calculated date of the world's creation, is equivalent to sunset on the Julian proleptic calendar date 6 October 3761 BC.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dershowitz |first1=Nachum |author1-link=Nachum Dershowitz|last2=Reingold |first2=Edward M. |author2-link=Edward M. Reingold |title=Calendrical Calculations |title-link=Calendrical Calculations |edition=1st |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-521-56474-8 |page=11 }}</ref>
*'''3114 BC''' – One version of the [[Mayan calendar]], known as the [[Mesoamerican Long Count]], uses the epoch of 11 or 13 August 3114 BC. The Maya Long Count calendar was first used approximately 236 BC (see [[Mesoamerican Long Count calendar#Earliest Long Counts]].
*'''3102 BC''' – According to calculations of [[Aryabhata]] (6th century), the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] [[Kali Yuga]] began at midnight on 18 February 3102 BC.
*'''3102 BC''' – [[Aryabhata]] dates the events of the [[Mahabharata]] to around 3102 BC. Other estimates range from the late 4th to the mid-2nd millennium BC.

==Centuries==

* [[40th century BC]]
* [[39th century BC]]
* [[38th century BC]]
* [[37th century BC]]
* [[36th century BC]]
* [[35th century BC]]
* [[34th century BC]]
* [[33rd century BC]]
* [[32nd century BC]]
* [[31st century BC]]

==References==
<references/>

{{Millennia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:4th Millennium Bc}}
[[Category:4th millennium BC| ]]
[[Category:Millennia|-96]]