Ancient Middle East

Home to the Cradle of Civilization, the Middle East—interchangeable with the Near East—has seen many of the world’s oldest cultures and civilizations. This history started from the earliest human settlements, continuing through several major pre- and post-Islamic Empires through to the nation-states of the Middle East today. Part of a series on Human history Human Era ↑ Prehistory (Pleistocene epoch) Holocene Timelines Neolithic – Contemporary (10,000 BCE – 2021 CE) Age of the human raceRecorded history Earliest recordsProtohistoryProto-writing Ancient Bronze ageIron age Axial antiquityClassical antiquityLate antiquity AfricaNorth AmericaSouth America OceaniaEast AsiaSouth Asia Southeast AsiaWest Asia Europe Postclassical AfricaAmericas OceaniaEast Asia South Asia Southeast AsiaWest Asia Europe Modern Early modernLate modern AfricaNorth AmericaSouth America OceaniaEast AsiaSouth Asia Southeast AsiaWest Asia Europe See also ModernityFuturology ↓ Future vte Sumerians were the first people to develop complex systems as to be called “Civilization”, starting as far back as the 5th millennium BC. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh.