2500 bce

Archaeology

The Longshan people of the Huang He (Yellow River) become the first civilization of China, living in larger communities, using the potter's wheel, and breaking into social classes. See also 700 bce Tools.

People we know as Harappans begin to construct cities on the banks of the Indus River and its tributaries (Pakistan). At Harappa itself they build a huge citadel nearly 425 m (1400 ft) long and 180 m (600 ft) wide along the floodplain of the Ravi, a major tributary of the Indus, apparently not only to defend against rising waters but also against invading people. See also 2350 bce Transportation.

Civilizations in Crete, in the Cyclades (islands in the Aegean Sea), and in parts of Greece build tile-roofed houses that contain several rooms. See also 6000 bce Construction; 2100 bce Construction.

A dam about 84 m (276 ft) long, 110 m (361 ft) wide, and 12 m (39 ft) high is built at Wadi Gerrawe (El Kofaro) sometime before this date. Lined with limestone blocks, the dam's apparent purpose is to catch the water from the occasional flooding of the Wadi that occurs during the winter rains. It is not designed well enough, however, and the first large flood collapses it. See also 3000 bce Construction; 1300 bce Construction.

Yams are cultivated in western Africa.

The yak is domesticated (Tibet). See also 3000 bce Food & agriculture; 1000 bce Food & agriculture.

Ducks are domesticated in the Near East. See also 7000 bce Food & agriculture.

The cat is kept in people's houses and on farms in Egypt. It is never completely domesticated. One of the six major cities of Lower Egypt, Bubastis, is dedicated to the cat goddess. See also 18,000 bce Food & agriculture.

Chinese epics mention copper, although it is not clear how well developed the practices of copper mining or smelting are at this time. See also 3000 bce Materials; 100 bce Materials.

Animal skin used for writing seems to have been employed by about this time, but the practice is sporadic and the material is not treated as much as later forms of parchment, which is also made from treated animal skins.

Tin is mined and smelted by a low-temperature, complex process at what is now Goltepe, Turkey. This is the earliest known source of the tin used to make bronze for the Bronze Age. See also 3000 bce Materials; 2000 bce Materials.

Metal mirrors are used in Egypt. Metal axes replace stone in Mesopotamia.

A form of soldering to join sheets of gold is used by the Chaldeans in Ur (Iraq). See also 700 bce Materials.

Standard weights, used in trade, are developed by the Sumerians. They are based on the shekel of 8.36 g (129 grains) and the mina, 60 times as heavy. See also 2400 bce Mathematics.

Egyptian carvings show a surgical operation in progress. See also 1550 bce Medicine & health.

Many tools used by masons are in existence, including plumb lines to find the vertical, levels to find the horizontal, squares to find right angles, and mallets. See also 3000 bce Construction.

In Egypt the tools of war include wheeled ladders used for scaling walls during a siege. See also 2000 bce Tools.

Clay tablets record imports to southern Mesopotamia of stone from either Magan or Makran (both on the Persian Gulf). Magan developed a reputation as a port, and the stone was probably transported by boat to the mouth of the Euphrates at the head of the Gulf and then up the Tigris-Euphrates river system. See also 2600 bce Transportation.

Boats in Egypt are made of wood instead of being papyrus rafts with upturned ends. Oars have probably been invented. See also 3000 bce Transportation; 2450 bce Transportation. (See essay.)

Wheeled vehicles, basically chariots, are used by Sumerian armies. See also 3500 bce Transportation.

Millennium:	3rd millennium BC
Centuries:	26th century BC - 25th century BC - 24th century BC
Decades:	2490s BC 2480s BC 2470s BC 2460s BC 2450s BC 2440s BC 2430s BC 2420s BC 2410s BC 2400s BC
Categories:	Births - Deaths Establishments - Disestablishments

Events

The ruined pyramid of Userkaf at Saqqara. He was the founder of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt

• c. 2900 BC–2334 BC — Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period.
• c. 2500 BC — Scribal schools flourish throughout Sumer.
• c. 2500 BC — Cylinder seal from Sumer and its impression are made. It is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
• c. 2500 BC — Excavation and development of the Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni at Paola, Malta, a subterranean templex complex subsequently used as a necropolis.
• c. 2500 BC — Valley Temple of Khafra, Giza, is built.
• c. 2500 BC - People in Peru relies on fish and mussels for food.
• c. 2494 BC — End of Fourth Dynasty, start of Fifth Dynasty in Egypt. The Pyramids begin construction.
• c. 2494 BC – 2345 BC: "Sculptors at work", relief from Saqqara, Fifth Dynasty. It is now at Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Egypt.
• c. 2494 BC – 2345 BC: "Seated Scribe" from tomb of vizier Kai, Saqqara, sculpture, Fifth dynasty of Egypt is made. It is now in Musée du Louvre, Paris.
• 2492 BC — Traditional date for the legendary foundation of the Armenian nation (see Haik).
• c. 2450 BC — End of the Early Dynastic IIIa Period and beginning of the Early Dynastic IIIb Period in Sumer.
• c. 2450 BC — Kish is lost to Khamazi tribesmen of the Kurdistan mountains; Elamites from Awan occupy parts of Sumer. (Roux 1980)
• c. 2410 BC — By this time, kings in Sumer have ceased to be automatically high priests of the city deity. (Roux 1980) Semitic infiltration and conquest of Mesopotamia begins. (1968 RD Almanac)
• Megalithic culture comes to Ireland from Spain, spreading also through Europe and the western Mediterranean. (1968 RD Almanac)
• Celts begin invading Europe from the east. (1968 RD Almanac)
• Earliest signs of Battle Axe Culture from the Caucasus. (Encyc. Americana)
• Southeastern Spain is settled from the Mediterranean, by people using Predynastic Egyptian-style pottery. (Encyc. Americana)
• Italy begins to be settled by Illyrians and others. (1968 RD Almanac)
• Amorites and Canaanites occupy Syria and Lebanon. (Encyc. Americana)

Significant persons

• 2491 — Mythical Chinese Emperor Huang-Ti (Hirth)
• 2490 — Menkaura is Pharaoh. (Atlas of Egypt 1989)
• 2475 — Shepseskaf is Pharaoh. (Atlas of Egypt 1989)
• 2465 — Fifth dynasty of Egypt; Userkaf is Pharaoh (Atlas of Egypt 1989)
• 2458 — Sahure is Pharaoh (Atlas of Egypt 1989)
• 2446 — Neferirkare Kakai is Pharaoh (Atlas of Egypt 1989)
• 2426 — Shepseskare Isi is Pharaoh (Atlas of Egypt 1989)
• c. 2425 — Death of Eannatum of Lagash; succeeded by his nephew, Entemena, whose ally, Lugal-kinishe-dudu, unites Uruk and Ur (Roux 1980)
• 2419 — Ra'neferef is Pharaoh (Atlas of Egypt 1989)
• 2416 — Nyuserre Ini is Pharaoh (Atlas of Egypt 1989)

Deaths

• Mahalalel, son of Kenan, (3365 BC–2470 BC) according to the Hebrew Calendar

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

• Harappan civilisation, at its peak, covered an area of around 480,000 km². Its heartland lay in the Indus river valley in Pakistan, but settlements spread as far as the Makran coast, Baluchistan, Afghanistan, eastern Punjab, Kutch and Saurashtra. They included cities like Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Kalibangan, Dholavira, ports like Lothal, Sutkagen-dor and Sotka-koh and numerous villages as well. They used irrigation to farm and constructed cities. The two main cities had sewage systems, bronze, trade tokens (early coins), and hieroglyphs. There were even baths at one of the villages, besides the great baths of brick in each city. Geometry of shrines and altars tends to identify these with the cities of the Yajur Veda: they might easily be a thousand years older than this conservative date.
• Cycladic marble figures depict the use of both the musical pipe and the kithara form of lyre. (Archaeology of the Olympics 1988)
• Earliest surviving ski is left in a peat bog at Hoting, Sweden, about this time. (Encyc. Americana)
• Sumerians use domestic asses on war chariots (Standard of Ur), not onagers as early interpreters claimed. (Clutton-Brock)
• Agriculture at Prieta Huaca includes cotton and bottle-gourds. (Bailey 1973)

Decades and Years

Decades and Years

25th century BC
27th century BC←26th century BC← ↔ →24th century BC→23rd century BC

2500s BC	2509 BC	2508 BC	2507 BC	2506 BC	2505 BC	2504 BC	2503 BC	2502 BC	2501 BC	2500 BC
2490s BC	2499 BC	2498 BC	2497 BC	2496 BC	2495 BC	2494 BC	2493 BC	2492 BC	2491 BC	2490 BC
2480s BC	2489 BC	2488 BC	2487 BC	2486 BC	2485 BC	2484 BC	2483 BC	2482 BC	2481 BC	2480 BC
2470s BC	2479 BC	2478 BC	2477 BC	2476 BC	2475 BC	2474 BC	2473 BC	2472 BC	2471 BC	2470 BC
2460s BC	2469 BC	2468 BC	2467 BC	2466 BC	2465 BC	2464 BC	2463 BC	2462 BC	2461 BC	2460 BC
2450s BC	2459 BC	2458 BC	2457 BC	2456 BC	2455 BC	2454 BC	2453 BC	2452 BC	2451 BC	2450 BC
2440s BC	2449 BC	2448 BC	2447 BC	2446 BC	2445 BC	2444 BC	2443 BC	2442 BC	2441 BC	2440 BC
2430s BC	2439 BC	2438 BC	2437 BC	2436 BC	2435 BC	2434 BC	2433 BC	2432 BC	2431 BC	2430 BC
2420s BC	2429 BC	2428 BC	2427 BC	2426 BC	2425 BC	2424 BC	2423 BC	2422 BC	2421 BC	2420 BC
2410s BC	2419 BC	2418 BC	2417 BC	2416 BC	2415 BC	2414 BC	2413 BC	2412 BC	2411 BC	2410 BC
2400s BC	2409 BC	2408 BC	2407 BC	2406 BC	2405 BC	2404 BC	2403 BC	2402 BC	2401 BC	2400 BC
2390s BC	2399 BC	2398 BC	2397 BC	2396 BC	2395 BC	2394 BC	2393 BC	2392 BC	2391 BC	2390 BC

Centuries and Millennia

Millennium	Century
Before Christ / Before Common Era (BC/BCE)
4th:	40th	39th	38th	37th	36th	35th	34th	33rd	32nd	31st
3rd:	30th	29th	28th	27th	26th	25th	24th	23rd	22nd	21st
2nd:	20th	19th	18th	17th	16th	15th	14th	13th	12th	11th
1st:	10th	9th	8th	7th	6th	5th	4th	3rd	2nd	1st
Anno Domini / Common Era (AD/CE)
1st:	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
2nd:	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th	18th	19th	20th
3rd:	21st	22nd	23rd	24th	25th	26th	27th	28th	29th	30th
4th:	31st

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