Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TIMELINE
c 250,000 BC
With the aid of hand axes made of flint, early humans hunt elephants across the plains
in the mild, wet climate of the Jordan Valley.
c 100,000 BC
The Red Sea, lying in a branch of the great Rift Valley, retreats from Wadi Araba, leav-
ing the Dead Sea and Lake Galilee as two separate lakes.
c 20,000 BC
Hunters and gatherers live in seasonal camps and rear their own livestock, with goats
forming a substantial part of the diet in the early communities at Wadi Madamagh, near
Petra.
c 8000 BC
Some of the world's earliest settlements are established at Ain Ghazal and Al-Beidha
and neighbouring Jericho. Inhabitants tame, breed and cook domestic animals.
c 6000 BC
The Ain Ghazal fertility sculptures (among the world's oldest sculptures) and wall
paintings at Teleilat Ghassul in the Jordan Valley show that early inhabitants of the re-
gion value cultural activity.
c 5000 BC
Monumental stone dolmen near Ar-Rawdah indicate that burials are now linked to con-
cepts of afterlife. The ingenious engineering is a wonder - and a mystery.
c 4000 BC
Permanent settlements are established in modern-day Amman and in the south, while
copper is mined at Khirbet Feynan. Arts, such as pottery, illustrate the influence of
powerful neighbours in Egypt.
c 2900 BC
