| DATES |
NAME OF PERIOD |
SURVIVAL ACTIVITIES |
MAIN CULTURAL RECORD & HISTOR. EVENTS |
| 2.5 mill. to 12,000 y.ago |
Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age |
Nomadic gatherers & hunters |
tool making (stone bone etc) |
| |
|
respect & worship of Nature |
|
| 10.000 BCE - 5,000 BCE |
Neolithic or New Stone Age |
Beginning of food production = |
First village communities |
| |
|
domestication of plants and |
first pottery after 6.000 |
| |
|
animals; 'Mother Nature' worship |
|
| 5,000 - 3,000 BCE |
Chalcolithic (='Copper/Stone') Age
|
Progress in agricultural |
Complex village cultures |
| |
|
techniques |
and early metal work |
| |
|
|
|
| 3,000 - 2,000 BCE
|
Early Bronze Age |
Agriculture and urban production; |
First fortified towns with special craft |
| |
Canaanites in the Levant |
trade; kingship and urban control |
production; Weapons and warfare; |
| |
|
|
Writing systems |
| |
|
|
|
| 2,000 - 1,200 BCE |
Middle and Late Bronze Age |
Urban production; land and sea |
Urban Palace culture; increasing |
| |
Cannanites in the Levant |
trade; agriculture |
specialization; furniture, textiles, artwork |
| |
|
|
|
| end of 2nd mill. BCE |
End of the Bronze Age -Arrival |
Agriculture survives; some |
Breakdown of main urban |
| |
of 'Sea Peoples' in the Levant |
maritime trade |
centers and palace culture |
| 1,200 - 550 BCE
|
Iron Age - Phoenicians/Syrians |
Urban production; land and sea |
Phoenician urban production: |
| |
/Phalestines in the Levant |
trade; agriculture |
textiles; metal work; ivory |
| 550 - 330 BCE
|
Persian or Late Phoenician |
Urban production; land and sea |
Phoenician urban production: |
| |
period in the Levant |
trade; agriculture |
Greek & Persian imports |
| |
|
|
|
| 330 - 64 BCE
|
Hellenistic period |
as before |
Conquest of the Near East by Alexander the |
| |
|
|
Great; cultural exchange and acculturation |
| 64 BCE - AD 395
|
Roman period |
|
Conquest of the Middle East by the Romans |
| |
|
|
Roman colonisation and road system |
| AD 395 - 632
|
Byzantine period |
|
Constantinople Eastern Roman empirial capital |
| |
|
|
Christianity adopted as state religion |
| AD 661 - 750
|
Umayyads: capital Damascus |
|
Coming of Islam: Busra, Ba'lbek and other |
| |
|
|
cities open their gates to the Muslims |
| 750 - 1110
|
Abbasids: capital Baghdad |
|
The Islamic empire grows and the center |
| |
|
|
moves east; Islamic rulers in Spain & NAfrica |
| 1098 - 1291
|
Crusader period |
|
European rulers&the Pope gain strongholds in |
| |
|
|
the Near East; until the Ayyubid Salah ed-Din |
| 1291 - 1516
|
Mamluks: capital Cairo, Tripoli |
|
Mamluk sultans (Baybars) reconquer the |
| |
|
|
Near East; Mamluk Jerusalem etc |
| 1516 - 1918
|
Ottoman empire: capital |
|
Sultan Selim won Syria, Palestine and Egypt; |
| |
Istanbul |
|
Suleyman built the 'Süleymaniye mosque' etc |
| |
|
|
(architect Sinan); 19th cent Beirut developed |
| 1920 - 1943
|
Mandate period |
|
Further development of Beirut harbour & city |
| 1943 - present
|
Independence of Lebanon and on |
|
First large-scale excavations in Beirut Center |
