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Shiriru_B

Book binge in progress.
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Absolutely winning. 10/10
.... I wish I could go back in time and do it again.
 

Tempokai

The Overworked One
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I'm winning currently by researching about how do we know that we know that ancient civilizations knew about ancient civilizations before them
 

Tempokai

The Overworked One
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Below is a quick-survey of the best-documented large-scale societies that flourished before their own people (or anyone else) left decipherable writing. Their scale, monumentality and social complexity let archaeologists speak of them as “civilisations,” even though they sit inside what we still call prehistory.


Region & nameCore dates (approx.)How “big” & why it countsHall-mark achievements
Upper Mesopotamia – Göbekli Tepe nexus9 600 – 8 200 BCEMegalithic sanctuaries built by organised hunter–gatherers; 5–10 m-high T-pillars up to 20 tonnes eachThe earliest known monumental architecture and symbolic stone carving anywhere on earth UNESCO World Heritage Centre
Central Anatolia – Çatalhöyük7 100 – 5 700 BCEProto-city mound covering ≈ 13 ha; peak pop. commonly estimated 5 000 – 10 000 inhabitants living in agglutinated mud-brick housesDense urban layout, wall-paintings, household shrines, early agriculture and obsidian craft networks Wikipedia
Lower Yangtze, China – Liangzhu civilisation3 300 – 2 300 BCEWalled capital c. 290 ha within a managed landscape of dams and canals—the earliest large hydraulic system yet foundPalatial platform, state-level jade ritual industry, engineered flood-control works Wikipedia
Middle–Lower Yellow River – Longshan culture3 000 – 1 900 BCEHundreds of fortified towns with rammed-earth walls; regional centres up to 300 haEgg-shell black pottery, stratified cemeteries, wide exchange sphere that seeds later Chinese states Wikipedia
Indus Basin – Early (Pre-Harappan) phase3 300 – 2 600 BCEFortified towns such as Rehman Dheri, Kot Diji, Kalibangan; grids, citadels and craft quarters long before the Mature Harappan scriptStandardised weights, long-distance lapis and marine trade, canal irrigation; script is present but still undeciphered, so the period remains effectively “prehistoric” Wikipedia
North-central coastal Peru – Caral–Supe (Norte Chico)3 500 – 1 800 BCEAbout 30 major centres in four river valleys; pyramidal platforms up to 160 × 150 mPre-ceramic cotton economy, sunken circular plazas, early quipu-like fiber artefacts; oldest cities in the Americas Wikipedia
Northern Japan – Middle Jōmon megasites5 000 – 3 000 BCE (core florescence)Large pit-house villages (e.g., Sannai Maruyama c. 40 ha) run by sedentary forager–fishersElaborate lacquered pottery, ancestor mounds, stone circles, long-distance jade trade—all without farming or writing jomon-japan.jp

Why these societies qualify as “big” in prehistory​


  • Population & urban scale – Most covered tens to hundreds of hectares and supported thousands to (in Norte Chico’s combined valleys) perhaps tens of thousands of people.
  • Monumental labour projects – Pyramids, megalithic rings, hydraulic dams, or massive town walls reveal sustained, centralised coordination.
  • Regional influence – Each acted as a core for peripheral settlements and long-distance exchange networks.
  • No readable texts – Their organisation, beliefs and politics must be reconstructed archaeologically, keeping them inside the historian’s “prehistoric” bracket.

A note on the label​


“Prehistoric” simply means “before we can read their own words.”
Some of these cultures (Early Harappan, Longshan, maybe Caral’s quipu precursors) did use symbols, but none that modern scholars can yet translate. Until decipherment (or fresh textual finds) closes that gap, these remarkably sophisticated societies remain the giants of the world’s unwritten past.
 
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