The 40th millennium BCE

The 40th millennium BCE comprises a hundred years beginning in 4000 BCE and ending in 3901 BCE. No written records exist from this period, so knowledge is based on archaeological research and study of physical remains: structures, wells, stone tools, and skeletal remains.

Historians do not divide the millennia before writing by political events, but rather by economic and social change. Across much of the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, agriculture and pastoralism were already well established. Communities had moved into large villages and developed a division of labor.

Chronology

When referring to "the 40th millennium BCE," dating runs backwards: the millennium begins in 4000 BC and is equivalent to 3901 BC. Dates from this period are generally estimated using radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology (tree-ring counting), methods that introduce a margin of error of fifty to several hundred years.

The Middle East

In Mesopotamia, this period spans the end of the Ubaid culture and the beginning of the Uruk culture. Villages expanded, monumental temples of mud-brick appeared, and there was a marked increase in the production of mass-made pottery. These changes preceded the emergence of city-states in southern Iraq and the later development of cuneiform writing.

Europe and stone age societies

In Europe, this period is marked by the spread of farming and the beginning of megalithic construction, some examples of which date to later millennia. Societies used stone tools, and in some regions copper began to be worked on a small scale—a phase known as the Chalcolithic or Stone-Copper Age.