Periodization
Ancient Near East periodization is the attempt to categorize or divide time into discrete named blocks, or eras, of the Near east. The result is a descriptive abstraction that provides a useful handle on Near East periods of time with relatively stable characteristics.
| Copper Age | Chalcolithic (4500 BC - 3300 BC) |
Early Chalcolithic | 4500 BC - 4000 BC | Ubaid period |
| Late Chalcolithic | 4000 BC - 3300 BC | Ghassulian, Uruk period, Gerzeh, Predynastic Egypt | ||
| Bronze Age (3300 BC - 1200 BC) |
Early Bronze Age (3300 BC - 2000 BC) |
Early Bronze Age I | 3300 BC - 3000 BC | Protodynastic to Early Dynastic Period of Egypt |
| Early Bronze Age II | 3000 BC - 2700 BC | Early Dynastic Period of Sumer | ||
| Early Bronze Age III | 2700 BC - 2200 BC | Old Kingdom of Egypt, Akkadian Empire | ||
| Early Bronze Age IV | 2100 BC - 2100 BC | First Intermediate Period of Egypt | ||
| Middle Bronze Age (2000 BC - 1550 BC) |
Middle Bronze Age I | 2100 BC - 2000 BC | Middle Kingdom of Egypt | |
| Middle Bronze Age II A | 2000 BC - 1750 BC | Minoan civilization | ||
| Middle Bronze Age II B | 1750 BC - 1650 BC | Second Intermediate Period of Egypt | ||
| Middle Bronze Age II C | 1650 BC - 1550 BC | Hittite Old Kingdom, Minoan eruption | ||
| Late Bronze Age (1550 BC - 1200 BC) |
Late Bronze Age I | 1550 BC - 1400 BC | Hittite Middle Kingdom | |
| Late Bronze Age II A | 1400 BC - 1300 BC | Hittite New Kingdom, Mitanni, Ugarit | ||
| Late Bronze Age II B | 1300 BC - 1200 BC | (Dark Age, Sea Peoples) | ||
| Iron Age (1200 BC - 539 BC) |
Iron Age I (1200 BC - 1000 BC) |
Iron Age I A | 1200 BC - 1150 BC | Troy VII, Hekla 3 eruption |
| Iron Age I B | 1150 BC - 1000 BC | Neo-Hittite states | ||
| Iron Age II (1000 BC - 539 BC) |
Iron Age II A | 1000 BC - 900 BC | Neo-Assyrian Empire | |
| Iron Age II B | 900 BC - 700 BC | Kingdom of Israel, Urartu, Phrygia | ||
| Iron Age II C | 700 BC - 539 BC | Neo-Babylonian Empire |
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