Map
On the map at this date
about 315,000 years ago
Jebel Irhoud, Morocco
The oldest known fossils of our species
The long human story · Africa
at least 67,800 years ago
Liang Metanduno, Muna, Indonesia
The oldest dated hand stencil
The long human story · Asia
at least 51,200 years ago
Leang Karampuang, Sulawesi, Indonesia
A painted scene with people and a pig
The long human story · Asia
Jaw dated 44,200 to 41,500 years ago
Kents Cavern
A cave in Torquay where the oldest modern human fossil in north-west Europe was dug up in 1927.
Stone Age to Iron Age Britain · Europe
at least 37,300 years ago
El Castillo, Cantabria, Spain
Hand stencils in Europe
The long human story · Europe
from about 9600 BC
Göbekli Tepe, Türkiye
Great stone enclosures
The long human story · The Middle East
About 11,000 years ago
Star Carr
A hunters’ camp by a lost lake in North Yorkshire, where red deer skull headdresses were found.
Stone Age to Iron Age Britain · Europe
About 10,000 years ago
Gough’s Cave, Cheddar
Where Cheddar Man was found in 1903.
Stone Age to Iron Age Britain · Europe
3400 to 3200 BC
Uruk, Iraq
Writing, in Mesopotamia
The long human story · The Middle East
Until around 2500 BC
Skara Brae
A village of stone houses in Orkney, with stone dressers and beds.
Stone Age to Iron Age Britain · Europe
Earthwork about 3000 BC; stones about 2500 BC
Stonehenge
A circular earthwork, and then a ring of great stones, on Salisbury Plain.
Stone Age to Iron Age Britain · Europe
Pyramids of Khufu to Menkaure, about 2551 to 2472 BC
Giza
The pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, and the town where the builders were fed.
Ancient Egypt · Africa
About 2300 BC
Amesbury
The grave of the Amesbury Archer, three miles from Stonehenge.
Stone Age to Iron Age Britain · Europe
Pyramid of Amenemhat I, about 1981 BC onwards
Lisht
Where a block carved for Khufu was reused in a pyramid built more than 500 years later.
Ancient Egypt · Africa
Tomb of Meketre, about 1981 to 1975 BC
Thebes (Luxor)
Meketre’s tomb, with its models of granaries, bakeries, boats and a garden.
Ancient Egypt · Africa
About 1961 to 1878 BC
Meir
The tomb of the steward Senbi, where the blue faience hippopotamus was found.
Ancient Egypt · Africa
Last Shang capital, from Wu Ding’s reign to the end of the Shang
Anyang (Yinxu)
The ruins of the last Shang capital, where the oracle bones and Lady Hao’s tomb were found.
Shang China · Asia
about 1250 BC
Anyang, China
Writing, in China
The long human story · Asia
Around the ninth century BC
Must Farm
Houses on stilts over a river channel near Whittlesey, burnt down and preserved in the silt.
Stone Age to Iron Age Britain · Europe
Defences from about 400 BC; deserted by AD 43
Maiden Castle
One of the largest hillforts in Britain, outside Dorchester.
Stone Age to Iron Age Britain · Europe
about 300 to 200 BC
San Bartolo, Guatemala
Maya writing
The long human story · The Americas
Decree of 196 BC; found nearby in July 1799
Rashid (Rosetta)
The Rosetta Stone was found built into a fort a few miles north-west of the town.
Ancient Egypt · Africa
AD 43 to the early 400s
Richborough
Where the invasion army probably came ashore, then the official gateway to Britain under a marble arch.
Roman Britain · Europe
Founded AD 47 to 50; empty by about 450
London
A new town on the Thames that became the biggest in the province, was burnt, rebuilt, walled and left.
Roman Britain · Europe
Fort about AD 47; city from the 90s; centre empty by the mid 400s
Wroxeter
A legionary fortress that became one of the largest cities in Roman Britain, with most of it still unexcavated.
Roman Britain · Europe
Founded in the later first century AD
Bath
A hot spring, a goddess and a great bath, where people threw curses written on lead into the water.
Roman Britain · Europe
Founded in or around AD 71
York
Fortress of the Ninth Legion, later capital of the north. One emperor was acclaimed here and two died here.
Roman Britain · Europe
About AD 85 to after 400
Vindolanda
A fort rebuilt again and again south of Hadrian’s Wall, where letters on wood survived.
Roman Britain · Europe
Forts from about AD 86; a town until the early 400s
Corbridge
Forts at a river crossing, then a legionary supply base, then a town that fed the Wall.
Roman Britain · Europe
Built about AD 124; held into the 400s
Chesters
A fort for 500 horsemen built straight across the Wall where it crossed the North Tyne.
Roman Britain · Europe
Begun within a decade of AD 122; held to about 400, perhaps later
Housesteads
The most complete Roman fort in Britain, on a ridge in the middle of Hadrian’s Wall.
Roman Britain · Europe
Built soon after AD 122; lived in until about 500
Birdoswald
Home of a Dacian cohort for two centuries, and lived in for about a hundred years after Roman rule ended.
Roman Britain · Europe
Probably built AD 285 to 290
Portchester
The best-preserved Roman fort north of the Alps, built to guard a harbour against raiders from the sea.
Roman Britain · Europe
About 420 to the early 600s
West Stow
A village of halls and sunken-floored buildings, dug from 1965 to 1972 and rebuilt on the spot.
Anglo-Saxon Britain · Europe
Ship burial about 625
Sutton Hoo
A burial ground of mounds in Suffolk, with a king’s ship burial under Mound 1.
Anglo-Saxon Britain · Europe
Monastery from 635; monks leave in 875
Lindisfarne
Aidan’s island monastery, home of Cuthbert and the Lindisfarne Gospels, raided by Vikings in 793.
Anglo-Saxon Britain · Europe
Synod of 664
Whitby
Where a decision about the church in England was made in 664.
Anglo-Saxon Britain · Europe
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