33rd century BC

Events

The sun shines over Saharan dunes.

• Major climate shift possibly due to shift in solar activity. Glaciers expand, covering plants. Atmospheric temperatures fall.
• Sahara changes from a habitable region into a barren desert.
• Unification of the first Ancient Egyptian state, marking the beginning of the Ancient Egyptian civilization.
• Ancient Egypt begins using clay, bone and ivory tags to label boxes. This is possibly the oldest writing in existence.
• Indus Valley Civilization (also known as Harappan civilization or Sindu-Sarasvati civilization) began in Harappa.
• c. 3300 BC — Pictographs in Uruk.
• 3300 BC – 3000 BC: Face of a woman, from Uruk (modern Warka, Iraq) is made. It is now in Iraq Museum, Baghdad (stolen and recovered 2003).
• Death of 'Ginger', the earliest known ancient Egyptian "mummy".

Significant persons

• Krishna

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

• The Bronze Age begins in the Fertile Crescent. (Roux 1980)
• Cattle introduced to the Nile valley. ('Eurasia')
• Egyptians domesticate the wild ass of North Africa. (Clutton-Brock)
• c. 3250 BC - Potter's wheel in use in Ancient Near East