5,526 years agoCities and Writing

3500 BCE

The Wheel

By around 3500 BC, wheels were recorded in use in Sumer.

Art style · Sumerian clay-tablet relief

World population

35.88Mpeople

Primary energy power

8.1×10⁹W

London → New York message

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Data from 1620

Civilization metrics

Each sparkline shows the documented history of a metric on a logarithmic time axis. The dot marks the selected moment.

Kardashev index

0.391

Based on primary energy power · Type I = 1

World population

35.88Mpeople

1/233 of today

Total human primary energy power

8.1×10⁹W

1/2,504 of today

Compute per dollar

—

No reliable data yet · data begins 1945

Fastest delivery time for a message from London to New York

—

No reliable data yet · data begins 1620

Fastest speed reached by humans

48km/h

1/831 of today

Near this moment

The eight closest milestones. Select a title to jump there.

7100 BCEHumanity
From about 7100 BC, a large Neolithic settlement grew up in Anatolia. Source
3500 BCEHumanity
By around 3500 BC, wheels were recorded in use in Sumer. Source
3300 BCEHumanity
Around 3300 BC, the Near East entered the Bronze Age, bringing harder tools and weapons. Source
3200 BCECulture
Around 3200 BC, the Sumerians began keeping records on clay tablets, developing the earliest known writing. Source
2560 BCECulture
Completed around 2560 BC, it remained the tallest human-made structure for more than 3,700 years. Source
1753 BCECulture
A written Babylonian law code carved on a stone stele, around 1753 BC. Source
1200 BCEHumanity
From around 1200 BC, ironworking spread and iron gradually replaced bronze. Source
1050 BCECulture
A handful of letters could record speech sounds; it later gave rise to the Greek, Latin and other alphabets. Source

Capabilities

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Scenes across eras

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Cities and Writing

3 scenes · Select a scene to visit that moment

Cities, the wheel, bronze and writing appear in Mesopotamia, so accounts, laws and history can be recorded.

Playable workshops

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15 moments in history to explore by hand.

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Every timeline entry cites its source. Metrics interpolate logarithmically between sourced data points. Forecasts include institutional and community views, and attributed site scenarios; years are not guaranteed realization dates. Illustrations are AI-generated in each era's style.

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