Artifacts dated to 14,000 ybp have been found in both North and South America, and humans are thought to have reached Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America by this time.

There is no direct evidence of settlement in Patagonia during this period, though human habitation of the region dates back thousands of years, with some early archaeological findings in the area dated to at least the thirteenth millennium BCE, although later dates of around the tenth millennium BCE are more securely recognized.

There is evidence of human activity at Monte Verde in Llanquihue Province, Chile, dated to around 12,500 BCE.

The glacial period ice fields and subsequent large meltwater streams would have made settlement difficult at that time.

The region seems to have been inhabited continuously since 10,000 BCE by various cultures and alternating waves of migration, the details of which are still poorly understood.

Several sites have been excavated, notably caves such as Tres Arroyos on Tierra del Fuego and …

Mesopotamian ziggurats, faced with highly colored glazed bricks, became most refined, serving both as storehouses for grain and as platforms for astrological and astronomical observations.

The Assyrians in the north construct botanical gardens in the form of formal parks.

The central Iraq region comes under the rule of a state jointly composed of Sumerians and Akkadians after the collapse of Sargon's Empire under pressure from the Guti tribes.

Lagash again thrives under the patesis Ur-baba (Ur-bau) and …

…the capital is moved back to Erech (location unknown, but probably Uruk, in southern Mesopotamia) at the end of his reign.

Ziggurat designs range from simple bases upon which a temple sits, to marvels of mathematics and construction that span several terraced stories and are topped with a temple.

Mesopotamian builders, beginning in the the late third millennium BCE, place temples at the base of their ziggurats as well as on the top.

Ziggurats are built by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Elamites, Akkadians, and Assyrians for local religions.

Each ziggurat is part of a temple complex which includes other buildings.

The precursors of the ziggurat were raised platforms that date from the Ubaid period during the fourth millennium BCE.

The earliest ziggurats began near the end of the Early Dynastic Period; the latest Mesopotamian ziggurats date from the sixth century BCE.

Built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, the ziggurat is a pyramidal structure with a flat top.

Sun-baked bricks make up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside.

The facings are often glazed in different colors and may have had astrological significance.

Kings sometimes have their names engraved on these glazed bricks.

The number of tiers ranges from two to seven.

It is assumed that they had shrines at the top, but there is no archaeological evidence for this and the only textual evidence is from Herodotus.

Access to the shrine would have been by a series of ramps on one side of the ziggurat or by a spiral ramp from base to summit.

The Mesopotamian ziggurats are not places for public worship or ceremonies.

They are believed to be dwelling places for the gods and each city has its own patron god.

Only priests are permitted on the ziggurat or in the rooms at its base, and it is their responsibility to care for the gods and attend to their needs.

The priests are very powerful members of Sumerian society.

Amorite Babylonian architecture is based on massive brick platforms elevated above the flood plain and often terraced to create the characteristic ziggurat form.

Babylon is one of the many city-states that dot the Mesopotamian plain and wage war on each other for control of fertile agricultural land.

Though many cultures co-exist in Mesopotamia, Babylonian culture had gained a degree of prominence among the literate classes throughout the Middle East.

Hammurabi, who ascends the Babylonian throne in 1728 BCE, subdues the other Mesopotamian cities and establishes an empire from the Persian Gulf to the north Euphrates, basing his code of laws on Sumerian cultural principles.

The Babylonian Enuma Anu Enlil, a major series of sixty-eight or seventy tablets (depending on the recension) dealing with Babylonian astrology, represents the early roots of astrology based on celestial phenomena.

Compiled in its canonical form during the Kassite period (1595-1157 BCE), there is certainly some form of prototype EAE current in the Old Babylonian period (1950-1595 BCE).

The cult of Marduk, Babylon’s chief deity, becomes important in the reign of Hammurabi.

The Enuma Elish, which represents the early roots of astrology based on celestial phenomena, recounts Marduk's rise to the top of the pantheon.

The son of Ea and Damkina, the immense god possessed of two heads and fiery breath, is dispatched by the other gods to do battle with Tiamat, the primordial dragon.

After killing her, Marduk creates earth, sea, and the heavens from her body.

From Tiamat's consort, Kingu, he fashions humankind.

Marduk then becomes the king of the gods.

Astrology, which originated in ancient Babylonia, has spread from there to China, India, and the West, where different but related traditions have evolved.

The earliest known horoscope (incorporating the principles of mature occidental, or Western, astrology) dates from 409 BCE.

The history of mathematical development in China lacks some evidence.

There are still debates about certain mathematical classics.

For example, the Zhou Bi Suan Jing, one of the oldest and most famous Chinese mathematical texts, may date to around 1200–1000 BCE, yet many scholars believe it was written between 300–250 BCE.

Moreover, its compilation and addition of materials continues into the Han Dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE).

The Zhou Bi Suan Jing is an anonymous collection of two hundred and forty-six problems encountered by the Duke of Zhou and his astrologer Shang Gao.

Each question states their numerical answer and corresponding arithmetic algorithm.

This book contains one of the first recorded proofs of the Gougu Theorem (Pythagorean Theorem) but focuses more on astronomical calculations.

The Zhou Bi Suan Jing also solves problems involving square roots, and places the value of pi at 3.1547.