Objects used for a game similar to bowling are placed in the tomb of a young Egyptian boy around 5200.

The first hints to the existence of skis are on forty-five hundred to five thousand year old rock drawings, e.g., at Rødøy in Norway (discovered 1933) or at Steinkjer (discovered 2001), which depict a man on skis holding a stick.

The oldest known ski, Kalvträskskidan was found in 1924 in a mire near the village of Kalvträsk in the municipality of Skellefteå, Sweden, and has been carbon dated to roughly 3200 BCE.

The earliest people to ski in Fennoscandia were the distant ancestors of modern day Sami.

A hieroglyph for swimming dates from around 2400 BCE, as does ...

...an Egyptian medical text that includes surgical advice on such procedures as the use of compression to stop bleeding, and sections on diseases of the eye and the heart and other internal organs.

The practices outlined therein define diseases, state the accompanying symptoms, indicate what the physician should find upon examination, suggest therapies, and offer prognoses.

Chinese history as a continuously recorded literary tradition begins with the ancient documents transmitted to posterity through the Records of the Grand Historian, of Sima Qian, which begin this narrative with the reign of the Yellow Emperor, and incorporate two discourses by Confucius.

The great-grandson (or fourth successor) of the Yellow Emperor, according to these, was Yao.

With the reign of Yao, additional literary sources become available, including the Book of History (collected and edited by Confucius); it begins with the "Canon of Yao” that describes the events of Yao's reign.

Yao, the first of the legendary sage-emperors regarded as the founders of China, rules, according to Confucian tradition, from 2356 BCE.

The benevolence and diligence of Yao, who is often extolled as the morally perfect sage-king, serves as a model to future Chinese monarchs and emperors.

It is during Yao's reign that the Great Flood begins, a flood so vast that no part of Yao's territory is spared, and both the Yellow River and the Yangtze valleys flood.

According to the Confucian works The Classic of History (Shu jing) and the Book of Mencius, the great flood continues for years, devastating China.

A man named Kun (K’un) attempts to control the flood by constructing dams, but fails and is executed by Emperor Yao.

Kun’s son Yu resorts to natural methods, using hidden channels in the earth to successfully drain the waters away.

According to legend, Yao became the ruler at twenty and died at one hundred and nineteen when he passed his throne to Great Shun, to whom he gave his two daughters in marriage.

Of his many contributions, Yao is said to have invented the game of Weiqi, or Go, reportedly to favorably influence his vicious playboy son Danzhu.

After the customary three year mourning period after Yao's death, Shun named Danzhu as the ruler but the people only recognized Shun as the rightful heir.

The Bamboo Annals offers a different story.

Shun rebelled and imprisoned Yao where he is left to die.

Danzhu is exiled and later defeated by Shun.

Shun, the legendary sage-emperor who supposedly succeeds Emperor Yao in 2255 BCE, had remained loyal to his family despite their mistreatment of him, and thus won the approval of the emperor.

Impressed by Shun's virtue, the emperor had given him his two daughters in marriage and passed over his own unworthy son to make Shun his successor.

As ruler, Shun emulates Yao in emphasizing merit over hereditary right (becoming, to the later Confucians, a Chinese exemplar of filial piety).

Shun considered his son, Shangjun, as unworthy and picked Yu, the tamer of floods, as his heir.

Yu takes over this leadership in 2070 BCE and creates what will later become the Xia Dynasty.

With his son Qi to follow in the leadership, this will eventually become China's first dynasty.

Yu met at Mount Miao in the eighth year of his reign and declared that he wanted his tribe to be more than a tribe, that he wanted to become a king of a nation.

According to the the Book of History, Yu divided the world into nine zhou or provinces.

Early Chinese often speak of Yao, Shun and Yu as historical figures, and contemporary historians believe they may represent leader-chiefs of allied tribes who established a unified and hierarchical system of government in a transition period to the patriarchal feudal society.

In the Book of History, (aka the Classic of History) one of the Five Classics, the initial chapters deal with Yao, Shun, and Yu.

Brilliantly colored frescoes and stucco bas-reliefs decorate the walls of the Minoan palaces.

As the remains are only fragments, fresco reconstruction and placement by the artist Piet de Jong is not without controversy.

These sophisticated, colorful paintings portray a society which, in comparison to the roughly contemporaneous art of Middle and New Kingdom Egypt, is either conspicuously non-militaristic or does not choose to portray military themes anywhere in its art.

One remarkable feature of their art is the color-coding of the sexes: the men are depicted with ruddy skin, the women as milky white.

Almost all their pictures are of young or ageless adults, with few children or elders depicted.

In addition to scenes of men and women linked to activities such as fishing and flower gathering, the murals also portray athletic feats.

The most notable of these is bull-leaping, in which an athlete grasps the bull's horns and vaults over the animal's back.

The question remains as to whether this activity was a religious ritual, possibly a sacrificial activity, or a sport, perhaps a form of bullfighting.

Many people have questioned if this activity is even possible; the fresco might represent a mythological dance with the Great Bull.

The most famous example is the Toreador Fresco, painted around 1550-1450 BCE, in which a young man, flanked by two women, apparently leaps onto and over a charging bull's back.

The fresco's curving lines and bright reds and blues characterize the lively, vigorous Minoan artistic style.

It is now located in the archaeological Museum of Herakleion in Crete.

Early Olmec culture, centered around the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán site, a simple farming village located on the Rio Chiquito near the coast in southeast Veracruz, had emerged by 1600-1500 BCE.

The earliest evidence for Olmec culture is found at nearby El Manati, a sacrificial bog with artifacts dating to 1600 BCE or earlier.

Sedentary agriculturalists had lived in the area for centuries before San Lorenzo developed into a regional center.

The first Mesoamerican civilization, the Olmec lay many of the foundations for the civilizations that follow.

Among other "firsts,” there is evidence that the Olmec practiced ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly every subsequent Mesoamerican society.

The Olmec, whose name means "rubber people" in the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs, are strong candidates for originating the Mesoamerican ballgame so prevalent among later cultures of the region and used for recreational and religious purposes.

A dozen rubber balls dating to 1600 BCE or earlier have been found in El Manatí, an Olmec sacrificial bog ten kilometers (six point two miles) east of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan.

These balls predate the earliest ballcourt yet discovered at Paso de la Amada, circa 1400 BCE, although there is no certainty that they were used in the ballgame.

Horemheb, Tutankhamen’s general, repels Hittite incursions on the Egyptian empire in northern Syria.

Tutankhamen, apparently once an active leader of his troops but weakened by a virulent strain of malaria and degenerative bone disease, dies at the age of nineteen or so of infection resulting from a leg fracture.

He is succeeded by his vizier Ay, who marries Tutankhamen's widow and appropriates the king's tomb for himself.

The young king is buried, with linen gloves and numerous pieces of fine gold jewelry embedded with precious stones, at Thebes in the Valley of the Kings; a curse reading "Death comes on swift wings to he who opens this tomb," is inscribed on the tomb’s doorway.

His rich tomb furnishings include a gold sarcophagus with a (now-famous) gold and lapis lazuli funerary mask.

Among the burial items are an iron dagger with a golden hilt.

Also entombed with Tutankhamen is an example of the earliest known military game, alquerque, a two-player game played on a board marked with five diagonal lines.

Each player has twelve pieces and can move them onto vacant intersections or capture an enemy piece by jumping over it to an unoccupied point.

Two relief sets of battle-themed carvings from Tutankhamen's mortuary temple survive, one depicting a Nubian campaign and one larger group that shows the king in a chariot leading the Egyptian forces against a Syrian-style citadel.

Other blocks in the second series depict Tutankhamen receiving prisoners, booty, and the severed hands of the enemy dead, strung on spears: a detail unique in Egyptian art, which, at this time, stresses truthfulness in representation.

Therefore, Tutankhamen’s presence in these scenes indicates the likelihood that he actually participated in these campaigns.

Ay dies in 1323 or 1320; Horemheb succeeds him as pharaoh.

Southern North America (909 BCE – CE 819): Highland Kingdoms, Coastal Trade, and Agricultural Innovation

Geographic and Environmental Context

Southern North America includes Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.

• The subregion encompasses the volcanic highlands of Central America, the Mexican Plateau, tropical lowlands along the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean, and extensive river systems such as the Usumacinta and Grijalva.

• Coasts, highlands, and lowland jungles supported diverse and highly productive ecological zones.

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Climate and Environmental Shifts

• Climates ranged from tropical rainforest in the lowlands to temperate conditions in highland valleys.

• Seasonal rainfall patterns, influenced by monsoons and tropical storms, dictated agricultural cycles.

• Droughts or excessive rainfall could affect maize yields, prompting shifts in settlement and subsistence strategies.

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Societies and Political Developments

• This period saw the rise and flourishing of Mesoamerican civilizations, including Maya city-states in Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and southeastern Mexico, and the Zapotec and Teotihuacano cultures in central Mexico.

• Urban centers such as Teotihuacan, Tikal, and Copán became major political, religious, and economic hubs.

• Political organization ranged from centralized kingdoms to confederations of city-states, often engaged in warfare, alliance-building, and long-distance trade.

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Economy and Trade

• Intensive agriculture centered on maize, beans, and squash, supplemented by cacao, cotton, and chili peppers.

• Raised fields, terracing, and irrigation systems maximized productivity in varied landscapes.

• Trade routes moved obsidian, jade, cacao, salt, ceramics, and textiles across Mesoamerica and beyond.

• Coastal communities traded marine shells, fish, and salt inland, while highland regions supplied obsidian and other minerals.

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Subsistence and Technology

• Tools included polished stone implements, obsidian blades, and digging sticks.

• Architectural achievements featured monumental temples, palaces, and ball courts.

• Writing systems, such as Maya glyphs, recorded dynastic histories, rituals, and astronomical observations.

• Advanced calendrical systems coordinated agricultural and ceremonial life.

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Movement and Interaction Corridors

• Overland trade and pilgrimage routes linked highland and lowland city-states.

• Coastal navigation connected Pacific and Caribbean settlements, facilitating interregional exchange.

• Rivers and causeways served as transport arteries within urban centers and between agricultural zones.

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Belief and Symbolism

• Polytheistic religions centered on deities of maize, rain, and celestial cycles.

• Rituals included human sacrifice, bloodletting, and elaborate festivals tied to agricultural and cosmic events.

• Art and iconography depicted mythological narratives, ruling elites, and sacred animals such as the jaguar and serpent.

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Adaptation and Resilience

• Diversified agricultural systems reduced dependence on any single crop.

• Political and trade alliances helped buffer against localized environmental stress.

• Urban planning integrated water management, defensive works, and ceremonial spaces to ensure societal stability.

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Long-Term Significance

By CE 819, Southern North America was a center of urban civilization in the Americas, with sophisticated political systems, monumental architecture, and far-reaching trade networks that influenced cultures across Mesoamerica and beyond.

The Near East (909–898 BCE): New Foundations and Regional Stability

Rise of Dorian Cities

Around 900 BCE, Knidos (Cnidus) is established on the southern shore of the Gulf of Kos, in present-day southwestern Turkey. Founded by settlers likely from Lacedaemon (Sparta), Knidos swiftly becomes an influential Hellenic city. Alongside neighboring cities including Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum, Turkey), Kos, and the Rhodian cities of Lindos, Kameiros, and Ialysos, Knidos joins the Dorian Hexapolis, a confederation renowned for its communal assemblies held at the Triopian headland, where games honoring Apollo, Poseidon, and local nymphs are celebrated.

The city of Halicarnassus also emerges as a significant Dorian colony during this era. Traditions attribute its founding to settlers from the Greek cities of Troezen and Argos, a heritage reflected in symbolic iconography—such as Medusa, Athena, Poseidon, and the trident—on its coinage. The legendary founder, Anthes, is prominently recognized, with inhabitants proudly calling themselves the Antheadae.

Egyptian Stability and Temple Construction

In Egypt, the Third Intermediate Period continues, marked by a politically fragmented but relatively stable rule under the Twenty-second Dynasty, founded by the Libyan-descended Shoshenq I in 945 BCE. After Shoshenq’s death around 924–922 BCE, his son, Osorkon I, ascends the throne, initiating a prosperous and extensive reign noted for prolific temple-building projects. While the political capital remains at Tanis, rival regional dynasties persist in Upper Egypt, though none significantly challenge the dynasty’s central authority during Osorkon’s reign.

Religious Reform and Political Consolidation in Judah

Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Judah, under the reign of Asa (c. 913–873 BCE), enjoys a period of religious reform and political stability. Asa, praised by biblical tradition, vigorously promotes adherence to Judaism by eliminating pagan cults, removing idols, persecuting idol worshipers, and even deposing his own grandmother, Queen Mother Maacah, for her involvement in pagan practices. A crackdown on ritual prostitution and a large-scale religious celebration in Jerusalem enhance Asa’s popularity, attracting migrants from northern tribes, particularly Ephraim and Manasseh, who are drawn by Judah’s renewed stability and prosperity.

Israel’s Political Turmoil

In contrast, the Northern Kingdom of Israel experiences considerable internal upheaval. Jeroboam I (c. 931–910 BCE according to Edwin R. Thiele; 922–901 BCE according to William F. Albright), founder and first king of the northern tribes, had established Shechem as his capital and enacted significant religious reforms, notably erecting golden calf shrines at Dan and Bethel to consolidate religious and political control. However, upon his death, his son Nadab inherits a weakened kingdom.

Nadab’s brief two-year reign (c. 910–909 BCE) ends abruptly during a siege at Gibbethon, a contested town in southern Dan. Here, Baasha, a rival military leader, orchestrates a conspiracy, assassinates Nadab, and subsequently annihilates the house of Jeroboam, plunging Israel into further instability.

Summary of the Era

Between 909 and 898 BCE, the Near East witnesses a juxtaposition of emerging prosperity and persistent fragmentation. The establishment of prominent Dorian cities, religious consolidation under Asa in Judah, and sustained stability in Egypt contrast sharply with the political instability and dynastic upheaval characterizing Israel. These developments lay critical foundations for the regional power dynamics that will continue to evolve throughout the Iron Age.