Benchmarks of Civilization
An Account of the Development, Migration and Kinship of the World’s Peoples and Cultures
News and Discoveries
Quora: What invention played a major role in mankind’s development but gets little attention?
This post contains excellent explanations of many inventions we take for granted including: Standardized Pipe Threading Paperback Book Standardized pipe threading Froth flotation process Limited liability company Space between words Hand axe Sewer systems Beer...
History of Yesterday: Explained – How Assyrians Laid the Blueprint for Future Empires
Here’s why Romans, Mongols, and British modeled their empires after the Assyrians.What comes to mind when you think of an empire? Is it the Roman Empire, with its impressive road network? Or, you could be reminded of the Mongol Empire, which stretched from Beijing in...
Medium: 43 Pieces of Advice From an Ancient Egyptian Vizier to His Son
Around the year 2350 BC, a man named Ptahhotep was vizier to the pharaoh of ancient Egypt. The vizier was the highest ranking official in ancient Egyptian “government”, and usually the right-hand man of the pharaoh. Ptahhotep was therefore a successful man, entrusted by his king to bear a big part of the burden of running the country.
What Was Stonehenge For? The Answer Might Be Simpler Than You Thought.
Astronomical calculator? Spaceship landing pad? Shrine to the Earth Mother? An exhibition at the British Museum uses the latest research to look past outlandish theories. Some believe it to be an astronomical calculator, an observatory that helped demarcate the...
NY Times: A 2,700-Year-Old Figurine Revives a Weighty Mystery
A bronze statuette recovered from a river in Germany may have been part of an early Scandinavian weight system, some archaeologists believe.Two summers ago, while snorkeling in the marshy streams of the Tollense River on Germany’s Baltic coast, a 51-year-old truck...
Cultures that Just Don’t Die
Cultures that just don’t dieThe Most Stubborn Cultures in HistoryAdmittedly, all cultures are resilient in their own shape and form, but with my previous two articles being so research-heavy and long, I’m going to write about a few interesting stories from history...
About Benchmarks of Civilization
This Benchmarks of Civilization book and its accompanying poster provide brief and illustrated resources about the development, migration and kinship of theworld’s peoples and cultures.
Historically, there have been numerous and vigorous academic disagreements about the timelines and events of most civilizations, particularly prehistoric.
However, recent scientific techniques for evidence dating and genetic tracing have provided new insights into past civilizations and cultures. That historic and genetic evidence demonstrates the kinship between all people of all civilizations and cultures over the millennia of human history.
The Benchmarks of Civilization poster provides an overview, and geographical reference and timeline for each major civilization and culture within each region of the world. Each timeline represents a cultural wave, with a beginning and end, some just a few centuries, and others for millennia.
The Benchmarks of Civilization poster helps to visualize the migration of populations. Each new civilization was the result of a population migration sometimes over a relatively short period. The poster exposes fascinating issues about the kinship between cultures: why and how did a population group break away and migrate, and how was a new culture born? Often plague or famine were the source of the death of a culture and impetus for migration as people sought new food and resources. Religion was also often a power for birth when a group fled or was forced away.
Waves out of Africa
