History of Euclea

Prehistory

Paleolithic

• Arrival of first hominids (Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis) into Euclea, development of stone tools for hunting, weaponry
• Height of the Pleistocene, warming of the continent
• Arrival of Homo neanderthalensis c. 150,000 BC. Bones of Neanderthals found scattered across the continent, from Soravia to Cislania to Etruria. Neanderthals supplanted c. 28,000 BC.
• Arrival of homo sapiens, specifically the Early Euclean modern humans into Euclea occurs roughly c. 41,000 BC. Early humans interbreed with archaic human varieties.
• Sophistication of stone tools, development of cave art (cf. Aurignacian), figurines, sculpting and primitive art

Mesolithic

• Art and stone tools become more advanced, development of pottery.
• End of Last Glacial Period brings great migration on the Euclean continent, moving populations to lower marshlands and away from places of high elevation.
• Areas in Northern Euclea like Caldia or Werania, once dense with ice, warm significantly, give way to birch and pine forests, and woodland.
• Development of human social relationships like courtship.

Neolithic

• Agriculture introduced to Euclea from Badawiya. Agriculturalist either assimilate into or supplant native Euclean cultures.
• First examples of agriculture, domestication and animal husbandry are found in Etruria and Piraea some 8,000 BC. Agriculture begins to colonize further parts of the continent, reaching into lower Gaullica by 7,400 BC.
• Arrival of the wheel, cart
• By roughly 6,000 BC, agriculture has spread all over the continent, reaching the edges of Soravia.
• Rise in new professions begets social stratification: farmers, herdsmen, artisans, craftsmen.
• Sophistication of Neolithic pottery, which spreads into Azmara by 7,000 BC (cf. Linear Pottery culture)
• Development of artificial chalk mounds, prehistoric monuments (cf. Stonehenge) and complex burial mounds
• The 5th century BC saw the migration of various peoples. The Satro-Euclean peoples migrated into Euclea around 4,000 BC and supplanted many indigenous peoples. Finno-Ugric peoples migrated into Caldia around 3,300 BC.
• Development of megalithic super-culture in northern Euclea c. the 4th millenium B.C.
• Harnessing copper for tools, primitive metallurgy produces proto-bronze alloys.
• Emergence of first fully developed culture, the Bell Beakers, around 2,800 BC.
• Bell Beakers known as possible merchant people and craftsman who made the most sophisticated tools heretofore discovered on the planet until the Bronze Age.

Bronze Age

• Begins in 3,200 BC in Emessa and surrounding areas, but takes a much longer time to spread to the rest of the continent. Official start is sometime around 2,000 BC.
• Emergence of power civilizations (e.g. Tumulus culture) centered around the trade of copper and tin, used to make bronze. Tin is sourced from the North, and is extremely valuable.
• Rise of the Esorian civilization on the island of Emessa, described as the first true civilization of Euclean history.
• The Esorians developed an extensive trade network that linked Coius with Euclea. Merchants and traders would often make traitorous journeys as far north as the tin mines in Werania to trade in the precious metal.
• The Minoans developed a heretofore undeciphered writing system, a sui generis syllabary that was the first documented in Euclea.
• Mycenaean civilization, Urnfield culture in later periods (c. 1,500 BC)
• Last sweep of domestication, apples and development of wine.
• Development of militarized warriors' ethos, fortified communities with buildings constructed out of wood
• Humans make landfall on the Geatish Islands in 1,500 BC, officially colonizing all of the Euclean shelf.
• Ended suddenly when mysterious seafaring peoples attacked various Aurean civilizations. The resultant collapse led to the Piraean Dark Ages and the cessation of international trade.