Chavín culture

Maya civilization

The Maya Long Count calendar tracks days in an unbroken count from a mythical starting point in 3114 BCE.

Ancient EgyptKemet (km.t)

Egypt spent the fifth century BCE as a Persian province, ruled by the same empire the Greeks stopped at Marathon in 490, while Rome had only just expelled its kings.

Etruscan civilizationRasna

Tomb paintings show Etruscan women reclining beside men at banquets, a mixed-sex scene that scandalised Greek visitors used to keeping women separate.

Spring and Autumn period春秋

Southern states such as Wu and Yue cast bronze swords of such quality that one made for King Goujian of Yue, buried for over two thousand years, was dug up in 1965 with its edge still sharp.

Paracas culture

The richest Paracas mummy bundles wrapped a single body in layer upon layer of cloth, sometimes more than a hundred separate textiles.

Olmec civilization

Olmec art repeats a half-human, half-jaguar infant face so often that archaeologists call it the "were-jaguar".