Humans invent glassblowing, perhaps in modern-day Iran
The earliest evidence of glassblowing was found in Chogha Zanbil, where many glass bottles were found in the excavations of the 2nd millennium B.C.E. site
Middle East
The Silk Road is formally established – connecting China, the Middle East, and other ancient civilizations
The network was used regularly from 130 B.C.E., when the Han Dynasty of China officially opened trade with the west, to 1453 C.E., when the Ottoman Empire boycotted trade with the west and closed the routes.
Masinissa founds the kingdom of Numidia
Numidia (202 B.C.E. – 40 B.C.E., Berber: Inumiden) was an ancient Berber kingdom of the Numidians, located in what is now Algeria and a smaller part of Tunisia, Libya, and Morocco in the Berber world.
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus is completed
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, also known as the Artemesium, was constructed in the mid 6th century B.C.E. It was located in Ephesus (modern Turkey), and was considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Lydia’s King Alyattes mints the first official currency
The coins were made from electrum, a mixture of silver and gold that occurs naturally, and stamped with pictures that acted as denominations.
The Medes people of ancient Iran come together to form the Median Kingdom
The Medes were an ancient Iranian people[N 2] who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran.
The Thamud civilization emerges on the Arabian peninsula
The Thamūd is an ancient civilization in the Hejaz known from the 8th century B.C.E. to near the time of Muhammad.
The Assyrians build the world’s first long-distance canal systems
The first sophisticated long-distance canal systems were constructed in the Assyrian empire in the 9th century B.C.E. and incorporated tunnels several kilometres in length.
Babylonian astronomers create cuneiform star catalogues
The earliest known star catalogues were compiled by the ancient Babylonian astronomers of Mesopotamia in the late 2nd millennium B.C.E., during the Kassite Period (ca. 1531-1155 B.C.E.).
Humans in ancient Iraq invent musical notation
The earliest form of musical notation can be found in a cuneiform tablet that was created at Nippur, in Sumer (today’s Iraq), in about 1400 B.C.E.