Chronos

Course 1 of 9 · Prehistory to c. 1000 BCE

The Dawn of Humanity

Before anyone wrote it down

From the first humans to the first cities. How Homo sapiens appeared and spread across the planet, how farming changed the way people lived and how the earliest civilizations rose in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China.

6 modules · 37 lessons · a certificate of completion

See Inside the Course
The cover of The Dawn of Humanity, with Mylo in costume

The period

Prehistory to c. 1000 BCE, in a few lines

Most of the human story happened before anyone wrote it down. This course begins in Africa, with the first people to walk upright and make tools, and follows their descendants across every continent.

It ends where written history begins: in the river valleys of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus and China, where the first cities, laws and kingdoms appeared.

Moments that shaped it

Key events and turning points

  1. c. 300,000 years ago

    Homo sapiens appears in Africa

    Fossils from Jebel Irhoud in Morocco, about 300,000 years old, are among the oldest known remains of our species.

  2. The Ice Age

    Painting on cave walls

    Hunters in Europe painted animals on cave walls at places such as Chauvet and Lascaux, many thousands of years ago.

  3. c. 10,000 years ago

    Farming begins

    In the Fertile Crescent people began to plant crops and keep animals, and villages started to replace wandering camps.

  4. c. 3200 BCE

    The first writing

    Scribes in Sumer pressed wedge-shaped marks into wet clay. Cuneiform is among the earliest known writing systems.

  5. c. 1754 BCE

    Hammurabi's laws

    The king of Babylon had a code of laws carved in stone and set up where people could see it.

What you will discover

What the course covers

Most of the human story happened before anyone wrote it down. This course takes you from the first humans in Africa to the first cities and kingdoms.

  • 1Follow the first humans as they learn to make tools and fire, and see how Homo sapiens spread to every continent.
  • 2Step into the Ice Age with hunters and gatherers and see what their cave paintings tell us about how they lived.
  • 3Understand why people began to farm and how that one change led to villages, property and the first social classes.
  • 4Visit Sumer and Babylon to see the first cities, the first writing and the first written laws.
  • 5Walk along the Nile with the pharaohs, then follow the planned cities of the Indus and the first dynasties of China.

Who it is for

  • Curious adults who want to understand where we come from, with no background in history needed.
  • Students and parents looking for a clear story of prehistory and the first civilizations.
  • Travelers and museum visitors who want pyramids, clay tablets and ancient tools to make sense.

Why it matters

  • Almost everything we take for granted, from farming to cities to writing, was invented in this period.
  • Knowing how people lived before history was written shows how recent most of modern life really is.
  • Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley and China were the first places with states, laws and writing, so later history keeps pointing back to them.
  • This course gives you the starting point that every later course of Chronos builds on.

No prior knowledge needed. Curiosity about how humanity began is all you need.

Inside the course

6 modules and 37 lessons

This is the course exactly as it is in the app, module by module.

1The First Humans and Homo sapiens7 lessons
  1. Where Humans Came From
  2. The First Stone Tools
  3. Homo erectus and the Fire
  4. Neanderthals and Other Cousins
  5. The Rise of Homo sapiens
  6. Sapiens Spread Across the World
  7. Let's Review
2Hunters, Gatherers and the Ice Age6 lessons
  1. Life as a Hunter-Gatherer
  2. Surviving the Ice Age
  3. Cave Art and Symbols
  4. Language and Storytelling
  5. Burials, Beliefs and Early Religion
  6. Let's Review
3The Farming Revolution5 lessons
  1. Why People Began to Farm
  2. First Crops and Domesticated Animals
  3. Villages and Early Towns
  4. How Farming Changed Everything
  5. Let's Review
4The First Cities of Mesopotamia6 lessons
  1. Land Between the Rivers
  2. Sumer and the City of Uruk
  3. The Invention of Writing
  4. Kings, Priests and Temples
  5. Babylon and Hammurabi's Code
  6. Let's Review
5Ancient Egypt7 lessons
  1. The Gift of the Nile
  2. Unifying Egypt: The First Pharaohs
  3. Pyramids and Tomb Builders
  4. Gods, Mummies and the Afterlife
  5. Hieroglyphs and Daily Life
  6. Egypt's Great Rulers
  7. Let's Review
6The Indus Valley and Early China6 lessons
  1. The Planned Cities of the Indus
  2. Life in Harappa and Mohenjo-daro
  3. A Mystery: The Indus Decline
  4. The Yellow River and First Dynasties
  5. Shang Bronze and Oracle Bones
  6. Let's Review

Certificate

A certificate when you finish

Finish every module of The Dawn of Humanity and you can issue its certificate of completion in the app, as a PDF with your name to keep and to share. Certificates are part of the Premium plan.

Chronos

Certificate of Completion

This certifies that

Alex Morgan

has completed the course

The Dawn of Humanity

World history learning
An example certificate with a made-up name
Next in timeThe Ancient Worldc. 550 BCE to 476 CE

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