The four major civilizations that show the earliest records are:
- Yellow River valley in northeast China
- Indus/Sarasvati River valley region in Pakistan
- Nile River valley in Egypt
- Tigris/Euphrates River valley region in Iraq
These four major civilizations were likely the larger groups with more variety of skills represented in their populations. There are records of more "primitive" groups in other areas, and these were probably ones that had more difficulty getting established and beginning the lifestyle that they had left behind. Some groups may have been absorbed by others, or may have died out. There is evidence for this in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10.
Civilizations that began shortly after these are:
- Minoans on Crete
- Southwestern Sahara
- Central America
- West coast of South America
- Hittites in Anatolia
How do we put these civilizations into a biblical date context since all we have for them is a secular time frame?
We will look at this more in a later lesson, but there is one key to this problem. Today, archaeologists rely heavily on the Egyptian timeline as a key to dating many of the civilizations. This is because the kings of Egypt corresponded with kings of other countries. They kept records of their vassals (as did other countries), recording the names of their kings. There are many artifacts from Egypt in other regions, indicating extensive trade.
But the Egyptian timeline is based primarily on listings of dynasties by a historian named Manetho. At the current time, based on those histories, Egyptian dynastic rule began shortly before 3100 BC. This is simply too early for the biblical timeline, where we have established a date of about 2200 BC for the beginnings of civilizations after the dispersion from Babel. The difference is 900 years, a substantial change! And since we rely on our presupposition that the Bible is true, we must shorten that Egyptian history.
Surprisingly, secular historians agree. They are aware that the current timeline for Egypt is too long. In fact, when Manetho's writings were first translated, the Egyptian timeline they laid out was nearly 2000 years longer. They had realized, after additional study of inscriptions, that some of Manetho's dynasties actually overlapped. Today these historians recognize several places where further overlap is likely, but haven't stepped out and actually challenged the status quo. This is particularly the case in the second intermediate period.
A personal note...For many years I have searched for someone, or for several someones, who were willing to step out and challenge the Egyptian timeline. Over that time, I have found several authors who would make changes to that timeline, but none were successful at reducing it far enough to match a biblical timeline. About 8 or 10 years ago, I found what I was looking for. James Reilly of Ontario, Canada published his thesis on the 26th and 27th dynasties. It is a large book, and requires a tremendous amount of concentration to absorb, but it is successful at beginning the reduction of time needed. His further three books take that reduction all the way back to the 3rd dynasty, based entirely on inscriptions found in the records of Egypt. While he did not focus at all on the biblical timeline and attempting to make his history match, he was successful in accomplishing it.
If you are interested in reading Reilly's books, they are available online at http://www.displaceddynasties.com/ Please be aware that they are manifestly technical in their material.
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