We only know about when humans mastered fire or started using metal. But we know the exact date when the first powered flight took place. What are some really early “first ____” we know the date of for sure?

  • Worx@lemmynsfw.com
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    5 months ago

    My first thought was the code of Hammurabi, as the first ever set of laws. But it turns out we know of several sets of laws from before then.

    Then I was thinking maybe the Pope, given that it should be well chronicled. But it turns out Peter was the first Pope (who knew?), so we’re relying on Biblical timings which aren’t exact.

    So now I’m going to say “something Chinese”. China’s recorded history goes back a lot further than Europe’s, but I don’t really know much about it to say anything more useful than that. But did you know that writing predates the iron age in China, unlike most places? (Usually, the invention of writing changes it from the iron age “prehistory” into the written “history”)

    • Lemmeenym@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      Egypt has the longest unbroken record of it’s history. It may or may not have been the first civilization to begin keeping a written record of it’s major events. The other 2 contenders are Mesopotamia and Sumer but most records from those are lost. Egypt’s records were also lost but large portions have been rediscovered in burial tombs. Egypt began it’s chronology (~3500BCE) at least a thousand years before China(~2500BCE).