32nd century BC

The 32nd century BC was a century lasting from the year 3200 BC to 3101 BC.

Events

Excavated dwellings at Skara Brae, Europe's most complete Neolithic village.

• c. 3190–3170 BC?: Reign of King Double Falcon of Lower Egypt. There is a strong possibility that he appears on the Palermo stone, although half his name is chipped away.^{[citation needed]}
• c. 3195–3165 BC?: King Iry-Hor reigns from Abydos over most of Egypt.^[1]
• c. 3165–3141 BC: Reign of King Ka in Ancient Egypt.^{[citation needed]}
• c. 3138 BC Ljubljana Marshes Wheel is a wooden wheel that was found in the Ljubljana Marsh in Slovenia.^[2] Radiocarbon dating showed that it is approximately 5,150 years old, which makes it the oldest wooden wheel yet discovered.
• c. 3141–3121 BC: Reign of Scorpion II in Upper Egypt.^{[citation needed]}.
• c. 3121 BC?: Beginning of the reign of Narmer, first pharaoh to unify Ancient Egypt and founder of the 1st Dynasty.^{[citation needed]}
• c. 3100 BC: The earliest phase of Stonehenge construction begins.
• c. 3100 BC?: Malta: Construction of the Ħaġar Qim megalithic temples, featuring both solar and lunar alignments. "Tarxien period" of megalithic temple construction reaches its apex.
• c. 3100 BC?: Sumerian cuneiform writing system^[3]
• c. 3100 BC?: Beginning of the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt, Horus was the main god worshiped in Upper Egypt, Neith was the main god worshiped in Lower Egypt.
• c. 3100 BC?: Crete: Rise of Minoan civilization.
• c. 3100 BC?: Neolithic settlement built at Skara Brae in the Orkney Islands, Scotland (pictured).
• c. 3100 BC?: Earliest buildings at the Ness of Brodgar in the Orkney Islands constructed.
• c. 3100 BC?: Neolithic people in Ireland build the 250,000-ton (230,000-tonne) Newgrange solar-oriented passage tomb.

Calendar epochs

• 3114 BC: According to the most widely accepted correlations between the Western calendar and the calendar systems of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, the mythical starting point of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar cycle occurs in this year.^[4] The Long Count calendar, used and refined most notably by the Maya civilization but also attested in some other (earlier) Mesoamerican cultures, consisted of a series of interlocked cycles or periods of day-counts, which mapped out a linear sequence of days from a notional starting point. The system originated sometime in the Mid- to Late Preclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology, during the latter half of the 1st millennium BC.^[5] The starting point of the most commonly used highest-order cycle^[6]—the b'ak'tun-cycle consisting of thirteen b'ak'tuns of 144,000 days each—was projected back to an earlier, mythical date. This date is equivalent to 11 August 3114 BC in the proleptic Gregorian calendar (or 6 September in the proleptic Julian calendar), using the correlation known as the "Goodman-Martínez-Thompson (GMT) correlation". The GMT-correlation is worked out with the Long Count starting date equivalent to the Julian Day Number (JDN) equal to 584283, and is accepted by most Mayanist scholars as providing the best fit with the ethnohistorical data.^[7] Two succeeding dates, the 12th and 13 August (Gregorian) have also been supported, with the 13th (JDN = 584285, the "astronomical" or "Lounsbury" correlation) attracting significant support as according better with astronomical observational data.^[8] Although it is still contended which of these three dates forms the actual starting base of the Long Count, the correlation to one of this triad of dates is definitively accepted by almost all contemporary Mayanists. All other earlier or later correlation proposals are now discounted.^[7] The end of the thirteenth baktun was either on December 21 or 23 of 2012 (supposed end of the world).

• 3102 BC: According to Puranic sources,^{[lower-alpha 1]} Krishna's death marked the start of Kali Yuga, which is dated to 17/18 February 3102 BCE.^[14][15] Lasting for 432,000 years (1,200 divine years), Kali Yuga began 5,125 years ago and has 426,875 years left as of 2024 CE.^[16][17][18] Kali Yuga will end in the year 428,899 CE.^{[19][lower-alpha 2]}

Notes

1. The Bhagavata Purana (1.18.6),^[9] Vishnu Purana (5.38.8),^[10] Brahmanda Purana (2.3.74.241),^[11] Vayu Purana (2.37.422),^[12] and Brahma Purana (2.103.8)^[13] state that the day Krishna left the earth was the day that the Dvapara Yuga ended and the Kali Yuga began.
2. Calculations exclude year zero. 1 BCE to 1 CE is one year, not two.

Citations

1. P. Tallet, D. Laisnay: Iry-Hor et Narmer au Sud-Sinaï (Ouadi 'Ameyra), un complément à la chronologie des expéditios minière égyptiene, in: BIFAO 112 (2012), 381–395, available online
2. Gasser, Aleksander (March 2003). "World's Oldest Wheel Found in Slovenia". Government Communication Office of the Republic of Slovenia. Archived from the original on 2016-08-26. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
3. Mark, Joshua J. "Writing". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
4. See Finley (2002), Houston (1989, pp. 49–51), Miller and Taube (1993, pp. 50–52), Schele and Freidel (1990, pp. 430 et seq.), Voss (2006, p.138), Wagner (2006, pp. 281–283). Note that Houston 1989 mistakenly writes "3113 BC" (when "-3113" is meant), and Miller and Taube 1993's mention of "2 August" is a (presumed) erratum.
5. Miller and Taube (1993, p. 50), Schele and Freidel (1990)
6. Most commonly used in the Classic period Maya inscriptions; some other Maya calendar inscriptions of this period note even longer cycles, while later Postclassic-era inscriptions in Maya cities of northern Yucatán generally used an abbreviated form known as the Short Count. See Miller and Taube (1993, p. 50); Voss (2006, p. 138).
7. See survey by Finley (2002).
8. After a modified proposal championed by Floyd Lounsbury; sources that have used this 584285 correlation include Houston (1989, p. 51), and in particular Schele and Freidel (1990, pp. 430 et seq.). See also commentary by Finley (2002), who although making an assessment that the "[584285 correlation] is now more popular with Mayanists", expresses a personal preference for the 584283 correlation.
9. "Skanda I, Ch. 18: Curse of the Brahmana, Sloka 6". Bhagavata Purana. Vol. Part I. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited. 1950. p. 137. On the very day, and at the very moment the Lord [Krishna] left the earth, on that very day this Kali, the source of irreligiousness, (in this world), entered here.
10. Wilson, H. H. (1895). "Book V, Ch. 38: Arjuna burns the dead, etc., Sloka 8". The Vishnu Purana. S.P.C.K. Press. p. 61. The Parijata tree proceeded to heaven, and on the same day that Hari [Krishna] departed from the earth the dark-bodied Kali age descended.
11. "Ch. 74, Royal Dynasties, Sloka 241". The Brahmanda Purana. Vol. Part III. Motilal Banarsidass. 1958. p. 950. Kali Yuga began on the day when Krsna passed on to heaven. Understand how it is calculated.
12. "Ch. 37, Royal Dynasties, Sloka 422". The Vayu Purana. Vol. Part II. Motilal Banarsidass. 1988. p. 824. ISBN 81-208-0455-4. Kali Yuga had started on the very day when Krsna passed away.
13. "Ch. 103, Episode of Krsna concluded, Sloka 8". Brahma Purana. Vol. Part II. Motilal Banarsidass. 1955. p. 515. It was on the day on which Krishna left the Earth and went to heaven that the Kali age, with time for its body set in.
14. Matchett, Freda; Yano, Michio (2003). "Part II, Ch. 6: The Puranas / Part III, Ch. 18: Calendar, Astrology, and Astronomy". In Flood, Gavin (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism. Blackwell Publishing. pp. 139–140, 390. ISBN 0631215352.
15. Burgess 1935, p. 19: The instant at which the [kali yuga] Age is made to commence is midnight on the meridian of Ujjayini, at the end of the 588,465th and beginning of the 588,466th day (civil reckoning) of the Julian Period, or between the 17th and 18th of February 1612 J.P., or 3102 B.C. [4713 BCE = 0 JP; 4713 BCE - 1612 + 1 (no year zero) = 3102 BCE.]
16. Godwin, Joscelyn (2011). Atlantis and the Cycles of Time: Prophecies, Traditions, and Occult Revelations. Inner Traditions. pp. 300–301. ISBN 9781594778575.
17. Merriam-Webster (1999). "Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions". In Doniger, Wendy; Hawley, John Stratton (eds.). Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. pp. 445 (Hinduism), 1159 (Yuga). ISBN 0877790442.
    * HINDUISM: Myths of time and eternity: ... Each yuga is preceded by an intermediate "dawn" and "dusk." The Krita yuga lasts 4,000 god-years, with a dawn and dusk of 400 god-years each, or a total of 4,800 god-years; Treta a total of 3,600 god-years; Dvapara 2,400 god-years; and Kali (the current yuga) 1,200 god-years. A mahayuga thus lasts 12,000 god-years ... Since each god-year lasts 360 human years, a mahayuga is 4,320,000 years long in human time. Two thousand mahayugas form one kalpa (eon) [and pralaya], which is itself but one day in the life of Brahma, whose full life lasts 100 years; the present is the midpoint of his life. Each kalpa is followed by an equally long period of abeyance (pralaya), in which the universe is asleep. Seemingly the universe will come to an end at the end of Brahma's life, but Brahmas too are innumerable, and a new universe is reborn with each new Brahma.
    * YUGA: Each yuga is progressively shorter than the preceding one, corresponding to a decline in the moral and physical state of humanity. Four such yugas (called ... after throws of an Indian game of dice) make up a mahayuga ("great yuga") ... The first yuga (Krita) was an age of perfection, lasting 1,728,000 years. The fourth and most degenerate yuga (Kali) began in 3102 BCE and will last 432,000 years. At the close of the Kali yuga, the world will be destroyed by fire and flood, to be re-created as the cycle resumes. In a partially competing vision of time, Vishnu's 10th and final AVATAR, KALKI, is described as bringing the present cosmic cycle to a close by destroying the evil forces that rule the Kali yuga and ushering in an immediate return to the idyllic Krita yuga.
18. Gupta, S. V. (2010). "Ch. 1.2.4 Time Measurements". In Hull, Robert; Osgood, Richard M. Jr.; Parisi, Jurgen; Warlimont, Hans (eds.). Units of Measurement: Past, Present and Future. International System of Units. Springer Series in Materials Science: 122. Springer. pp. 6–8. ISBN 9783642007378. Paraphrased: Deva day equals solar year. Deva lifespan (36,000 solar years) equals 100 360-day years, each 12 months. Mahayuga equals 12,000 Deva (divine) years (4,320,000 solar years), and is divided into 10 charnas consisting of four Yugas: Satya Yuga (4 charnas of 1,728,000 solar years), Treta Yuga (3 charnas of 1,296,000 solar years), Dvapara Yuga (2 charnas of 864,000 solar years), and Kali Yuga (1 charna of 432,000 solar years). Manvantara equals 71 Mahayugas (306,720,000 solar years). Kalpa (day of Brahma) equals an Adi Sandhya, 14 Manvantaras, and 14 Sandhya Kalas, where 1st Manvantara preceded by Adi Sandhya and each Manvantara followed by Sandhya Kala, each Sandhya lasting same duration as Satya yuga (1,728,000 solar years), during which the entire earth is submerged in water. Day of Brahma equals 1,000 Mahayugas, the same length for a night of Brahma (Bhagavad-gita 8.17). Brahma lifespan (311.04 trillion solar years) equals 100 360-day years, each 12 months. Parardha is 50 Brahma years and we are in the 2nd half of his life. After 100 years of Brahma, the universe starts with a new Brahma. We are currently in the 28th Kali yuga of the first day of the 51st year of the second Parardha in the reign of the 7th (Vaivasvata) Manu. This is the 51st year of the present Brahma and so about 155 trillion years have elapsed. The current Kali Yuga (Iron Age) began at midnight on 17/18 February 3102 BC in the proleptic Julian calendar.
19. Godwin 2011, p. 301: The Hindu astronomers agree that the [Dvapara Yuga ended and] Kali Yuga began at midnight between February 17 and 18, 3102 BCE. Consequently [Kali Yuga] is due to end about 427,000 CE, whereupon a new Golden Age will dawn.

References

• Burgess, Rev. Ebenezer (1935) [1860]. "Ch. 1: Of the Mean Motions of the Planets.". In Gangooly, Phanindralal (ed.). Translation of the Sûrya-Siddhânta: A text-book of Hindu astronomy, with notes and an appendix. University of Calcutta. pp. 7–9 (1.13–17).
• Finley, Michael (2002). "The Correlation Question". The Real Maya Prophecies: Astronomy in the Inscriptions and Codices. Maya Astronomy. Archived from the original on 2009-05-23. Retrieved 2007-06-04.
• Miller, Mary; Karl Taube (1993). The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05068-6.
• Schele, Linda; David Freidel (1990). A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya. New York: William Morrow. ISBN 0-688-07456-1.
• Voss, Alexander (2006). "Astronomy and Mathematics". In Nikolai Grube (ed.). Maya: Divine Kings of the Rain Forest. Eva Eggebrecht and Matthias Seidel (assistant eds.). Cologne: Könemann Press. pp. 130–143. ISBN 3-8331-1957-8. OCLC 71165439.
• Wagner, Elizabeth (2006). "Maya Creation Myths and Cosmography". In Nikolai Grube (ed.). Maya: Divine Kings of the Rain Forest. Eva Eggebrecht and Matthias Seidel (Assistant Eds.). Cologne: Könemann Press. pp. 280–293. ISBN 3-8331-1957-8. OCLC 71165439.