Historic

(aka: Late-First Millennium BCE)

• Text-anchored history dominant across Eurasia

• Large territorial states and empires

• Coinage, law codes, inscriptions widespread

• Long-distance trade networks expand

• The Americas: Mesoamerican scripts (e.g., Maya) ~300 BCE; 

  • some regions never developed writing before contact. 

  • [Today: Core region → Southern Mexico and northern Central America; Mexico (primary: Maya, Zapotec regions), Guatemala, Belize, Western Honduras.]

Greece (Helike): 

• Helike’s identity was inseparable from devotion. In 373 BCE, this city disappeared overnight. 

• The oldest artifacts found at the ruins of Helike are dated to the Early Bronze Age (c. 3000–2200 BC

Indian Plate (sutured):

• Mahajanapadas consolidate: ~450–350 BCE; Due to inter-state warfate, economic expansion, administrative centralization—especially due to the rise of Magadha.

• Rise of Magadha Mahājanapada: ~400–350 BCE; 

  • Magadha effectively absorbs/dominates all the rival mahājanapadas.  

  • The reign continues into the Nanda Period: ~350–322 BCE—highly centralized state with large army and revenue base.

• Mauryan Empire: ~322–185 BCE; imperial administration; 

  • Mauryan King Ashoka: ~268–232 BCE

  • Ashokan inscriptions: ~260–230 BCE: These establish firm historical record; first unambiguous evidence. Anything earlier is plausible but not proven. The language on these is Prakrit, not Sanskrit—this is firm and undisputed. And these are written in Brahmi script (and Kharosthi in the northwest).

• Shunga dynasty: ~185–73 BCE; 

• Hinduism Turning point: ~200 BCE–100 CE—first recognizable Hindu iconology; 

  • post-Mauryan, early Shunga–period. 

  • Yakṣas-Yakṣīs (200–100 BCE); 

  • Vāsudeva–Krishna worship—Heliodorus pillar: ~113 BCE.

• Kanva dynasty + political instability: ~73–30 BCE.

• Ayodhya inscriptions: ~50–30 BCE (late 1st century)—earliest mixed Sanskrit–Prakrit inscriptions, marking the first epigraphic appearance of Sanskrit. Said to be during the reign of King Dhanadeva—possibly of Deva/Datta line— often linked to late Shunga or post-Shunga rulers.

(aka: Early-First Millennium CE)

• Stable imperial and regional systems

• Urban centers, roads, and trade intensify

• Religious and philosophical traditions codified

• Mesoamerica: ~250-900 CE → Maya Civilization (Tikal); 

  • Classic Period. Then it declined and was eventually deserted.

Indian Plate (sutured):

• Political instability continued. 

• Kushana Period: ~30–375 CE; 

  • Rapid expansion of Hindu iconography; 

    • Shiva, Vishnu, Skanda clearly identifiable.

• Gupta Period: ~320–550 CE (overlaps with late Kushana);  

  • Classical, standardized Hindu iconology 

  • Expansion of Sanskrit literature, mathematics, astronomy.

• Junagadh inscription of Rudradaman: ~150 CE—First long, fully classical Sanskrit inscription; 

  • polished grammar and style; 

  • written in Brahmi script. 

• Spitzer Palm-Leaf Manuscript: ~200-230 CE: 

  • Potentially the oldest discovered Sanskrit book-form manuscript related to Hinduism and Buddhism. 

  • Found in 1906 in a pile of more than 1,000 palm leaf fragments in the Kizil Caves, China. 

  • Calibrated age by the Carbon-14 technique is 80–230 CE. 

  • The text is written in the Brahmi script (of Kushana period) and classical Sanskrit of later Gupta era. 

  • Its Hindu portions include Nyaya-Vaiśeṣika, Tarka literature, and one of the earliest dateable tables of contents sequentially listing the parva (volumes) of the Mahabharata.

(aka: Late-First Millennium CE)

• Political fragmentation and regional states

• Institutional religions dominate social order

• Continuous written records across most of Eurasia

Indian Plate (sutured):

• Post-Gupta regional kingdoms

• Temple economies and land-grant systems

• Transition toward early medieval South Asia