33rd century BC

The 33rd century BC is a century which lasted from the year 3300 BC to 3201 BC.

Events

The sun shines over Saharan dunes

• Major climate shift possibly due to shift in solar activity. Glaciers expand, covering plants. Atmospheric temperatures fall.
• Sahara changes from a habitable region into a barren desert
• Ancient Egypt begins using clay, bone and ivory tags to label boxes, possibly an example of proto-writing
• Indus Valley Civilization (also known as Harappan civilization or Sindu-Sarasvati civilization) begins in Harappa
• c. 3300 BC, Harappan script is discovered in Indus Valley (present day Pakistan)
• c. 3300 BC—Pictographs in Uruk
• 3300 BC to 3000 BC: Face of a woman, from Uruk (modern Warka, Iraq) is made. It is now in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad (stolen and recovered in 2003).
• c. 3300 BC The Red Temple, the first phase of the Monte d'Accoddi sanctuary in Northwest Sardinia, is built.

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

• The Bronze Age begins in the Fertile Crescent (Roux, 1980)
• Cattle introduced to the Nile valley
• Egyptians domesticate the wild ass of North Africa (Clutton-Brock)
• c. 3250 BC – Potter's wheel in use in Ancient Near East
• 3200 BC Oldest known amber jewelry(Egypt tomb)
• 3200 BC Oldest known animation(pottery)(jumping goat)(Iran)
• 3200 BC Oldest known black ink(Egypt)
• 3200 BC Oldest known drawing of sailboat
• 3200 BC Egypt dead buried in desert sands
• 3200 BC Record of Scotland drainage systems
• 3200 BC Valdivian female figurine(Equador)

Significant people

Ötzi the Iceman memorial

• Ötzi the Iceman, a mummy discovered in the Austrian/Italian Alps in 1991

   (oldest known haircut & tattoo-soot used)(carried medicinal herbs)(flint dagger)(yew longbow)
   (bear skin cap)(fire-making kit)(deer & goat skin jacket)(arrowhead imbedded in body)