Intellectual and Cultural Eras

What are the major eras of intellect and culture, and in what order did they occur?

By Deane Barker • •

When considering ages or eras of history, framing is very important.

The first thing you need to understand is that these time periods are wildly imprecise, for a couple reasons: (1) they naturally overlap, and (2) you need to decide the “altitude” from which you’re going to consider them.

At the highest level, most historians break recorded history into three big groups:

But beyond that, you can break history down a lot of different ways, at a lot of different levels of granularity. Consider that some historians spend their entire lives just looking into one era, and they have no-doubt sub-divided that into finer and finer slices of time.

(And note that we’re taking a human history-level approach here. The largest scale would be geologic. Under that scale, almost everything on this page would fit inside the Holocene.)

Additionaly, all time periods did not correspond exactly around the world. What I’m presenting here is an Anglo-centric view of it all – the view of so-called “Western Civilization,” or European history. In particular, East Asia would have experienced a different timeline.

In researching this, I had to make decisions what’s an “event” and what’s an “era.” For example, The Reformation was a long-running event (…?) that occurred over many years and drove far-reaching impacts to philosophy, education, religion and politics – does this constitute an era? I ran into the same confusion with things like The Cold War and The Black Death. I just made some arbitrary decisions there.

The Major Eras

The Stone Age

Started: Millions of years BC

Ended: About 2000BC

Lasted: Millions of years

This was the “caveman” era, where early Man was chipping away rocks to make tools. Humans were of the genus Homo, which ended with the appearance of Homo Sapien about 300,000 years ago. Therefore, this is the era in which the “human” as we know it today first appeared.

  • By geographic time scale, we are (still) currently in the Holocene, which started about 10,000 BC
  • The Stone Age is often broken down into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic ages.
  • About 12,000 years ago, the Agricultural or Neolithic Revolution occured, when Man moved from a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle to an agricultural or farming lifestyle and therefore became able to stay in one location and develop societies

The Bronze Age

Started: 3000BC

Ended: 1200BC

Lasted: Almost 2,000 years

This was when metal first appeared. The first metals in use by humans were those that could be smelted at lower temperatures, like tin, copper, and bronze. Most of the recorded activity in this era is in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). Humans started writing during this era. Most of the Biblical Old Testament is dated to this era.

  • Sometimes, The Copper Age is broken out as immediately preceding The Bronze Age
  • The classical period of Ancient Egypt occurred in this era.
  • Biblical historians sometimes refer to this as The Old Testament Era.
  • Historians often subdivide this into Early, Middle, and Late

The Iron Age

Started: About 1200 BC

Ended: Anywhere from 550BC to 800AD, depending on location

Lasted: Almost 1,000 years

This was when humans figured out how to smelt iron and combine it with carbon to create steel. The strength of this metal allowed for new advances in construction and technology, especially weapons and armor.

Ancient Egypt continued through this era. This is the end of the “three-age” construct of ancient archeology: Stone, Bronze, and Iron. Most of the Biblical New Testament occurred within this era

The Classical Era

Started: 800BC to 500BC

Ended: About 500AD

Lasted: About 1,000 years

The era is concentrated around the Mediterranean Sea. Ancient Greece (earlier) and the Roman Empire (later) reached their peaks during this era, and Christianity began to spread from the Eastern Mediterranean west.

Large parts of the New Testament took place during this era. Socrates, Plato, and Aristole all lived in Greece during this period. Julius Ceasar lived in Rome during this period. Ancient Egypt concluded during this era, as it was conquered by the Greeks then the Romans.

  • At least one major historian has called this The Axial Age, to refer to the rise of philosophical thinking in several different parts of the world

The Middle Ages

Started: 500AD

Ended: 1500AD

Lasted: 1,000 years

This started after the fall of the Roman Empire. This was the age of kings, castles, and knights. The plague or Black Death happened during the later period of this era. The prophet Mohammed lived at the very beginning of this era, and it was marked by the rise of Islam. The Crusades occurred during this era. The printing press was invented towards the end of the Middle Ages (in Europe, at least; there’s some evidence that China invented it earlier)

  • Collectively, it’s often known as Medieval Times, and historians sub-divide into Early, High, and Late.
  • The earlier period is sometimes called The Dark Ages.
  • This marks the end of what many historian refer to as Ancient Times or Antiquity

The Renaissance

Started: About the 1400s

Ended: The 1700s

Lasted: 200-300 years

This began in Italy as a “return” to the ideas of the Classical Era (“renaissance” is French for rebirth), driven in part by the invention of the printing press. It spread from Italy all throughout Europe. The era was renowned for art: Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, etc. all created art during this time

  • The Catholic Church was dominant during this time until The Reformation began in 1517
  • This is also known as the Age of Exploration.
  • The second half of The Renaissance is sometimes called The Age of Reason
  • The start of The Renaissance is sometimes used to mark the beginning of The Modern Period, which stetches to the current day
  • In astronomy, The Copernican Revolution took place during this period

The Enlightenment

Started: 1600s

Ended: 1800

Lasted: About 200 years

This was a rapid expansion of science, education, and political theory. The first encyclopedia was printed during this era

  • Both the American and French Revolutions happened during this era. Several other attempted revolutions around this time have led some historians to define The Revolutionary Era within this period.
  • Sometimes called The Age of Reason, though some people use that name to refer only to the early period of The Enlightenment

The Industrial Age

Started: Late 1700s

Ended: ??

Lasted: 200 years (so far)

This marked the introduction of automation and machinery into manufacturing and transportation. Most of this advancement was driven by the development of the steam engine in the 1700s.

  • The Luddite Revolution happened early in this era
  • Given the accuracy of records, a lot of sub-eras are defined within this era, including The Nuclear Age, The Information Age, The Age of Imperlialism, and The Age of Globalization
  • Some historians divide this into The First Industrial Revolution (mid-1700s to mid-1800s) and The Second Industrial Revolution (mid-1800s on). The second period was prompted by advancements in metal production and electricity.
  • Some historians have called the rise of information technology since the mid-1940s as The Third Industrial Revolution

And this leaves us with a question or two –

Are we still in The Industrial Age, or have we exited into something else? Is The Information Age an era all its own?

These are likely questions we’ll never be able to answer in our lifetimes – they will only be clear in retrospect, from far in the future.

Why I Looked It Up

I was reading a book about the Italian Renaissance, and at the same time, a friend recommended a book about The Enlightenment. I realized I’ve always had those two eras combined in my head.

I decided to figure out the difference, and it got expanded into figuring out the relative time periods of all the “named eras.”

This is item #449 in a sequence of 963 items.

You can use your left/right arrow keys to navigate