60th century BC · 59th century BC · 58th century BC · 57th century BC · 56th century BC · 55th century BC · 54th century BC · 53rd century BC · 52nd century BC · 51st century BC
Black Sea today (light blue) and in 5600 BC (dark blue) according to Ryan's and Pitman's theories, versions of the Black Sea deluge theory
c. 6000 BC: The Mehrgarh culture reaches it height c. 6000 BC. The Mehrgarh site is one of the most important Neolithic sites in the world. It is located in present-day Pakistan (Baluchistan Province).
c. 6000 BC: The entire 6th Millennium was a part of the Holocene climatic optimum (so were the 4th, 5th, and 7th Millennia). This was a warm period also known as the Atlantic period. This period was characterized by minimal glaciation and high sea levels. (McEvedy)
c. 5600 BC: Beginning of the desertification of North Africa, which ultimately lead to the creation of the Sahara desert. It's possible this process pushed some natives into migrating to the region of the Nile in the east, thereby laying the groundwork for the rise of Egyptian civilization.
c. 5600 BC: According to the Black Sea deluge theory, the Black Sea floods with salt water. Some 3000 cubic miles (12,500 km³) of salt water is added, significantly expanding it and transforming it from a fresh-water landlocked lake into a salt water sea.
Inventions, discoveries, introductions
c. 6000 BC: Cycladic people started to use a coarse, poor-quality local clay to make a variety of objects.
