| Late Copper | 4500–3300 BC | Uruk period of Sumer, Predynastic Period of ancient Egypt, Proto-Elamite period in Iran, Ghassulian, Gerzeh | | |
| Bronze Age | Early Bronze Age
(3300–2100 BC) | Early Bronze Age I | 3300–3000 BC | Jemdet Nasr period in Mesopotamia, Protodynastic to Early Dynastic Period of Egypt, settlement of Phoenicians |
| Early Bronze Age II | 3000–2700 BC | Early Dynastic Period of Mesopotamia | | |
| Early Bronze Age III | 2700–2200 BC | Old Kingdom of Egypt, Akkadian Empire, early Assyria, Old Elamite period, Sumero-Akkadian states, Marhasi Jiroft | | |
| Early Bronze Age IV | 2200–2100 BC | Second half of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, First Intermediate Period of Egypt | | |
Middle Bronze Age
(2100–1550 BC) | Middle Bronze Age I | 2100–2000 BC | Third Dynasty of Ur | |
| Middle Bronze Age II A | 2000–1750 BC | Minoan civilization, early Babylonia, Egyptian Middle Kingdom | | |
| Middle Bronze Age II B | 1750–1650 BC | Second Intermediate Period of Egypt | | |
| Middle Bronze Age II C | 1650–1550 BC | Hittite Old Kingdom, Minoan eruption | | |
Late Bronze Age
(1550–1200 BC) | Late Bronze Age I | 1550–1400 BC | Hittite Middle Kingdom, Hayasa-Azzi, Middle Elamite period, New Kingdom of Egypt | |
| Late Bronze Age II A | 1400–1300 BC | Hittite New Kingdom, Mitanni, Hayasa-Azzi, Ugarit, Mycenaean Greece | | |
| Late Bronze Age II B | 1300–1200 BC | Middle Assyrian Empire, beginning of the high point of Phoenicians | | |
| Iron Age | Iron Age I
(1200–1000 BC) | Iron Age I A | 1200–1150 BC | Troy VII, Hekla 3 eruption, Bronze Age collapse, Sea Peoples |
| Iron Age I B | 1150–1000 BC | Neo-Hittite states, Neo Elamite period, Aramean states | | |
Iron Age II
(1000–539 BC) | Iron Age II A | 1000–900 BC | Greek Dark Ages, traditional date of the United Monarchy of Israel | |
| Iron Age II B | 900–700 BC | Kingdom of Israel, Urartu, Phrygia, Neo-Assyrian Empire, Kingdom of Judah, first settlement of Carthage | | |
| Iron Age II C | 700–539 BC | Neo-Babylonian Empire, Median Empire, fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Phoenicia, Archaic Greece, rise of Achaemenid Persia | | |
| Classical antiquity | Achaemenid | 539–330 BC | Persian Achaemenid Empire, Classical Greece | |
| Hellenistic & Parthian | 330–31 BC | Macedonian Empire, Seleucid Empire, Kingdom of Armenia, Kingdom of Pergamon, Ptolemaic Kingdom, Parthian Empire | | |
| Roman & Persian | 31 BC – 634 AD | Roman–Persian Wars, Roman Empire, Parthian Empire, Kingdom of Armenia, Sassanid Empire, Byzantine Empire, Muslim conquests | | |
