Pre-Islamic Period of Afghanistan - Prehistoric Era

Prehistoric Era

Louis Dupree, the University of Pennsylvania, the Smithsonian Institution and others suggest that humans were living in Afghanistan at least 50,000 years ago, and that farming communities of the region were among the earliest in the world.

Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation in Afghanistan from as far back as 50,000 BC. The artifacts indicate that the indigenous people were small farmers and herdsmen, as they are today, very probably grouped into tribes, with small local kingdoms rising and falling through the ages.

Afghanistan seems in prehistory, as well as in ancient and modern times, to have been closely connected by culture and trade with the neighbouring regions to the east, west, and north. Urban civilization, which includes modern-day Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, may have begun as early as 3000 to 2000 BC. Archaeological finds indicate the possible beginnings of the Bronze Age, which would ultimately spread throughout the ancient world from Afghanistan. It is also believed that the region had early trade contacts with Mesopotamia.