17th century BC

The 17th century BC was a century which lasted from 1700 BC to 1601 BC.

Nebra sky disk, central Europe 1600 BC. The inlaid gold depicted the crescent moon and the Pleiades star cluster in a specific arrangement forming the earliest known depiction of celestial phenomena.

Millennium:	2nd millennium BC
Centuries:	18th century BC 17th century BC 16th century BC
Timelines:	18th century BC 17th century BC 16th century BC
State leaders:	18th century BC 17th century BC 16th century BC
Decades:	1690s BC 1680s BC 1670s BC 1660s BC 1650s BC 1640s BC 1630s BC 1620s BC 1610s BC 1600s BC
Categories:	Births – Deaths Establishments – Disestablishments

Events

Satellite image of Thera, centre location of the Minoan eruption, one possible source of 17th century BC climatic disturbances

• c. 1700 BC: Indus Valley Civilization comes to an end but is continued by the Cemetery H culture.
• 1700 BC: Belu-bani became the King of Assyria.
• c. 1700 BC: Minoan Old Palace period ends and Minoan Second Palace period starts in Ancient Greece.
• c. 1700 BC: beginning of the Late Minoan period on Crete.
• c. 1700 BC: Aegean metalworkers are producing decorative objects rivaling those of Ancient Near East jewelers, whose techniques they seem to borrow.
• c. 1700 BC: Lila-Ir-Tash started to rule the Elamite Empire.
• c. 1700 BC: 1450 BC: Young girl gathering saffron crocus flowers, detail of wall painting, Room 3 of House Xeste 3, Akrotiri (prehistoric city), Thera, is made. Second Palace period. It is now kept in Thera Foundation, Petros M. Nomikos, Greece.
• c. 1700 BC: Bronze Age starts in China.
• c. 1698 BC: Lila-Ir-Tash the ruler of the Elamite Empire died. Temti-Agun I started to rule the Elamite Empire.
• 1691 BC: Belu-bani, the King of Assyria died.
• c. 1690 BC: Temti-Agun I, the ruler of the Elamite Empire, died. Tan-Uli started to rule the Elamite Empire.
• 1690 BC: Libaia became the King of Assyria.
• c. 1680 BC: Egypt: Development of leavened bread (date approximate).
• c. 1673 BC: Sharma-Adad I became the King of Assyria.
• c. 1661 BC: Iptar-Sin became the King of Assyria.
• c. 1655 BC: Tan-Uli, the ruler of the Elamite Empire, died.
• c. 1650 BC: Collapse of the 14th Dynasty of Egypt.
• c. 1650 BC: Conquest of Memphis by the Hyksos and collapse of the 13th Dynasty of Egypt.
• c. 1650 BC: Start of the 15th (Hyksos) and 16th Dynasties of Egypt.
• c. 1650 BC: Possibly, start of the Abydos Dynasty in Upper Egypt.
• c. 1646 BC or earlier: Jie of Xia is overthrown by Tang of Shang (ca. 1675-1646 BC) in the Battle of Mingtiao.
• 1649 BC: Bazaia became the King of Assyria.
• 1633 BC – May 2 – Lunar Saros 34 begins.
• 1627 BC: Beginning of a cooling of world climate lasting several years recorded in tree-rings all over the world.[1] It may have been caused by one, or more, volcanic eruptions e.g. the Minoan eruption of Thera,[2] the Avellino eruption of Mount Vesuvius,[3] and/or the eruption of Mount Aniakchak in Alaska.[4]
• 1625 BC: Samsu-Ditana becomes King of Babylon (middle chronology).
• 1621 BC: Lullaia becomes the King of Assyria.
• 1620 BC: Mursili I becomes King of the Hittite Empire (middle chronology).
• 1615 BC: Shu-Ninua became the King of Assyria.
• c. 1600 BC: Tang of Shang established the Shang Dynasty.

Significant persons

• Jie, The last ruler of Xia Dynasty, ruled China for 52 years until 1600 BC according to the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project.

Deaths

• 1684 BC – Heremon, Irish legend

Extinctions

• The last known population of woolly mammoth, preserved on Wrangel Island, becomes extinct.[5]

Sovereign States

See: List of sovereign states in the 17th century BC.

Decades and years

References

1. LaMarche, Valmore C. Jr.; Hirschboeck, Katherine K. (1984). "Frost rings in trees as records of major volcanic eruptions". Nature. 307 (5947): 121–126. doi:10.1038/307121a0.
2. Baillie, M. G. L.; Munro, M. A. R. (1988). "Irish tree rings, Santorini and volcanic dust veils". Nature. 332 (6162): 344–346. doi:10.1038/332344a0.
3. Vogel, J. S.; et al. (1990). "Vesuvius/Avellino, one possible source of seventeenth century BC climatic disturbances". Nature. 344 (6266): 534–537. doi:10.1038/344534a0.
4. McAneney, Jonny; Baillie, Mike (2019). "Absolute tree-ring dates for the Late Bronze Age eruptions of Aniakchak and Thera in light of a proposed revision of ice-core chronologies". Antiquity. 93 (367): 99–112. doi:10.15184/aqy.2018.165.
5. Stuart, Anthony J; Sulerzhitsky, Leopold D; Orlova, Lyobov A; Kuzmin, Yaroslav V; Lister, Adrian M (2002). "The latest woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach) in Europe and Asia: A review of the current evidence". Quaternary Science Reviews. 21 (14–15): 1559. doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(02)00026-4.