The period of time that we will be covering in our examination of the ancient civilizations is the years 4,000 B.C. to 500 A.D. What distinguishes the period of ancient history from the Prehistoric Period is the development of writing. As you will see, unlike the people that lived during the Neolithic Era, all of the ancient civilizations developed a method of writing. The earliest written records describe humanity's first civilizations. These arose in the Middle East - Egypt and the Fertile Crescent.