Among the objects Howard Carter found in the wrappings of Tutankhamun's mummy is a dagger with an iron blade, a metal that was then extremely rare in Egypt. In 2016, X-ray fluorescence analysis measured almost 11% nickel plus traces of cobalt: the signature of a meteorite. In the Bronze Age, before ironworking spread, this 'sky iron' was a prestige material. A 2022 study suggests the weapon was made outside Egypt and sent as a diplomatic gift.
Around 2300 BCE, Enheduanna, daughter of King Sargon of Akkad, became high priestess of the Moon god at Ur. She composed hymns to the goddess Inanna and put her name to them. She is the oldest person identified as the author of a literary work, about 1,500 years before Homer.
Squeeze Earth's 4.5 billion years into a single 24-hour day. Homo sapiens shows up around 11:59:54 p.m., roughly six seconds before midnight. All of written history, from Sumerian tablets to today, fits into the final tenth of a second. A cosmic blink.