For two millennia, exogamy was a major transgression for Jews.

In the Near East they remained in use for more than two and a half millennia, and in certain areas they lasted down to the beginning of the common era until finally yielding, once and for all, to more convenient alternatives.

The first clear steps in the rise of the first civilizations took place in the fourth and third millennia B.C. in Mesopotamia, northern Africa, India, and China.

Archaeological evidence suggests that by 3000 B.C., and perhaps even earlier, there had emerged on the steppes of Inner Eurasia the distinctive types of pastoralism that were to dominate the region's history for several millennia.

We know that over the past millennia the climate has undergone major changes without any significant human intervention.

Once the soil has been removed by erosion, only the passage of centuries or millennia will enable new soil to form.