Asia
The coastal periphery was home to some of the world's earliest known civilizations, each of them developing around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and the Yellow River shared many similarities. These civilizations may well have exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel. Other innovations, such as writing, seem to have been developed individually in each area. Cities, states and empires developed in these lowlands.
History of Amiens
It was at Amiens that, for the first time, was defined one of the most ancient civilisations of humanity: The Acheulean. In 1853, "haches taillées" [carved axes], according to the term of the time, were collected in the old alluvium of the Somme at the level of the suburb of Saint-Acheul, east of the city. This discovery fascinated the greatest international experts of the time, Joseph Prestwich, Hugh Falconer, Charles Lyell and John Evans, who flocked to the site. In August 1859, Albert Gaudry discovered nine "carved axes" attesting, according to him, of the great antiquity of mankind. These discoveries marked the beginning of the great period of Saint-Acheul which lasted more than three-quarters of a century.