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.
Cultural transformation theory
The last known major civilization to have a partnership society, the Minoan civilization of Crete, flourished during the Bronze Age over 3500 years ago. Having existed even before Archaic Greece, it is one of the earliest known civilizations in Europe and is vital to recreating the timeline of Europe’s history. First discovered by Sir Arthur Evans, numerous artifacts have since been uncovered documenting the way of life of this ancient civilization. The Minoans had constructed enormous courts at four different palace sites which are believed to be centers for trade and other large social, political and religious activities. The Minoans also built religious tombs and cemeteries, staircases and extensive store areas showing a highly sophisticated standard of living most impressive for their time.
Most of what we know of their culture is from what was found in their myths, writings, pottery and frescoes. From these artifacts, historians have gathered that females played a large role in their society. A female figure known as “The Goddess” appears numerous times in both myths and pottery work, implying that they worshiped her in Minoan religion. The Goddess is a symbol also seen in artifacts of other prehistoric partnership societies (artifacts such as the Venus of Laussel). It is believed that the Goddess was a symbol of life and nature as every depiction of her involved explicit detail of her form and reproductive genitalia. In prehistoric times, many people relied upon farming for the majority of their food so having a good relationship with the earth was very important to the people of this time period. So not only were females, treated as equals in society but they were also worshiped in their religion along with their male deities. In short, females were treated with as much respect and acceptance as their male counterparts were.