Uncontacted contemporaries · 961 overlapping years

Elamite Civilization Vedic Civilization

For 961 years — from 1,500 BCE to 539 BCE — both civilizations existed simultaneously. Neither this dataset nor the historical record shows any documented trade, war, or diplomatic contact between them.

2,700 BCE 500 BCE

Elamite Civilization

2,700 BCE–539 BCE

Vedic Civilization

1,500 BCE–500 BCE

↑ Overlap begins, 1,500 BCE

Elamite Civilization

Southwestern Iran

A persistent Near Eastern power whose political and cultural identity endured for over two millennia alongside Mesopotamia's empires.

Vedic Civilization

Northern Indian subcontinent

A pastoral and agrarian Iron Age culture that transmitted the Vedas orally for centuries before any writing system recorded them.

Traits both developed independently

With no documented contact, any shared trait below represents independent development rather than transmission from one to the other.

Bronze metallurgy Iron metallurgy Irrigation agriculture Standing army

Elamite Civilization only

Monumental architecture
Long-distance trade
Urban planning

Vedic Civilization only

Astronomical record-keeping