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For the [[3rd millennium BC|3rd]] and [[2nd millennium BC|2nd]] millennia BC, this correlation is less certain but the following periods can be distinguished:
<ref>
*[[Early Bronze Age]]: Following the rise of cuneiform writing in the preceding [[Uruk period]] and [[Jemdet Nasr period]]s came a series of rulers and dynasties whose existence is based mostly on scant contemporary sources (e.g. [[En-me-barage-si]]), combined with archaeological cultures, some of which are considered problematic (e.g. [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|Early Dynastic II]]). The lack of dendrochronology, astronomical correlations, and sparsity of modern, well-stratified sequences of radiocarbon dates from Southern Mesopotamia makes it difficult to assign absolute dates to this floating chronology.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wencel|first=Maciej Mateusz|date=2017|title=Radiocarbon Dating of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia: Results, Limitations, and Prospects|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0033822216000606/type/journal_article|journal=Radiocarbon|language=en|volume=59|issue=2|pages=635–645|doi=10.1017/RDC.2016.60|bibcode=2017Radcb..59..635W |s2cid=133337438|issn=0033-8222|access-date=31 October 2021|archive-date=29 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029010710/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/radiocarbon-dating-of-early-dynastic-mesopotamia-results-limitations-and-prospects/D8F82A41667C5281AABF18B5899CE04E|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Zaina2015" />
*[[Middle Bronze Age]]: Beginning with the [[Akkadian Empire]] around 2300 BC, the chronological evidence becomes internally more consistent. A good picture can be drawn of who succeeded whom, and synchronisms between [[Mesopotamia]], the [[Levant]] and the more robust [[chronology of Ancient Egypt]] can be established. Unlike the previous period there are a variety of data points serving to help turn this floating chronology into a fixed one. These include astronomical events, dendrochronology, radiocarbon dating, and even a volcanic eruption. Despite this no agreement has been reached. The most commonly seen solution is to place the reign of Hammurabi from 1792 to 1750 BC, the "middle chronology", but there is far from a consensus.<ref name="arxiv.org">[https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0311114.pdf] V.G.Gurzadyan, "Astronomy and the Fall of Babylon", Sky & Telescope, vol. 100, no.1 (July), pp. 40–45, 2000</ref><ref>[https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/014ABB912CC50181E0F06E074BE071A2/S0003598X23000303a.pdf/new-evidence-for-middle-bronze-age-chronology-from-the-syro-anatolian-frontier.pdf] Herrmann, Virginia R., et al., "New evidence for Middle Bronze Age chronology from the Syro-Anatolian frontier", Antiquity, pp. 1-20, 2023</ref>
*[[Late Bronze Age]]: The fall of the First Babylonian Empire was followed by a period of chaos where "Late Old Babylonian royal inscriptions are few and the year names become less evocative of political events, early Kassite evidence is even scarcer, and until recently Sealand I sources were near to non-existent".<ref>[https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/92651/3/Boivin_Odette_201611_PhD_thesis.pdf] Boivin, O., "The First Dynasty of the Sealand in History and Tradition", Doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto Canada, 2016</ref> Afterward came a period of stability with the Assyrian Middle Kingdom, Hittite New Kingdom, and the Third Babylon Dynasty (Kassite).
*The [[Bronze Age collapse]]: A "Dark Age" begins with the fall of Babylonian Dynasty III (Kassite) around 1200 BC, the invasions of the [[Sea Peoples]] and the collapse of the [[Hittite Empire]].<ref>
*[[Early Iron Age]]: Around 900 BC, written records once again become more numerous with the rise of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]], establishing relatively secure absolute dates. Classical sources such as the [[Canon of Ptolemy]], the works of [[Berossus]], and the [[Hebrew Bible]] provide chronological support and synchronisms. An inscription from the tenth year of Assyrian king [[Ashur-Dan III]] refers to an eclipse of the sun, and astronomical calculations among the range of plausible years date the eclipse to 15 June 763 BC. This can be corroborated by other mentions of astronomical events, and a secure [[Absolute dating|absolute chronology]] established, tying the relative chronologies to the now-dominant [[Gregorian calendar]].
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*Shulgi Eclipse – Based on a prophecy text called ''[[Enuma Anu Enlil]] 20'' which states "If an eclipse occurs on the 14th day of Simānu ... The king of Ur, his son will wrong him, and the son who wronged his father, Šamaš will catch him. He will die in the mourning place of his father" from the end of the reign of [[Shulgi]] of the [[Ur III]] dynasty. A date of 25 July 2093 BC has been proposed. These prophecies were written after the fact to help predict future events. A second prophecy, EAE 21 (month 12), predicts the fall of Ur III in the reign of [[Ibbi-Sin]] stating "If an eclipse occurs on the 14th day of Addaru ... The prediction is given for the king of the world: The destruction of Ur".<ref>Peter J. Huber, "Astronomy and Ancient Chronology", Akkadica 119–120, pp. 159–176, 2000</ref>
*Babylon Eclipse – Another section in EAE 20 (month 3) refers to the fall of Babylon i.e. "if an eclipse occurs on the 14th day of Shabattu (month XI), and the god, in his eclipse ... The prediction is given for Babylon: the destruction of Babylon is near ...". It refers to a solar eclipse followed by a lunar eclipse. The most likely solution, 1547 BC, does not match up with Venus Tablet solutions. There are textual problems with the prophecy and it has been suggested that Akkad is actually the city in question.<ref>{{citation|arxiv=2007.07141|title=The Double Eclipse at the Downfall of Old Babylon|year=2020|last1=Khalisi|first1=Emil}}</ref>
*Tell Muhammad Eclipse – At [[Tell Muhammad]] several tablets, silver loan contracts, were found that were dated with two year names "Year 38 after Babylon was resettled" and "The year that the Moon was eclipsed". The former year name is of a format used by the Kassites, a change from the event format used through the Old Babylonian period. Attempts have been made to use this eclipse to date the sack of Babylon and its resettlement by the Kassites.<ref>Calderbank, Daniel, "Dispersed Communities of Practice During the First Dynasty of the Sealand: The Pottery from Tell Khaiber, Southern Iraq", Babylonia under the Sealand and Kassite Dynasties, edited by Susanne Paulus and Tim Clayden, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 58–87, 2020</ref><ref
====Egyptian lunar observations====
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Most available chronicles stem from later Babylonian and Assyrian sources. The
[[Dynastic Chronicle]], after a Sumerian King List type beginning, involves
Babylonian kings from [[Simbar-shipak|Simbar-Šipak]] ({{Circa}} 1021–1004 BC) to [[Eriba-Marduk|Erība-Marduk]] ({{Circa}} 769 – 761 BC). The [[Chronicle of Early Kings]], after an early preamble, involves kings of the First Babylonian Empire ending with the First Sealand Dynasty. The [[Tummal Inscription]] relates events from
[[Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle]], among others.
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is in chronicle form and covers the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] period from
Nabopolassar (627–605 BC) to Nabonidus (556–539 BC).
<ref>[https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/37677083/STOL-VanderSpek-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?Expires=1636651959&Signature=fXVdVe-LdD7LLre9oYy0s-vTDqY5Ys155kbdMif~MifUp2P0Yom59yFnaZxsokmDhZAnzWKpAGTNFKqf4~HmuYOJLYONgRWmZhkwAzPyARFE2GzA4tVycXokpMZTv4el1rsmMSGFBJwBZhzxsjt4Rp2wP~Zo5ne6YYpSgqWfn7sAyGeX30DlWlzYRbEO6zOF-JKuHItKUhbwgIR2FcoKxdwX3l3Qi5Hn8mhgMEqYmqeyC2DO5iA9OBXHXQR1MjFqu20~UcTPt-DEefITS2DxLx0FI40CYVvppYbHsGhtBGl18M6BierotxCpouwFDGsVrgidMOJS6no1RwyV4eWjhw__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211111163949/https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/37677083/STOL-VanderSpek-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?Expires=1636651959&Signature=fXVdVe-LdD7LLre9oYy0s-vTDqY5Ys155kbdMif~MifUp2P0Yom59yFnaZxsokmDhZAnzWKpAGTNFKqf4~HmuYOJLYONgRWmZhkwAzPyARFE2GzA4tVycXokpMZTv4el1rsmMSGFBJwBZhzxsjt4Rp2wP~Zo5ne6YYpSgqWfn7sAyGeX30DlWlzYRbEO6zOF-JKuHItKUhbwgIR2FcoKxdwX3l3Qi5Hn8mhgMEqYmqeyC2DO5iA9OBXHXQR1MjFqu20~UcTPt-DEefITS2DxLx0FI40CYVvppYbHsGhtBGl18M6BierotxCpouwFDGsVrgidMOJS6no1RwyV4eWjhw__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
*Canon of Ptolemy ([[Canon of Kings]])
This book provides a list of kings starting with the Neo-Babylonian Empire and ending with the early Roman Emperors. The entries relevant to the ancient Near East run from Nabonassar (747–734 BC) to the Macedonian king Alexander IV
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{{Main|Dendrochronology}}
Dendrochronology attempts to use the variable growth pattern of trees, expressed in their rings, to build up a chronological timeline. At present there are no continuous chronologies for the Near East, and a floating chronology has been developed using trees in Anatolia for the Bronze and Iron Ages. Professor of archaeology at Cornell, Sturt Manning, has spearheaded efforts to use this floating chronology with radiocarbon wiggle-match to anchor the chronology.<ref>
===Radiocarbon dating===
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Radiocarbon dates in literature should be discounted if they do not include the raw C14 date and the calibration method. There have also been issues with dating for charcoal samples, which may reflect much older wood the charcoal was made from. There are also calibration issues with annual and regional C14 variations.<ref>Dee, Michael W., and Benjamin J. S. Pope, "Anchoring Historical Sequences Using a New Source of Astro-Chronological Tie-Points", Proceedings: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, vol. 472, no. 2192, pp. 1–11, 2016</ref> A further problem is that earlier archaeological dates used traditional radiocarbon dating while newer results sometimes come from [[Radiocarbon dating#Accelerator mass spectrometry|Accelerator mass spectrometry]] (AMS) radiocarbon dating which is more accurate. In recent years some properly calibrated radiocarbon dates have begun to appear:
*In 1991 Two grain samples from the Middle Uruk layer of the Uruk Mound at [[Abu Salabikh]] were accelerator radiocarbon dated with calibrated dates of 3520 ± 130 BC.<ref>Susan Pollock, Caroline Steele and Melody Pope, "Investigations on the Uruk Mound, Abu Salabikh, 1990", Iraq, vol. 53, pp. 59–68, 1991</ref> Calibration was based on that of Pearson.<ref>Pearson, G. W. et al., "High precision 14C measurement of Irish oaks to show the natural 14C variation from a.d. 1840 to 5210 b.c.", Radiocarbon 28, pp. 911–34, 1986</ref>
*In 2013 a bone awl from [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]] from Phase 2 in the YWN area, the transition between [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|Early Dynastic]] and Akkadian periods, was accelerator radiocarbon dated to 2471–2299 BC (3905 ± 27 C14 years BP).<ref name="Zaina2015"
*In 2017 charcoal sample from the base area of the Umm Al Nar fortress tower at [[Tell Abraq]] provided a radiocarbon date of 2461–2199 BC (3840±40 C14 years BP). It was calibrated with IntCal13. The [[Umm Al Nar culture|Umm Al Nar]] period is co-temporal with the Akkadian through Ur III periods in Mesopotamia.<ref>Magee, Peter, et al., "Tell Abraq during the second and first millennia BC: Site layout, spatial organisation, and economy", Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 28.2, pp. 209–237, 2017</ref>
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{{Main|Indus Valley civilisation}}
There is much evidence that the Bronze Age civilization of the [[Indus Valley]] traded with the Near East, including clay seals found at Ur III and in the Persian Gulf.<ref>Gadd, C. J., "Seals of Ancient Indian Style Found at Ur". Proceedings of the British Academy 18, pp. 191–210, 1932</ref> Seals and beads were also found at the site of [[Esnunna]].<ref>Henri Frankfort, "The Indus civilization and the Near East", Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology for 1932, Leyden, VI, pp. 1–12, 1934</ref><ref>[https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/31995196/Connections_between_IVC_and_Mesopotamia-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?Expires=1637025058&Signature=NY9HQYPFYXlp~s6yqFlHHrDB5jk2nQSP21oWWnoVeGxvpvuG5h~5-2ZZf13mpwLwBqxQVdMntfP8op6nhEeMS9ZXc~ISgjZgZzIzz36qVg9B1iSuTInPHfJDcQ4n1KMoGnX6n-WvIykCa8e7jLzBnmG7kQiKV8U40aBFHc9Hr0vMDZmJKTtEfdgqAptDGZtwm~p5H8znaAEi0RZtG4XjQ6ARx7uZKXSmB77AvQV-OWzI37ORQ0vd6UpBQxIllV~2QRGtVTpS9ADQR8GNv0dEvr7OGwPqHM7PRKvORGOHsnSjuXdHfjr9XdmVqs08cRoZw-rlSml5Y0ZVvrZILyY0hQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211116001136/https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/31995196/Connections_between_IVC_and_Mesopotamia-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?Expires=1637025058&Signature=NY9HQYPFYXlp~s6yqFlHHrDB5jk2nQSP21oWWnoVeGxvpvuG5h~5-2ZZf13mpwLwBqxQVdMntfP8op6nhEeMS9ZXc~ISgjZgZzIzz36qVg9B1iSuTInPHfJDcQ4n1KMoGnX6n-WvIykCa8e7jLzBnmG7kQiKV8U40aBFHc9Hr0vMDZmJKTtEfdgqAptDGZtwm~p5H8znaAEi0RZtG4XjQ6ARx7uZKXSmB77AvQV-OWzI37ORQ0vd6UpBQxIllV~2QRGtVTpS9ADQR8GNv0dEvr7OGwPqHM7PRKvORGOHsnSjuXdHfjr9XdmVqs08cRoZw-rlSml5Y0ZVvrZILyY0hQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
====Thera and Eastern Mediterranean====
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