1700s BC (decade)

Events and trends

• c. 1700 BC – The last woolly mammoth goes extinct on Wrangel Island.
• c. 1700 BC – The city of Knossos on Crete is destroyed by fire.
• c. 1700 BC – Aegean metalworkers begin producing crafts that rival those of the ancient Near East, whose techniques they seem to borrow.
• c. 1700 BC – The Indus Valley Civilization comes to an end and the Cemetery H culture begins.
• c. 1700 BC – Lila-Ir-Tash starts ruling the Elamite Empire.
• c. 1700 BC – Bronze Age starts in China.
• c. 1700 BC – The Oxus civilization ends in today's Central Asia.
• c. 1700 BC – Meteor explosion produces

  Significant people

• Jie of Xia, last ruler of the Xia Dynasty, begins ruling around 1706 BC
• Lila-Ir-Tash, king of the Elamite Empire
• Rim-Sin I, king of the city-state of Larsa
• Hammurabi, king of Babylon