by horses, a system of weaponry developed earlier in the context of plains warfare. This tool of war was unknown among the classical civilizations. Egypt and Babylonia's foot soldiers were unable to defend against the invaders: in 1630 BC, the Hyksos swept into the Nile Delta, and in 1595 BC, the Hittites swept into Mesopotamia. Late Bronze Age The people in place were quick to adapt to the new tactics, and a new international situation resulted from the change. Though during most of the second half of the 2nd millennium BC several regional powers competed relentlessly for hegemony, many developments occurred: there was new emphasis on grandiose architecture, new clothing fashions, vivid diplomatic correspondence on clay tablets, renewed economic exchanges, and the New Kingdom of Egypt played the role of the main superpower. Among the great states of the time, only Babylon refrained from taking part in battles, mainly due to its new position as the world's religious and intellectual capital. The Bronze Age civilization at its final period of time, displayed all its characteristic social traits: low level of urbanization, small cities centered on temples or royal palaces, strict separation of classes between an illiterate mass of peasants and craftsmen, and a powerful military elite, knowledge of writing and education reserved to a tiny minority of scribes, and pronounced aristocratic life. Near the end of the 2nd millennium BC, new waves of barbarians, this time riding on horseback, wholly destroyed the Bronze Age world, and were to be followed by waves of social changes that marked the beginning of different times. Also contributing to the changes were the Sea Peoples, ship-faring raiders of the Mediterranean. Empires and dynasties Ancient Near East Middle Kingdom of Egypt New Kingdom of Egypt Old Assyrian Empire Middle Assyrian Empire Elam Hittites Old Kingdom in Anatolia Vedic India Kuru Kingdom Bronze Age China Shang Dynasty Zhou Dynasty Prehistoric cultures Europe Europe is still entirely within the prehistoric era; much of Europe enters the Bronze Age early in the 2nd millennium. Aegean civilization Cycladic culture Helladic period Minoan civilization Mycenaean Greece Beaker culture Terramare culture Tumulus culture Unetice culture Urnfield culture Central Asia Andronovo culture Oxus civilization East Asia Erlitou culture Wucheng culture South Asia Ahar–Banas culture Cemetery H culture Indus valley civilization Jorwe culture Malwa culture Ochre Coloured Pottery culture Americas Olmec Sub-Saharan Africa The desiccation of the Sahara is complete. Neolithisation of Sub-Saharan