Science and Technology of Ancient Civilizations

Over the past five million years, our species has spread from the plains of East Africa to every inhabitable landmass on our planet. Combinations of our technological Know-how, scientific knowledge, and complex societies have allowed humanity to shape and affect our environment more than any of our fellow species, even to the point of our peril.
How did we get to this situation?
What are some of our ancestors' choices as individuals, societies, and species that shaped our history to the present day?
How did we develop those complex societies that let us build the first cities, nations, and empires?
How much control did our ancestors have over their choices?
What did they ascribe to the will of the Gods, and what was the result of human abilities?
How do we in the present day, acknowledge and interact with our cultural inheritance from the ancient world?
The answers to these age-old questions, of course, span some 11,000 years! The evidence looks like we had a fragmented intruder comet sometime about 10,000 BC that ended the Ice Age. This Concept is now the debate of Astronomers in the last decade only.