it has been approximately 12000 years since our ancestors constructed what are now the ruins at Gobekli Tepe. But saying it's been exactly 12,000 years would be silly, so let's toss in some variation and call it the present 12,024 years since then. I like this because it puts the history we presently call "ancient" into perspective. By this measure, the bronze age began around the year 6,800 and its collapse happened around the year 8,800. Two thousand years, our species toiled at working bronze. Yes, a lot of explosive progress (some of it literal) happened in the 11,900s, but it took us over eleven thousand years to get there in the first place. We're really not so far from the 11,500s when we were just getting used to connecting the whole globe with transoceanic trade. It seriously stunts our achievements to write off everything that happened prior to year 10,000 as if it were irrelevant.