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{{Neolithic|257}}
The '''Neolithic''' {{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-Neolithic.ogg|ˌ|n|iː|ə|ˈ|l|ɪ|θ|ɪ|k}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Neolithic: definition of Neolithic in Oxford dictionary (British & World English)|url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Neolithic?q=Neolithic}}</ref> '''Age''', '''Era''', or '''Period''', or '''New Stone Age''', was a period in the development of human [[technology]], beginning about 10,200 BC, according to the [[ASPRO chronology]], in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world<ref name="Bellwood">[http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0631205667&pageID=S00N&checkSum=n2ERnZHriUc/fSrW7Myf4CEtIc8x5mVhcabli2BNrEs=# Figure 3.3] from ''First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies'' by [[Peter Bellwood]], 2004</ref> and ending between 4,500 and 2,000 BC.

Traditionally considered the last part of the [[Stone Age]], the Neolithic followed the terminal [[Holocene]] ''[[Epipaleolithic]]'' period and commenced with the beginning of [[History of agriculture|farming]], which produced the "[[Neolithic Revolution]]". It ended when metal tools became widespread (in the [[chalcolithic|Copper Age]] or [[Bronze Age]]; or, in some geographical regions, in the [[Iron Age]]). The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops and of [[domestication|domesticated animals]].<ref>Some archaeologists have long advocated replacing "Neolithic" with a more descriptive term, such as "Early Village Communities", but this has not gained wide acceptance.</ref>

The beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the [[Levant]] ([[Jericho]], modern-day [[West Bank]]) about 10,200 – 8,800 BC. It developed directly from the [[Epipaleolithic]] [[Natufian]] culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild [[cereal]]s, which then evolved into true [[farming]]. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, and the so-called "proto-Neolithic" is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic ([[PPNA]]) between 10,200 and 8,800 BC. As the Natufians had become dependent on wild cereals in their diet, and a sedentary way of life had begun among them, the climatic changes associated with the [[Younger Dryas]] are thought to have forced people to develop farming.

By 10,200–8,800 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to [[Asia Minor]], North Africa and North [[Mesopotamia]]. Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. It has been identified as having "inspired some of the most important developments in human history including the invention of the [[wheel]], the planting of the first cereal [[crop]]s and the development of [[cursive]] script, [[mathematics]], [[astronomy]] and [[agriculture]]."<ref name="historyandpolicy">{{cite web|url=http://www.historyandpolicy.org/papers/policy-paper-13.html|title=Iraq, past, present and future: a thoroughly-modern mandate?|last=Milton-Edwards|first=Beverley|date=May 2003|work=History & Policy|publisher=History & Policy|accessdate=9 December 2010|location=[[United Kingdom]]}}</ref>

Early Neolithic farming was limited to a narrow range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included [[einkorn wheat]], [[millet]] and [[spelt]], and the keeping of [[origin of the domestic dog|dogs]], [[sheep]] and [[goat#History|goats]]. By about 6,900–6,400 BC, it included domesticated [[cattle]] and [[domesticated pig|pigs]], the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, and the use of [[pottery]].<ref>The [[potter's wheel]] was a later refinement that revolutionized the pottery industry.</ref>

Not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order: the earliest farming societies in the [[Ancient Near East|Near East]] did not use pottery. In other parts of the world, such as Africa, [[South Asia]] and Southeast Asia, independent domestication events led to their own regionally distinctive Neolithic cultures that arose completely independently of those in Europe and Southwest Asia. [[Jōmon period|Early Japanese]] societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery ''before'' developing agriculture.<ref>{{cite book| last = Habu| first = Junko| title = Ancient Jomon of Japan| year = 2004| isbn = 978-0-521-77670-7| page = 3 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6089/1696|title=Early Pottery at 20,000 Years Ago in Xianrendong Cave, China|author=Xiaohong Wu|publisher=Sciencemag.org|accessdate=15 January 2015}}</ref>

Unlike the [[Paleolithic]], when more than one human species existed, only one human species (''[[Homo sapiens sapiens]]'') reached the Neolithic.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.worldmuseumofman.org/neolithic.php|title = World Museum of Man: Neolithic / Chalcolithic Period|publisher = World Museum of Man|accessdate = 21 August 2013}}</ref> The term ''Neolithic'' derives from the [[Greek language|Greek]] ''νεολιθικός'', ''neolithikos'', from ''νέος'' ''neos'', "new" + ''λίθος'' ''lithos'', "stone", literally meaning "New [[Stone Age]]". The term was invented by [[John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury|Sir John Lubbock]] in 1865 as a refinement of the [[three-age system]].

== Periods by pottery phase ==
{{Human timeline}}

[[File:Néolithique 0001.jpg|thumb|left|200px|An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools. Neolithic stone artifacts are by definition polished and, except for specialty items, not chipped.]]
{{refimprove section|date=August 2015}}
In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BCE.<ref name=Bellwood /> Early development occurred in the [[Levant]] (e.g., [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic A]] and [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic B]]) and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are also attested in southeastern [[Anatolia]] and northern Mesopotamia by c. 8,000 BCE.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

The [[prehistoric Beifudi site]] near [[Yi County, Hebei|Yixian]] in Hebei Province, China, contains relics of a culture contemporaneous with the [[Cishan culture|Cishan]] and [[Xinglongwa culture|Xinglongwa]] cultures of about 5,000–6,000 BCE, neolithic cultures east of the [[Taihang Mountains]], filling in an archaeological gap between the two Northern Chinese cultures. The total excavated area is more than {{convert|1200|yd2|m2 ha}}, and the collection of neolithic findings at the site encompasses two phases.<ref name="archdis">{{cite web
|url=http://www.kaogu.cn/en/detail.asp?ProductID=982
|title=New Archaeological Discoveries and Researches in 2004 — The Fourth Archaeology Forum of CASS
|publisher=Institute of Archaeology — Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
|accessdate=2007-09-18
}}</ref>

=== Neolithic 1 – Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) ===
The Neolithic 1 (PPNA) period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the [[Levant]].<ref name="Bellwood" /> A temple area in southeastern Turkey at [[Göbekli Tepe]] dated around 9,500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes, evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity and may be the oldest known human-made place of worship.<ref>"The World's First Temple", Archaeology magazine, Nov/Dec 2008 p 23.</ref> At least seven stone circles, covering {{convert|25|acre}}, contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, and birds. Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9,500 to 9,000 BCE have been found in [[Jericho]], [[Israel]] (notably [[Ain Mallaha]], [[Nahal Oren, archeological site|Nahal Oren]], and [[Kfar HaHoresh]]), [[Gilgal I|Gilgal]] in the [[Jordan Valley (Middle East)|Jordan Valley]], and [[Byblos]], [[Lebanon]]. The start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the [[Tahunian]] and [[Heavy Neolithic]] periods to some degree.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming. In the proto-Neolithic [[Natufian]] cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour. [[Emmer wheat]] was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated ([[animal husbandry]] and [[selective breeding]]).{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

In the 21st century, remains of [[Ficus|figs]] were discovered in a house in Jericho dated to 9,400 BCE. The figs are of a mutant variety that cannot be pollinated by insects, and therefore the trees can only reproduce from cuttings. This evidence suggests that figs were the first cultivated crop and mark the invention of the technology of farming. This occurred centuries before the first cultivation of grains.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Early Domesticated Fig in the Jordan Valley|journal=Science|date=2 June 2006|doi=10.1126/science.1125910|pmid=16741119|volume=312|pages=1372–4}}</ref>

Settlements became more permanent with circular houses, much like those of the Natufians, with single rooms. However, these houses were for the first time made of [[mudbrick]]. The settlement had a surrounding stone wall and perhaps a stone tower (as in Jericho). The wall served as protection from nearby groups, as protection from floods, or to keep animals penned. Some of the enclosures also suggest grain and meat storage.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

=== Neolithic 2 – Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) ===
The Neolithic 2 (PPNB) began around 8,800 BCE according to the [[ASPRO chronology]] in the Levant ([[Jericho]], Palestine).<ref name=Bellwood /> As with the PPNA dates, there are two versions from the same laboratories noted above. This system of terminology, however, is not convenient for southeast [[Anatolia]] and settlements of the middle Anatolia basin. This era was before the [[mesolithic|Mesolithic era]].{{citation needed|date=August 2015}} A settlement of 3,000 inhabitants was found in the outskirts of [[Amman]], [[Jordan]]. Considered to be one of the largest prehistoric settlements in the [[Near East]], called [['Ain Ghazal]], it was continuously inhabited from approximately 7,250 – 5,000 B.<ref>https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/architecturebodyperformance/326.html</ref>

Settlements have rectangular mud-brick houses where the family lived together in single or multiple rooms. Burial findings suggest an [[ancestor cult]] where people [[Plastered human skulls|preserved skulls]] of the dead, which were plastered with mud to make facial features. The rest of the corpse could have been left outside the settlement to decay until only the bones were left, then the bones were buried inside the settlement underneath the floor or between houses.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

=== Neolithic 3 – Pottery Neolithic (PN) ===
The Neolithic 3 (PN) began around 6,400 BCE in the [[Fertile Crescent]].<ref name=Bellwood /> By then distinctive cultures emerged, with pottery like the [[Halafian]] (Turkey, Syria, Northern Mesopotamia) and [[Ubaid period|Ubaid]] (Southern Mesopotamia). This period has been further divided into '''PNA''' (Pottery Neolithic A) and '''PNB''' (Pottery Neolithic B) at some sites.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

The Chalcolithic period began about 4500 BCE, then the [[Bronze Age]] began about 3500 BCE, replacing the Neolithic cultures.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

== Periods by region ==

=== Fertile Crescent ===
[[File:20100923 amman37.JPG|thumb|left|[['Ain Ghazal Statues]] found at [['Ain Ghazal]] in [[Jordan]], are considered to be one of the earliest large-scale representations of the human form dating back to around 7250 BC.]]
Around 10,200 BC the first fully developed Neolithic cultures belonging to the phase [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic A]] (PPNA) appeared in the fertile crescent.<ref name=Bellwood /> Around 10,700 to 9,400 BC a settlement was established in Tell Qaramel, 10 miles north of [[Aleppo]]. The settlement included 2 temples dating back to 9,650.<ref name="eduskrypt">[http://www.eduskrypt.pl/yet_another_sensational_discovery_by_polish_archaeologists_in_syria-info-6775.html Yet another sensational discovery by polish archaeologists in Syria]. eduskrypt.pl. 21 June 2006</ref> Around 9000 BC during the PPNA, one of the world's first towns, [[Jericho]], appeared in the Levant. It was surrounded by a stone and marble wall and contained a population of 2000–3000 people and a massive stone tower.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9043547/Jericho "Jericho"], Encyclopædia Britannica</ref> Around 6,400 BC the [[Halaf culture]] appeared in Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, Syria, Anatolia, and Northern Mesopotamia and subsisted on dryland agriculture.

In 1981 a team of researchers from the [[Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée]], including [[Jacques Cauvin]] and Oliver Aurenche divided Near East neolithic chronology into ten periods (0 to 9) based on social, economic and cultural characteristics.<ref name="boustani">Haïdar Boustani, M., [http://www.usj.edu.lb/mpl/pdf/1.pdf The Neolithic of Lebanon in the context of the Near East: State of knowledge] (in French), Annales d'Histoire et d'Archaeologie, Uinversite Saint-Joseph, Beyrouth, Vol. 12–13, 2001–2002. (PDF) . Retrieved on 2011-12-03.</ref> In 2002 [[Danielle Stordeur]] and [[Frédéric Abbès]] advanced this system with a division into five periods. [[Natufian]] (1) between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, [[Khiamian]] (2) between 10,200-8,800 BC, [[PPNA]]: Sultanian (Jericho), [[Mureybet]]ian, early PPNB (''PPNB ancien'') (3) between 8,800-7,600 BC, middle PPNB (''PPNB moyen'') 7,600-6,900 BC, late PPNB (''PPNB récent'') (4) between 7,500 and 7,000 BC and a PPNB (sometimes called PPNC) transitional stage (''PPNB final'') (5) where Halaf and [[dark faced burnished ware]] begin to emerge between 6,900-6,400 BC.<ref>Stordeur, Danielle., Abbès Frédéric., [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/bspf_0249-7638_2002_num_99_3_12712 Du PPNA au PPNB : mise en lumière d'une phase de transition à Jerf el Ahmar (Syrie)], Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, Volume 99, Issue 3, pp. 563–595, 2002</ref> They also advanced the idea of a transitional stage between the PPNA and PPNB between 8,800 and 8,600 BC at sites like [[Jerf el Ahmar]] and [[Tell Aswad]].<ref name="exoriente">[http://www.exoriente.org/associated_projects/ppnd_summary.php PPND – the Platform for Neolithic Radiocarbon Dates – Summary]. exoriente. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.</ref>

=== Southern Mesopotamia ===
Alluvial plains ([[Sumer]]/[[Elam]]). Little rainfall makes [[irrigation]] systems necessary. [[Ubaid period|Ubaid]] culture from 6,900 BC.

=== North Africa ===
[[File:African cave paintings.jpg|thumb|Algerian cave paintings depicting hunting scenes]]

Domestication of [[sheep]] and [[goats]] reached [[Egypt]] from the Near East possibly as early as 6,000 BC.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Sites with Holocene dung deposits in the Eastern Desert of Egypt: Visited by herders?|date = July 2010|pages = 818–828|volume = 74|issue = 7|doi = 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2009.04.014|url = http://www.elenamarinova.net/publications/LinseeleMarinovaVanNeerVermeersch2009_JAE.pdf|last = Linseele|first = V.|journal = Journal of Arid Environments|display-authors=etal}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = http://factsanddetails.com/world.php?itemid=1506|title = EARLY DOMESTICATED ANIMALS|date = March 2011|accessdate = 5 September 2013|website = Facts and Details|last = Hays|first = Jeffrey}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title = The Origins and Development of African Livestock.|last = Blench|first = Roger|publisher = Routledge|year = 1999|isbn = 1-84142-018-2|location = |pages = |last2 = MacDonald|first2 = Kevin C}}</ref> [[Graeme Barker]] states "The first indisputable evidence for domestic plants and animals in the Nile valley is not until the early fifth millennium bc in northern Egypt and a thousand years later further south, in both cases as part of strategies that still relied heavily on fishing, hunting, and the gathering of wild plants" and suggests that these subsistence changes were not due to farmers migrating from the Near East but was an indigenous development, with cereals either indigenous or obtained through exchange.<ref>{{cite book| last = Barker| first = Graeme| title = The Agricultural Revolution in Prehistory: Why Did Foragers Become Farmers?| url = https://books.google.com/?id=-Z2imAEACAAJ&pg=PA292| accessdate = 3 December 2011| date = 25 March 2009| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0-19-955995-4| pages = 292–293 }}</ref> Other scholars argue that the primary stimulus for agriculture and domesticated animals (as well as mud-brick architecture and other Neolithic cultural features) in Egypt was from the Middle East.<ref>{{cite book| author = Alexandra Y. Aĭkhenvalʹd|author2=Robert Malcolm Ward Dixon| title = Areal Diffussion and Genetic Inheritance: Problems in Comparative Linguistics| year = 2006| publisher = Oxford University Press, USA| isbn = 978-0-19-928308-8| page = 35 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book| author = Fekri A. Hassan| title = Droughts, food and culture: ecological change and food security in Africa's later prehistory| url = https://books.google.com/?id=kIPDE7FnODIC&pg=PA164| accessdate = 3 December 2011| year = 2002| publisher = Springer| isbn = 978-0-306-46755-4| pages = 164– }}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last = Shillington| first = Kevin| title = Encyclopedia of African history: A-G| url = https://books.google.com/?id=Ftz_gtO-pngC&pg=PA521| accessdate = 3 December 2011| year = 2005| publisher = CRC Press| isbn = 978-1-57958-245-6| pages = 521– }}</ref>

=== Europe ===
{{Main|Neolithic Europe}}
[[File:Golemata Majka.jpg|thumb|left|160px|Female figure from [[Tumba Madžari]], [[Republic of Macedonia]]]]
[[File:European-late-neolithic-english.svg|thumb|Map showing distribution of some of the main culture complexes in [[Neolithic Europe]], c.3,500 BC]]
[[File:Skara Brae house 1 5.jpg|thumb|[[Skara Brae]], Scotland. Evidence of home furnishings (shelves)]]

In southeast [[Neolithic Europe|Europe]] agrarian societies first appeared in the [[7th millennium BC]], attested by one of the earliest farming sites of Europe, discovered in [[Vashtëmi]], southeastern [[Albania]] and dating back to 6,500 BC.<ref>{{cite web | author=Dawn Fuller| date=April 16, 2012 | title=UC research reveals one of the earliest farming sites in Europe| publisher=Phys.org| url=http://phys.org/news/2012-04-uc-reveals-earliest-farming-sites.html| accessdate=April 18, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | date=April 16, 2012 | title=One of Earliest Farming Sites in Europe Discovered| publisher=ScienceDaily| url=http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120416113013.htm| accessdate=April 18, 2012 }}</ref> Anthropomorphic figurines have been found in the Balkans from 6000 BC,<ref>[http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/HellenicMacedonia/en/img_A11a.html Female figurine, c. 6000 BC, Nea Nikomidia, Macedonia, Veroia, (Archaeological Museum), Greece]. Macedonian-heritage.gr. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.</ref> and in Central Europe by c. 5800 BC ([[La Hoguette#Archeology|La Hoguette]]). Among the earliest cultural complexes of this area are the [[Sesklo]] culture in Thessaly, which later expanded in the Balkans giving rise to [[Kőrös culture|Starčevo-Körös]] (Cris), [[Linearbandkeramik]], and [[Vinča culture|Vinča]]. Through a combination of [[cultural diffusion]] and [[human migration|migration of peoples]], the Neolithic traditions spread west and northwards to reach northwestern Europe by around 4500 BC. The [[Vinča culture]] may have created the earliest system of writing, the [[Vinča signs]], though archaeologist Shan Winn believes they most likely represented [[pictograms]] and [[ideograms]] rather than a truly developed form of writing.<ref>{{cite book|title = Pre-writing in Southeastern Europe: The Sign System of the Vinča Culture ca. 4000 BC|last = Winn|first = Shan|publisher = Western Publishers|year = 1981|isbn = |location = Calgary|pages = }}</ref> The [[Cucuteni-Trypillian culture]] built enormous settlements in Romania, Moldova and Ukraine from 5300 to 2300 BC. The [[megalith]]ic temple complexes of [[Ġgantija]] on the Mediterranean island of [[Gozo Island|Gozo]] (in the Maltese archipelago) and of [[Mnajdra]] (Malta) are notable for their gigantic Neolithic structures, the oldest of which date back to c. 3600 BC. The [[Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni]], [[Paola, Malta|Paola]], Malta, is a subterranean structure excavated c. 2500 BC; originally a sanctuary, it became a [[necropolis]], the only prehistoric underground temple in the world, and showing a degree of artistry in stone sculpture unique in prehistory to the Maltese islands.
After 2500 BC, the Maltese Islands were depopulated for several decades until the arrival of a new influx of [[Bronze Age]] immigrants, a culture that [[cremation|cremated]] its dead and introduced smaller megalithic structures called [[dolmens]] to Malta.<ref>Daniel Cilia, [http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples/linetime.html "Malta Before Common Era", in ''The Megalithic Temples of Malta'']. Retrieved 28 January 2007.</ref> In most cases there are small chambers here, with the cover made of a large slab placed on upright stones. They are claimed to belong to a population certainly different from that which built the previous megalithic temples. It is presumed the population arrived from Sicily because of the similarity of Maltese dolmens to some small constructions found in the largest island of the Mediterranean sea.<ref>S. Piccolo, ''op.cit.'', pp. 33-34.</ref>

=== South and East Asia ===
The earliest Neolithic sites in South Asia are [[Bhirrana]] in [[Haryana]] dated to 7570-6200 BCE, and [[Mehrgarh]], dated to 7500 BC, in the Kachi plain of [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Baluchistan]], Pakistan; the site has evidence of farming (wheat and barley) and herding (cattle, sheep and goats).<ref>Hirst, K. Kris. 2005. [http://archaeology.about.com/od/mterms/g/mehrgarh.htm "Mehrgarh"]. ''Guide to Archaeology''</ref>

In South India, the Neolithic began by 6500 BC and lasted until around 1400 BC when the Megalithic transition period began. South Indian Neolithic is characterized by Ashmounds since 2500 BC in Karnataka region, expanded later to [[Tamil Nadu]].

In East Asia, the earliest sites include [[Nanzhuangtou]] culture around 9500 BC to 9000 BC,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pnas.org/content/109/10/3726.full|title=Early millet use in northern China|author=Xiaoyan Yang|publisher=Pnas.org|accessdate=15 January 2015}}</ref> [[Pengtoushan culture]] around 7500 BC to 6100 BC, and [[Peiligang culture]] around 7000 BC to 5000 BC.

The 'Neolithic' (defined in this paragraph as using polished stone implements) remains a living tradition in small and extremely remote and inaccessible pockets of [[West Papua (region)|West Papua]] (Indonesian New Guinea). Polished stone [[adzes|adze]] and axes are used in the present day ({{As of|2008|lc=ye}}) in areas where the availability of metal implements is limited. This is likely to cease altogether in the next few years as the older generation die off and steel blades and chainsaws prevail.

In 2012, news was released about a new farming site discovered in [[Munam-ri]], [[Goseong, Gangwon|Goseong]], [[Gangwon Province (South Korea)|Gangwon Province]], [[South Korea]], which may be the earliest farmland known to date in east Asia.<ref>The Archaeology News Network. 2012. [http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.fr/2012/06/neolithic-farm-field-found-in-south.html "Neolithic farm field found in South Korea"].</ref> "No remains of an agricultural field from the Neolithic period have been found in any East Asian country before, the institute said, adding that the discovery reveals that the history of agricultural cultivation at least began during the period on the [[Korean Peninsula]]".<ref>The Korea Times. 2012. [https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/06/117_113810.html "East Asia's oldest remains of agricultural field found in Korea"].</ref> The farm was dated between 3600 and 3000 B.C. Pottery, stone projectile points, and possible houses were also found. "In 2002, researchers discovered prehistoric [[earthenware]], [[jade]] earrings, among other items in the area". The research team will perform [[accelerator mass spectrometry]] (AMS) dating to retrieve a more precise date for the site.

=== America ===
In [[Mesoamerican chronology|Mesoamerica]], a similar set of events (i.e., crop domestication and sedentary lifestyles) occurred by around 4500 BC, but possibly as early as 11,000–10,000 BC. These cultures are usually not referred to as belonging to the Neolithic; in America [[List of archaeological periods (North America)|different terms]] are used such as [[Formative stage]] instead of mid-late Neolithic, [[Archaic period in the Americas|Archaic Era]] instead of Early Neolithic and [[Paleo-Indians|Paleo-Indian]] for the preceding period.<ref name="W&P">{{cite book| author = Gordon R. Willey and Philip Phillips|author2=Philip Phillips| title = Method and Theory in American Archaeology| year = 1957| publisher = University of Chicago Press| isbn = 0-226-89888-1 }}</ref> The Formative stage is equivalent to the [[Neolithic Revolution]] period in Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the Southwestern United States it occurred from 500 to 1200 C.E. when there was a dramatic increase in population and development of large villages supported by agriculture based on [[dryland farming]] of maize, and later, beans, squash, and domesticated turkeys. During this period the bow and arrow and ceramic pottery were also introduced.<ref name="NRSW">{{cite journal|author=Kohler TA, M Glaude, JP Bocquet-Appel and Brian M Kemp|title=The Neolithic Demographic Transition in the North American Southwest|journal=American Antiquity |year=2008|volume=73|issue=4|pages=645–669|accessdate=June 10, 2012}}</ref>

== Social organization ==
[[File:Néolithique 0008.jpg|thumb|left|Anthropomorphic Neolithic figurine]]
[[File:MotherGoddessFertility.JPG|thumb|left|Anthropomorphic Female Neolithic ceramic figurine]]

During most of the Neolithic age of [[Eurasia]], people lived in small [[tribe]]s composed of multiple bands or lineages.<ref name="Leonard D. Katz Rigby 2000 352">{{cite book| author = Leonard D. Katz Rigby|author2=S. Stephen Henry Rigby| title = Evolutionary Origins of Morality: Cross-disciplinary Perspectives| url = https://books.google.com/?id=6wFHth05xkoC&pg=PA158| year = 2000| publisher = Imprint Academic| location = United kingdom| isbn = 0-7190-5612-8| page = 158 }}</ref> There is little [[scientific evidence]] of developed [[social stratification]] in most Neolithic societies; social stratification is more associated with the later [[Bronze Age]].<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Langer| first1 = Jonas| last2 = Killen| first2 = Melanie| title = Piaget, evolution, and development| url = https://books.google.com/?id=aF5MHvaju9cC&pg=PA258| accessdate = 3 December 2011| year = 1998| publisher = Psychology Press| isbn = 978-0-8058-2210-6| pages = 258– }}</ref> Although some late Eurasian Neolithic societies formed complex stratified chiefdoms or even states, states evolved in Eurasia only with the rise of metallurgy, and most Neolithic societies on the whole were relatively simple and egalitarian.<ref name="Leonard D. Katz Rigby 2000 352" /> Beyond Eurasia, however, states were formed during the local Neolithic in three areas, namely in the [[Cultural periods of Peru|Preceramic Andes]] with the [[Norte Chico civilization|Norte Chico Civilization]],<ref>{{cite web|title=The Oldest Civilization in the Americas Revealed|url=http://charlesmann.org/articles/Norte-chico-Science-01-05.pdf|website=CharlesMann|publisher=Science|accessdate=9 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=First Andes Civilization Explored|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4115421.stm|accessdate=9 October 2015|agency=BBC NEWS|date=22 December 2004}}</ref> [[Mesoamerican chronology|Formative Mesoamerica]] and [[Ancient Hawaii|Ancient Hawaiʻi]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hommon|first1=Robert J.|title=The ancient Hawaiian state : origins of a political society|date=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-991612-2|edition=First}}</ref> However, most Neolithic societies were noticeably more hierarchical than the [[Paleolithic]] cultures that preceded them and [[hunter-gatherer]] cultures in general.<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555928_5/Stone_Age.html#howtocite "Stone Age," Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997–2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Kathy Schick, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. and Nicholas Toth, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. [http://www.webcitation.org/5kyWqKoah Archived] 2009-11-01.</ref><ref name="b1">{{cite book| author = Russell Dale Guthrie| title = The nature of Paleolithic art| url = https://books.google.com/?id=3u6JNwMyMCEC&pg=PA420| accessdate = 3 December 2011| year = 2005| publisher = University of Chicago Press| isbn = 978-0-226-31126-5| pages = 420– }}</ref>

The [[Domestication of animals|domestication]] of [[Megafauna|large animals]] ([[Circa|c.]] 8000 BC) resulted in a dramatic increase in social inequality in most of the areas where it occurred; [[Agriculture in Papua New Guinea|New Guinea]] being a notable exception.<ref>{{cite web|title=Farming Pioneered in Ancient New Guinea|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17824012.300-farming-pioneered-in-ancient-new-guinea/|website=New Scientist|publisher=New Scientist|accessdate=9 October 2015}}</ref> Possession of livestock allowed competition between households and resulted in inherited inequalities of wealth. Neolithic pastoralists who controlled large herds gradually acquired more livestock, and this made economic inequalities more pronounced.<ref name="Bahn, Paul 1996">Bahn, Paul (1996) "The atlas of world archeology" Copyright 2000 The brown Reference Group plc</ref> However, evidence of social inequality is still disputed, as settlements such as [[Catal Huyuk]] reveal a striking lack of difference in the size of homes and burial sites, suggesting a more egalitarian society with no evidence of the concept of capital, although some homes do appear slightly larger or more elaborately decorated than others.

Families and households were still largely independent economically, and the household was probably the center of life.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.mama.org/exhibits/ancient/prehistoric/|title = Prehistoric Cultures|publisher = Museum of Ancient and Modern Art|year = 2010|accessdate = 5 September 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = http://archaeology.about.com/cs/religionandmagic/a/catalhoyuk.htm|title = Çatalhöyük: Urban Life in Neolithic Anatolia|date = |publisher = About.com|website = About.com Archaeology|last = Hirst|first = K. Kris|accessdate = 5 September 2013}}</ref> However, excavations in [[Central Europe]] have revealed that early Neolithic [[Linear Ceramic culture]]s ("''Linearbandkeramik''") were building large arrangements of [[circular ditches]] between 4800 BC and 4600 BC. These structures (and their later counterparts such as [[causewayed enclosure]]s, [[burial mound]]s, and [[henges|henge]]) required considerable time and labour to construct, which suggests that some influential individuals were able to organise and direct human labour — though non-hierarchical and voluntary work remain possibilities.

There is a large body of evidence for fortified settlements at ''Linearbandkeramik'' sites along the [[Rhine]], as at least some villages were fortified for some time with a [[palisade]] and an outer ditch.<ref>[http://www.holysmoke.org/fem/fem0156.htm Idyllic Theory of Goddess Creates Storm]. Holysmoke.org. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.</ref><ref>Krause (1998) under External links, places.</ref> Settlements with palisades and weapon-traumatized bones have been discovered, such as at the [[Talheim Death Pit]] demonstrates "...systematic violence between groups" and warfare was probably much more common during the Neolithic than in the preceding Paleolithic period.<ref name=b1 /> This supplanted an earlier view of the Linear Pottery Culture as living a "peaceful, unfortified lifestyle".<ref>Gimbutas (1991) page 143.</ref>

Control of labour and inter-group conflict is characteristic of corporate-level or 'tribal' groups, headed by a charismatic individual; whether a '[[Big man (anthropology)|big man]]' or a proto-[[Tribal chief|chief]], functioning as a lineage-group head. Whether a non-hierarchical system of organization existed is debatable, and there is no evidence that explicitly suggests that Neolithic societies functioned under any dominating class or individual, as was the case in the [[chiefdoms]] of the European [[Bronze Age|Early Bronze Age]].<ref>{{cite book| last = Kuijt| first = Ian| title = Life in Neolithic farming communities: social organization, identity, and differentiation| url = https://books.google.com/?id=COrVxJI3iNUC&pg=PA317| accessdate = 3 December 2011| date = 30 June 2000| publisher = Springer| isbn = 978-0-306-46122-4| pages = 317– }}</ref> Theories to explain the apparent implied egalitarianism of Neolithic (and Paleolithic) societies have arisen, notably the [[Marxist]] concept of [[primitive communism]].

== Shelter ==
[[File:Neolithic house.JPG|thumb|Reconstruction of Neolithic house in [[Tuzla]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]]]

The shelter of the early people changed dramatically from the [[paleolithic]] to the neolithic era. In the paleolithic, people did not normally live in permanent constructions. In the neolithic, mud brick houses started appearing that were coated with plaster.<ref name="firstcity">[http://www2.bc.edu/~mcdonadh/course/huyuk.html Shane, Orrin C. III, and Mine Küçuk. "The World's First City."] Archaeology 51.2 (1998): 43–47.</ref> The growth of agriculture made permanent houses possible. Doorways were made on the roof, with ladders positioned both on the inside and outside of the houses.<ref name=firstcity /> The roof was supported by beams from the inside. The rough ground was covered by platforms, mats, and skins on which residents slept.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Prehistoric Textiles:The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages with Special Reference to the Aegean|last = Barber|first = E. J. W.|publisher = Princeton University Press|year = 1991|isbn = 0-691-00224-X|location = |pages = }}</ref> [[Stilt-houses]] settlements were common in the [[Alps|Alpine]] and [[Pianura Padana]] ([[Terramare]]) region.<ref name="Ertl2008">{{cite book| author = Alan W. Ertl| title = Toward an Understanding of Europe: A Political Economic Précis of Continental Integration| url = https://books.google.com/?id=X9PGRaZt-zcC&pg=PA308| accessdate = 28 March 2011| date = 15 August 2008| publisher = Universal-Publishers| isbn = 978-1-59942-983-0| page = 308 }}</ref> Remains have been found at the [[Ljubljana Marshes]] in [[Slovenia]] and at the [[Mondsee (lake)|Mondsee]] and [[Attersee (lake)|Attersee]] lakes in [[Upper Austria]], for example.

== Farming ==
{{Main|Neolithic Revolution}}
[[File:CucuteniAgriculture.JPG|thumb|left|A [[Cucuteni-Trypillian culture]] [[antler|deer antler]] [[Ard (plough)|plough]]]]
[[File:HMB Essen und Kochgerät Jungsteinzeit.jpg|thumb|left|Food and cooking items retrieved at a European Neolithic site: [[millstone]]s, charred bread, grains and small apples, a clay cooking pot, and containers made of antlers and wood]]

A significant and far-reaching shift in human [[subsistence]] and lifestyle was to be brought about in areas where crop [[farm]]ing and cultivation were first developed: the previous reliance on an essentially [[nomad]]ic [[hunter-gatherer]] [[list of subsistence techniques|subsistence technique]] or [[Transhumance|pastoral transhumance]] was at first supplemented, and then increasingly replaced by, a reliance upon the foods produced from cultivated lands. These developments are also believed to have greatly encouraged the growth of settlements, since it may be supposed that the increased need to spend more time and labor in tending crop fields required more localized dwellings. This trend would continue into the Bronze Age, eventually giving rise to permanently settled farming [[town]]s, and later [[city|cities]] and [[State (polity)|states]] whose larger populations could be sustained by the increased productivity from cultivated lands.

The profound differences in human interactions and subsistence methods associated with the onset of early agricultural practices in the Neolithic have been called the ''[[Neolithic Revolution]]'', a term [[neologism|coined]] in the 1920s by the Australian archaeologist [[Vere Gordon Childe]].

One potential benefit of the development and increasing sophistication of farming technology was the possibility of producing surplus crop yields, in other words, food supplies in excess of the immediate needs of the community. Surpluses could be stored for later use, or possibly traded for other necessities or luxuries. Agricultural life afforded securities that pastoral life could not, and sedentary farming populations grew faster than nomadic.

However, early farmers were also adversely affected in times of [[famine]], such as may be caused by [[drought]] or [[pest control|pests]]. In instances where agriculture had become the predominant way of life, the sensitivity to these shortages could be particularly acute, affecting agrarian populations to an extent that otherwise may not have been routinely experienced by prior hunter-gatherer communities.<ref name="Bahn, Paul 1996" /> Nevertheless, agrarian communities generally proved successful, and their growth and the expansion of territory under cultivation continued.

Another significant change undergone by many of these newly agrarian communities was one of [[diet (nutrition)|diet]]. Pre-agrarian diets varied by region, season, available local plant and animal resources and degree of pastoralism and hunting. Post-agrarian diet was restricted to a limited package of successfully cultivated cereal grains, plants and to a variable extent domesticated animals and animal products. Supplementation of diet by hunting and gathering was to variable degrees precluded by the increase in population above the carrying capacity of the land and a high sedentary local population concentration. In some cultures, there would have been a significant shift toward increased starch and plant protein. The relative nutritional benefits and drawbacks of these dietary changes and their overall impact on early societal development is still debated.

In addition, increased population density, decreased population mobility, increased continuous proximity to domesticated animals, and continuous occupation of comparatively population-dense sites would have altered [[sanitation]] needs and patterns of [[disease]].

== Technology ==
{{Main|Stone tool#Neolithic industries}}

The identifying characteristic of Neolithic technology is the use of polished or ground stone tools, in contrast to the flaked stone tools used during the Paleolithic era.

Neolithic people were skilled farmers, manufacturing a range of tools necessary for the tending, harvesting and processing of crops (such as [[sickle]] blades and [[grinding stone]]s) and food production (e.g. [[pottery]], bone implements). They were also skilled manufacturers of a range of other types of stone tools and ornaments, including [[projectile point]]s, [[bead]]s, and [[statuette]]s. But what allowed forest clearance on a large scale was the polished [[stone axe]] above all other tools. Together with the [[adze]], fashioning wood for shelter, structures and [[canoe]]s for example, this enabled them to exploit their newly won farmland.

Neolithic peoples in the Levant, Anatolia, Syria, northern Mesopotamia and [[Central Asia]] were also accomplished builders, utilizing mud-brick to construct houses and villages. At [[Çatalhöyük]], houses were [[plaster]]ed and painted with elaborate scenes of humans and animals. In [[Europe]], [[Neolithic long house|long houses]] built from [[wattle and daub]] were constructed. Elaborate [[tomb]]s were built for the dead. These tombs are particularly numerous in [[Ireland]], where there are many thousand still in existence. Neolithic people in the [[British Isles]] built [[long barrow]]s and [[chamber tomb]]s for their dead and [[causewayed camp]]s, henges, flint mines and [[cursus]] monuments. It was also important to figure out ways of preserving food for future months, such as fashioning relatively airtight containers, and using substances like [[salt]] as preservatives.

The peoples of the [[Americas]] and the [[Pacific]] mostly retained the Neolithic level of tool [[technology]] until the time of European contact. Exceptions include copper [[hatchet]]s and [[spear]]heads in the [[Great Lakes (North America)|Great Lakes]] region.

== Clothing ==
Most clothing appears to have been made of animal skins, as indicated by finds of large numbers of bone and antler pins which are ideal for fastening leather. [[woolen|Wool]] cloth and [[linen]] might have become available during the later Neolithic,<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.academia.edu/203730/Smooth_and_cool_or_warm_and_soft_investigating_the_properties_of_cloth_in_prehistory|title = Smooth and Cool, or Warm and Soft: Investigatingthe Properties of Cloth in Prehistory|last = Harris|first = Susanna|year = 2009|website = North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles X|accessdate = 5 September 2013|publisher = Academia.edu}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.mitchellteachers.org/WorldHistory/MrMEarlyHumansProject/PDFs/PaleolithictoNeolithicDescriptions.pdf|title = Aspects of Life During the Neolithic Period|accessdate = 5 September 2013|website = |publisher = Teachers' Curriculum Institute}}</ref> as suggested by finds of perforated stones which (depending on size) may have served as [[Spindle (textiles)|spindle whorls]] or [[loom]] weights.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.academia.edu/1587878/Pierced_clay_disks_and_Late_Neolithic_textile_production_Gibbs_2008_|title = Pierced clay disks and Late Neolithic textile production|publisher = Academia.org|last = Gibbs|first = Kevin T.|accessdate = 5 September 2013|year = 2006|website = Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title = Unraveling the Enigma of the Bi: The Spindle Whorl as the Model of the Ritual Disk|year = 1993|url = http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/17022/?sequence=1|last = Green|first = Jean M|journal = Asian Perspectives|accessdate = |publisher = University of Hawai'i Press|issue = 1|volume = 32|pages = 105–24}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title = The clay loom weight, in: Early Neolithic ritual activity, Bronze Age occupation and medieval activity at Pitlethie Road, Leuchars, Fife|year = 2007|journal = Tayside And Fife Archaeological Journal|last = Cook|first = M|volume = 13|pages = 1–23}}</ref> The clothing worn in the Neolithic Age might be similar to that worn by [[Ötzi the Iceman]], although he was not Neolithic (since he belonged to the later [[Copper age]]).

== Early settlements ==
[[File:tripolye hut.jpg|thumb|right|Reconstruction of a Cucuteni-Trypillian hut, in the Tripillian Museum, Ukraine.]]

{{List to table|date=February 2016}}Neolithic [[List of archaeological sites|human settlements]] include:
* [[Göbekli Tepe]] in Turkey, c. 11,000–9000 BC
* [[Guilá Naquitz Cave]] in [[Oaxaca]], [[Mexico]],c. 11,000 BC
* [[Tell Qaramel]] in [[Syria]], 10,700–9400 BC
* [[Franchthi Cave]] in [[Greece]], epipalaeolithic (c. 10,000 BC) settlement, reoccupied between 7500 and 6000 BC
* [[Nanzhuangtou]] in [[Hebei]], [[China]], 9500-9000 BC
* [[Byblos]] in [[Lebanon]] believed to have been occupied first between 8800 and 7000 BC,<ref name="PeltenburgWasse2004a">{{cite book|author1=E. J. Peltenburg|author2=Alexander Wasse|author3=Council for British Research in the Levant|title=Garfinkel, Yosef., "Néolithique" and "Énéolithique" Byblos in Southern Levantine Context* in Neolithic revolution: new perspectives on southwest Asia in light of recent discoveries on Cyprus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6mKBAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=18 January 2012|year=2004|publisher=Oxbow Books|isbn=978-1-84217-132-5}}</ref>
* [[Jericho]] in [[West bank]], Neolithic from around 8350 BC, arising from the earlier [[Epipaleolithic]] [[Natufian culture]]
* [[Aşıklı Höyük]] in [[Central Anatolia]], [[Turkey]], an Aceramic Neolithic period settlement, 8200–7400 BC, correlating with the E/MPPNB in the Levant.
* [[Nevali Cori]] in [[Turkey]], c. 8000 BC
[[File:CatalHoyukSouthArea.JPG|thumb|right|The Archaeological Site of [[Çatal Hüyük]] in the [[Konya]] Plain in [[Turkey]]|200px]]
* [[Pengtoushan culture]] in [[China]], 7500–6100 BC, rice residues were carbon-14 dated to 8200–7800 BC in [[type site]]
* [[Çatalhöyük]] in [[Turkey]], 7500 BC
* [['Ain Ghazal]] in [[Jordan]], 7250–5000 BC
* [[Chogha Bonut]] in [[Iran]], 7200 BC
* [[Jhusi]] in [[India]], 7100 BC
* [[Ganj Dareh]] in [[Iran]], c. 7000 BC
* [[Lahuradewa]] in [[India]], 7000 BC<ref name="Thanjan2011">{{cite book| author = Davis K. Thanjan| title = Pebbles| url = https://books.google.com/?id=P9BLBh7XqnkC&pg=PA31| accessdate = 4 July 2011| date = 12 January 2011| publisher = Bookstand Publishing| isbn = 978-1-58909-817-6| pages = 31– }}</ref>
* [[Jiahu]] in [[China]], 7000 to 5800 BC
* [[Mehrgarh]] in [[Pakistan]], 7000 BC
* [[Knossus]] in [[Crete]], c. 7000 BC
* [[Khirokitia]] in [[Cyprus]], c. 7000-4000 BC
* [[Sesklo]] in [[Greece]], 6850 BC (with a ±660-year margin of error)
* [[Porodin]] in [[Republic of Macedonia]], 6500 BC<ref name="eliznik">[http://www.eliznik.org.uk/EastEurope/History/balkans-map/developed-neolithic.htm#nogo Developed Neolithic period, 5500 BC]. Eliznik.org.uk. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.</ref>
* [[Padah-Lin Caves]] in [[Burma]], c. 6000 BC
* [[Petnica]] in [[Serbia]], 6000 BC
* [[Stara Zagora]] in [[Bulgaria]], 5500 BC
* [[Cucuteni-Trypillian culture]], 5500–2750 BC, in [[Ukraine]], [[Moldova]] and [[Romania]] first salt works
* [[Tell Zeidan]] in northern Syria, from about 5500 to 4000 BC.
* around 2000 settlements of [[Trypillian culture]], 5400–2800 BC
* [[Tabon Cave]] Complex in [[Quezon, Palawan]], [[Philippines]] 5000–2000 BC<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://masterpieces.asemus.museum/masterpiece/detail.nhn?objectId=11070|title = Manunggul Burial Jar|accessdate = 5 September 2013|website = Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces|publisher = }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nationalmuseumbeta/ASBMD/Tabon.html|title = Tabon Cave Complex|website = |year = 2011|accessdate = 5 September 2013|publisher = National Museum of the Philippines}}</ref>
* [[Hemudu culture]] in [[China]], 5000–4500 BC, large-scale rice plantation
* The [[Megalithic Temples of Malta]], 3600 BC
* [[Knap of Howar]] and [[Skara Brae]], [[Orkney]], [[Prehistoric Scotland|Scotland]], from 3500 BC and 3100 BC respectively
* [[Brú na Bóinne]] in [[Ireland]], c. 3500 BC
* [[Lough Gur]] in [[Ireland]] from around 3000 BC
* [[Norte Chico civilization]], from 3000 to 1700 BC, 30 Aceramic Neolithic period settlements in Northern Coastal [[Peru]]
* [[Tichit]] Neolithic village on the [[Tagant Plateau]] in central southern [[Mauritania]], 2000–500 BC
* [[Oaxaca]], state in [[Southwestern Mexico]], by 2000 BC Neolithic sedentary villages had been established in the Central Valleys region of this state.
* [[Lajia]] in [[China]], 2000 BC
* [[Mumun pottery period]], Neolithic revolution spreads down the Korean Peninsula and permanent settlements are established 1800–1500 BC, Neolithic revolution reaches Japan around 500–300 BC
The world's oldest known engineered [[roadway]], the [[Sweet Track]] in [[England]], dates from 3800 BC and the world's oldest free-standing structure is the neolithic temple of [[Ggantija]] in [[Gozo]], [[Malta]].

== List of cultures and sites ==
[[File:Orkney Skara Brae.jpg|thumb|right|280px|Excavated dwellings at [[Skara Brae]] (Orkney, Scotland), Europe's most complete Neolithic village]]

''Note: Dates are very approximate, and are only given for a rough estimate; consult each culture for specific time periods.''

'''Early Neolithic''' <br />{{anchor|Early Neolithic}}
''Periodization: [[Neolithic#Neolithic 1 – Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA)|The Levant]]: 10,000 to 8500 BC; [[Mesolithic Europe|Europe]]: 5000 to 4000 BC; Elsewhere: varies greatly, depending on region.''
* [[Beixin culture]]
* [[Cishan culture]]
* [[Dudeşti culture]]
* [[Franchthi Cave]] people
** Earliest European Neolithic site: 20th to 3rd millennium BC
* [[Sesclo]] village culture
* [[Starčevo–Kőrös–Criş culture|Starcevo-Criş culture]]
** (also known as the [[Starčevo culture|Starčevo-Körös-Criş culture]])
* [[Nanzhuangtou]]

'''Middle Neolithic''' <br />{{anchor|Middle Neolithic}}
''Periodization: [[Neolithic#Neolithic 2 – Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB)|The Levant]]: 8500 to 6500 BC; [[Neolithic Europe|Europe]]: 4000 to 3500 BC; Elsewhere: varies greatly, depending on region.''

{{div col||25em}}
* [[Baodun culture]]
** [[Jinsha (archaeological site)|Jinsha settlement]] and [[Sanxingdui]] mound.
* [[Catalhoyuk]]
* [[Cardium Pottery]] culture
* [[Comb Ceramic culture]]
* [[Corded Ware]] culture
* [[Cortaillod culture]]
* [[Cucuteni-Trypillian culture]]
* [[Dadiwan culture]]
* [[Dawenkou culture]]
* [[Daxi culture]]
** [[Chengtoushan]] settlement
* [[Grooved ware people]]
** [[Skara Brae]], et al.
* [[Erlitou culture]]
** [[Xia Dynasty]]
* [[Ertebølle culture]]
* [[Hembury]] culture
* [[Hemudu culture]]
* [[Hongshan culture]]
* [[Houli culture]]
* [[Horgen]] culture
* [[Liangzhu culture]]
* [[Linear Pottery culture]]
** [[Goseck circle]], [[Circular ditches|et al.]]
* [[Longshan culture]]
* [[Majiabang culture]]
* [[Majiayao culture]]
* [[Peiligang culture]]
* [[Pengtoushan culture]]
* [[Pfyn culture]]
* [[Cucuteni-Trypillian culture|Precucuteni culture]]
* [[Qujialing culture]]
* [[Shijiahe culture]]
* [[Cucuteni-Trypillian culture|Trypillian culture]]
* [[Vinča culture]]
* [[Windmill Hill culture]]
** [[Stonehenge]]
* [[Xinglongwa culture]]
** [[Beifudi]] site
* [[Xinle culture]]
* [[Yangshao culture]]
** [[Banpo]] and [[Xishuipo]] settlements.
* [[Zhaobaogou culture]]
{{div col end}}

'''Later Neolithic''' <br />{{anchor|Late Neolithic}}
''[[Neolithic#Neolithic 3 – Pottery Neolithic (PN)|Periodization]]: 6500 to 4500 BC; [[Neolithic Europe|Europe]]: 3500 to 3000 BC; Elsewhere: varies greatly, depending on region.''

;Eneolithic
{{Main|Eneolithic}}
''Periodization: [[Copper Age|Middle East]]: 4500 to 3300 BC; [[Chalcolithic Europe|Europe]]: 3000 to 1700 BC; [[Metallurgy in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica|Elsewhere]]: varies greatly, depending on region. In the Americas, the Eneolithic ended as late as the 1800s for some people.''
* [[Beaker culture]]
* [[Cucuteni-Trypillian culture]]
* [[Funnelbeaker culture]]
* [[Gaudo Culture]]
* [[Lengyel culture]]
* [[Varna culture]]

== See also ==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break|width=50%}}
* [[Céide Fields]]
* [[Megalith]]
* [[Neolithic Europe]]
* [[Neolithic Revolution]]
* [[Prehistoric religion#Neolithic|Neolithic religion]]
{{col-break|width=50%}}
* [[Neolithic tomb]]
* [[Ötzi]]
* [[Paleolithic]]
* [[Rock art of the Djelfa region]]
* [[Two layer hypothesis]]
{{col-end}}

== Footnotes ==
<!--This article uses the Cite.php citation mechanism. If you would like more information on how to add references to this article, please see http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Cite/Cite.php -->
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Bellwood |first=Peter |title=First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies |year=2004 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=0-631-20566-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Pedersen |first=Hilthart |title=Die Jüngere Steinzeit Auf Bornholm |year=2008 |publisher=GRIN Verlag |isbn=978-3-638-94559-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Piccolo |first=Salvatore |title=Ancient Stones: The Prehistoric Dolmens of Sicily |year=2013 |publisher=Brazen Head Publishing |location=Abingdon/GB |isbn=978-0-9565106-2-4}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category multi|Neolithic|Neolithic artefacts}}
*Romeo, Nick (Feb. 2015). [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/02/150220-embracing-skeletons-greece-diros-alepotrypa-cave-archaeology/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_tw20150220news-stoneagecouple&utm_campaign=Content&sf7569811=1 Embracing Stone Age Couple Found in Greek Cave]. "Rare double burials discovered at one of the largest Neolithic burial sites in Europe." ''[[National Geographic Society]]''
* {{cite web|last=McNamara|first=John|title=Neolithic Period|publisher=World Museum of Man|year=2005|url=http://worldmuseumofman.org/neolithic1.htm|accessdate=2008-04-14}}
* M.T.C. Affonso and E. Pernicka 2000 [http://dx.doi.org/10.11141/ia.9.4 'Pre-Pottery Neolithic Clay Figurines from Nevali Çori, Turkey'] Internet Archaeology
* {{cite news|last=Rincon|first=Paul|title=Brutal lives of Stone Age Britons|publisher=BBC News|date= 11 May 2006|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4757861.stm|accessdate=2008-04-14}}
* [http://anthropology.rice.edu/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=472 Current Directions in West African Prehistory – McIntosh & McIntosh (1983)]
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Neolithic |short=x}}

{{Prehistoric Asia}}
{{Prehistoric technology| state=expanded}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Neolithic| ]]
[[Category:Holocene]]

Revision as of 23:17, 6 September 2016

The Neolithic /ˌnəˈlɪθɪk/ [1] Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 10,200 BC, according to the ASPRO chronology, in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world[2] and ending between 4,500 and 2,000 BC.

Traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age, the Neolithic followed the terminal Holocene Epipaleolithic period and commenced with the beginning of farming, which produced the "Neolithic Revolution". It ended when metal tools became widespread (in the Copper Age or Bronze Age; or, in some geographical regions, in the Iron Age). The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops and of domesticated animals.[3]

The beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant (Jericho, modern-day West Bank) about 10,200 – 8,800 BC. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, and the so-called "proto-Neolithic" is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPNA) between 10,200 and 8,800 BC. As the Natufians had become dependent on wild cereals in their diet, and a sedentary way of life had begun among them, the climatic changes associated with the Younger Dryas are thought to have forced people to develop farming.

By 10,200–8,800 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa and North Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. It has been identified as having "inspired some of the most important developments in human history including the invention of the wheel, the planting of the first cereal crops and the development of cursive script, mathematics, astronomy and agriculture."[4]

Early Neolithic farming was limited to a narrow range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep and goats. By about 6,900–6,400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, and the use of pottery.[5]

Not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order: the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. In other parts of the world, such as Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, independent domestication events led to their own regionally distinctive Neolithic cultures that arose completely independently of those in Europe and Southwest Asia. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture.[6][7]

Unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species (Homo sapiens sapiens) reached the Neolithic.[8] The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νεολιθικός, neolithikos, from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos, "stone", literally meaning "New Stone Age". The term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system.

Periods by pottery phase

An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools. Neolithic stone artifacts are by definition polished and, except for specialty items, not chipped.

In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BCE.[2] Early development occurred in the Levant (e.g., Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B) and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are also attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by c. 8,000 BCE.[citation needed]

The prehistoric Beifudi site near Yixian in Hebei Province, China, contains relics of a culture contemporaneous with the Cishan and Xinglongwa cultures of about 5,000–6,000 BCE, neolithic cultures east of the Taihang Mountains, filling in an archaeological gap between the two Northern Chinese cultures. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards (1,000 m2; 0.10 ha), and the collection of neolithic findings at the site encompasses two phases.[9]

Neolithic 1 – Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA)

The Neolithic 1 (PPNA) period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the Levant.[2] A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated around 9,500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes, evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity and may be the oldest known human-made place of worship.[10] At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres (10 ha), contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, and birds. Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9,500 to 9,000 BCE have been found in Jericho, Israel (notably Ain Mallaha, Nahal Oren, and Kfar HaHoresh), Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, and Byblos, Lebanon. The start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree.[citation needed]

The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming. In the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour. Emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated (animal husbandry and selective breeding).[citation needed]

In the 21st century, remains of figs were discovered in a house in Jericho dated to 9,400 BCE. The figs are of a mutant variety that cannot be pollinated by insects, and therefore the trees can only reproduce from cuttings. This evidence suggests that figs were the first cultivated crop and mark the invention of the technology of farming. This occurred centuries before the first cultivation of grains.[11]

Settlements became more permanent with circular houses, much like those of the Natufians, with single rooms. However, these houses were for the first time made of mudbrick. The settlement had a surrounding stone wall and perhaps a stone tower (as in Jericho). The wall served as protection from nearby groups, as protection from floods, or to keep animals penned. Some of the enclosures also suggest grain and meat storage.[citation needed]

Neolithic 2 – Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB)

The Neolithic 2 (PPNB) began around 8,800 BCE according to the ASPRO chronology in the Levant (Jericho, Palestine).[2] As with the PPNA dates, there are two versions from the same laboratories noted above. This system of terminology, however, is not convenient for southeast Anatolia and settlements of the middle Anatolia basin. This era was before the Mesolithic era.[citation needed] A settlement of 3,000 inhabitants was found in the outskirts of Amman, Jordan. Considered to be one of the largest prehistoric settlements in the Near East, called 'Ain Ghazal, it was continuously inhabited from approximately 7,250 – 5,000 B.[12]

Settlements have rectangular mud-brick houses where the family lived together in single or multiple rooms. Burial findings suggest an ancestor cult where people preserved skulls of the dead, which were plastered with mud to make facial features. The rest of the corpse could have been left outside the settlement to decay until only the bones were left, then the bones were buried inside the settlement underneath the floor or between houses.[citation needed]

Neolithic 3 – Pottery Neolithic (PN)

The Neolithic 3 (PN) began around 6,400 BCE in the Fertile Crescent.[2] By then distinctive cultures emerged, with pottery like the Halafian (Turkey, Syria, Northern Mesopotamia) and Ubaid (Southern Mesopotamia). This period has been further divided into PNA (Pottery Neolithic A) and PNB (Pottery Neolithic B) at some sites.[citation needed]

The Chalcolithic period began about 4500 BCE, then the Bronze Age began about 3500 BCE, replacing the Neolithic cultures.[citation needed]

Periods by region

Fertile Crescent

'Ain Ghazal Statues found at 'Ain Ghazal in Jordan, are considered to be one of the earliest large-scale representations of the human form dating back to around 7250 BC.

Around 10,200 BC the first fully developed Neolithic cultures belonging to the phase Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) appeared in the fertile crescent.[2] Around 10,700 to 9,400 BC a settlement was established in Tell Qaramel, 10 miles north of Aleppo. The settlement included 2 temples dating back to 9,650.[13] Around 9000 BC during the PPNA, one of the world's first towns, Jericho, appeared in the Levant. It was surrounded by a stone and marble wall and contained a population of 2000–3000 people and a massive stone tower.[14] Around 6,400 BC the Halaf culture appeared in Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, Syria, Anatolia, and Northern Mesopotamia and subsisted on dryland agriculture.

In 1981 a team of researchers from the Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée, including Jacques Cauvin and Oliver Aurenche divided Near East neolithic chronology into ten periods (0 to 9) based on social, economic and cultural characteristics.[15] In 2002 Danielle Stordeur and Frédéric Abbès advanced this system with a division into five periods. Natufian (1) between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, Khiamian (2) between 10,200-8,800 BC, PPNA: Sultanian (Jericho), Mureybetian, early PPNB (PPNB ancien) (3) between 8,800-7,600 BC, middle PPNB (PPNB moyen) 7,600-6,900 BC, late PPNB (PPNB récent) (4) between 7,500 and 7,000 BC and a PPNB (sometimes called PPNC) transitional stage (PPNB final) (5) where Halaf and dark faced burnished ware begin to emerge between 6,900-6,400 BC.[16] They also advanced the idea of a transitional stage between the PPNA and PPNB between 8,800 and 8,600 BC at sites like Jerf el Ahmar and Tell Aswad.[17]

Southern Mesopotamia

Alluvial plains (Sumer/Elam). Little rainfall makes irrigation systems necessary. Ubaid culture from 6,900 BC.

North Africa

Algerian cave paintings depicting hunting scenes

Domestication of sheep and goats reached Egypt from the Near East possibly as early as 6,000 BC.[18][19][20] Graeme Barker states "The first indisputable evidence for domestic plants and animals in the Nile valley is not until the early fifth millennium bc in northern Egypt and a thousand years later further south, in both cases as part of strategies that still relied heavily on fishing, hunting, and the gathering of wild plants" and suggests that these subsistence changes were not due to farmers migrating from the Near East but was an indigenous development, with cereals either indigenous or obtained through exchange.[21] Other scholars argue that the primary stimulus for agriculture and domesticated animals (as well as mud-brick architecture and other Neolithic cultural features) in Egypt was from the Middle East.[22][23][24]

Europe

Female figure from Tumba Madžari, Republic of Macedonia
Map showing distribution of some of the main culture complexes in Neolithic Europe, c.3,500 BC
Skara Brae, Scotland. Evidence of home furnishings (shelves)

In southeast Europe agrarian societies first appeared in the 7th millennium BC, attested by one of the earliest farming sites of Europe, discovered in Vashtëmi, southeastern Albania and dating back to 6,500 BC.[25][26] Anthropomorphic figurines have been found in the Balkans from 6000 BC,[27] and in Central Europe by c. 5800 BC (La Hoguette). Among the earliest cultural complexes of this area are the Sesklo culture in Thessaly, which later expanded in the Balkans giving rise to Starčevo-Körös (Cris), Linearbandkeramik, and Vinča. Through a combination of cultural diffusion and migration of peoples, the Neolithic traditions spread west and northwards to reach northwestern Europe by around 4500 BC. The Vinča culture may have created the earliest system of writing, the Vinča signs, though archaeologist Shan Winn believes they most likely represented pictograms and ideograms rather than a truly developed form of writing.[28] The Cucuteni-Trypillian culture built enormous settlements in Romania, Moldova and Ukraine from 5300 to 2300 BC. The megalithic temple complexes of Ġgantija on the Mediterranean island of Gozo (in the Maltese archipelago) and of Mnajdra (Malta) are notable for their gigantic Neolithic structures, the oldest of which date back to c. 3600 BC. The Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni, Paola, Malta, is a subterranean structure excavated c. 2500 BC; originally a sanctuary, it became a necropolis, the only prehistoric underground temple in the world, and showing a degree of artistry in stone sculpture unique in prehistory to the Maltese islands. After 2500 BC, the Maltese Islands were depopulated for several decades until the arrival of a new influx of Bronze Age immigrants, a culture that cremated its dead and introduced smaller megalithic structures called dolmens to Malta.[29] In most cases there are small chambers here, with the cover made of a large slab placed on upright stones. They are claimed to belong to a population certainly different from that which built the previous megalithic temples. It is presumed the population arrived from Sicily because of the similarity of Maltese dolmens to some small constructions found in the largest island of the Mediterranean sea.[30]

South and East Asia

The earliest Neolithic sites in South Asia are Bhirrana in Haryana dated to 7570-6200 BCE, and Mehrgarh, dated to 7500 BC, in the Kachi plain of Baluchistan, Pakistan; the site has evidence of farming (wheat and barley) and herding (cattle, sheep and goats).[31]

In South India, the Neolithic began by 6500 BC and lasted until around 1400 BC when the Megalithic transition period began. South Indian Neolithic is characterized by Ashmounds since 2500 BC in Karnataka region, expanded later to Tamil Nadu.

In East Asia, the earliest sites include Nanzhuangtou culture around 9500 BC to 9000 BC,[32] Pengtoushan culture around 7500 BC to 6100 BC, and Peiligang culture around 7000 BC to 5000 BC.

The 'Neolithic' (defined in this paragraph as using polished stone implements) remains a living tradition in small and extremely remote and inaccessible pockets of West Papua (Indonesian New Guinea). Polished stone adze and axes are used in the present day (as of 2008) in areas where the availability of metal implements is limited. This is likely to cease altogether in the next few years as the older generation die off and steel blades and chainsaws prevail.

In 2012, news was released about a new farming site discovered in Munam-ri, Goseong, Gangwon Province, South Korea, which may be the earliest farmland known to date in east Asia.[33] "No remains of an agricultural field from the Neolithic period have been found in any East Asian country before, the institute said, adding that the discovery reveals that the history of agricultural cultivation at least began during the period on the Korean Peninsula".[34] The farm was dated between 3600 and 3000 B.C. Pottery, stone projectile points, and possible houses were also found. "In 2002, researchers discovered prehistoric earthenware, jade earrings, among other items in the area". The research team will perform accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating to retrieve a more precise date for the site.

America

In Mesoamerica, a similar set of events (i.e., crop domestication and sedentary lifestyles) occurred by around 4500 BC, but possibly as early as 11,000–10,000 BC. These cultures are usually not referred to as belonging to the Neolithic; in America different terms are used such as Formative stage instead of mid-late Neolithic, Archaic Era instead of Early Neolithic and Paleo-Indian for the preceding period.[35] The Formative stage is equivalent to the Neolithic Revolution period in Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the Southwestern United States it occurred from 500 to 1200 C.E. when there was a dramatic increase in population and development of large villages supported by agriculture based on dryland farming of maize, and later, beans, squash, and domesticated turkeys. During this period the bow and arrow and ceramic pottery were also introduced.[36]

Social organization

Anthropomorphic Neolithic figurine
Anthropomorphic Female Neolithic ceramic figurine

During most of the Neolithic age of Eurasia, people lived in small tribes composed of multiple bands or lineages.[37] There is little scientific evidence of developed social stratification in most Neolithic societies; social stratification is more associated with the later Bronze Age.[38] Although some late Eurasian Neolithic societies formed complex stratified chiefdoms or even states, states evolved in Eurasia only with the rise of metallurgy, and most Neolithic societies on the whole were relatively simple and egalitarian.[37] Beyond Eurasia, however, states were formed during the local Neolithic in three areas, namely in the Preceramic Andes with the Norte Chico Civilization,[39][40] Formative Mesoamerica and Ancient Hawaiʻi.[41] However, most Neolithic societies were noticeably more hierarchical than the Paleolithic cultures that preceded them and hunter-gatherer cultures in general.[42][43]

The domestication of large animals (c. 8000 BC) resulted in a dramatic increase in social inequality in most of the areas where it occurred; New Guinea being a notable exception.[44] Possession of livestock allowed competition between households and resulted in inherited inequalities of wealth. Neolithic pastoralists who controlled large herds gradually acquired more livestock, and this made economic inequalities more pronounced.[45] However, evidence of social inequality is still disputed, as settlements such as Catal Huyuk reveal a striking lack of difference in the size of homes and burial sites, suggesting a more egalitarian society with no evidence of the concept of capital, although some homes do appear slightly larger or more elaborately decorated than others.

Families and households were still largely independent economically, and the household was probably the center of life.[46][47] However, excavations in Central Europe have revealed that early Neolithic Linear Ceramic cultures ("Linearbandkeramik") were building large arrangements of circular ditches between 4800 BC and 4600 BC. These structures (and their later counterparts such as causewayed enclosures, burial mounds, and henge) required considerable time and labour to construct, which suggests that some influential individuals were able to organise and direct human labour — though non-hierarchical and voluntary work remain possibilities.

There is a large body of evidence for fortified settlements at Linearbandkeramik sites along the Rhine, as at least some villages were fortified for some time with a palisade and an outer ditch.[48][49] Settlements with palisades and weapon-traumatized bones have been discovered, such as at the Talheim Death Pit demonstrates "...systematic violence between groups" and warfare was probably much more common during the Neolithic than in the preceding Paleolithic period.[43] This supplanted an earlier view of the Linear Pottery Culture as living a "peaceful, unfortified lifestyle".[50]

Control of labour and inter-group conflict is characteristic of corporate-level or 'tribal' groups, headed by a charismatic individual; whether a 'big man' or a proto-chief, functioning as a lineage-group head. Whether a non-hierarchical system of organization existed is debatable, and there is no evidence that explicitly suggests that Neolithic societies functioned under any dominating class or individual, as was the case in the chiefdoms of the European Early Bronze Age.[51] Theories to explain the apparent implied egalitarianism of Neolithic (and Paleolithic) societies have arisen, notably the Marxist concept of primitive communism.

Shelter

Reconstruction of Neolithic house in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina

The shelter of the early people changed dramatically from the paleolithic to the neolithic era. In the paleolithic, people did not normally live in permanent constructions. In the neolithic, mud brick houses started appearing that were coated with plaster.[52] The growth of agriculture made permanent houses possible. Doorways were made on the roof, with ladders positioned both on the inside and outside of the houses.[52] The roof was supported by beams from the inside. The rough ground was covered by platforms, mats, and skins on which residents slept.[53] Stilt-houses settlements were common in the Alpine and Pianura Padana (Terramare) region.[54] Remains have been found at the Ljubljana Marshes in Slovenia and at the Mondsee and Attersee lakes in Upper Austria, for example.

Farming

A Cucuteni-Trypillian culture deer antler plough
Food and cooking items retrieved at a European Neolithic site: millstones, charred bread, grains and small apples, a clay cooking pot, and containers made of antlers and wood

A significant and far-reaching shift in human subsistence and lifestyle was to be brought about in areas where crop farming and cultivation were first developed: the previous reliance on an essentially nomadic hunter-gatherer subsistence technique or pastoral transhumance was at first supplemented, and then increasingly replaced by, a reliance upon the foods produced from cultivated lands. These developments are also believed to have greatly encouraged the growth of settlements, since it may be supposed that the increased need to spend more time and labor in tending crop fields required more localized dwellings. This trend would continue into the Bronze Age, eventually giving rise to permanently settled farming towns, and later cities and states whose larger populations could be sustained by the increased productivity from cultivated lands.

The profound differences in human interactions and subsistence methods associated with the onset of early agricultural practices in the Neolithic have been called the Neolithic Revolution, a term coined in the 1920s by the Australian archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe.

One potential benefit of the development and increasing sophistication of farming technology was the possibility of producing surplus crop yields, in other words, food supplies in excess of the immediate needs of the community. Surpluses could be stored for later use, or possibly traded for other necessities or luxuries. Agricultural life afforded securities that pastoral life could not, and sedentary farming populations grew faster than nomadic.

However, early farmers were also adversely affected in times of famine, such as may be caused by drought or pests. In instances where agriculture had become the predominant way of life, the sensitivity to these shortages could be particularly acute, affecting agrarian populations to an extent that otherwise may not have been routinely experienced by prior hunter-gatherer communities.[45] Nevertheless, agrarian communities generally proved successful, and their growth and the expansion of territory under cultivation continued.

Another significant change undergone by many of these newly agrarian communities was one of diet. Pre-agrarian diets varied by region, season, available local plant and animal resources and degree of pastoralism and hunting. Post-agrarian diet was restricted to a limited package of successfully cultivated cereal grains, plants and to a variable extent domesticated animals and animal products. Supplementation of diet by hunting and gathering was to variable degrees precluded by the increase in population above the carrying capacity of the land and a high sedentary local population concentration. In some cultures, there would have been a significant shift toward increased starch and plant protein. The relative nutritional benefits and drawbacks of these dietary changes and their overall impact on early societal development is still debated.

In addition, increased population density, decreased population mobility, increased continuous proximity to domesticated animals, and continuous occupation of comparatively population-dense sites would have altered sanitation needs and patterns of disease.

Technology

The identifying characteristic of Neolithic technology is the use of polished or ground stone tools, in contrast to the flaked stone tools used during the Paleolithic era.

Neolithic people were skilled farmers, manufacturing a range of tools necessary for the tending, harvesting and processing of crops (such as sickle blades and grinding stones) and food production (e.g. pottery, bone implements). They were also skilled manufacturers of a range of other types of stone tools and ornaments, including projectile points, beads, and statuettes. But what allowed forest clearance on a large scale was the polished stone axe above all other tools. Together with the adze, fashioning wood for shelter, structures and canoes for example, this enabled them to exploit their newly won farmland.

Neolithic peoples in the Levant, Anatolia, Syria, northern Mesopotamia and Central Asia were also accomplished builders, utilizing mud-brick to construct houses and villages. At Çatalhöyük, houses were plastered and painted with elaborate scenes of humans and animals. In Europe, long houses built from wattle and daub were constructed. Elaborate tombs were built for the dead. These tombs are particularly numerous in Ireland, where there are many thousand still in existence. Neolithic people in the British Isles built long barrows and chamber tombs for their dead and causewayed camps, henges, flint mines and cursus monuments. It was also important to figure out ways of preserving food for future months, such as fashioning relatively airtight containers, and using substances like salt as preservatives.

The peoples of the Americas and the Pacific mostly retained the Neolithic level of tool technology until the time of European contact. Exceptions include copper hatchets and spearheads in the Great Lakes region.

Clothing

Most clothing appears to have been made of animal skins, as indicated by finds of large numbers of bone and antler pins which are ideal for fastening leather. Wool cloth and linen might have become available during the later Neolithic,[55][56] as suggested by finds of perforated stones which (depending on size) may have served as spindle whorls or loom weights.[57][58][59] The clothing worn in the Neolithic Age might be similar to that worn by Ötzi the Iceman, although he was not Neolithic (since he belonged to the later Copper age).

Early settlements

Reconstruction of a Cucuteni-Trypillian hut, in the Tripillian Museum, Ukraine.

Neolithic human settlements include:

The Archaeological Site of Çatal Hüyük in the Konya Plain in Turkey

The world's oldest known engineered roadway, the Sweet Track in England, dates from 3800 BC and the world's oldest free-standing structure is the neolithic temple of Ggantija in Gozo, Malta.

List of cultures and sites

Excavated dwellings at Skara Brae (Orkney, Scotland), Europe's most complete Neolithic village

Note: Dates are very approximate, and are only given for a rough estimate; consult each culture for specific time periods.

Early Neolithic
Periodization: The Levant: 10,000 to 8500 BC; Europe: 5000 to 4000 BC; Elsewhere: varies greatly, depending on region.

Middle Neolithic
Periodization: The Levant: 8500 to 6500 BC; Europe: 4000 to 3500 BC; Elsewhere: varies greatly, depending on region.

Later Neolithic
Periodization: 6500 to 4500 BC; Europe: 3500 to 3000 BC; Elsewhere: varies greatly, depending on region.

Eneolithic

Periodization: Middle East: 4500 to 3300 BC; Europe: 3000 to 1700 BC; Elsewhere: varies greatly, depending on region. In the Americas, the Eneolithic ended as late as the 1800s for some people.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Neolithic: definition of Neolithic in Oxford dictionary (British & World English)".
  2. ^ a b c d e f Figure 3.3 from First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies by Peter Bellwood, 2004
  3. ^ Some archaeologists have long advocated replacing "Neolithic" with a more descriptive term, such as "Early Village Communities", but this has not gained wide acceptance.
  4. ^ Milton-Edwards, Beverley (May 2003). "Iraq, past, present and future: a thoroughly-modern mandate?". History & Policy. United Kingdom: History & Policy. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  5. ^ The potter's wheel was a later refinement that revolutionized the pottery industry.
  6. ^ Habu, Junko (2004). Ancient Jomon of Japan. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-521-77670-7.
  7. ^ Xiaohong Wu. "Early Pottery at 20,000 Years Ago in Xianrendong Cave, China". Sciencemag.org. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  8. ^ "World Museum of Man: Neolithic / Chalcolithic Period". World Museum of Man. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  9. ^ "New Archaeological Discoveries and Researches in 2004 — The Fourth Archaeology Forum of CASS". Institute of Archaeology — Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Retrieved 2007-09-18.
  10. ^ "The World's First Temple", Archaeology magazine, Nov/Dec 2008 p 23.
  11. ^ "Early Domesticated Fig in the Jordan Valley". Science. 312: 1372–4. 2 June 2006. doi:10.1126/science.1125910. PMID 16741119.
  12. ^ https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/architecturebodyperformance/326.html
  13. ^ Yet another sensational discovery by polish archaeologists in Syria. eduskrypt.pl. 21 June 2006
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  15. ^ Haïdar Boustani, M., The Neolithic of Lebanon in the context of the Near East: State of knowledge (in French), Annales d'Histoire et d'Archaeologie, Uinversite Saint-Joseph, Beyrouth, Vol. 12–13, 2001–2002. (PDF) . Retrieved on 2011-12-03.
  16. ^ Stordeur, Danielle., Abbès Frédéric., Du PPNA au PPNB : mise en lumière d'une phase de transition à Jerf el Ahmar (Syrie), Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, Volume 99, Issue 3, pp. 563–595, 2002
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  18. ^ Linseele, V.; et al. (July 2010). "Sites with Holocene dung deposits in the Eastern Desert of Egypt: Visited by herders?" (PDF). Journal of Arid Environments. 74 (7): 818–828. doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2009.04.014.
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  25. ^ Dawn Fuller (April 16, 2012). "UC research reveals one of the earliest farming sites in Europe". Phys.org. Retrieved April 18, 2012.
  26. ^ "One of Earliest Farming Sites in Europe Discovered". ScienceDaily. April 16, 2012. Retrieved April 18, 2012.
  27. ^ Female figurine, c. 6000 BC, Nea Nikomidia, Macedonia, Veroia, (Archaeological Museum), Greece. Macedonian-heritage.gr. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.
  28. ^ Winn, Shan (1981). Pre-writing in Southeastern Europe: The Sign System of the Vinča Culture ca. 4000 BC. Calgary: Western Publishers.
  29. ^ Daniel Cilia, "Malta Before Common Era", in The Megalithic Temples of Malta. Retrieved 28 January 2007.
  30. ^ S. Piccolo, op.cit., pp. 33-34.
  31. ^ Hirst, K. Kris. 2005. "Mehrgarh". Guide to Archaeology
  32. ^ Xiaoyan Yang. "Early millet use in northern China". Pnas.org. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  33. ^ The Archaeology News Network. 2012. "Neolithic farm field found in South Korea".
  34. ^ The Korea Times. 2012. "East Asia's oldest remains of agricultural field found in Korea".
  35. ^ Gordon R. Willey and Philip Phillips; Philip Phillips (1957). Method and Theory in American Archaeology. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-89888-1.
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