5th millennium BC

"4004 BC" redirects here. For the Biblically based estimate of the creation of the Earth, see Ussher chronology.

Millennia:	6th millennium BC 5th millennium BC 4th millennium BC
Centuries:	50th century BC 49th century BC 48th century BC 47th century BC 46th century BC 45th century BC 44th century BC 43rd century BC 42nd century BC 41st century BC

The 5th millennium BC spanned the years 5000 through 4001 BC. It saw the spread of agriculture from Western Asia throughout Southern and Central Europe.

Urban cultures in Mesopotamia and Anatolia flourished, developing the wheel. Copper ornaments became more common, marking the beginning of the Chalcolithic. Animal husbandry spread throughout Eurasia, reaching China.

World population growth relaxes after the burst due to the Neolithic Revolution. World population is largely stable, at roughly 40 million, with a slow overall growth rate at roughly 0.03% p.a.

Culture

Near East

Further information: Fertile Crescent and Predynastic Egypt

• Ubaid culture in Mesopotamia
• Yumuktepe and Gözlükule cultures in south Anatolia
• Badari culture on the Nile (c. 4400 BC – 4000 BC)
• Merimde culture on the Nile in Prehistoric Egypt (c. 4570 BC – 4250 BC)
• Copper pins dating to 4000 BC found in Egypt

Europe

Neolithic Europe

• c. 5000 BC Farming reaches Atlantic coast of Europe from Ancient Near East (
• c. 5000 BC, Metallurgy during the Copper Age in Europe
• Cycladic culture—a distinctive Neolithic culture amalgamating Anatolian and mainland Greek elements arose in the western Aegean before 4000 BC
  • 4800 BC: Dimini culture replaces the Sesklo culture in Thessaly, Greece (4800–4000 BC)
  • c. 4500 BC: Settlement of Chirokitia in Cyprus
  • c. 4500 BC: End of Neolithic IA (the Aceramic) in Cyprus
• 5000–4500 BC: Għar Dalam phase of Neolithic farmers on Malta, possibly immigrant farmers from the Agrigento region of Sicily

  

  Cucuteni-Trypillian culture

• c. 4500 BC Plough is introduced in Europe
• Varna culture in the Balkans 4400-4100 BC
• Vinča culture in the Balkans (also endured in the 6th, 4th, and 3rd millennia)
  • Proto-writing, such as ideographic Vinča symbols, Tartaria tablets (c. 5000 BC)
• Stroke-ornamented ware culture
  • 4900–4600 BC: Arrangements of circular ditches are built in Central Europe (the Goseck circle was constructed c. 4900 BC)
• c. 4300 BC: Funnelbeaker Culture in north and east Germany
• c. 4250–3750 BC: Menhir alignments at Menec, Carnac, France are made
• 4100–3500 BC: New wave of immigration to Malta from Sicily leads to the Żebbuġ and Mġarr phases, and to the Ġgantija phase of temple builders
• Lengyel culture in Eastern Europe
• Stentinello culture in Italy

Ceramic Mesolithic / Eneolithic

Further information: Kurgan hypothesis

In North-Eastern Europe a "ceramic Mesolithic" can be distinguished, found peripheral to the sedentary Neolithic cultures. It created a distinctive type of pottery, with point or knob base and flared rims, manufactured by methods not used by the Neolithic farmers. The earliest manifestation of this type of pottery may be in the region around Lake Baikal in Siberia, from as early as 7000 BC, and from there spread via the Dnieper-Donets culture to the Narva culture of the Eastern Baltic. Spreading westward along the coastline it is found in the Ertebølle culture of Denmark and Ellerbek of Northern Germany, and the related Swifterbant culture of the Low Countries.

• Samara culture on the Volga
• Sredny Stog culture on the Dnieper
• Khvalynsk culture
• Dnieper–Donets culture
• Ertebølle culture, northern Europe
  • Swifterbant culture, Netherlands
• Comb Ceramic culture in northeast Europe (4200–2000 BC)
  • 4200 BC: Date of Mesolithic examples of Naalebinding found in Denmark, marking spread of technology to Northern Europe (Bender 1990)

East Asia

Further information: Neolithic China

• c. 5000 BC, agriculture starts in Ancient Japan; beans and gourds are cultivated
• Yangshao culture on the Yellow River
  • 5000–4000 BC: Bowl, from Banpo, near Xi'an, Shaanxi, is made; now kept at Banpo Museum
• Water buffalo are domesticated in China
• Proto-Austronesian culture is based on the south coast of China; they combine extensive maritime technology, fishing with hooks and nets and gardening (c. 5000 BC)

Americas

• Maize is cultivated in Mexico (c. 5000 BC)

Sub-Saharan Africa

Prior to the 5.9 kiloyear event (3900 BC) and the desiccation of the Green Sahara, Sub-Saharan Africa remains in the Paleolithic. The beginning of the Pastoral Neolithic falls still into the late phase of the Green Sahara, in the 6th or 5th millennium BC. As the grasslands of the Sahara began drying after 3900 BC, herders would spread into the Nile Valley and by the mid 3rd millennium BC into eastern Africa.

Environmental changes

Main article: Atlantic (period)

• 5000–4900 BC: The Older Peron transgression, a warm period that would dominate the 5th millennium, begins in this period
• According to Early Anthropocene Hypothesis the early farming practises started to raise the atmospheric CO₂-levels to preindustrial levels
• c. 4350 BC: Kikai Caldera in Japan forms in a massive VEI7 eruption

Calendars and chronology

• 4713 BC: The epoch (origin) of the Julian Period described by Joseph Justus Scaliger occurred on January 1, the astronomical Julian day number zero
• 4241 BC: Eduard Meyer's (supposed, and long since rejected) date for the creation of the Egyptian calendar, based on his calculations of the Sothic cycle
• 4750 BC: Starting year for the Assyrian calendar, marking the traditional date of the foundation of Assur, around 2000 years before the actual date.
• October 22, 4004 BC: According to the Ussher chronology, created by James Ussher based on the Old Testament of the Bible, the universe is created by God at 6pm.
• 4300 BC: Theta Boötis became the nearest visible star to the celestial north pole; it remained the closest until 3942 BC when it was replaced by Thuban