Neolithic
Period | Final period of Stone Age |
---|---|
Dates | 10,000–4,500 BCE |
Preceded by | Mesolithic, Epipalaeolithic |
Followed by | Chalcolithic |
Part of a series on |
Human history and prehistory |
---|
↑ before Homo (Pliocene epoch) |
↓ Future (Holocene epoch) |
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from
The Neolithic began about 12,000 years ago when farming appeared in the Epipalaeolithic Near East, and later in other parts of the world. It lasted in the Near East until the transitional period of the Chalcolithic (Copper Age) from about 6,500 years ago (4500 BCE), marked by the development of metallurgy, leading up to the Bronze Age and Iron Age.
In other places, the Neolithic followed the
Origin
Following the
Early Neolithic farming was limited to a narrow range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included
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, which arose completely independently of those in Europe and Southwest Asia. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture.[10][11]
Periods by region
Southwest Asia
This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2015) |
Prehistoric Southwest Asia | ||
Axis scale is years Before Present |
In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC.[12] 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 around 8000 BC.[citation needed]
Anatolian Neolithic farmers derived a significant portion of their ancestry from the Anatolian hunter-gatherers (AHG), suggesting that agriculture was adopted in site by these hunter-gatherers and not spread by demic diffusion into the region.[13]
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
The Neolithic 1 (PPNA) period began roughly around 10,000 BC in the
The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming. In the proto-Neolithic
In 2006, remains of figs were discovered in a house in Jericho dated to 9400 BC. 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.[18]
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.[19]
Pre-Pottery Neolithic B
The Neolithic 2 (PPNB) began around 8800 BC according to the
Settlements have rectangular mud-brick houses where the family lived together in single or multiple rooms. Burial findings suggest an
Pre-Pottery Neolithic C
Work at the site of
Late Neolithic
The Late Neolithic began around 6,400 BC in the
The Chalcolithic (Stone-Bronze) period began about 4500 BC, then the Bronze Age began about 3500 BC, replacing the Neolithic cultures.[citation needed]
Fertile Crescent
Around 10,000 BC the first fully developed Neolithic cultures belonging to the phase Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) appeared in the Fertile Crescent.[12] Around 10,700–9400 BC a settlement was established in Tell Qaramel, 10 miles (16 km) north of Aleppo. The settlement included two temples dating to 9650 BC.[23] Around 9000 BC during the PPNA, one of the world's first towns, Jericho, appeared in the Levant. It was surrounded by a stone wall, may have contained a population of up to 2,000–3,000 people, and contained a massive stone tower.[24] Around 6400 BC the Halaf culture appeared in Syria and Northern Mesopotamia.
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.[25] In 2002, Danielle Stordeur and Frédéric Abbès advanced this system with a division into five periods.
- Natufianbetween 12,000 and 10,200 BC,
- Sultanian (Jericho), Mureybetian,
- Early PPNB (PPNB ancien) between 8800 and 7600 BC, middle PPNB (PPNB moyen) between 7600 and 6900 BC,
- Late PPNB (PPNB récent) between 7500 and 7000 BC,
- A PPNB (sometimes called PPNC) transitional stage (PPNB final) in which Halaf and dark faced burnished ware begin to emerge between 6900 and 6400 BC.[26]
They also advanced the idea of a transitional stage between the PPNA and PPNB between 8800 and 8600 BC at sites like Jerf el Ahmar and Tell Aswad.[27]
Southern Mesopotamia
Alluvial plains (Sumer/Elam). Low rainfall makes irrigation systems necessary. Ubaid culture from 6,900 BC.[citation needed]
Northeastern Africa
The earliest evidence of Neolithic culture in northeast Africa was found in the archaeological sites of
Northwestern Africa
The neolithization of Northwestern Africa was initiated by Iberian, Levantine (and perhaps Sicilian) migrants around 5500-5300 BC.[36] During the Early Neolithic period, farming was introduced by Europeans and was subsequently adopted by the locals.[36] During the Middle Neolithic period, an influx of ancestry from the Levant appeared in Northwestern Africa, coinciding with the arrival of pastoralism in the region.[36] The earliest evidence for pottery, domestic cereals and animal husbandry is found in Morocco, specifically at Kaf el-Ghar.[36]
Sub-Saharan Africa
The Pastoral Neolithic was a period in Africa's
The Savanna Pastoral Neolithic or SPN (formerly known as the Stone Bowl Culture) is a collection of ancient societies that appeared in the
Europe
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 6500 BC.[43][44] In most of Western Europe in followed over the next two thousand years, but in some parts of Northwest Europe it is much later, lasting just under 3,000 years from c. 4500 BC–1700 BC. The Neolithic began on the Iberian Peninsula in 5700/5600 cal. BC according to several sites in the Levant area of the Peninsula. On the Northern Iberian Plateau, domestic agrotypes of wheat and barley, ovicaprid livestock, Neolithic pottery, shaped and polished tools are all present in the karst records and the open air sites from the last third of the VI millennium cal. BC.[45][46][47] Recent advances in archaeogenetics have confirmed that the spread of agriculture from the Middle East to Europe was strongly correlated with the migration of early farmers from Anatolia about 9,000 years ago, and was not just a cultural exchange.[48][49]
Anthropomorphic figurines have been found in the Balkans from 6000 BC,
The
With some exceptions, population levels rose rapidly at the beginning of the Neolithic until they reached the carrying capacity.[54] This was followed by a population crash of "enormous magnitude" after 5000 BC, with levels remaining low during the next 1,500 years.[54] Populations began to rise after 3500 BCE, with further dips and rises occurring between 3000 and 2500 BC but varying in date between regions.[54] Around this time is the Neolithic decline, when populations collapsed across most of Europe, possibly caused by climatic conditions, plague, or mass migration.[55]
South and East Asia
Settled life, encompassing the transition from foraging to farming and pastoralism, began in South Asia in the region of Balochistan, Pakistan, around 7,000 BC.[56][57][58] At the site of Mehrgarh, Balochistan, presence can be documented of the domestication of wheat and barley, rapidly followed by that of goats, sheep, and cattle.[59] In April 2006, it was announced in the scientific journal Nature that the oldest (and first Early Neolithic) evidence for the drilling of teeth in vivo (using bow drills and flint tips) was found in Mehrgarh.[60]
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 Ash mounds[clarification needed] from 2500 BC in Karnataka region, expanded later to Tamil Nadu.[61]
In East Asia, the earliest sites include the
The 'Neolithic' (defined in this paragraph as using polished stone implements) remains a living tradition in small and extremely remote and inaccessible pockets of
In 2012, news was released about a new farming site discovered in
The Americas
In
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 AD 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.[68] In later periods cities of considerable size developed, and some metallurgy by 700 BC.[69]
Australia
Australia, in contrast to
Cultural characteristics
Social organization
During most of the Neolithic age of
The
Families and households were still largely independent economically, and the household was probably the center of life.
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.[82][83] Settlements with palisades and weapon-traumatized bones, such as those found at the Talheim Death Pit, have been discovered and demonstrate that "...systematic violence between groups" and warfare was probably much more common during the Neolithic than in the preceding Paleolithic period.[77] This supplanted an earlier view of the Linear Pottery Culture as living a "peaceful, unfortified lifestyle".[84]
Control of labour and inter-group conflict is characteristic of
Shelter and sedentism
The shelter of the early people changed dramatically from the
Agriculture
A significant and far-reaching shift in human
The profound differences in human interactions and subsistence methods associated with the onset of early agricultural practices in the Neolithic have been called the
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 nomadic 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.[79] 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 are 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.
Lithic 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
Neolithic peoples in the Levant, Anatolia, Syria, northern Mesopotamia and
The peoples of the
Clothing
Most clothing appears to have been made of animal skins, as indicated by finds of large numbers of bone and antler pins that are ideal for fastening leather. Wool cloth and linen might have become available during the later Neolithic,[90][91] as suggested by finds of perforated stones that (depending on size) may have served as spindle whorls or loom weights.[92][93][94]
List of early settlements
The Stone Age |
---|
↑ before Homo (Pliocene) |
|
↓ Chalcolithic |
Neolithic
name | location | early date (BC) | late date (BC) | comments |
---|---|---|---|---|
Tell Qaramel | Syria | 10,700[95] | 9400 | |
Franchthi Cave | Greece | 10,000 | reoccupied between 7500 and 6000 BC | |
Göbekli Tepe | Turkey | 9600 | 8000 | |
Nanzhuangtou | Hebei, China | 9500 | 9000 | |
Byblos | Lebanon | 8800 | 7000[96] | |
Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) | West Bank | 9500 | arising from the earlier Epipaleolithic Natufian culture
| |
Pulli settlement | Estonia | 8500 | 5000 | oldest known settlement of Kunda culture |
Aşıklı Höyük | Central Anatolia, Turkey , an Aceramic Neolithic period settlement
|
8200 | 7400 | correlating with the E/MPPNB in the Levant |
Nevali Cori
|
Turkey | 8000 | ||
Bhirrana | India | 7600 | 7200 | Hakra ware |
Pengtoushan culture | China | 7500 | 6100 | rice residues were carbon-14 dated to 8200–7800 BC |
Çatalhöyük | Turkey | 7500 | 5700 | |
Mentesh Tepe and Kamiltepe | Azerbaijan | 7000 | 3000[97] | |
'Ain Ghazal
|
Jordan | 7250 | 5000 | |
Chogha Bonut | Iran | 7200 | ||
Jhusi | India | 7100 | ||
Motza | Israel | 7000 | ||
Ganj Dareh | Iran | 7000 | ||
Lahuradewa | India | 7000 [98] | presence of rice cultivation, ceramics etc. | |
Jiahu | China | 7000 | 5800 | |
Knossos | Crete | 7000 | ||
Khirokitia | Cyprus | 7000 | 4000 | |
Mehrgarh | Pakistan | 7000 | 5500 | aceramic but elaborate culture including mud brick, houses, agriculture etc. |
Sesklo | Greece | 6850 | with a 660-year margin of error | |
Horton Plains | Sri Lanka | 6700 | cultivation of oats and barley as early as 11,000 BC | |
Porodin | North Macedonia | 6500[99] | ||
Padah-Lin Caves | Burma | 6000 | ||
Petnica | Serbia | 6000 | ||
Stara Zagora | Bulgaria | 5500 | ||
Cucuteni-Trypillian culture
|
Ukraine, Moldova and Romania | 5500 | 2750 | |
Tell Zeidan | northern Syria | 5500 | 4000 | |
Tabon Cave Complex
|
Quezon, Palawan, Philippines | 5000 | 2000[100][101] | |
Hemudu culture, large-scale rice plantation | China | 5000 | 4500 | |
The Megalithic Temples of Malta | Malta | 3600 | ||
Knap of Howar and Skara Brae | Orkney, Scotland | 3500 | 3100 | |
Brú na Bóinne | Ireland | 3500 | ||
Lough Gur | Ireland | 3000 | ||
Shengavit Settlement
|
Armenia | 3000 | 2200 | |
Norte Chico civilization , 30 aceramic Neolithic period settlements
|
northern coastal Peru | 3000 | 1700 | |
Tichit Neolithic village on the Tagant Plateau | central southern Mauritania | 2000 | 500 | |
Oaxaca, state | Southwestern Mexico | 2000 | by 2000 BC Neolithic sedentary villages had been established in the Central Valleys region of this state. | |
Lajia | China | 2000 | ||
Mumun pottery period | Korean Peninsula | 1800 | 1500 | |
Neolithic revolution | Japan | 500 | 300 |
The world's oldest known engineered
List of cultures and sites
The Neolithic |
---|
↑ Mesolithic |
↓ Chalcolithic |
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: 9500–8000 BC;
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (Levant, 9500–8000 BC)
- Nanzhuangtou (China, 8500 BC)
- Franchthi Cave (Greece, 7000 BC)
- Cishan culture (China, 6500–5000 BC)
- Sesklo village (Greece, c. 6300 BC)
- Starcevo-Criş culture (Starčevo-Körös-Criş culture)(Balkans, 5800–4500 BC)
- Katundas Cavern (Albania, 6th millennium BC)
- Dudeşti culture(Romania, 6th millennium BC)
- Beixin culture (China, 5300–4100 BC)
- Tamil Nadu culture (India, 3000–2800 BC)[102]
- Mentesh Tepe and Kamiltepe (Azerbaijan, 7000–3000 BC)[97]
Middle Neolithic
Periodization: The Levant: 8000–6500 BC; Europe: 5500–3500 BC; Elsewhere: varies greatly, depending on region.
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (Levant, 7600–6000 BC)
- Baodun culture
- Jinsha settlement and Sanxingduimound.
- Çatalhöyük
- Cardium pottery culture
- Comb Ceramic culture
- Corded Wareculture
- Cortaillod culture
- Cucuteni-Trypillian culture
- Dadiwan culture
- Dawenkou culture
- Daxi culture
- Chengtoushan settlement
- Dapenkeng culture (Taiwan, 4000–3000 BC)
- Grooved ware people
- Skara Brae, et al.
- Erlitou culture
- Xia Dynasty
- Ertebølle culture
- Hembury culture
- Hemudu culture
- Hongshan culture
- Houli culture
- Horgen culture
- Kura–Araxes culture
- Liangzhu culture
- Linear Pottery culture
- Circular ditches, et al.
- Longshan culture
- Majiabang culture
- Majiayao culture
- Peiligang culture
- Pengtoushan culture
- Pfyn culture
- Precucuteni culture
- Qujialing culture
- Shijiahe culture
- Trypillian culture
- Vinča culture
- Lengyel culture (Central Europe, 5000–3400 BC)
- Varna culture (South/Eastern Europe 4400–4100 BC)
- Windmill Hill culture
- Xinglongwa culture
- Beifudi site
- Xinle culture
- Yangshao culture
- Zhaobaogou culture
Later Neolithic
Periodization: 6500–4500 BC; Europe: 5000–3000 BC; Elsewhere: varies greatly, depending on region.
- Pottery Neolithic(Fertile Crescent, 6400–4500 BC)
- Halaf culture (Mesopotamia, 6100 BC and 5100 BC)
- Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period (Mesopotamia, 5500–5000 BC)
- Ubaid 1/2 (5400–4500 BC)
- Funnelbeaker culture (North/Eastern Europe, 4300–2800 BC)
- Chalcolithic
Periodization: : varies greatly, depending on region. In the Americas, the Chalcolithic ended as late as the 19th century AD for some peoples.
- Ubaid 3/4 (Mesopotamia, 4500–4000 BC)
- early Uruk period (Mesopotamia, 4000–3800 BC)
- middle Uruk period (Mesopotamia, 3800–3400 BC)
- late Trypillian(Eastern Europe, 3000–2750 BC)
- Gaudo Culture(Italy, 3150–2950 BC)
- Corded Ware culture (North/Eastern Europe, 2900–2350 BC)
- Beaker culture(Central/Western Europe, 2900–1800 BC)
Comparative chronology
See also
References
Citations
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Further reading
- Pedersen, Hilthart (2008). Die Jüngere Steinzeit Auf Bornholm. GRIN Verlag. ISBN 978-3-638-94559-2.
External links
- Romeo, Nick (Feb. 2015). 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
- McNamara, John (2005). "Neolithic Period". World Museum of Man. Archived from the original on 2008-04-30. Retrieved 2008-04-14.
- Affonso, T.; Pernicka, E. (2000). "Pre-Pottery Neolithic Clay Figurines from Nevali Çori". Internet Archaeology (9). doi:10.11141/ia.9.4.
- Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. .