NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Neolithic Period

The Neolithic, (Greek neos=new, lithos=stone, or "New Stone Age") was a period in the development of human technology that is traditionally the last part of the Stone Age. The name was invented by John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. The term is more commonly used in the Old World and its application to cultures in the Americas and Oceania is problematic. It follows the terminal Pleistocene Epipalaeolithic and early Holocene Mesolithic periods, beginning with the start of farming and ending when metal tools became widespread in the Copper Age (chalcolithic), Bronze Age or Iron Age, depending on geographical region. The term "Neolithic" thus does not refer to a specific chronological period but a suite of behavioural and cultural characteristics including the use of (both wild and domestic) crops and the use of domestic animals. Some archaeologists have long advocated replacing "Neolithic" with a more descriptive term, such as "Early Village Communities", although this has not gained wide acceptance. The Holocene Epoch is a geologic period that extends from the present back about 10,000 radiocarbon years. ... The Holocene Epoch is a geologic period that extends from the present back about 10,000 radiocarbon years. ... (9th millennium BC – 8th millennium BC – 7th millennium BC – other millennia) Events The south area of Çatalhöyük. ... (10th millennium BC – 9th millennium BC – 8th millennium BC – other millennia) Beginning of the Neolithic time period of the Holocene epoch. ... The Mesolithic (Greek mesos=middle and lithos=stone or the Middle Stone Age) is the period between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods. ... The Epipalaeolithic (or Epi-Palaeolithic, Epipaleolithic, or Epi-Paleolithic) was a period in the development of human technology that immediately precedes the neolithic period, as an alternative to mesolithic. ... The Pleistocene Epoch is part of the geologic timescale, usually dated as 1. ... The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic – lit. ... Binomial name Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu (extinct) Homo sapiens sapiens Human beings define themselves in biological, social, and spiritual terms. ... Technology (Gr. ... Stone Age fishing hook. ... John Lubbock. ... 1865 is a common year starting on Sunday. ... The three-age system is a system of classifying human prehistory into three consecutive time periods, named for their respective predominant tool-making technologies: The Stone Age The Bronze Age The Iron Age Its formal introduction is attributed to the Dane Christian Jürgensen Thomsen in the 1820s in order... The Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans before the voyages of Christopher Columbus: Europe, Asia, and Africa. ... The Americas refers collectively to North and South America, as a relatively recent and less ambiguous alternative to the name America, which may refer to either the Americas (typically in languages other than English, where it is often considered a single continent) or to the United States (in English and... Map of Oceania. ... The Pleistocene Epoch is part of the geologic timescale, usually dated as 1. ... The Epipalaeolithic (or Epi-Palaeolithic, Epipaleolithic, or Epi-Paleolithic) was a period in the development of human technology that immediately precedes the neolithic period, as an alternative to mesolithic. ... The Holocene Epoch is a geologic period that extends from the present back about 10,000 radiocarbon years. ... The Mesolithic (Greek mesos=middle and lithos=stone or the Middle Stone Age) is the period between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods. ... Farming, ploughing rice paddy, in Indonesia Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). ... Hot metal work from a blacksmith In chemistry, a metal (Greek: Metallon) is an element that readily forms ions (cations) and has metallic bonds, and metals are sometimes described as a lattice of positive ions (cations) in a cloud of electrons. ... Modern hammer A tool is, among other things, a device that provides a mechanical or mental advantage in accomplishing a task. ... The Chalcolithic (Greek khalkos + lithos copper stone) period, also known as the Eneolithic or Copper Age period, is a phase in the development of human culture in which the use of early metal tools appeared alongside the use of stone tools. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ... Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ... Farming, ploughing rice paddy, in Indonesia Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by the cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). ... Domestic can refer to: A domestic goat An animal or plant that has been domesticated A domestic worker Something pertaining to the home In economics and international relations something within the country This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same...

Origins and regional development

In Southwest Asia Neolithic cultures appear soon after 10000 BC, initially in the Levant (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B) and from there spread eastwards and westwards. There are early Neolithic cultures in SE Anatolia, Syria and Iraq by 8,000 BC, and food-producing societies first appear in southeast Europe by 7,000 BC, and Central Europe by 5500 BC cal (of which the earliest cultural complexes include the Starčevo-Koros (Cris), Linearbandkeramic, and Vinča). From there, through a combination of diffusion of ideas and migration of peoples, the Neolithic phenomenon spreads westward to northwest Europe by 4500 BC. Early Neolithic farming is limited to a narrow range of crops (both wild and domestic) and the keeping of sheep and goats, but by about 7000 BC it included domestic cows, pigs, permanently or semi-permanently inhabited settlements and the use of pottery. Not all of the cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic (e.g., pottery, permanent villages, and the farming of domestic crops and animals) appear in the same order -- e.g. the earliest farming societies in the Near East do not use pottery, and in Britain it remains unclear what the contribution of domestic plants was in the earliest Neolithic, or even whether permanently settled communities existed. In other parts of the world, such as Africa, India and SE Asia, there are independent domestication events leading to regionally-distinctive Neolithic cultures completely independent of Europe. Japanese societies used pottery in the Mesolithic for example. In Mesoamerica a similar set of events (i.e., crop domestication and sedentary lifestyles) occurred at about 4500 BC, although here the term 'Formative' is used instead of 'Neolithic'. A satellite composite image of Asia Asia is the central and eastern part of the continent of Eurasia, defined by subtracting the European peninsula from Eurasia. ... The word culture comes from the Latin root colere (to inhabit, to cultivate, or to honor). ... (Redirected from 10000 BC) (Pleistocene, Paleolithic – 10th millennium BC – 9th millennium BC – other millennia) Beginning of the Mesolithic, or Epipaleolithic time period, which is the first part of the Holocene epoch. ... The Levant is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in Southwest Asia south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and the north Arabian Desert and Mesopotamia to the east. ... The Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (short PPNA) represents the early neolithic in the Levantine and upper Mesopotamian region of the Fertile Crescent. ... Pre-Pottery Neolithic B is a division of the Neolithic developed by Dame Kathleen Kenyon during her archaeological excavations at Jericho in Israel. ... Sherds of the late Linearbandkeramik, Rhine-Main area The Linearbandkeramic (abbreviated LBK) is the earliest neolithic culture of Central Europe. ... The Vinča culture was an early culture of Europe (between the 6th and the 3rd millennium BC), stretching around the course of Danube in Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Macedonia, although traces of it can be found all around the Balkans. ... An idea (Greek: ιδέα) is the result of thinking. ... Migration occurs when living things move from one biome to another. ... (6th millennium BC – 5th millennium BC – 4th millennium BC – other millennia) Events 4713 BC – The epoch (origin) of the Julian Period described by Joseph Justus Scaliger occurred on January 1, the astronomical Julian day number zero. ... Binomial name Ovis aries Linnaeus, 1758 A sheep is any of several woolly ruminant quadrupeds, but most commonly the Domestic Sheep (Ovis aries), which probably descends from the wild moufflon of south-central and south-west Asia. ... A goat is an animal in the genus Capra, which consists of nine species: the Ibex, the West Caucasian Tur, the East Caucasian Tur, the Markhor, and the Wild Goat. ... Look up Cow in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Cow may refer to: Female dairy cattle, other bovines, or other large mammals including elephants and whales. ... A man shapes pottery as it turns on a wheel. ... Farming, ploughing rice paddy, in Indonesia Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). ... ... The Near East is a term commonly used by archaeologists and historians, less commonly by journalists and commentators, to refer to the region encompassing the Levant (modern Israel, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon), Anatolia (modern Turkey), Mesopotamia (Iraq and eastern Syria), and the Iranian Plateau (Iran). ...

Social organisation

There is little evidence for developed hierarchies in the Neolithic, which is a cultural phenomenon more closely associated with the Bronze Age. Families and households were still largely economically independent. Excavations in Central Europe have also revealed that early Neolithic Linear Ceramic cultures were building large monumental structures between 4800 BC and 4600 BC.[1] These stuctures (and their later Neolithic equivalents such as causewayed enclosures, burial mounds, and henges) required considerable time and labour to construct, which suggests that some influential individuals were able to organise and direct human labour. There is also good evidence for fortified settlement at Linearbandkeramic sites along the Rhine, as well as evidence for inter-group conflict from Neolithic sites in Britain. Control of labour and inter-group conflict is characteristic of corporate-level groups (or 'tribal' to use the old-fashioned term), headed by a charismatic individual (e.g., a 'big man', or proto-chief) such as a lineage group head. These sociopolitical entities later developed into the 'chiefdoms' of the European Early Bronze Age. The scientific method or process is fundamental to the scientific investigation and acquisition of new knowledge based upon physical evidence. ... You all suck, except the man at the top. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ... Historical lands and provinces in Central Europe Central Europe is the region of Europe between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. ... The Linear Ceramic Culture (German: Linearbandkeramik-Kultur, or LBK) was a Neolithic culture of central Europe. ... According to research made public on June 11, 2005, a series of monumental temples were built in Central Europe between 4800 BC and 4600 BC. The remains of approximately 150 such temples have been found at various sites in present-day Germany, Slovakia, Austria, and the Czech Republic. ... (6th millennium BC – 5th millennium BC – 4th millennium BC – other millennia) Events 4713 BC – The epoch (origin) of the Julian Period described by Joseph Justus Scaliger occurred on January 1, the astronomical Julian day number zero. ... (6th millennium BC – 5th millennium BC – 4th millennium BC – other millennia) Events 4713 BC – The epoch (origin) of the Julian Period described by Joseph Justus Scaliger occurred on January 1, the astronomical Julian day number zero. ... Causewayed enclosures are a type of large prehistoric earthworks common to the early Neolithic in southern Britain. ... Alternate meanings of barrow: see Barrow_in_Furness for the town of Barrow in Cumbria, England; also Barrow, Alaska in the U.S.; also River Barrow in Ireland. ... A henge is a circular or sub-circular prehistoric enclosure defined by a raised circular bank, and a circular ditch usually running inside the bank. ... Sherds of the late Linearbandkeramik, Rhine-Main area The Linearbandkeramic (abbreviated LBK) is the earliest neolithic culture of Central Europe. ... The Rhine canyon (Ruinaulta) in Graubünden in Switzerland Length 1,320 km Elevation of the source Vorderrhein: approx. ... Chief can refer to The chief engineer of a naval vessel or anyone with the rank Chief Warrant Officer in the Canadian Forces In heraldry, a chief is a band of colour or metal making up the top (usually the top third or slightly less) of a shield. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ...

Farming

The coming of farming began a great shift in people's lives, that eventually, during the Bronze Age, gave rise to towns, and later cities and states. Instead of wandering from place to place seeking food, people increasingly dwelt in one place. Owing to the profound differences in the way humans interacted once agriculture began, the changes associated with the Neolithic have traditionally been called the Neolithic Revolution, a name coined by the Australian archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe. A street in Ynysybwl, Wales, relatively stereotypical of a small town A town is usually an urban area which is not considered to rank as a city. ... A city is an urban area, differentiated from a town, village, or hamlet by size, population density, importance, or legal status. ... A state is an organized political community occupying a definite territory, having an organized government, and possessing internal and external sovereignty. ... The Neolithic Revolution was a term first suggested in the 1920s by the Australian archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe as a description of the switch made by ancient peoples from nomadic, hunter-gatherer behaviour to a settled, agrarian way of life, during the neolithic period. ... Vere Gordon Childe (April 14, 1892 - October 19, 1957) was an Australian archaeologist, perhaps best known for his excavation of the unique Neolithic site of Skara Brae in Orkney and for his Marxist views which informed his thinking about prehistory. ...

Technology

Neolithic peoples 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 manufactures of a range of other types of stone tool and ornaments, including projectile points, beads, and statuettes. Neolithic peoples in the Levant, Anatolia, Syria, northern Mesopotamia and Central Asia were also great builders, utilising 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 for the dead were also built. 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. A man shapes pottery as it turns on a wheel. ... The Levant is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in Southwest Asia south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and the north Arabian Desert and Mesopotamia to the east. ... Anatolia ( Greek: ανατολή anatolē or anatolí, rising of the sun or East; compare Orient and Levant, by popular etymology Turkish Anadolu to ana mother and dolu filled), also called by the Latin name of Asia Minor, is a region of Southwest Asia which corresponds today to the Asian portion of... Mesopotamia (Greek: ÎœÎµÏƒÎ¿Ï€Î¿Ï„Î±Î¼á½·Î±, translated from Old Persian Miyanrudan the Land between the Rivers or the Aramaic name Beth-Nahrin House of Two Rivers) is a region of Southwest Asia. ... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ... Excavations at the South Area of Ã‡atal HÃ¶yÃ¼k Ã‡atalhÃ¶yÃ¼k (also Ã‡atal HÃ¶yÃ¼k and Ã‡atal HÃ¼yÃ¼k, or any of the three without accent marks -- Ã‡atal is Turkish for fork and HÃ¶yÃ¼k is Turkish for mound) was a very large Neolithic and... A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... The Neolithic long house was a long, narrow timber dwelling built by the first farmers in Europe around 7,000 years ago. ... Categories: Stub | Construction ... A long barrow is a prehistoric monument dating to the Neolithic period. ... A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. ... Causewayed enclosures are a type of large prehistoric earthworks common to the early Neolithic in southern Britain. ... A henge is a circular or sub-circular prehistoric enclosure defined by a raised circular bank, and a circular ditch usually running inside the bank. ... Cursus was a name given by early British archaeologists such as William Stukeley to the large parallel lengths of banks with external ditches which they thought were early athletics tracks. ...

With very small exceptions (a few copper hatchets and spear heads in the Great Lakes region) the peoples of the Americas and the Pacific remained at the Neolithic level of technology up until the time of the European contacts. However, it is important to note that technological complexity does not correlate with social complexity. A glance at such cultures as the Iroquois, Pueblo people, Maya civilization and the Maori shows that a culture may be highly socially and politically sophisticated in many ways without knowledge of metalworking. This page is about a sharp instrument, see Hatchet (novel) for the novel. ... A spear is an ancient weapon, used for hunting and war. ... The Great Lakes from space The Great Lakes are a group of five large lakes on or near the United States-Canadian border. ... The Americas refers collectively to North and South America, as a relatively recent and less ambiguous alternative to the name America, which may refer to either the Americas (typically in languages other than English, where it is often considered a single continent) or to the United States (in English and... For other meanings of Pacific, see Pacific (disambiguation). ... Technology (Gr. ... The Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee, also known as the League of Peace and Power) is a group of First Nations/Native Americans. ... The Zia symbol is on the New Mexico state flag. ... The Maya are people of southern Mexico and northern Central America (Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras, and El Salvador) with some 3,000 years of history. ... Te Puni, MÄori Chief MÄori is the name of the indigenous people of New Zealand, and their language. ... Politics is the process and method of making decisions for groups. ...

Neolithic settlements include: This is a list of archaeological sites is sorted by country. ...

The World's oldest known engineered roadway, the Sweet Track in England also dates from this time. Jericho (Arabic أريحا ʾArīḥā; Hebrew יְרִיחוֹ, Standard Hebrew Yəriḥo, Tiberian Hebrew Yərîḫô, Yərîḥô) is a town in the West Bank, near the west bank of the Jordan River. ... The Levant is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in Southwest Asia south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and the north Arabian Desert and Mesopotamia to the east. ... The Epipalaeolithic (or Epi-Palaeolithic, Epipaleolithic, or Epi-Paleolithic) was a period in the development of human technology that immediately precedes the neolithic period, as an alternative to mesolithic. ... The Natufian culture existed in the Mediterranean region of the Levant. ... Excavations at the South Area of Ã‡atal HÃ¶yÃ¼k Ã‡atalhÃ¶yÃ¼k (also Ã‡atal HÃ¶yÃ¼k and Ã‡atal HÃ¼yÃ¼k, or any of the three without accent marks -- Ã‡atal is Turkish for fork and HÃ¶yÃ¼k is Turkish for mound) was a very large Neolithic and... Mehrgarh was an ancient settlement in South Asia and is one of the most important sites in archaeology for the study of the earliest neolithic settlements in that region. ... Map of South Asia. ... Nevali Cori is an early Neolithic settlement in the upper Euphrates valley, eastern Turkey, around 490 m high. ... At Knap of Howar on the Orkney island of Papa Westray a Neolithic farmstead has been wonderfully well preserved, and is claimed to be the oldest stone house in northern Europe, with radiocarbon dating showing that it was occupied from 3500 BC to 3100 BC, earlier than the very similar... Excavated dwellings at Skara Brae Skara Brae is a large stone-built Neolithic settlement, located in the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of mainland Orkney (off northern Scotland). ... The Orkney Islands are one of 32 unitary council regions in Scotland, and form a traditional county and Lieutenancy area. ... Archaeology and geology continue to reveal the secrets of prehistoric Scotland, uncovering a complex and dramatic past before the Romans brought Scotland into the scope of recorded history. ... Trypillian culture is the culture of the Neolithic people identified on the territory of modern Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania, which existed between 5400 BC and 2700 BC. The name derives from the village of Trypillia (Трипiлля) near Kiev, Ukraine, where it was discovered by archeologists in 1897. ... (7th millennium BC – 6th millennium BC – 5th millennium BC – other millennia) Events c. ... (Redirected from 2800 BC) (29th century BC - 28th century BC - 27th century BC - other centuries) (4th millennium BC - 3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC) Events 2775 - 2650 BC - Second Dynasty wars in Egypt 2750 BC - End of the Early Dynastic I Period, and the beginning of the Early Dynastic II... A road is a strip of land, smoothed or otherwise prepared to allow easier travel, connecting two or more destinations. ... The Sweet Track is an ancient causeway in the Somerset Levels, England. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 kmÂ² Population - Total (2001) - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/kmÂ² Religion...

Neolithic individuals included Ötzi the Iceman. Ã–tzi the Iceman (also spelled Oetzi and known also as Frozen Fritz) is the modern nickname of a well-preserved natural mummy of a man from about 3300 BC, found in 1991 in a glacier of the Ã–tztaler Alps, near the border between Austria and Italy. ...

Contents

Origins and regional development

Social organisation

Farming

Technology

See also

Contents

Origins and regional development GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Social organisation

Farming

Technology

See also

Origins and regional development