View source for Neolithic

{{Short description|Archaeological period, last part of the Stone Age (New Stone Age)}}
{{Infobox archaeological culture
|name        = Neolithic
|map         = Asikli Hoyuk sarah c murray 6176.jpg
|mapcaption=Reconstruction of [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic B]] housing in [[Aşıklı Höyük]], modern [[Turkey]]
|mapalt      =
|altnames    =
|horizon     =
|region      =
|period      = Final period of [[Stone Age]]
|dates       = {{circa}} 10,000 BCE to {{circa}} 2,000 BCE 
|typesite    =
|majorsites  =
|extra       =
|precededby  = [[Mesolithic]], [[Epipalaeolithic Near East|Epipalaeolithic]]
|followedby  = [[Chalcolithic]]
}}
{{Neolithic}}
{{Human history and prehistory}}
[[File:Irish National heritage Park Ferrycarrig - geograph.org.uk - 3358912.jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of a Neolithic farmstead, [[Irish National Heritage Park]]. The Neolithic saw the [[invention of agriculture]].]]

The '''Neolithic''' or '''New Stone Age''' (from [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] {{lang|grc|νέος}} {{Transliteration|grc|néos}} 'new' and {{lang|grc|λίθος}} {{Transliteration|grc|líthos}} 'stone') is an [[archaeological period]], the final division of the [[Stone Age]] in [[Mesopotamia]], [[Asia]], [[Europe]] and [[Africa]] (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the [[Neolithic Revolution]], a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts of the world. This "Neolithic package" included the [[History of agriculture|introduction of farming]], [[domestication of animals]], and change from a [[hunter-gatherer]] lifestyle to one of [[sedentism|settlement]]. The term 'Neolithic' was coined by [[John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury|John Lubbock]] in 1865 as a refinement of the [[three-age system]].<ref>{{Cite OED | Neolithic}}</ref>

The Neolithic began about 12,000 years ago, when farming appeared in the [[Epipalaeolithic Near East]] and [[Mesopotamia]], 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 [[Mesolithic]] (Middle Stone Age) and then lasted until later. In [[Ancient Egypt]], the Neolithic lasted until the [[Protodynastic Period of Egypt|Protodynastic period]], {{c.}} 3150 BCE.<ref name="KSnPG">Karin Sowada and Peter Grave. Egypt in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Old Kingdom.</ref><ref>Lukas de Blois and R. J. van der Spek. ''An Introduction to the Ancient World''. p. 14.</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=2022-04-20|title=Neolithic Periods Overview|url=https://egyptianmuseum.org/explore/neolithic-overview|website=egyptianmuseum.org}}</ref> In [[China]], it lasted until circa 2000 BCE with the rise of the [[Shang dynasty|pre-Shang]] [[Erlitou culture]],<ref>Chang, K.C.: "Studies of Shang Archaeology", pp. 6–7, 1. Yale University Press, 1982.</ref> as it did in [[Scandinavia]].<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/event/Stone-Age Encyclopedia Britannica, "Stone Age"]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cavalli-Sforza |first1=Luigi Luca |last2=Menozzi |first2=Paolo |last3=Piazza |first3=Alberto |title=The History and Geography of Human Genes |date=1994 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, NJ |page=351 |quote=at first European contact .... [New Guineans] represented ... modern examples of Neolithic horticulturalists}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hampton |first1=O. W. |title=Culture of Stone: Sacred and Profane Uses of Stone Among the Dani |date=1999 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |location=College Station, TX |page=6}}</ref>

==Origin==
[[File:Centres of origin and spread of agriculture.svg|thumb|right|upright=2.0|Approximate centers of origin of agriculture in the [[Neolithic Revolution]] and its spread in prehistory: the Fertile Crescent (12,000&nbsp;[[Before Present|BP]]), the Yangtze river and Yellow River basins (9,000&nbsp;BP) and the New Guinea Highlands (9,000–6,000&nbsp;BP), Central Mexico (5,000–4,000&nbsp;BP), Northern South America (5,000–4,000&nbsp;BP), sub-Saharan Africa (5,000–4,000&nbsp;BP, exact location unknown), eastern North America (4,000–3,000&nbsp;BP).<ref name="DiamondandBellwood2003">{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.1078208  |last1 = Diamond | first1 = J.|author-link1=Jared Diamond | last2 = Bellwood | first2 = P. | title = Farmers and Their Languages: The First Expansions | journal = Science | volume = 300 | issue = 5619 | pages = 597–603 | year = 2003 | pmid = 12714734|bibcode = 2003Sci...300..597D |citeseerx = 10.1.1.1013.4523 |s2cid = 13350469 }}</ref>]]

Following the [[ASPRO chronology]], the Neolithic started in around 10,200 BC in the [[Levant]], arising from the [[Natufian culture]], when pioneering use of wild [[cereal]]s evolved into early [[farming]]. The Natufian period or "proto-Neolithic" lasted from 12,500 to 9,500&nbsp;BC, and is taken to overlap with the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) of 10,200–8800&nbsp;BC. As the Natufians had become dependent on wild cereals in their diet, and a [[Sedentism|sedentary]] way of life had begun among them, the climatic changes associated with the [[Younger Dryas]] (about 10,000 BC) are thought to have forced people to develop farming.

The founder crops of the Fertile Crescent were [[wheat]], [[lentil]], [[pea]], [[chickpea]], bitter vetch, and flax. Among the other major crops to be domesticated were rice and millet. Crops were usually domesticated in a single location and ancestral wild species are still found.<ref>{{Citation |last=Scanes |first=Colin G. |title=Chapter 6 - The Neolithic Revolution, Animal Domestication, and Early Forms of Animal Agriculture |date=2018-01-01 |work=Animals and Human Society |pages=103–131 |editor-last=Scanes |editor-first=Colin G. |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978012805247100006X |access-date=2025-08-23 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0-12-805247-1 |editor2-last=Toukhsati |editor2-first=Samia R.}}</ref>

Early Neolithic age 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]]. By about 8000 BC, it included domesticated [[sheep]] and [[goat#History|goats]], [[cattle]] and [[domesticated pig|pigs]].

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 [[Prehistoric North Africa|Africa]], [[South Asian Stone Age|South Asia]] and [[List of Neolithic cultures of China|Southeast Asia]], independent domestication events led to their own regionally distinctive Neolithic cultures, which arose completely independently of those in [[Europe]] and [[West Asia|Southwest Asia]]. [[Jōmon period|Early Japanese]] societies and other [[East Asia]]n 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 | publisher = Cambridge University Press }}
</ref><ref>
{{cite journal
 | url = https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1218643
 | title= Early Pottery at 20,000 Years Ago in Xianrendong Cave, China
 | author= Xiaohong Wu| journal= Science
 | year= 2012
 | volume= 336
 | issue= 6089
 | pages= 1696–1700
 |publisher= Sciencemag.org
 | doi= 10.1126/science.1218643
 | pmid= 22745428
 | bibcode= 2012Sci...336.1696W
 | s2cid= 37666548
 | access-date= 15 January 2015
| url-access= subscription
 }}
</ref>

== Periods by region ==
<!--This happened mostly by the *beginning* of the Upper Paleolithic, or perhaps during its early phase, in any case long before anything even remotely relevant to the Neolithic period.
By the end of the [[Upper Paleolithic]], all [[archaic human]] species had become extinct (or subsumed into the lineage of [[anatomically modern humans]] via [[Archaic human admixture with modern humans|cross-breeding]]).
-->

===Southwest Asia===
{{main|Neolithic in the Near East}}
[[File:Néolithique 0001.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools]]

In the [[Middle East]], cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th [[millennium]] BC.{{sfn|Bellwood|2004|p=384}} 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&nbsp;BC.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

[[Prehistory of Anatolia|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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Krause|first1=Johannes|last2=Jeong|first2=Choongwon|last3=Haak|first3=Wolfgang|last4=Posth|first4=Cosimo|last5=Stockhammer|first5=Philipp W.|last6=Mustafaoğlu|first6=Gökhan|last7=Fairbairn|first7=Andrew|last8=Bianco|first8=Raffaela A.|last9=Julia Gresky|date=2019-03-19|title=Late Pleistocene human genome suggests a local origin for the first farmers of central Anatolia|journal=Nature Communications|language=en|volume=10|issue=1|page=1218|doi=10.1038/s41467-019-09209-7|pmid=30890703|pmc=6425003|bibcode=2019NatCo..10.1218F |issn=2041-1723|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==== Pre-Pottery Neolithic A ====
{{main|Pre-Pottery Neolithic A}}
[[File:Urfa man.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Urfa Man]] {{Circa|9000 BC}}.<ref name="RJC">{{cite book |last1=Chacon |first1=Richard J. |last2=Mendoza |first2=Rubén G. |title=Feast, Famine or Fighting?: Multiple Pathways to Social Complexity |date=2017 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-48402-0 |pages=120 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zhT1DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA120 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Schmidt |first1=Klaus |title=Premier temple. Göbekli tepe (Le): Göbelki Tepe |date=2015 |publisher=CNRS Editions |isbn=978-2-271-08187-2 |page=291 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M3yUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT291 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name="AC">{{cite book |last1=Collins |first1=Andrew |title=Gobekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods: The Temple of the Watchers and the Discovery of Eden |date=2014 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-59143-835-9 |page=66 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q1koDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT66 |language=en}}</ref> [[Şanlıurfa Archaeology and Mosaic Museum]].]]
The Neolithic 1 (PPNA) period began around 10,000&nbsp;BC in the [[Levant]].{{sfn|Bellwood|2004|p=384}} A temple area in southeastern Turkey at [[Göbekli Tepe]], dated to around 9500&nbsp;BC, may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes, as shown by the absence of permanent housing nearby, and may be the oldest known human-made place of worship.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The World's First Temple |url=https://archive.archaeology.org/0811/abstracts/turkey.html |journal=[[Archaeology (magazine)|Archaeology]] |date=November 2008 |page=23 |last=Scham |first=Sandra |volume=61 |issue=6 |publisher=[[Archaeological Institute of America]]}}</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 9500–9000&nbsp;BC have been found in [[Palestine]], notably in [[Tell es-Sultan]] (ancient [[Jericho]]) and [[Gilgal I|Gilgal]] in the [[Jordan Valley (Middle East)|Jordan Valley]]; [[Israel]] (notably [[Ain Mallaha]], [[Nahal Oren, archeological site|Nahal Oren]], and [[Kfar HaHoresh]]); and in [[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 2006, remains of [[Ficus|figs]] were discovered in a house in Jericho dated to 9400&nbsp;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.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Early Domesticated Fig in the Jordan Valley |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |publisher=[[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] |date=June 2, 2006 |doi=10.1126/science.1125910 |pmid=16741119 |volume=312 |issue=5778 |pages=1372–1374 |last1=Kislev |first1=Mordechai E. |last2=Hartmann |first2=Anat |last3=Bar-Yosef |first3=Ofer |author3-link=Ofer Bar-Yosef|bibcode=2006Sci...312.1372K |s2cid=42150441 }}</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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://virtualcopedia.wordpress.com/2015/08/07/neolithic-age/|title=Neolithic Age|date=7 August 2015}}</ref>

==== Pre-Pottery Neolithic B ====
{{main|Pre-Pottery Neolithic B}}
[[File:Neolitico B, fugurine maschile e femminile, da tell fakhariyah, alabastro, bitume e pietra, 9000-7000 ac ca.jpg|left|thumb|Female and male figurines; 9000–7000 BC; [[gypsum]] with [[bitumen]] and stone inlays; from [[Tell Fekheriye]] ([[Al-Hasakah Governorate]] of [[Syria]]); [[University of Chicago Oriental Institute]] (USA)]]
The Neolithic 2 (PPNB) began around 8800&nbsp;BC according to the [[ASPRO chronology]] in the Levant ([[Tell es-Sultan|Jericho]], West Bank).{{sfn|Bellwood|2004|p=384}} 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.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}} A settlement of 3,000 inhabitants called [[Ayn Ghazal (archaeological site)|'Ain Ghazal]] was found in the outskirts of [[Amman]], [[Jordan]]. Considered to be one of the largest prehistoric settlements in the [[Near East]], it was continuously inhabited from approximately 7250&nbsp;BC to approximately 5000&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/architecturebodyperformance/326.html |title=Ain-Ghazal (Jordan) Pre-pottery Neolithic B Period pit of lime plaster human figures |last=Feldman |first=Keffie |journal=[[Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World]] |publisher=[[Brown University]] |access-date=March 9, 2018}}</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. <ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-11-19 |title=Hints of Skull Cult Found at World's Oldest Temple |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/skulls-cult-turkey-archaeology-neolithic-gobekli |access-date=2025-11-19 |website=History |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Carved Skulls Flesh Out Neolithic Cult Evidence |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/carved-skulls-flesh-out-neolithic-cult-evidence-12653 |access-date=2025-11-19 |website=Discover Magazine |language=en}}</ref>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}}

====Pre-Pottery Neolithic C====
{{main|Pre-Pottery Neolithic C}}
Work at the site of [[Ayn Ghazal (archaeological site)|'Ain Ghazal]] in [[Jordan]] has indicated a later [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic C]] period. [[Juris Zarins]] has proposed that a Circum Arabian Nomadic Pastoral Complex developed in the period from the climatic crisis of 6200 BC, partly as a result of an increasing emphasis in PPNB cultures upon domesticated animals, and a fusion with [[Harifian]] hunter gatherers in the Southern Levant, with affiliate connections with the cultures of [[Fayyum]] and the [[Eastern Desert]] of [[Egypt]]. Cultures practicing this lifestyle spread down the [[Red Sea]] shoreline and moved east from [[Syria]] into southern [[Iraq]].<ref>Zarins, Juris (1992) "Pastoral Nomadism in Arabia: Ethnoarchaeology and the Archaeological Record", in [[Ofer Bar-Yosef]] and A. Khazanov, eds. "Pastoralism in the Levant"</ref>

==== Late Neolithic ====
{{main|Late Neolithic}}
The Late Neolithic began around 6,400 BC in the [[Fertile Crescent]].{{sfn|Bellwood|2004|p=384}} 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.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter=The Southern Levant (Cisjordan) During the Neolithic Period|last1=Killebrew|first1=Ann E.|last2=Steiner|first2=Margreet|last3=Goring-Morris|first3=A. Nigel|last4=Belfer-Cohen|first4=Anna|year=2013|language=en|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199212972.013.011|title=The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant|isbn=978-0-19-921297-2}}</ref>

The Chalcolithic (Stone-Bronze) period began about 4500&nbsp;BC, then the [[Bronze Age]] began about 3500&nbsp;BC, replacing the Neolithic cultures.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}}

==== Fertile Crescent ====
[[File:20100923 amman37.JPG|thumb|right|[['Ain Ghazal Statues]], found at [[Ayn Ghazal (archaeological site)|'Ain Ghazal]] in [[Jordan]], are considered to be one of the earliest large-scale representations of the human form dating back to around 7250&nbsp;BC.]]
[[File:Neolithic wall painting in Tell Bouqras, Deir ez-Zor Museum.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Neolithic wall painting from [[Tell Bouqras]] at the [[Deir ez-Zor Museum]], Syria]]
Around 10,000 BC the first fully developed Neolithic cultures belonging to the phase [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic A]] (PPNA) appeared in the Fertile Crescent.{{sfn|Bellwood|2004|p=384}} Around 10,700–9400&nbsp;BC a settlement was established in [[Tell Qaramel]], {{convert|10|mi}} north of [[Aleppo]]. The settlement included two temples dating to 9650&nbsp;BC.<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] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001171824/http://www.eduskrypt.pl/yet_another_sensational_discovery_by_polish_archaeologists_in_syria-info-6775.html |date=2011-10-01 }}. eduskrypt.pl. 21 June 2006</ref> Around 9000&nbsp;BC during the PPNA, one of the world's first towns, [[Tell es-Sultan|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.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9043547/Jericho "Jericho"], Encyclopædia Britannica</ref> Around 6400&nbsp;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.<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"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116043349/https://www.usj.edu.lb/mpl/pdf/1.pdf |date=2018-11-16 }} (in French), ''Annales d'Histoire et d'Archaeologie'', Universite Saint-Joseph, Beyrouth, Vol. 12–13, 2001–2002. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.</ref> In 2002, [[Danielle Stordeur]] and [[Frédéric Abbès]] advanced this system with a division into five periods.
# [[Natufian]] between 12,000 and 10,200&nbsp;BC,
# [[Khiamian]] between 10,200 and 8800&nbsp;BC, [[PPNA]]: [[Sultanian]] (Jericho), [[Mureybet]]ian,
# Early PPNB (''PPNB ancien'') between 8800 and 7600&nbsp;BC, middle PPNB (''PPNB moyen'') between 7600 and 6900&nbsp;BC,
# Late PPNB (''PPNB récent'') between 7500 and 7000&nbsp;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&nbsp;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 8800 and 8600&nbsp;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]]). Low rainfall makes [[irrigation]] systems necessary. [[Ubaid period|Ubaid]] culture originated from 6200 BC.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Ubaid Period (5500–4000 B.C.) {{!}} Essay {{!}} The Metropolitan Museum of Art {{!}} Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ubai/hd_ubai.htm |website=The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |date=October 2003 |access-date=21 November 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Northeastern Africa ===
[[File:African cave paintings.jpg|thumb|Algerian cave paintings depicting hunting scenes]]
[[File:Megaliths Aswan Nubia museum.JPG|left|thumb|Megaliths from Nabta Playa displayed in the Aswan Nubian museum]]

The earliest evidence of Neolithic culture in northeast Africa was found in the archaeological sites of [[Bir Kiseiba]] and [[Nabta Playa]] in what is now southwest Egypt.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |editor-last=Bard |editor-first=Kathryn |editor-link=Kathryn A. Bard |title=Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt |date=9 March 2014 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-75753-9 |page=73 |language=en}}</ref> Domestication of [[sheep]] and [[goats]] reached [[Egypt]] from the [[Near East]] possibly as early as 6000&nbsp;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 |bibcode = 2010JArEn..74..818L |access-date = 2013-09-05 |archive-date = 2022-03-09 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220309030448/http://elenamarinova.net/publications/LinseeleMarinovaVanNeerVermeersch2009_JAE.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title = The Origins and Development of African Livestock |last1 = Blench |first1 = Roger |publisher = Routledge |year = 1999 |isbn = 978-1-84142-018-9 |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/books?id=-Z2imAEACAAJ&pg=PA292 |access-date = 3 December 2011 |year=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/books?id=kIPDE7FnODIC&pg=PA164| access-date = 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/books?id=Ftz_gtO-pngC&pg=PA521 |access-date = 3 December 2011| year = 2005 |publisher = CRC Press |isbn = 978-1-57958-245-6 |pages = 521– }}</ref>

=== Northwestern Africa ===
{{main|Genetic history of North Africa}}
[[File:Summary of inferred population history of the Stone Age Maghreb.png|thumb|upright=1.3|The neolithization of [[Maghreb|Northwestern Africa]] corresponded to the arrival of European migration circa 5500 BCE ({{colorbull|#F5DEB3|square|size=150}}), and a wace of Levantine migration circa 5000 BCE ({{colorbull|#556B2F|square|size=150}}), with some local admixture ({{colorbull|#8B4513|square|size=150}}).{{sfn|Simões|Günther|Martínez-Sánchez|Vera-Rodríguez|2023| p=554}}]]
The neolithization of [[Maghreb|Northwestern Africa]] was initiated by [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberian]], [[Levant]]ine (and perhaps [[Sicily|Sicilian]]) migrants around 5500–5300 BC.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Simões |first1=Luciana G. |last2=Günther |first2=Torsten |last3=Martínez-Sánchez |first3=Rafael M. |last4=Vera-Rodríguez |first4=Juan Carlos |last5=Iriarte |first5=Eneko |last6=Rodríguez-Varela |first6=Ricardo |last7=Bokbot |first7=Youssef |last8=Valdiosera |first8=Cristina |last9=Jakobsson |first9=Mattias |date=7 June 2023 |title=Northwest African Neolithic initiated by migrants from Iberia and Levant |journal=Nature |volume=618 |issue=7965 |language=en |pages=550–556 |doi=10.1038/s41586-023-06166-6 |pmid=37286608 |issn=1476-4687|pmc=10266975 |bibcode=2023Natur.618..550S }}{{Creative Commons text attribution notice|cc=by4|from this source=yes}}</ref> During the Early Neolithic period, farming was introduced by Europeans and was subsequently adopted by the locals.<ref name=":1" /> 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.<ref name=":1" /> The earliest evidence for pottery, domestic cereals and [[animal husbandry]] is found in Morocco, specifically at [[Kaf El Ghar|Kaf el-Ghar]].<ref name=":1" />

=== Sub-Saharan Africa ===
{{Further||Pastoral Neolithic|Savanna Pastoral Neolithic}}

The '''Pastoral Neolithic''' was a period in Africa's [[prehistory]] marking the beginning of food production on the continent following the [[Later Stone Age]]. In contrast to the Neolithic in other parts of the world, which saw the development of [[Agriculture|farming]] societies, the first form of African food production was mobile [[pastoralism]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Marshall|first1=Fiona|last2=Hildebrand|first2=Elisabeth|date=2002-06-01|title=Cattle Before Crops: The Beginnings of Food Production in Africa|journal=Journal of World Prehistory|language=en|volume=16|issue=2|pages=99–143|doi=10.1023/A:1019954903395|s2cid=19466568|issn=0892-7537}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Garcea|first=Elena A. A.|date=2004-06-01|title=An Alternative Way Towards Food Production: The Perspective from the Libyan Sahara|journal=Journal of World Prehistory|language=en|volume=18|issue=2|pages=107–154|doi=10.1007/s10963-004-2878-6|s2cid=162218030|issn=0892-7537}}</ref> or ways of life centered on the herding and management of livestock. The term "Pastoral Neolithic" is used most often by [[Archaeology|archaeologists]] to describe early pastoralist periods in the [[Sahara]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Gallinaro|first1=Marina|last2=Lernia|first2=Savino di|date=2018-01-25|title=Trapping or tethering stones (TS): A multifunctional device in the Pastoral Neolithic of the Sahara |journal=PLOS ONE|language=en|volume=13|issue=1|article-number=e0191765|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0191765 |pmc=5784975|pmid=29370242|bibcode=2018PLoSO..1391765G|doi-access=free}}</ref> as well as in [[East Africa|eastern Africa]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bower|first=John|date=1991-03-01|title=The Pastoral Neolithic of East Africa|journal=Journal of World Prehistory|language=en|volume=5|issue=1|pages=49–82|doi=10.1007/BF00974732|s2cid=162352311|issn=0892-7537}}</ref>

The '''Savanna Pastoral Neolithic''' or SPN (formerly known as the '''Stone Bowl Culture''') is a collection of ancient societies that appeared in the [[East African Rift|Rift Valley]] of [[East Africa]] and surrounding areas during a time period known as the [[Pastoral Neolithic]]. They were [[South Cushitic]] speaking pastoralists, who tended to bury their dead in cairns whilst their toolkit was characterized by stone bowls, pestles, grindstones and earthenware pots.<ref name="Ambrose220">{{cite book|last1=Ambrose|first1=Stanley H.|title=From Hunters to Farmers: The Causes and Consequences of Food Production in Africa – "The Introduction of Pastoral Adaptations to the Highlands of East Africa"|date=1984|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-04574-3|pages=220|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dftPHu1o2s8C|access-date=4 December 2014}}</ref> Through archaeology, historical linguistics and archaeogenetics, they conventionally have been identified with the area's first [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic]]-speaking settlers. Archaeological dating of livestock bones and burial cairns has also established the cultural complex as the earliest center of [[pastoralism]] and stone construction in the region.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lander=|first1=Faye=|last2=Russell=|first2=Thembi=|date=14 June 2018|title=The Archaeological Evidence for the Appearance of Pastoralism and Farming in Southern Africa|journal=PLOS ONE| volume=13 | issue=6 | article-number=e0198941 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0198941| pmid=29902271 | pmc=6002040 | bibcode=2018PLoSO..1398941L | doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Europe ===
{{Main|Neolithic Europe}}

[[File:Golemata Majka.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|Female figure from [[Tumba Madžari]], [[North Macedonia]]]]
[[File:European-late-neolithic-english.svg|thumb|Map showing distribution of some of the main culture complexes in [[Neolithic Europe]], {{circa}} 3500&nbsp;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 6500&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite news | author=Dawn Fuller| date=April 16, 2012 | title=UC research reveals one of the earliest farming sites in Europe| work=Phys.org| url=http://phys.org/news/2012-04-uc-reveals-earliest-farming-sites.html| access-date=April 18, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | date=April 16, 2012 | title=One of Earliest Farming Sites in Europe Discovered| website=ScienceDaily| url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120416113013.htm| access-date=April 18, 2012 }}</ref> 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. 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 European Farmers|early farmers from Anatolia]] about 9,000 years ago, and was not just a cultural exchange.<ref>{{cite news |first=Andrew |last=Curry |title=The first Europeans weren't who you might think |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/first-europeans-immigrants-genetic-testing-feature |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319032852/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/first-europeans-immigrants-genetic-testing-feature |archive-date=March 19, 2021 |work=National Geographic |date=August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Laura |last=Spinney |title=When the First Farmers Arrived in Europe, Inequality Evolved |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-the-first-farmers-arrived-in-europe-inequality-evolved/ |work=Scientific American |date=1 July 2020}}</ref>

Anthropomorphic figurines have been found in the Balkans from 6000&nbsp;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 around 5800&nbsp;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|location = Calgary}}</ref>

The [[Cucuteni-Trypillian culture]] built enormous settlements in Romania, Moldova and Ukraine from 5300 to 2300&nbsp;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 around 3600&nbsp;BC. The [[Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni]], [[Paola, Malta|Paola]], Malta, is a subterranean structure excavated around 2500&nbsp;BC; originally a sanctuary, it became a [[necropolis]], the only prehistoric underground temple in the world, and shows a degree of artistry in stone sculpture unique in prehistory to the Maltese islands. After 2500&nbsp;BC, these 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 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 there.<ref>Piccolo, Salvatore (2013) ''Ancient Stones: The Prehistoric Dolmens of Sicily,'' Abingdon-on-Thames, England: Brazen Head Publishing, pp. 33–34 {{ISBN|978-0-9565106-2-4}}</ref>

With some exceptions, population levels rose rapidly at the beginning of the Neolithic until they reached the [[carrying capacity]].{{sfn|Shennan|Edinborough|2007}} This was followed by a population crash of "enormous magnitude" after 5000 BC, with levels remaining low during the next 1,500 years.{{sfn|Shennan|Edinborough|2007}} Populations began to rise after 3500 BC, with further dips and rises occurring between 3000 and 2500 BC but varying in date between regions.{{sfn|Shennan|Edinborough|2007}} Around this time is the [[Neolithic decline]], when populations collapsed across most of Europe, possibly caused by climatic conditions, plague, or mass migration.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Timpson|first1=Adrian|last2=Colledge|first2=Sue|date=September 2014|title=Reconstructing regional population fluctuations in the European Neolithic using radiocarbon dates: a new case-study using an improved method|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|volume=52|pages=549–557|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2014.08.011|bibcode=2014JArSc..52..549T |doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== South and East Asia ===
{{Main|Neolithic China|South Asian Stone Age}}
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.<ref name=coningham-young-1>{{Citation | last1 =Coningham | first1 =Robin |author1-link=Robin Coningham | last2 =Young | first2 =Ruth | year =2015 | title =The Archaeology of South Asia: From the Indus to Asoka, c. 6500 BC – 200 CE | publisher =Cambridge University Press}} Quote: ""Mehrgarh remains one of the key sites in South Asia because it has provided the earliest known undisputed evidence for farming and pastoral communities in the region, and its plant and animal material provide clear evidence for the ongoing manipulation, and domestication, of certain species. Perhaps most importantly in a South Asian context, the role played by zebu makes this a distinctive, localised development, with a character completely different to other parts of the world. Finally, the longevity of the site, and its articulation with the neighbouring site of Nausharo (c. 2800–2000&nbsp;BC), provides a very clear continuity from South Asia's first farming villages to the emergence of its first cities (Jarrige, 1984)."</ref><ref name=fisher1>{{citation|last=Fisher|first=Michael H.|title=An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kZVuDwAAQBAJ|year=2018|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-11162-2}} Quote: "page 33: "The earliest discovered instance in India of well-established, settled agricultural society is at Mehrgarh in the hills between the Bolan Pass and the Indus plain (today in Pakistan) (see Map&nbsp;3.1). From as early as 7000&nbsp;BC, communities there started investing increased labor in preparing the land and selecting, planting, tending, and harvesting particular grain-producing plants. They also domesticated animals, including sheep, goats, pigs, and oxen (both humped zebu [Bos indicus] and unhumped [Bos taurus]). Castrating oxen, for instance, turned them from mainly meat sources into domesticated draft-animals as well."</ref><ref name=dyson1>{{citation|last=Dyson|first=Tim|title=A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TRtDwAAQBAJ|year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-882905-8}}, Quote: "(p 29) "The subcontinent's people were hunter-gatherers for many millennia. There were very few of them. Indeed, 10,000&nbsp;years ago there may only have been a couple of hundred thousand people, living in small, often isolated groups, the descendants of various 'modern' human incomers. Then, perhaps linked to events in Mesopotamia, about 8,500&nbsp;years ago agriculture emerged in Baluchistan."</ref> 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.<ref name="Wright2009-p=44">{{citation|last=Wright|first=Rita P.|author-link=Rita P. Wright|title=The Ancient Indus: Urbanism, Economy, and Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fwgFPQAACAAJ&pg=PA44|year=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-57652-9|pages=44, 51}}</ref> In April 2006, it was announced in the scientific journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' that the oldest (and first ''Early Neolithic'') evidence for the drilling of teeth ''[[in vivo]]'' (using [[bow drill]]s and [[flint]] tips) was found in Mehrgarh.<ref name="CoppaBondioli2006">{{cite journal|last1=Coppa|first1=A.|last2=Bondioli|first2=L.|last3=Cucina|first3=A.|last4=Frayer|first4=D. W.|last5=Jarrige|first5=C.|last6=Jarrige|first6=J. -F.|last7=Quivron|first7=G.|last8=Rossi|first8=M.|last9=Vidale|first9=M.|last10=Macchiarelli|first10=R.|title=Early Neolithic tradition of dentistry|journal=Nature|volume=440|issue=7085|year=2006|pages=755–756|issn=0028-0836|doi=10.1038/440755a|pmid=16598247|bibcode=2006Natur.440..755C|s2cid=6787162}}</ref>

In South India, the Neolithic began by 3000&nbsp;BC and lasted until around 1400&nbsp;BC when the Megalithic transition period began. South Indian Neolithic is characterized by [[Neolithic ashmounds|Ash mounds]] (created from ritual burning of wood, dung and animal matter) from 2500&nbsp;BC in [[Karnataka]] region, expanded later to [[Tamil Nadu]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Trees and Woodlands of South India: Archaeological Perspectives |last=Eleni Asouti and Dorian Q Fuller|year=2007}}</ref>
[[File:Neolithic Stone Spades & Axes.jpg|thumb|Neolithic artifacts from China]]
In East Asia, the earliest sites include the [[Nanzhuangtou]] culture around 9500–9000&nbsp;BC,<ref>{{cite journal|title=Early millet use in northern China|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=109|issue=10|pages=3726–3730|author=Xiaoyan Yang|doi=10.1073/pnas.1115430109|pmid=22355109|year=2012|pmc=3309722|bibcode=2012PNAS..109.3726Y|doi-access=free}}</ref> [[Pengtoushan culture]] around 7500–6100&nbsp;BC, and [[Peiligang culture]] around 7000–5000&nbsp;BC. 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 6000–5000&nbsp;BC, 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/backup_new/Academic/2013/1026/41367.html |title=New Archaeological Discoveries and Researches in 2004 – The Fourth Archaeology Forum of CASS |publisher=[[Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences]] |date=April 28, 2005 |access-date=September 18, 2007}}</ref> Between 3000 and 1900 BC, the [[Longshan culture]] existed in the middle and lower [[Yellow River]] valley areas of northern China. Towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC, the population decreased sharply in most of the region and many of the larger centres were abandoned, possibly due to environmental change linked to the end of the [[Holocene Climatic Optimum]].<ref>{{citation
  | title = The Archaeology of China: From the Late Paleolithic to the Early Bronze Age
  | surname1 = Liu | given1 = Li | surname2 = Chen | given2 = Xingcan
  | publisher = Cambridge University Press 
  | year = 2012
  | pages=220, 227, 251 }}</ref>

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]]. Polished stone [[adzes|adze]] and axes are used in the present day ({{As of|2008|lc=yes}}) 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.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}

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"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120210517/http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.fr/2012/06/neolithic-farm-field-found-in-south.html |date=2012-11-20 }}.</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]]". The farm was dated between 3600 and 3000&nbsp;BC. 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.<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 Americas ===
In [[Mesoamerican chronology|Mesoamerica]], a similar set of events (i.e., crop domestication and sedentary lifestyles) occurred by around 4500 BC in South America, but possibly as early as 11,000–10,000 BC. These cultures are usually not referred to as belonging to the Neolithic; in North 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 |first1 = Gordon R. |last1 = Willey |first2 = Philip |last2 = Phillips |title = Method and Theory in American Archaeology |url = https://archive.org/details/methodtheoryinam1958will |year = 1957 |publisher = University of Chicago Press |isbn = 978-0-226-89888-9 }}</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 AD when there was a dramatic increase in population and development of large villages supported by agriculture based on [[dryland farming]] of corn (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 |author1=Kohler TA |author2=M Glaude |author3=JP Bocquet-Appel |author4=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 |doi=10.1017/s000273160004734x|hdl = 2376/5746 |s2cid = 163007590 |hdl-access = free }}</ref> In later periods cities of considerable size developed, and some metallurgy by 700 BC.<ref>A. Eichler, G. Gramlich, T. Kellerhals, L. Tobler, Th. Rehren & M. Schwikowski (2017). "Ice-core evidence of earliest extensive copper metallurgy in the Andes 2700 years ago"</ref>

===Australia===
Australia, in contrast to [[New Guinea]], has generally been held not to have had a Neolithic period, with a [[hunter-gatherer]] lifestyle continuing until the arrival of Europeans. This view can be challenged in terms of the definition of agriculture, but "Neolithic" remains a rarely used and not very useful concept in discussing [[Australian prehistory]].<ref>White, Peter, [http://museum.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/10.%20White.pdf "Revisiting the 'Neolithic Problem' in Australia" PDF], 2006</ref>

==Cultural characteristics==
=== Social organization ===

[[File:Smac Neolithikum 122.jpg|thumb|Model of a [[Linear Pottery culture]] settlement, showing [[Neolithic long house|longhouses]], [[Neolithic circular enclosures in Central Europe|circular enclosures]], and fields]]
[[File:MotherGoddessFertility.JPG|thumb|Anthropomorphic 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/books?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/books?id=aF5MHvaju9cC&pg=PA258| access-date = 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 [[State (polity)|states]], generally 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 [[Caral–Supe civilization|Caral-Supe 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 |access-date=9 October 2015 |archive-date=10 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151010195731/http://www.charlesmann.org/articles/Norte-chico-Science-01-05.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=First Andes Civilization Explored |url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4115421.stm |access-date=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 [[Upper 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. [https://web.archive.org/web/20091101033221/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555928_5/Stone_Age.html 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/books?id=3u6JNwMyMCEC&pg=PA420| access-date = 3 December 2011| year = 2005| publisher = University of Chicago Press| isbn = 978-0-226-31126-5| pages = 420– }}</ref>
[[File:Clay human figurine (Fertility goddess) Tappeh Sarab, Kermanshah ca. 7000-6100 BCE Neolithic period, National Museum of Iran.jpg|thumb|Clay human figurine (Fertility goddess) Tappeh Sarab, Kermanshah c. 7000–6100 BC, National Museum of Iran]]
The [[Domestication of animals|domestication]] of [[Megafauna|large animals]] (c. 8000&nbsp;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 |access-date=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 [[Çatalhöyük]] reveal a 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.<ref name="Bogaard et al">{{cite journal |last1=Bogaard |first1=Amy |last2=Fochesato |first2=Mattia |last3=Samuel |first3=Bowles |title=The farming-inequality nexus: new insights from ancient Western Eurasia |journal=Antiquity |date=2019 |volume=93 |issue=371 |pages=1139–1142 |doi=10.15184/aqy.2019.105 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/farminginequality-nexus-new-insights-from-ancient-western-eurasia/8EFE3B8F5AFA07450F87E4E9B553A43E |access-date=17 June 2025|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

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|access-date = 5 September 2013|archive-date = 3 August 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180803074340/https://www.mama.org/exhibits/ancient/prehistoric/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = http://archaeology.about.com/cs/religionandmagic/a/catalhoyuk.htm|title = Çatalhöyük: Urban Life in Neolithic Anatolia|publisher = About.com|website = About.com Archaeology|last = Hirst|first = K. Kris|access-date = 5 September 2013|archive-date = 21 October 2013|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131021212318/http://archaeology.about.com/cs/religionandmagic/a/catalhoyuk.htm}}</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 and 4600&nbsp;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] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219152657/http://www.holysmoke.org/fem/fem0156.htm |date=2008-02-19 }}. Holysmoke.org. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.</ref><ref>Krause (1998) under External links, places.</ref> 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.<ref name="b1" /> This supplanted an earlier view of the [[Linear Pottery culture|Linear Pottery Culture]] as living a "peaceful, unfortified lifestyle".<ref>Gimbutas (1991) page 143.</ref> Violence increased toward the end of this culture which existed at 5500–4500 BCE.<ref>{{cite web |title=Linear Pottery culture |url=https://archaeologymag.com/encyclopedia/linear-pottery-culture/ |website=Archaeology News |access-date=6 February 2025}}</ref> In 2024, a study suggested a peaceful explanation to the reduction in the size of male population observed worldwide 5000–3000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Guyon |first1=Léa |last2=Guez |first2=Jérémy |last3=Toupance |first3=Bruno |last4=Heyer |first4=Evelyne |last5=Chaix |first5=Raphaëlle |title=Patrilineal segmentary systems provide a peaceful explanation for the post-Neolithic Y-chromosome bottleneck |journal=Nature Communications |date=24 April 2024 |volume=15 |issue=1 |page=3243 |doi=10.1038/s41467-024-47618-5 |pmid=38658560 |pmc=11043392 |bibcode=2024NatCo..15.3243G }}</ref>

Control of labour and inter-group conflict is characteristic of [[tribal]] groups with [[social rank]] that are headed by a charismatic individual – either 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 [[chiefdom]]s 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/books?id=COrVxJI3iNUC&pg=PA317 |access-date = 3 December 2011| year= 2000 |publisher = Springer |isbn = 978-0-306-46122-4 |pages = 317– }}</ref> Possible exceptions to this include Iraq during the [[Ubaid period]] and England beginning in the Early Neolithic (4100–3000 BC).<ref>Gil Stein, "Economy, Ritual and Power in 'Ubaid Mesopotamia" in ''Chiefdoms and Early States in the Near East: The Organizational Dynamics of Complexity''.</ref><ref>Timothy Earle, "Property Rights and the Evolution of Chiefdoms" in ''Chiefdoms: Power, Economy, and Ideology''.</ref> Theories to explain the apparent implied egalitarianism of Neolithic (and Paleolithic) societies have arisen, notably the [[Marxist]] concept of [[primitive communism]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Phylogenies reconstructed from modern genetic data indicates an extreme drop in Y-chromosomal diversity occurred during the Neolithic, with [[effective population size]] for the mitochondria up to 17 times higher than for the Y-chromosomes during this period.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Karmin |first=Monika |display-authors=etal |date=13 March 2015 |title=A recent bottleneck of Y chromosome diversity coincides with a global change in culture |journal=[[Genome Research]] |language=en |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=459–66 |doi=10.1101/gr.186684.114 |pmid=25770088 |pmc=4381518}}</ref> The causes of this bottleneck remain poorly understood. At a basic level, it can likely be attributed to a culture-induced change in the distribution of male reproductive success, with possible explanations ranging from an increased incidence of violence and male mortality during the Neolithic <ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zeng |first1=Tian Chen |last2=Aw |first2=Alan J.|last3=Feldman |first3=Marcus |date=25 May 2018 |title=Cultural hitchhiking and competition between patrilineal kin groups explain the post-Neolithic Y-chromosome bottleneck |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=2077 |doi=10.1038/s41467-018-04375-6 |pmid=29802241 |pmc=5970157|bibcode=2018NatCo...9.2077Z }}</ref> to the rise of patrilineal segmentary groups with varying reproductive success due to polygyny.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Guyon |first1=Léa |last2=Guez |first2=Jérémy |last3=Toupance |first3=Bruno |last4=Heyer |first4=Evelyne |last5=Chaix |first5=Raphaëlle |date=24 April 2024 |title=Patrilineal segmentary systems provide a peaceful explanation for the post-Neolithic Y-chromosome bottleneck |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |language=en |volume=15 |issue=1 |page=3243 |doi=10.1038/s41467-024-47618-5 |pmid=38658560 |pmc=11043392 |bibcode=2024NatCo..15.3243G |issn=2041-1723 }}</ref>

===Shelter and sedentism===
[[File:Neolithic house.JPG|thumb|Reconstruction of Neolithic house in [[Tuzla]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]]]{{See also|Neolithic architecture|History of construction}}
The shelter of early people changed dramatically from the [[Upper 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."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080315174222/http://www2.bc.edu/~mcdonadh/course/huyuk.html |date=2008-03-15 }} Archaeology 51.2 (1998): 43–47.</ref> This increased use of clay for building, along with the development of pottery and other clay-based artifacts, has led some to refer to the Neolithic period as the '''Age of Clay'''.<ref name="f818">{{cite web | last=Gillespie | first=Susan D. | title=Clay: The Entanglement of Earth in the Age of Clay | publisher=LibraryPress@UF | date=November 10, 2019 | url=https://ufl.pb.unizin.org/imos/chapter/clay/ | access-date=May 4, 2025}}</ref> The growth of agriculture made permanent houses far more common. At [[Çatalhöyük]] 9,000 years ago, doorways were made on the roof, with ladders positioned both on the inside and outside of the houses.<ref name="firstcity" /> [[Stilt-houses|Stilt-house]] 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/books?id=X9PGRaZt-zcC&pg=PA308 |access-date = 28 March 2011| year=2008 |publisher = Universal-Publishers |isbn = 978-1-59942-983-0| page = 308 }}</ref> Remains have been found in the [[Ljubljana Marsh]] in [[Slovenia]] and at the [[Mondsee (lake)|Mondsee]] and [[Attersee (lake)|Attersee]] lakes in [[Upper Austria]], for example.

=== Agriculture ===
{{Main|Neolithic Revolution}}
[[File:CucuteniAgriculture.JPG|thumb|A [[Cucuteni-Trypillian culture]] [[antler|deer antler]] [[Ard (plough)|plough]]]]
[[File:HMB Essen und Kochgerät Jungsteinzeit.jpg|thumb|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 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 [[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 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 ===
{{Main|Stone tool#Neolithic industries}}
{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2021}}
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 the newly developed 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 that are ideal for fastening leather. [[woolen|Wool]] cloth and [[linen]] might have become available during the later Neolithic,<ref>{{Cite journal |url = https://www.academia.edu/203730 |title = Smooth and Cool, or Warm and Soft: Investigating the Properties of Cloth in Prehistory |last = Harris |first = Susanna|year = 2009 |website = North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles X|access-date = 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 |access-date = 5 September 2013 |publisher = Teachers' Curriculum Institute |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160505105137/http://www.mitchellteachers.org/WorldHistory/MrMEarlyHumansProject/PDFs/PaleolithictoNeolithicDescriptions.pdf |archive-date = 5 May 2016 }}</ref> as suggested by finds of perforated stones that (depending on size) may have served as [[Spindle (textiles)|spindle whorls]] or [[loom]] weights.<ref>{{cite journal|url = https://www.academia.edu/1587878|title = Pierced clay disks and Late Neolithic textile production|publisher = Academia.org|last = Gibbs|first = Kevin T.|access-date = 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 |last=Green |first=Jean M |journal=Asian Perspectives |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press |issue=1 |volume=32 |pages=105–24 |hdl=10125/17022 }}</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>

== List of early settlements ==
{{Main|List of Neolithic settlements}}
[[File:Tripolye hut.jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of a Cucuteni-Trypillian hut, in the Tripillian Museum, Ukraine]]
[[File:CatalHoyukSouthArea.JPG|thumb|archaeological site of [[Çatalhöyük]] in the [[Konya Plain]] in [[Turkey]]]]
{{Stone Age}}

Neolithic [[List of archaeological sites|human settlements]] include:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! name
! location
! early date (BC)
! late date (BC)
! comments
|-
| [[Tell Qaramel]]
| [[Syria]]
| 10,700<ref>{{cite book|url=https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/radiocarbon/article/viewFile/3532/3047|title=Tell Qaramel 1999–2007. Protoneolithic and early Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlement in Northern Syria.|publisher=Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw|year=2012|isbn=978-83-903796-3-0|editor1-last=Mazurowski|editor1-first=Ryszard F.|series=PCMA Excavation Series 2|location=Warsaw, Poland|editor2-last=Kanjou|editor2-first=Youssef}}</ref>
| 9400
|
|-
| [[Franchthi Cave]]
| [[Greece]]
| 10,000
|
| reoccupied between 7500 and 6000&nbsp;BC
|-
| [[Göbekli Tepe]]
| Turkey
| 9600
| 8000
|
|-
| [[Nanzhuangtou]]
| [[Hebei]], [[China]]
| 9500
| 9000
|
|-
| [[Byblos]]
| [[Lebanon]]
| 8800
| 7000<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|access-date = 18 January 2012|year=2004|publisher=Oxbow Books|isbn=978-1-84217-132-5}}</ref>
|-
| 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 culture|Hakra ware]]
|-
| [[Pengtoushan culture]]
| [[China]]
| 7500
| 6100
| rice residues were carbon-14 dated to 8200–7800&nbsp;BC
|-
| [[Çatalhöyük]]
| [[Turkey]]
| 7500
| 5700
|
|-
| Mentesh Tepe and Kamiltepe
| [[Azerbaijan]]
| 7000
| 3000<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Ostaptchouk|first=Dr.|title=Contribution of FTIR to the Characterization of the Raw Material for "Flint" Chipped Stone and for Beads from Mentesh Tepe and Kamiltepe (Azerbaijan). Preliminary Results|url=https://www.academia.edu/36530926|language=en}}</ref>
|
|-
| [[Ayn Ghazal (archaeological site)|'Ain Ghazal]]
| [[Jordan]]
| 7250
| 5000
|
|-
| [[Chogha Bonut]]
| [[Iran]]
| 7200
|
|
|-
| [[Jhusi]]
| [[India]]
| 7100
|
|
|-
|Motza
|Israel
|7000
|
|
|-
| [[Ganj Dareh]]
| [[Iran]]
| 7000
|
|
|-
| [[Lahuradewa]]
| [[India]]
| 7000<ref name="Thanjan2011">{{cite book|author = Davis K. Thanjan|title = Pebbles|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=P9BLBh7XqnkC&pg=PA31|access-date = 4 July 2011|date = 12 January 2011|publisher = Bookstand Publishing|isbn = 978-1-58909-817-6|pages = 31– }}</ref>
|
|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 National Park|Horton Plains]]
|[[Sri Lanka]]
|6700
|
|cultivation of oats and barley as early as 11,000 BC
|-
|[[Porodin, North Macedonia|Porodin]]
| [[North Macedonia]]
| 6500<ref name="eliznik">[http://www.eliznik.org.uk/EastEurope/History/balkans-map/developed-neolithic.htm#nogo Developed Neolithic period, 5500 BC] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110311233032/http://www.eliznik.org.uk/EastEurope/History/balkans-map/developed-neolithic.htm#nogo |date=2011-03-11 }}. Eliznik.org.uk. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.</ref>
|
|
|-
| [[Padah-Lin Caves]]
| [[Myanmar|Burma]]
| 6000
|
|
|-
| [[Petnica]]
| [[Serbia]]
| 6000
|
|
|-
| [[Vinča-Belo Brdo]]
| [[Serbia]]
| 5700
|
|
|-
| [[Pločnik (archaeological site)]]
| [[Serbia]]
| 5500
| 4700
| Earliest known copper tools in Europe, dated 5500 BC.
|-
| [[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<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://masterpieces.asemus.museum/masterpiece/detail.nhn?objectId=11070|title = Manunggul Burial Jar|access-date = 5 September 2013|website = Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces|archive-date = 12 July 2013|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130712015415/http://masterpieces.asemus.museum/masterpiece/detail.nhn?objectId=11070}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nationalmuseumbeta/ASBMD/Tabon.html|title = Tabon Cave Complex|year = 2011|access-date = 5 September 2013|publisher = National Museum of the Philippines|archive-date = 25 February 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210225151518/http://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nationalmuseumbeta/ASBMD/Tabon.html}}</ref>
|
|-
| [[Hemudu culture]], large-scale rice plantation
| [[China]]
| 5000
| 4500
|
|-
| The [[Megalithic Temples of Malta]]
| Malta
| 3600
|
|
|-
| [[Knap of Howar]] and [[Skara Brae]]
| [[Orkney]], [[Prehistoric Scotland|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&nbsp;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 [[roadway]], the [[Post Track]] in [[England]], dates from 3838&nbsp;BC and the world's oldest freestanding structure is the Neolithic temple of [[Ġgantija]] in [[Gozo]], [[Malta]].

== List of cultures and sites ==
{{Neolithic|257}}
''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#Pre-Pottery Neolithic A|The Levant]]: 9500–8000&nbsp;BC; [[Mesolithic Europe|Europe]]: 7000–4000&nbsp;BC; Elsewhere: varies greatly, depending on region.''
* [[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)
* [[Starčevo–Kőrös–Criş culture|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)
* [[Tamilnadu culture|Tamil Nadu culture]] (India, 3000–2800 BC)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tamiluniversity.ac.in/english/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/katturai_H01_venkatasubbiah-PDF.pdf|title=Neolithic Culture of Tamil Nadu: an Overview }}</ref>
* Mentesh Tepe and Kamiltepe (Azerbaijan, 7000–3000 BC)<ref name=":0" />

'''Middle Neolithic'''<br />{{anchor|Middle Neolithic}}
''Periodization: [[Neolithic#Pre-Pottery Neolithic B|The Levant]]: 8000–6500&nbsp;BC; [[Neolithic Europe|Europe]]: 5500–3500&nbsp;BC; Elsewhere: varies greatly, depending on region.''

{{columns-list|colwidth=25em|
* [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic B]] (Levant, 7600–6000 BC)
* [[Baodun culture]]
** [[Jinsha (archaeological site)|Jinsha settlement]] and [[Sanxingdui]] mound.
* [[Çatalhöyük]]
* [[Cardium pottery]] culture
* [[Comb Ceramic culture]]
* [[Corded Ware]] culture
* [[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]]
** [[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]]
* [[Lengyel culture]] (Central Europe, 5000–3400 BC)
* [[Varna culture]] (South/Eastern Europe 4400–4100 BC)
* [[Windmill Hill culture]]
** [[Stonehenge]]
* [[Xinglongwa culture]]
** [[Beifudi]] site
* [[Xinle culture]]
* [[Yangshao culture]]
** [[Banpo]] and [[Xishuipo]] settlements.
* [[Zhaobaogou culture]]
}}

'''Later Neolithic''' <br />{{anchor|Late Neolithic}}
''[[Neolithic#Neolithic 3 – Pottery Neolithic (PN)|Periodization]]{{Broken anchor|date=2025-03-16|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=Neolithic#Neolithic 3 – Pottery Neolithic (PN)|reason= The anchor (Neolithic 3 – Pottery Neolithic (PN)) [[Special:Diff/1019082697|has been deleted]].|diff_id=1019082697}}: 6500–4500&nbsp;BC; [[Neolithic Europe|Europe]]: 5000–3000&nbsp;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 period|Ubaid 1/2]] (5400–4500 BC)
* [[Funnelbeaker culture]] (North/Eastern Europe, 4300–2800 BC)

; Chalcolithic
{{Main|Chalcolithic}}
''Periodization: [[Copper Age|Near East]]: 6000–3500&nbsp;BC; [[Chalcolithic Europe|Europe]]: 5000–2000&nbsp;BC; [[Metallurgy in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica|Elsewhere]]: varies greatly, depending on region. In the Americas, the Chalcolithic ended as late as the 19th century AD for some peoples.''
* [[Ubaid period|Ubaid 3/4]] (Mesopotamia, 4500–4000 BC)
* [[Uruk period|early Uruk period]] (Mesopotamia, 4000–3800 BC)
* [[Uruk period|middle Uruk period]] (Mesopotamia, 3800–3400 BC)
* [[Cucuteni-Trypillian culture|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==
{{Neolithic Chronology|state=expanded}}

==See also==
{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|
* [[Céide Fields]]
* [[Prehistoric religion#Neolithic|Neolithic religion]]
* [[Neolithic tomb]]
* [[Ötzi]]
* [[Rock art of the Djelfa region]]
* [[Tabon Man]]
* [[Two layer hypothesis]]
* [[Neolithic in China]]
* [[Neolithic in the Near East]]
}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
<!-- 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}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Bellwood |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Bellwood |title=First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k1mzyCEOAUIC |date=2004 |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |isbn=9-780-63120-566-1}}
* {{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2006.10.031 |title=Prehistoric population history: From the Late Glacial to the Late Neolithic in Central and Northern Europe |year=2007 |last1=Shennan |first1=Stephen |last2=Edinborough |first2=Kevan |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=34 |issue=8 |pages=1339–45|bibcode=2007JArSc..34.1339S }}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Pedersen |first=Hilthart |title=Die Jüngere Steinzeit Auf Bornholm |year=2008 |publisher=GRIN Verlag |isbn=978-3-638-94559-2 }}

== External links ==
{{Commons category multi|Neolithic|Neolithic artefacts}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* Romeo, Nick (Feb. 2015). [https://web.archive.org/web/20150221195225/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/02/150220-embracing-skeletons-greece-diros-alepotrypa-cave-archaeology/ 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 |access-date=2008-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430200956/http://worldmuseumofman.org/neolithic1.htm |archive-date=2008-04-30 }}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.11141/ia.9.4|title=Pre-Pottery Neolithic Clay Figurines from Nevali Çori|journal=Internet Archaeology|issue=9|year=2000|last1=Affonso|first1=T.|last2=Pernicka|first2=E.}}
* {{Cite EB1911 |wstitle = Neolithic |short = x}}

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

[[Category:Neolithic| ]]
[[Category:1860s neologisms]]
[[Category:Historical eras]]
[[Category:Holocene]]