Encyclopedia
This time period is part of the
Holocene epoch. |
Holocene
- Neolithic
- Mesolithic or Epipaleolithic
8,000s BC
9,000s BC
|
Pleistocene
- Paleolithic
|
The
Neolithic was a period in the development of
human technology that is traditionally the last part of the
Stone Age. The name was invented by
Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. The term is more commonly used in the Old World, as its application to cultures in the
Americas and
Oceania is problematic.
The Neolithic era 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 ,
Bronze Age or
Iron Age, depending on geographical region. The term "Neolithic" thus does not refer to a specific
chronological period, but rather to a suite of behavioural and cultural characteristics including the use of
crops and the use of
domesticated 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.
Dates
In
Southwest Asia , cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing soon after the 10th millennium BC. Early development occurred in the
Levant and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are also attested in southeastern
Anatolia and northern
Mesopotamia by ca. 8000 BC.
Neolithic sites and traditions in
South Asia include Mehrgarh in the Balochistan region from ca. 7000 BC, and Lahuradewa from ca. 6200 BC in the
Ganges valley of the
Indian subcontinent. Earlier-dated finds of
charcoal in some Lahuradewa sites provide indications of
slash and burn cultivation techniques present in the area .
In
East Asia the earliest sites include Peiligang culture around 7000 BC to 5000 BC.
In southeast
Europe cultivational societies first appear by ca. 7000 BC, and in
Central Europe by ca. 5500 BC. Among the earliest cultural complexes of this area are included the Starcevo-Körös ,
Linearbandkeramic, and
Vinca). Through a combination of cultural diffusion and
migration of peoples, the Neolithic traditions spread west and northwards to reach northwestern Europe by around 4500 BC.
In
Mesoamerica a similar set of events occurred at about 4500 BC, although here the term
Pre-Classic is used instead of Neolithic.
Early Neolithic farming is limited to a narrow range of crops and the keeping of
sheep and
goats, but by about 7000 BC it included the
domestication of
cows and
pigs, the establishment of permanently or semi-permanently inhabited settlements and the use of pottery. Not all of the cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic 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 to what extent plants were domesticated in the earliest Neolithic, or even whether permanently settled communities existed. In other parts of the world, such as
Africa, India and Southeast Asia, independent domestication events led to their own regionally-distinctive Neolithic cultures which arose completely independent of those in Europe and Southwest Asia. Early Japanese societies used pottery in the Mesolithic for example.
Social organization
There is little scientific evidence for developed hierarchies in the Neolithic; hierarchies are more closely associated with the later
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 arrangements of
circular ditches between 4800 BC and 4600 BC. These structures 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 or 'tribal' groups, headed by a charismatic individual such as a lineage group head. These sociopolitical entities later developed into the chiefdoms of the European
Early Bronze Age. The
Iroquois,
Pueblo people, Maya civilization and the
Maori are examples of stone-tool-dependent cultures with complex social and political systems.
Farming
A significant and far-reaching shift in human subsistence and lifestyle was to be brought about in those areas where crop
farming and cultivation were first developed, then gradually improved. In these areas, the previous reliance upon a more
nomadic hunter-gatherer subsistence technique was at first supplemented, and then increasingly replaced by, a reliance upon the yield 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 labour in tending crop fields required more localised dwellings. This trend would continue into the Bronze Age, eventually giving rise to
towns, and later
cities and states whose larger populations could be sustained by the increased productivity from cultivated lands.
The profound differences in human interactions and subsistence methods associated with the early onset of agricultural practices in the Neolithic have been called the
Neolithic Revolution, a term first coined by the Australian archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe.
One potential benefit of the increasing sophistication and development of farming technology was an ability to produce a crop yield which would be surplus to the immediate needs of the community. When such surpluses were produced they could be preserved and sequestered for later use during times of seasonal shortfalls, traded with other communities , and in general allowed larger populations to be sustained.
However, it should be noted that early farmers were also adversely affected in times of crop failures, such as may be caused by
drought or
pestilence. In instances where agriculture had become the predominant way of life the sensitivity to these shortages could be particularly acute, affecting agrarian populations to a sometimes dramatic extent which otherwise may not have been routinely experienced by former hunter-gatherer communities. Nevertheless, despite what must have been periodic setbacks in general agrarian communities 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. Whereas hunter-gatherer communities typically have diets with a larger proportion of
animal protein, those farmers whose opportunities and motivation for hunting had lessened might have their
food intake derived in large part just from the proceeds of their
plant cultivation. The relative
nutritional benefits and disadvantages of these dietary changes, and their overall impact on early societal development is still the subject of some debate.
Domestication of animals
The
domestication of animals, either as working animal or as a food source , was another innovation which altered the societal characteristics of those Neolithic communities which adopted it. Animal by-product of
dung could be used as a
fertilizer, as
fuel or even as a
building material. Apart from providing a ready source of protein and
dairy-based products, livestock animals could also be used for barter and trade. For those communities where
pastoralism of grazing animals was developed, this often implied a more nomadic existence than is the case for purely crop-based farming, as the animals were herded or migrated to seasonal
pastures .
Technology
Neolithic peoples were skilled farmers, manufacturing a range of tools necessary for the tending, harvesting and processing of crops and food production . They were also skilled manufacturers 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 accomplished 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. 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.
With very small exceptions , the peoples of the
Americas and the
Pacific remained at the Neolithic level of
technology up until the time of European contact.
Neolithic settlements include:
- Franchthi Cave in Greece
Greece lies at the juncture of Europe [i], Asia [i], and Africa [i]. ...
, epipalaeolithic settlement, reoccupied between 7500-6000 BC
- Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, ca. 9000 BC
- Jericho in the Levant, Neolithic from around 8350 BC, arising from the earlier Epipaleolithic Natufian culture
- Nevali Cori in Turkey, ca. 8000 BC
- Çatalhöyük in Turkey, 7500 BC
- Dispilio in Greece
Greece lies at the juncture of Europe [i], Asia [i], and Africa [i]. ...
, ca. 5500 BC
- Jiahu in China,7000 to 5800 BC
- Mehrgarh in Pakistan, 7000 BC
- Cnossus
Knossos, also known by its Romantic name of the Palace of Minos, was discovered in 1878 [i] by Minos Kalokairinos [i] ...
in
Greece, ca. 7000 BC
- Lahuradewa in India, 6200 BC
- Porodin in Republic of Macedonia, 6500 BC
- Vrshnik in Republic of Macedonia, 6500 BC
- around 2000 settlements of Trypillian culture, 5400 BC -- 2800 BC
- Knap of Howar and Skara Brae
|
Skara Brae is a large stone-built Neolithic [i] settlement, located in the Bay of Skaill [i] on th ...
, the
Orkney Islands,
Scotland, from 3500 BC
- Brú na Bóinne in Ireland, ca. 3500 BC
The world's oldest known engineered
roadway, the Sweet Track in
England, also dates from this time.
References
See also
External links
