Era

The Neolithic Period

NEE-oh-LITH-ik

Also Known As New Stone Age

Prehistory and the Ancient World

The Neolithic, or New Stone Age, is the final division of the Stone Age in Asia, Europe and Africa, conventionally dated from about 10,000 BCE to about 2,000 BCE. It is defined not by a fixed span of calendar time but by the Neolithic Revolution, the shift from a hunting and gathering way of life to farming, animal domestication and permanent settlement, which is why the period begins and ends at very different calendar dates in different regions: it opens earliest in the Fertile Crescent and reaches other regions thousands of years later.

Facts

Disputed

Start Year

-10,000 1

Conventionally opened around 10,000 BCE with the beginnings of farming in the Fertile Crescent; the transition happened at very different calendar dates in different regions.

End Year

2000 BCE 1

Conventionally closed around 2,000 BCE; regions reached the Bronze Age, and so left the Neolithic, at very different times.

Geographic Scope

Conventionally applied to Asia, Europe and Africa; because the period is defined by the adoption of farming and settlement rather than a fixed calendar date, its boundaries fall at very different times region by region, and some regions had no clearly demarcated Neolithic at all. 1

FAQs

How is the start of the Neolithic connected to the end of the last ice age?

The earliest Neolithic, about 10,000 BCE in the Middle East, coincides with the retreat of the glaciers and the start of the Holocene.

The earliest Neolithic began in the Middle East about 10,000 BCE, and Encyclopaedia Britannica notes that this point coincides with the retreat of the glaciers after the Pleistocene ice ages and the start of the Holocene epoch. Neolithic peoples then generally cultivated cereal grains, built permanent dwellings and gathered in villages.

Connections

Associated With

The Neolithic Revolution

The transition to farming defines the period

In Era

Prehistory

Source Wikipedia

Additional Source Neolithic (Wikipedia)Neolithic, in relation to Prehistory

Preceded By

The Mesolithic Period

Why this is disputed. Period boundaries and the exact sequence are debated among historians.

The Paleolithic Period

Source Wikipedia

Additional Source Neolithic (Wikipedia)Neolithic, succession from the Paleolithic

Succeeded By

The Chalcolithic Period

Why this is disputed. Period boundaries and the exact sequence are debated among historians.

In the Other Atlases

Era Of Origin For

Soybean

Also in Agriculture and Farming Atlas: originating in this era.

Spelt

Also in Agriculture and Farming Atlas: originating in this era.

Sugarcane

Also in Agriculture and Farming Atlas: originating in this era.

Wheat

Also in Agriculture and Farming Atlas: originating in this era.

Zebu

Also in Agriculture and Farming Atlas: originating in this era.

Adobe

Also in Architecture and Design Atlas: originating in this era.

Post-and-Lintel Construction

Also in Architecture and Design Atlas: originating in this era.

Rammed Earth

Also in Architecture and Design Atlas: originating in this era.

Adze