A Complete Timeline of The Neolithic Period: The New Stone Age | Early Humans Documentary
Summary
TLDRThe Neolithic period, marking humanity's shift from hunter-gatherers to settled farmers, began around 12,000 years ago in Western Asia. This era saw the first evidence of farming with crops like spelt wheat and the domestication of animals. It allowed for population growth and the formation of large-scale communities. Innovations like pottery and the construction of temples emerged. The period varied in different regions, with West Asia leading the way into the Bronze Age, while Africa and Europe followed. The Neolithic laid the groundwork for advanced societies, introducing agriculture, permanent settlements, and early religious practices.
Takeaways
- 🏞️ The Neolithic period marked the transition from a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle to settled farming communities, which is considered the first step towards civilization.
- 🌾 The first Agricultural Revolution occurred during the Neolithic, with early farming taking place in the Fertile Crescent of Western Asia around 12,000 years ago.
- 🌱 Early Neolithic farmers cultivated a limited range of crops such as spelt wheat, emmer wheat, and millet, and kept dogs for hunting.
- 🐷 By 8,000 BC, modern domesticated animals like pigs, goats, and sheep were integrated into human settlements.
- 🏡 Neolithic communities in the Levant had basic seed selection and cultivation techniques, and were among the first to establish permanent settlements.
- 🕍 The first known temple-like structure, dating back to 9,500 BC, was found in Göbekli Tepe, Turkey, indicating early religious practices.
- 🏠 Early Neolithic houses were circular and made of mud brick, evolving to rectangular or square structures with multiple rooms for increased privacy.
- 🗿 Figurines and evidence of skull preservation suggest that Neolithic people had complex religious beliefs and rituals, including veneration of the dead.
- 🍽️ Pottery, first developed in the Southern Levant, became a significant part of Neolithic life, used for food preparation and storage, and later for trade.
- 🌍 The Neolithic period varied in its onset across different regions, with West Asia being the earliest and Europe and Africa following later.
- 🛠️ The end of the Neolithic period saw the advent of metallurgy, leading to the Bronze Age and the development of new technologies and ways of living.
Q & A
What is the Neolithic Age and when did it begin?
-The Neolithic Age, also known as the New Stone Age, was the final chapter of the Stone Age and marked the first step towards what we consider civilization. It began roughly 12,000 years ago and is marked by the first evidence of farming taking place in the Fertile Crescent of Western Asia.
What was the significance of the first Agricultural Revolution during the Neolithic Age?
-The first Agricultural Revolution allowed human communities to transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to farming crops and livestock. This transition enabled populations to grow and led to the formation of the world's first large-scale communities.
What crops were cultivated by early Neolithic farmers in the Fertile Crescent?
-Early Neolithic farmers in the Fertile Crescent cultivated a small range of crops such as spelt wheat, emmer wheat, and millet.
How did the development of agriculture impact the formation of permanent settlements?
-The development of agriculture allowed for a more stable food supply, which in turn supported population growth and the spread of settlements, leading to the formation of the world's first large-scale communities.
What is the significance of the temple-like building found in Göbekli Tepe, Turkey?
-The temple-like building at Göbekli Tepe, established around 9,500 BC, is significant as it is one of the earliest known places of worship and suggests that Neolithic humans had complex religious practices.
What changes in housing structures occurred during the Neolithic Age?
-During the Neolithic Age, housing structures evolved from circular, single-room mud brick houses to rectangular or square houses with multiple rooms, providing more privacy and forming the basis of modern houses.
How did the Neolithic people of Europe differ in their lifestyle compared to those in Asia and Africa?
-While Neolithic people in Asia were the first to establish stable farming communities, those in Europe often lived in small villages and engaged in a mix of farming, hunting, and pastoralism. In Africa, some regions developed agriculture independently, while others adopted it through contact with Asian cultures.
What role did pottery play in the late Neolithic period in the Middle East?
-In the late Neolithic period, the first experiments with pottery were developed in the Middle East, particularly in Southern Mesopotamia. Pottery was used for storage and cooking, and later decorated with geometric shapes and patterns for trade.
How did the Neolithic people's religious beliefs manifest in their daily lives?
-Neolithic people's religious beliefs manifested in various ways, such as the construction of temples, the creation of figurines representing deities or ancestors, and the practice of preserving and venerating the dead within their homes.
What is the significance of megalithic structures like Stonehenge in Neolithic Europe?
-Megalithic structures like Stonehenge are significant as they represent advanced architectural skills and are thought to have had religious or ceremonial purposes. Stonehenge, for example, is aligned with the sun's movements during the summer and winter solstices.
How did the end of the Neolithic Age pave the way for the development of later civilizations?
-The end of the Neolithic Age marked the transition to the Bronze Age with the advent of metallurgy. This period introduced new technologies, weapons, and ways of living that significantly contributed to laying the foundations of the world as we know it today.
Outlines
🌾 The Dawn of Agriculture and the Neolithic Revolution
The script begins by discussing the transition from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic period, marking the end of the Stone Age and the start of civilization. The Neolithic, or New Stone Age, was characterized by the first Agricultural Revolution, where humans shifted from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to farming. This allowed for population growth and the formation of large-scale communities. The period began around 12,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent of Western Asia, where early farming of crops like spelt wheat, emmer wheat, and millet started. The domestication of animals such as pigs, goats, and sheep followed around 8,000 BC. The script also notes that the end of the Neolithic period varied by region, with West Asian cultures moving into the Bronze Age with the advent of metallurgy, while other regions like Africa and Europe took longer to progress.
🏗️ Early Neolithic Settlements and the Emergence of Religion
The second paragraph delves into the early Neolithic settlements in Western Asia, particularly in the Levant, which are believed to be the first stable farming communities. These communities developed basic agriculture, leading to the construction of the first permanent structures. The script mentions the discovery of an ancient temple-like building in Göbekli Tepe, Turkey, dating back to 9,500 BC, which is considered one of the earliest places of worship. It also discusses the evolution of housing from circular mud-brick structures to more complex rectangular houses with multiple rooms, indicating a shift towards a more settled lifestyle. The paragraph highlights early religious practices, including the veneration of the dead and the creation of figurines that may represent fertility deities or other cultural symbols.
🌍 The Spread of Agriculture and Cultural Developments in Africa
This section of the script explores the spread of agriculture and the Neolithic lifestyle to Africa. It discusses how early African cultures developed agriculture independently or through contact with Western Asian societies. The domestication of animals like sheep and goats reached Egypt around 6,000 BC, possibly due to trade across land bridges. The script also mentions the independent domestication of crops and animals in some African regions. It highlights the pastoralist lifestyle of early North Africans, who relied on the open plains for livestock grazing. The adoption of pottery and other agricultural technologies in regions like Morocco and the development of communal burial practices in sub-Saharan Africa are also discussed.
🏡 Neolithic Europe: Farming, Religion, and the Emergence of Megaliths
The final paragraph focuses on the Neolithic period in Europe, detailing the spread of farming technologies from the Mediterranean to Western Europe and Scandinavia. It describes the lifestyle of Neolithic Europeans, who lived in small villages and engaged in various tasks such as farming, hunting, and woodworking. The script mentions the construction of fortified villages with palisade walls and sentry towers for defense. It also discusses the pastoralist lifestyle of some communities and the religious practices of Neolithic Europeans, including the worship of mother goddesses and the construction of megaliths like Stonehenge. The paragraph concludes by noting the end of the Neolithic period and the transition to the Chalcolithic, or Copper Age, which introduced new technologies and ways of living that laid the foundations for modern civilization.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Neolithic
💡Agricultural Revolution
💡Fertile Crescent
💡Domestication
💡Settlements
💡Megaliths
💡Pottery
💡Pastoralism
💡Religion and Beliefs
💡Chalcolithic
Highlights
The Neolithic period marked the transition from hunter-gatherer to settled farming communities.
The first Agricultural Revolution occurred during the Neolithic, enabling population growth and large-scale communities.
The Neolithic began around 12,000 years ago, with the earliest evidence of farming in the Fertile Crescent.
Early Neolithic farms cultivated spelt wheat, emmer wheat, and millet, with dogs assisting in hunting.
The domestication of modern animals like pigs, goats, and sheep occurred around 8,000 BC.
The end of the Neolithic period varied by region, with West Asia being the first to progress into the Bronze Age.
Asian cultures were the first to show evidence of stable farming communities and early civilization.
Hunter-gatherers in Western Asia began to understand plant growth, leading to the first agricultural practices.
The first crop cultivated by humans was the fig, as evidenced by remains from a 9,400 BC settlement in Jericho.
Agriculture was independently invented by multiple cultures around the world, starting in Western Asia.
The first temple-like building was established in ancient Turkey around 9,500 BC, predating surrounding structures.
Early Neolithic houses were circular and multi-purpose, made of mud brick and air-dried blocks.
Around 8,800 BC, houses transitioned to rectangular shapes with multiple rooms, influencing modern home design.
Early human religious practices included venerating the dead, preserving skulls within houses.
The late Neolithic in the Middle East saw the first experiments with pottery and clay figurines.
African cultures developed agriculture and farming capabilities around 8,000 BC, with some domestication being independent.
In Europe, farming technologies spread from the Mediterranean to the western and northern regions.
Neolithic Europeans lived in small villages, with labor divided among farming, hunting, pottery, and woodworking.
Some Neolithic Britons practiced pastoralism, herding cattle and supplementing their diet with plants.
Religious artifacts like the 'mother goddess' figure and megaliths like Stonehenge were part of Neolithic European culture.
The Neolithic period ended with the advent of metallurgy and the beginning of the Bronze Age.
Transcripts
as the world left the Paleolithic period
and traveled through the Mesolithic it
would not be long historically speaking
before humans started to settle down in
permanent farmsteads Villages and
communities the Neolithic or new stone
age was the final chapter of the Stone
Age and the first step towards what we
would consider to be civilization
loosely part of the Neolithic was the
first Agricultural Revolution where many
human communities began transitioning
away from life as hunter gatherers in
favor of farming crops and
livestock this in turn allowed for
populations to grow and some settlements
spread out to support this forming the
world's first largescale
communities the Neolithic began roughly
12,000 years ago and is actually Mar
marked by the first evidence of farming
taking place in the Fertile Crescent of
Western
Asia these early Farms cultivated a
small range of crops such as spelt wheat
in corn and Millet and still kept dogs
in their settlements to assist with
hunting for
meat it wasn't until 8,000 BC when
modern domesticated animals such as pigs
goats and sheep were brought into human
settlements where the Neolithic ends
depends on where you're located these
West Asian cultures were the first to
progress out of the Neolithic with the
Advent of Metallurgy as they headed into
the Bronze Age other regions of the
world took longer to advance with
cultures in Africa first progressing at
around
3,150 BC and Europe in 2000 BC
today we will be examining these
cultures in Greater detail how did the
Neolithic humans of Europe Asia and
Africa live their lives how did they
progress learn and thrive in the early
historical Landscapes they would grow to
call home join us as we answer these
questions and more exploring the
Neolithic the mysterious and ancient new
stone
age
Asian cultures were by far the first to
show evidence of stable farming
communities and the earliest forms of
civilization this technology first came
to light in Western Asia and the Levant
encompassing regions making up
modern-day turkey Syria Iraq and
Jordan This is suspected to have begun
when hunter gatherers began to
understand the process in which plants
grew it is thought that in the first
instance these hunter gatherers would
simply scatter seeds around the region
they found them in order to prompt the
growth of more plants thus resulting in
more
food there would have been a great deal
of trial and error involved in this as
is the way with any new
technology hunter gatherers are thought
have finally made the leap when
localized climate change forc parts of
the planet into long dry seasons a
climate that favors plants which
complete their life cycle in one year
certain grains and pulses were available
to be harvested at differing points in
the year leading to a wide variety of
food ready to eat year
round it was off the back of this that
the first settlements were able to
arise neolithic communities in the
Levant are thought to have had a basic
grasp over seed selection and and
receding allowing the finest crops to be
cultivated and harvested based on
preferences some grains were ground down
into flour using mortar and pestles
which as technology progressed would
eventually be used to make a range of
new
foods there is evidence from Jericho
however that figs were in fact the first
crop to be cultivated by humans fig
remains were discovered in an ancient
settlement which dated back to around
9,400
BC these figs were a domesticated
variety from trees that are only able to
reproduce from cuting selected by humans
unless another crop is discovered that
predates them scientists have reasoned
to believe that fig trees were the first
domesticated
plant agriculture is not a technology
that was discovered once and spread
across the globe but one that was
invented independently by many different
cultures who were progressing
technologically at the same
time there would have been plenty of
spread in the immediate regions it was
developed in but agriculture is thought
to have been instigated over 11 separate
times by different cultures across the
globe starting in Western
Asia Neolithic humans in Asia were also
the first to have set up a place of
worship ship a temple likee building
located in the ancient Turkish
archaeological site of gocke established
around
9,500 BC is thought to have being the
first of its kind and was actually
developed before the buildings around it
were established the people who built
this structure were still very much
living as hunter
gatherers around the temple lie Seven
Stone circles some of which are made of
up of limestone pillars engraved with
depictions of various species of mammal
bird and
invertebrate amazingly hundreds of
people are thought to have worked on
these structures which may have once
been shrines adjacent to the main Temple
covered by basic Roofing
mechanisms similar but slightly younger
sites have been uncovered in what is now
Israel Jordan and
Lebanon as as Asian settlements in the
early Neolithic became long-term people
started to abandon the nomadic lifestyle
in favor of a solid structure that would
keep them warm and sheltered year round
these early houses were circular in
shape with only one room that served as
a multi-purpose bedroom living area and
makeshift kitchen to prepare food from
cultivated
crops these earliest houses were made
made of mud brick air dried blocks
composed from mud bound with
straw in some cases early communities
had basic stone walls and even Stone
Towers these basic defenses were
sufficient to keep communities safe from
wild animals rival groups of humans and
natural hazards such as floods and
storms smaller walls can be found within
that may have served as animal pens or
food storage areas that would have been
used by the whole
settlement around
8,800 BC we start to see evidence of
what has been coined the pre potery
Neolithic b
period one major change taking place
around this time is that roundhouses
typically switch to rectangular or
square houses with multiple rooms this
would have allowed families residing
Within in further privacy and would form
the bases of the houses we live in
today we also start to gain a better
insight into early human religions
beliefs and cultures at this time
figurines of both men and women found
made from Gypsum and stone have been
discovered in settlements within what is
now Syria and there is evidence that
these early mudbrick houses were the
places of religion spectacles that would
be considered obscene in the modern day
human remains found within and outside
these houses suggest that these people
worshiped or venerated their dead in
some way preserving their skulls within
the houses and Plastering them with
dried mud to form facial
features perhaps this was a way of
keeping the deceased loved one with them
after death albe it a way that would be
considered very strange in today's
world when families preserved their
loved ones they would leave the rest of
the body outside to Decay to nothing but
bones these bones would then be buried
underneath the floor of the
Abode following on from this period we
enter the late Neolithic focused around
the Fertile Crescent of the Middle
East this time is characterized by the
first experiments with Pottery developed
in the Southern reaches of the
Levant these experiments are centered
around North Mesopotamia and include
sites such as Tel hassuna and
yarmo thick handmade Pottery was
developed here alongside Clay figurines
of humans and animals some of which
depict pregnant women entities that were
revered as fertility
goddesses later Pottery would be
decorated with geometric shapes and
patterns which were traded with other
settlements for food and other
resources some early communities within
Africa followed the same processes as
the ones listed in the previous segment
of this video just after they took place
in Western Asia Far Eastern Africa for
example were the first to develop
Agriculture and farming capabilities and
agrarian society started to appear
around 8,000
BC domestication of more advanced animal
species specifically sheep and goats is
thought to have reached Egypt in around
6,000 BC as a direct spread from Western
Asian societies who were perhaps trading
with them via the land bridge connecting
the two
continents in some regions however the
domestication of crops and animals is
thought to have happened independently
with no influence on early hunter
gatherers from outside
cultures this is still a topic of debate
among scholar with some arguing that
crops were domesticated
indigenously and others claiming that
migrant Farmers settling in Africa from
Asia brought some technologies with
them whilst Egypt and the regions that
surrounded it were the first to enter
the Neolithic period in Africa other
areas of the continent took took
slightly longer to progress in areas
such as Algeria and Morocco for example
agrarian societies cropped up as a
result of farming being introduced by
Europeans living on the Iberian
Peninsula Who had already discovered the
Technologies as humans traveled across
to Africa they would have brought
domesticated grains as well as knowledge
with them to the early African cultures
who adopted the life lifestyle for
themselves this led to some North
African society's leading pastoralist
Lifestyles relying on the wide open
Plains and scrublands of the continent
to allow their livestock to
graze pastoralism is practiced in many
modern-day mountainous regions and was
vital to the lifestyles of these early
North
Africans some pastoralists will
occasionally move with the seasons and
availability of resources hering their
animals to new locations when pastures
are fully grazed this leads to a great
degree of flexibility and as a result
some of these early people were not
fixed to the regions in which they
initially
settled Morocco was the earliest
non-egyptian region of Africa to adopt
pottery making Technologies most notably
at the site known as cfel gar in the
modern country's Taza province
there is also extensive evidence here
for the early adoption of Serial grain
domestication as well as animal
husbandry as sheep and goats were
brought into the region from both Europe
and the
Levant the people of subsaharan Africa
adopted pastoralism as their main way of
life rather than becoming wholly
agrarian this spread across the regions
surrounding the rift valley where sheep
goats and eventually cattle were
domesticated for their meat skins and
milk Earth in wear pots were developed
in these areas as were mortars and
pestles grindstones and stone
Bowls the dead were buried in KS a type
of communal indoor graveyard as opposed
to within the settlements themselves
eventually this way of life would spread
south to tribes such as the kooy a group
of people we have covered previously on
this
channel farming Technologies are thought
to have entered Europe as early as 7,000
years ago as the technology spread
throughout the Mediterranean from the
near East and the Levant between 5 and
4,000 years ago this technology would
then reach the western parts of the
continent running through what is now
Germany and Poland through to France as
well as South through Italy and the
Iberian
Peninsula Scandinavia and the British
Isles as a result of their relative
isolation were the last to have
developed the technology as migrant
Farmers traveled North from what is
today France and
Germany regardless of the time they
entered the Neolithic many cultures and
communities that sprung up across Europe
in this time shared several basic
characteristics they lived in small
villages often in family groups where
they divided labor between both animals
and plant Farmers as well as Hunters
potters and
Woodworkers wood was chopped using basic
Stone axes from the dense surrounding
forests of Europe which was then applied
to the infrastructure of houses and
buildings as well as fires to keep
communities warm in the Long Cold
Winters
some neolithic communities from around
the Mediterranean took their Settlements
a step further reinforcing their
villages with Palisade walls and Sentry
Towers likely to ward off and scout out
approaching Invaders or Raiders from
neighboring
settlements some communities in
neolithic Britain favored a pastorless
lifestyle they would herd cattle across
the hills and forests of this ancient
land subsiding on their meat and
supplementing their diet with plant
matter there is also evidence to suggest
that the Neolithic peoples of Europe
were
religious an artifact discovered at an
archaeological site in what is now the
vine province of Bulgaria was identified
in 2018 as the head of a figure that is
thought to have represented a mother
goddess these figures have been found
across Europe and Asia and are argued by
some to represent the embodiment of
fertility others disagree stating that
these are figurines that are intended to
represent wisdom and
wealth some cultures are also known to
have constructed huge
megaliths these structures can be
composed of a single or multiple Stones
often arranged in intricate patterns or
shapes the most famous of the over 3
5,000 located in Europe alone is without
a doubt
Stonehenge located on what is now the
Salsbury plane of Wilshire in
England constructed in the late
Neolithic some of the stones are thought
to have been brought to the location
from over 150 M away it was constructed
using joints that are not found in any
other megalithic structure making it one
of the most sophisticated and advanced
pieces of architecture of the entire
Neolithic its purpose is thought to have
being religious perhaps used as an
ancient Temple aligned with the sun's
movements the sun rises directly over
the heelstone on both the shortest and
longest days of the year the summer and
winter
solstices by the time the Neolithic came
to an end the people of Europe had
settled into more a great Arian
societies complete with a whole host of
animals on their
Farms as well as cattle sheep and goats
provided milk meat and wool whilst wild
pigs were kept in the woods and farmed
for their meat dogs domesticated much
longer ago were trained to help on farms
hurting sheep and keeping a close eye
out for Predators or
Raiders so that's a rundown of the key
events and happenings of the
Neolithic the Neolithic was to be the
last instance in history when Stones
were used as a primary construct in
Technologies the forthcoming calal
lithic the subject of our next part in
this series would see the introduction
of the very first Metals harnessed and
applied by ancient peoples copper and
Tin as people moved into this new age
they would experience exp erience a
whole host of new technologies weapons
and ways of living all of which would
contribute significantly in laying the
foundations of the world we recognize
today
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