Neolithic

The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from <a href="/facts/Ancient_Greek/LIK7NlUh">Greek</a> νέος néos 'new' and λίθος líthos 'stone') is an <a href="/facts/Archaeological_period/nApLF8E2">archaeological period</a>, the final division of the <a href="/facts/Stone_Age/r1KMneWW">Stone Age</a> in <a href="/facts/Mesopotamia/f0mmbhTK">Mesopotamia</a>, <a href="/facts/Asia/4IToYrrQ">Asia</a>, <a href="/facts/Europe/DTAtrKfh">Europe</a> and <a href="/facts/Africa/XkqQUP9s">Africa</a> (c. 10,000 BC to c. 2,000 BC). It saw the <a href="/facts/Neolithic_Revolution/P5tLdcgU">Neolithic Revolution</a>, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts of the world. This "Neolithic package" included the <a href="/facts/History_of_agriculture/N7bJ4tdM">introduction of farming</a>, <a href="/facts/Domestication_of_animals/CFTfnHWg">domestication of animals</a>, and change from a <a href="/facts/Hunter-gatherer/ghnjoNbJ">hunter-gatherer</a> lifestyle to one of <a href="/facts/Sedentism/5lUa65CJ">settlement</a>. The term 'Neolithic' was coined by <a href="/facts/John_Lubbock,_1st_Baron_Avebury/Ml5YJUNv">Sir John Lubbock</a> in 1865 as a refinement of the <a href="/facts/Three-age_system/boEDrPg0">three-age system</a>.
The Neolithic began about 12,000 years ago, when farming appeared in the <a href="/facts/Epipalaeolithic_Near_East/0JrUPfd8">Epipalaeolithic Near East</a> and <a href="/facts/Mesopotamia/f0mmbhTK">Mesopotamia</a>, and later in other parts of the world. It lasted in the <a href="/facts/Near_East/gD1vyGQI">Near East</a> until the transitional period of the <a href="/facts/Chalcolithic/asevzSXh">Chalcolithic</a> (Copper Age) from about 6,500 years ago (4500 BC), marked by the development of <a href="/facts/Metallurgy/1SANyxX4">metallurgy</a>, leading up to the <a href="/facts/Bronze_Age/c09qWcTt">Bronze Age</a> and <a href="/facts/Iron_Age/mpQYShI0">Iron Age</a>.
In other places, the Neolithic followed the <a href="/facts/Mesolithic/XTNS0x3r">Mesolithic</a> (Middle Stone Age) and then lasted until later. In <a href="/facts/Ancient_Egypt/BDsEGK4g">Ancient Egypt</a>, the Neolithic lasted until the <a href="/facts/Protodynastic_Period_of_Egypt/NqQD7MTJ">Protodynastic period</a>, c. 3150 BC. In <a href="/facts/China/lTjIXY5p">China</a>, it lasted until circa 2000 BC with the rise of the <a href="/facts/Shang_dynasty/6JYKH4wP">pre-Shang</a> <a href="/facts/Erlitou_culture/GuT5t42Q">Erlitou culture</a>, as it did in <a href="/facts/Scandinavia/KpLQ40kl">Scandinavia</a>.

Neolithic open-in-new

Neolithic