Neolithic (New Stone Age) The later part of the STONE AGE, characterized by the Neolithic peoples' use of polished stone axes and simple pottery. The discovery of farming and the domestication of animals brought an end to the slow development of the hunting societies of the PALAEOLITHIC and MESOLITHIC periods and initiated a time of rapid change that soon produced metal-working, cities, states, and empires. The term is thus best applied to the stone-using, farming populations of Asia and Europe, who used polished axes to clear the forests and cooked their grain in pottery vessels. The very first farmers, at sites like Jericho, had not discovered pottery, and are called pre-pottery Neolithic. In the Old World, agriculture began in the Near East by the 8th millennium BC and had spread to northern Europe by the 4th millennium BC.

Western Neolithic

refers to the period after 4000 BC during which the indigenous hunting and gathering peoples living along the western coasts of Europe merged with incoming farmers from central Europe (related to the Bandkeramik culture, named after their characteristic pottery that was decorated with incised ribbon-like ornament) to form new groups of farmers with a basically similar material culture. Their simple round-based pottery has sometimes given them the name ‘bowl cultures’, but they are better known for the construction of monumental tombs out of large boulders or megaliths. The Bandkeramik peoples spread up from the Balkans c.5000 BC. They occupied small plots of land on fertile soil near rivers, where they built wooden long-houses for themselves and their livestock, and cultivated cereals, which they introduced to this area. They formed the basis of later Neolithic populations. An important Neolithic settlement in Çatal Hüyük, near Konya in south-central Turkey, which dates from c.6500 BC. Its small houses, built of mud bricks, were so close together that all access had to be by way of the flat roofs. A high proportion of rooms are believed to have been shrines, on the basis of numerous bulls' horns mounted in benches. There were also wall decorations, votive offerings, and richly furnished burials beneath the floors. Only part of the site has been excavated.

Impressed ware culture

refers to the farming people who spread round virtually the whole coastline of the western Mediterranean from 6000 BC. Their characteristic pottery consists of round-bottomed bowls decorated with impressed designs, particularly using the crinkled edge of the cockle shell (the so-called Cardial ware). Material comes from both caves and open villages. By the 4th millennium the culture had split into many regional variants.

The Yangshao site in northern Henan province, China, has provided archaeological evidence of the Chinese Neolithic period. There were square and round houses of timber post construction with thatched roofs, in villages up to 5 ha (12 acres) in size. The red burnished pottery, often painted in black, was handmade but finished on a slow wheel. Polished stone axes and knives were in general use. The staple crop was millet, grown on terraces, and pigs and dogs were the commonest domestic animals. This culture was distributed over much of the middle Huang He (Yellow River) valley during the 4th and early 3rd millennia BC. This developed into the Longshan (Lung Shan) later Neolithic culture of the lower Huang He (Yellow River) valley, which flourished between 2500 and 1700 BC. Its economy was based primarily on millet, harvested with polished stone reaping knives, and on pigs, cows, and goats. Its distinctive pottery was the first in the Far East to be made on the fast wheel, and was kiln-fired to a uniform black colour.

Neolithic period or New Stone Age. The term neolithic is used, especially in archaeology and anthropology, to designate a stage of cultural evolution or technological development characterized by the use of stone tools, the existence of settled villages largely dependent on domesticated plants and animals, and the presence of such crafts as pottery and weaving. The time period and cultural content indicated by the term varies with the geographic location of the culture considered and with the particular criteria used by the individual scientist. The domestication of plants and animals usually distinguishes Neolithic culture from earlier Paleolithic or Mesolithic hunting, fishing, and food-gathering cultures. The Mesolithic period in several areas shows a gradual transition from a food-collecting to a food-producing culture. The termination of the Neolithic period is marked by such innovations as the rise of urban civilization or the introduction of metal tools or writing. Again, the criteria vary with each case. The earliest known development of Neolithic culture was in SW Asia between 8000 BC and 6000 BC There the domestication of plants and animals was probably begun by the Mesolithic Natufian peoples, leading to the establishment of settled villages based on the cultivation of cereals, including wheat, barley, and millet, and the raising of cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. In the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys, the Neolithic culture of the Middle East developed into the urban civilizations of the Bronze Age by 3500 BC Between 6000 BC and 2000 BC Neolithic culture spread through Europe, the Nile valley (Egypt), the Indus valley (India), and the Huang He valley (N China). The formation of Neolithic cultures throughout the Old World resulted from a combination of local cultural developments with innovations diffused from the Middle East. In SE Asia, a distinct type of Neolithic culture involving rice cultivation developed, perhaps independently, before 2000 BC In the New World, the domestication of plants and animals occurred independently of Old World developments. By 1500 BC, Neolithic cultures based on the cultivation of corn, beans, squash, and other plants were present in Mexico and South America, leading to the rise of the Inca and Aztec civilizations and spreading to other parts of the Americas by the time of European contact. The term Neolithic has also been used in anthropology to designate cultures of more contemporary primitive, independent farming communities.

Bibliography: See V. G. Childe, New Light on the Most Ancient East (4th ed. 1953, repr. 1968); G. Clark and S. Piggott, Prehistoric Societies (1965); R. J. Braidwood, Prehistoric Men (7th ed. 1967); S. M. Cole, The Neolithic Revolution (4th ed. 1967); A. Whittle, Problems in Neolithic Archaeology (1989).

Neolithic of, relating to, or denoting the later part of the Stone Age, when ground or polished stone weapons and implements prevailed. In the Neolithic period farm animals were first domesticated and agriculture was introduced, beginning in the Near East by the 8th millennium bc and spreading to northern Europe by the 4th millennium bc. Neolithic societies in NW Europe left such monuments as causewayed camps, henges, long barrows, and chambered tombs.

Ne·o·lith·ic / ˌnēəˈli[unvoicedth]ik/ • adj. Archaeol. of, relating to, or denoting the later part of the Stone Age, when ground or polished stone weapons and implements prevailed. ∎  [as n.] (the Neolithic) the Neolithic period. Also called New Stone Age.

Neolithic (New Stone Age) Period in human cultural development following the Palaeolithic. The Neolithic began c.8000 bc in w Asia and c.4000 bc in Europe. During this period people first lived in settled villages, domesticated animals, cultivated cereal crops, and ground stone and flint.

Neolithic The New Stone Age, beginning in the Middle East approximately 9000 BC and lasting until 6000 BC, during which humans first developed agriculture. Grinding and polishing of stone tools was also practised.

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