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89-773: The Neolithic Revolution reached Europe beginning in 7000–6500 BC, during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period, when agriculturalists from the Near East entered the Greek peninsula from Anatolia mainly by island-hopping through the Aegean Sea . Modern archaeologists have divided the Neolithic period of Greek history into six phases: Pre-Pottery, Early Neolithic, Middle Neolithic, Late Neolithic I, Late Neolithic II and Final Neolithic (or Chalcolithic). These are

178-795: A 23,000-years-old fisher-hunter-gatherers' camp on the shore of the Sea of Galilee , Northern Israel , provides the earliest evidence for the use of composite cereal harvesting tools. The Ohalo site is at the junction of the Upper Paleolithic and the Early Epipaleolithic , and has been attributed to both periods. The wear traces indicate that tools were used for harvesting near-ripe semi-green wild cereals, shortly before grains are ripe and disperse naturally. The studied tools were not used intensively, and they reflect two harvesting modes: flint knives held by hand and inserts hafted in

267-623: A corridor between the millet and rice cultivation centres where both rice and millet were cultivated. At around 5,500 to 4,000 BP, there was increasing migration into Taiwan from the early Austronesian Dapenkeng culture , bringing rice and millet cultivation technology with them. During this period, there is evidence of large settlements and intensive rice cultivation in Taiwan and the Penghu Islands , which may have resulted in overexploitation . Bellwood (2011) proposes that this may have been

356-602: A different problem: most of the wild seeds do not germinate in the first year; the first evidence of lentil domestication, breaking dormancy in their first year, appears in the early Neolithic at Jerf el Ahmar (in modern Syria), and lentils quickly spread south to the Netiv HaGdud site in the Jordan Valley . The process of domestication allowed the founder crops to adapt and eventually become larger, more easily harvested, more dependable in storage and more useful to

445-405: A food source, also had to be taken into account. Besides being a direct source of food, certain animals could provide leather, wool, hides, and fertilizer. Some of the earliest domesticated animals included dogs ( East Asia , about 15,000 years ago), sheep, goats, cows, and pigs. West Asia was the source for many animals that could be domesticated, such as sheep, goats and pigs. This area was also

534-634: A handle. The finds shed new light on cereal harvesting techniques some 8,000 years before the Natufian and 12,000 years before the establishment of sedentary farming communities in the Near East. Furthermore, the new finds accord well with evidence for the earliest ever cereal cultivation at the site and the use of stone-made grinding implements. Agriculture appeared first in West Asia about 2,000 years later, around 10,000–9,000 years ago. The region

623-767: A highly advantageous geographical location that afforded them a head start in the Neolithic Revolution. Both shared the temperate climate ideal for the first agricultural settings, and both were near a number of easily domesticable plant and animal species. In areas where continents aligned north–south such as the Americas and Africa, crops—and later domesticated animals—could not spread across tropical zones. Agriculture in Neolithic China can be separated into two broad regions, Northern China and Southern China. The agricultural centre in northern China

712-487: A narrow optimal climatic range outside of which they cannot grow for reasons of light or rain changes. For instance, wheat does not normally grow in tropical climates, just like tropical crops such as bananas do not grow in colder climates. Some authors, like Jared Diamond , have postulated that this east–west axis is the main reason why plant and animal domestication spread so quickly from the Fertile Crescent to

801-522: A region of the Near East known as the Fertile Crescent. According to the archaeological record this phenomenon, known as "Neolithic", rapidly expanded from these territories into Europe. However, whether this diffusion was accompanied or not by human migrations is greatly debated. Mitochondrial DNA – a type of maternally inherited DNA located in the cell cytoplasm – was recovered from the remains of Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) farmers in

890-549: A relatively short period of between 20 and 200 years. Some of the pioneering attempts failed at first and crops were abandoned, sometimes to be taken up again and successfully domesticated thousands of years later: rye , tried and abandoned in Neolithic Anatolia , made its way to Europe as weed seeds and was successfully domesticated in Europe, thousands of years after the earliest agriculture. Wild lentils presented

979-412: A sign of existing dangers and primitive military knowledge. Simple fortifications, which account for the majority of Neolithic sites, included small walls and ditches, or a combination of the two encircling the area (at least partially). The settlement of Nea Nikomedeia had two concentric ditches. Neolithic Makriyalos had two lines of ditches with V-shaped sections; the inner ditch was ~4 meters deep and

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1068-446: A variety of other crops, dating back to 11,000 BP. Two potentially significant economic species, taro ( Colocasia esculenta ) and yam ( Dioscorea sp.), have been identified dating at least to 10,200 calibrated years before present (cal BP). Further evidence of bananas and sugarcane dates to 6,950 to 6,440 BCE. This was at the altitudinal limits of these crops, and it has been suggested that cultivation in more favourable ranges in

1157-494: Is a decorative border constructed from a continuous line, shaped into a repeated motif . Among some Italians, these patterns are known as "Greek Lines". Such a design may also be called the Greek fret or Greek key design, although these terms are modern designations; this decorative motif appears thousands of years before that culture, thousands of miles away from Greece, and among cultures that are continents away from it. Usually

1246-711: Is a fundamental design motif in regions far from a Hellenic orbit: labyrinthine meanders ("thunder" pattern ) appear in bands and as infill on Shang bronzes ( c.  1600 BC  – c.  1045 BC ), and many traditional buildings in and around China still bear geometric designs almost identical to meanders. Although space-filling curves have a long history in China in motifs more than 2,000 years earlier, extending back to Zhukaigou Culture ( c.  2000 BC  – c.  1400 BC ) and Xiajiadian Culture ( c.  2200 BC  – c.  1600 BC and c.  1000 BC  – c.  600 BC ), frequently there

1335-810: Is a highly resilient crop, able to grow in varied and marginal environments, such as in regions of high altitude and latitude. Archaeobotanical evidence shows that barley had spread throughout Eurasia by 2,000 BCE. To further elucidate the routes by which barley cultivation was spread through Eurasia, genetic analysis was used to determine genetic diversity and population structure in extant barley taxa. Genetic analysis shows that cultivated barley spread through Eurasia via several different routes, which were most likely separated in both time and space. When hunter-gathering began to be replaced by sedentary food production it became more efficient to keep animals close at hand. Therefore, it became necessary to bring animals permanently to their settlements, although in many cases there

1424-549: Is believed to be the homelands of the early Sino-Tibetan -speakers, associated with the Houli , Peiligang , Cishan , and Xinglongwa cultures , clustered around the Yellow River basin. It was the domestication centre for foxtail millet ( Setaria italica ) and broomcorn millet ( Panicum miliaceum ), with early evidence of domestication approximately 8,000 years ago, and widespread cultivation 7,500 years ago. ( Soybean

1513-413: Is characterized by settlement expansion and the intensification of the farming economy where shrubs and wooded areas were cleared in order to secure grazing fields and arable lands. During this period, new crops were cultivated such as bread wheat , rye , millet and oat (food was prepared in hearths and ovens usually found inside houses). Animals such as sheep and goats were raised for their wool, which

1602-457: Is in the lower Yangtze River , believed to be the homelands of pre-Austronesians and associated with the Kauhuqiao , Hemudu , Majiabang , and Songze cultures . It is characterized by typical pre-Austronesian features, including stilt houses, jade carving, and boat technologies. Their diet were also supplemented by acorns , water chestnuts , foxnuts , and pig domestication. The second

1691-611: Is in the middle Yangtze River, believed to be the homelands of the early Hmong-Mien -speakers and associated with the Pengtoushan and Daxi cultures . Both of these regions were heavily populated and had regular trade contacts with each other, as well as with early Austroasiatic speakers to the west, and early Kra-Dai speakers to the south, facilitating the spread of rice cultivation throughout southern China. The millet and rice-farming cultures also first came into contact with each other at around 9,000 to 7,000 BP, resulting in

1780-560: Is limited to Northern Levant and Southern Turkey. A detailed satellite map study of a few archaeological sites in the Baluchistan and Khybar Pakhtunkhwa regions also suggests similarities in early phases of farming with sites in Western Asia. Pottery prepared by sequential slab construction, circular fire pits filled with burnt pebbles, and large granaries are common to both Mehrgarh and many Mesopotamian sites. The postures of

1869-568: Is not customarily used in describing cultures in the Americas. However, a broad similarity exists between Eastern Hemisphere cultures of the Neolithic and cultures in the Americas. Maize (corn), beans and squash were among the earliest crops domesticated in Mesoamerica : squash as early as 6000 BCE, beans no later than 4000 BCE, and maize beginning about 7000 BCE. Potatoes and manioc were domesticated in South America . In what

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1958-501: Is now the eastern United States, Native Americans domesticated sunflower , sumpweed and goosefoot c.  2500 BCE . In the highlands of central Mexico, sedentary village life based on farming did not develop until the "formative period" in the second millennium BCE. Evidence of drainage ditches at Kuk Swamp on the borders of the Western and Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea indicates cultivation of taro and

2047-399: Is observed in Neolithic farmers from across Europe, namely K1c . Furthermore, the mtDNA haplogroups of all five Neolithic samples that were studied also belonged to typical haplogroups of central European Neolithic farmers and modern Europeans, but not of Mesolithic European hunter-gatherers; namely X2b (Revenia), X2m (Barcın), K1a2 (Barcın), J1c1 (Paliambela), and K1a2 (Kleitos). Likewise,

2136-471: Is the earliest Neolithic site in the north-west Indian subcontinent, dated as early as 8500 BCE. Neolithic domesticated crops in Mehrgarh include more than 90% barley and a small amount of wheat. There is good evidence for the local domestication of barley and the zebu cattle at Mehrgarh, but the wheat varieties are suggested to be of Near-Eastern origin, as the modern distribution of wild varieties of wheat

2225-502: Is the figure of a labyrinth in linear form". Meanders are common decorative elements in Greek and Roman art . In ancient Greece they appear in many architectural friezes , and in bands on the pottery of ancient Greece from the Geometric period onward. The design is common to the present-day in classicizing architecture, and is adopted frequently as a decorative motif for borders for many modern printed materials. The meander

2314-618: The Aegean have been carbon-dated to c.  6500 BCE at Knossos , Franchthi Cave , and a number of mainland sites in Thessaly . Neolithic groups appear soon afterwards in the Balkans and south-central Europe. The Neolithic cultures of southeastern Europe (the Balkans and the Aegean ) show some continuity with groups in southwest Asia and Anatolia (e.g., Çatalhöyük ). Current evidence suggests that Neolithic material culture

2403-614: The Fertile Crescent , and perhaps 8000 BCE in the Kuk Early Agricultural Site of Papua New Guinea in Melanesia . Everywhere, this transition is associated with a change from a largely nomadic hunter-gatherer way of life to a more settled , agrarian one, with the domestication of various plant and animal species – depending on the species locally available, and influenced by local culture. Archaeological research in 2003 suggests that in some regions, such as

2492-547: The Fertile Crescent . Many grinding stones are found with the early Egyptian Sebilian and Mechian cultures and evidence has been found of a neolithic domesticated crop-based economy dating around 7,000 BP. Unlike the Middle East, this evidence appears as a "false dawn" to agriculture, as the sites were later abandoned, and permanent farming then was delayed until 6,500 BP with the Tasian culture and Badarian culture and

2581-622: The First Agricultural Revolution , was the wide-scale transition of many human cultures during the Neolithic period in Afro-Eurasia from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement , making an increasingly large population possible. These settled communities permitted humans to observe and experiment with plants, learning how they grew and developed. This new knowledge led to

2670-719: The Kachi plain of Balochistan , Pakistan; the site has evidence of farming (wheat and barley) and herding (cattle, sheep and goats). There is strong evidence for causal connections between the Near-Eastern Neolithic and that further east, up to the Indus Valley. There are several lines of evidence that support the idea of connection between the Neolithic in the Near East and in the Indian subcontinent. The prehistoric site of Mehrgarh in Baluchistan (modern Pakistan)

2759-780: The Levantine corridor that show early evidence of agriculture include Wadi Faynan 16 and Netiv Hagdud . Jacques Cauvin noted that the settlers of Aswad did not domesticate on site, but "arrived, perhaps from the neighbouring Anti-Lebanon , already equipped with the seed for planting" . In the Eastern Fertile Crescent, evidence of cultivation of wild plants has been found in Choga Gholan in Iran dated to 12,000 BP, with domesticated emmer wheat appearing in 9,800 BP, suggesting there may have been multiple regions in

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2848-734: The Near East and then compared to available data from other Neolithic populations in Europe and also to modern populations from South Eastern Europe and the Near East. The obtained results show that substantial human migrations were involved in the Neolithic spread and suggest that the first Neolithic farmers entered Europe following a maritime route through Cyprus and the Aegean Islands . The earliest Neolithic sites in South Asia are Bhirrana in Haryana dated to 7570–6200  BCE , and Mehrgarh , dated to between 6500 and 5500 BP, in

2937-554: The Neolithic package , provided the basis for centralized administrations and political structures, hierarchical ideologies , depersonalized systems of knowledge (e.g. writing ), densely populated settlements, specialization and division of labour , more trade , the development of non-portable art and architecture , and greater property ownership. The earliest known civilization developed in Sumer in southern Mesopotamia ( c.  6,500 BP ); its emergence also heralded

3026-596: The Pre-Ceramic period. The first Neolithic settlements in Knosos area were developed in 6,500 - 7,000 BC according to modern radiocarbon . Arthur Evans , who revealed the Minoan Knossos palace , estimated that during the late 8th Millennium or early 9th Millennium BC Neolithic people arrived in the area, probably from overseas, possibly from Western Anatolia and established their primitive communities in

3115-404: The genes of domesticated plants, he preferred theories of a single, or at most a very small number of domestication events for each taxon that spread in an arc from the Levantine corridor around the Fertile Crescent and later into Europe. Gordon Hillman and Stuart Davies carried out experiments with varieties of wild wheat to show that the process of domestication would have occurred over

3204-483: The "Tsangli-type" house, named after the settlement of Tsangli, was first developed during the Middle Neolithic period; the "Tsangli-type" dwelling has two interior buttresses on each side (designed to support the roof of the house and divide the dwelling space into separate rooms for distinct functions such as storage, food preparation and sleep quarters) with a row of posts in the center of the square room. In

3293-716: The 1st millennium CE, they also colonized Madagascar and the Comoros , bringing Southeast Asian food plants, including rice, to East Africa . On the African continent, three areas have been identified as independently developing agriculture: the Ethiopian highlands , the Sahel and West Africa . By contrast, Agriculture in the Nile River Valley is thought to have developed from the original Neolithic Revolution in

3382-469: The Aegean shared a direct genetic link with the Neolithic farmers from across Europe, and all of them ultimately originated from farming communities of western Anatolia. Expansion of these Anatolian farming communities into the Aegean and mainland Greece had likely begun by at least the mid-8th millennium BCE, as the two Mesolithic Greek samples dated between 7,605-6,771 BCE, possessed an mtDNA haplogroup that

3471-485: The Early Neolithic period (or EN) where the economy was still based on farming and stock-rearing and settlements still consisted of independent one-room huts with each community inhabited by 50 to 100 people (the basic social unit was the clan or extended family). Hearths and ovens were constructed in open spaces between the huts and were commonly used. During the Early Neolithic period, pottery technology involving

3560-619: The Ethiopian highlands. Crops domesticated in the Sahel region include sorghum and pearl millet . The kola nut was first domesticated in West Africa. Other crops domesticated in West Africa include African rice , yams and the oil palm . Agriculture spread to Central and Southern Africa in the Bantu expansion during the 1st millennium BCE to 1st millennium CE. The term "Neolithic"

3649-560: The Fertile Crescent where cereal domestication evolved roughly contemporaneously. The Heavy Neolithic Qaraoun culture has been identified at around fifty sites in Lebanon around the source springs of the River Jordan , but never reliably dated. In his book Guns, Germs, and Steel , Jared Diamond argues that the vast continuous east–west stretch of temperate climatic zones of Eurasia and North Africa gave peoples living there

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3738-745: The Minoans and Mycenaeans ", analyzed 10 Minoan and 4 Mycenaean samples, and found that both population groups shared at least 75% of their autosomal ancestry with the Neolithic farmers of western Anatolia and the Aegean, commonly known as Early European Farmers . The study also showed that modern Greeks resemble the Mycenaeans, but with some dilution of the early Neolithic ancestry due to later admixture . [REDACTED] Media related to Neolithic in Greece at Wikimedia Commons Neolithic Revolution The Neolithic Revolution , also known as

3827-582: The Neolithic advanced from one patch of fertile alluvial soil to another, bypassing mountainous areas. Analysis of radiocarbon dates show clearly that Mesolithic and Neolithic populations lived side by side for as much as a millennium in many parts of Europe, especially in the Iberian peninsula and along the Atlantic coast. The spread of the Neolithic from the Near East Neolithic to Europe

3916-657: The Southeast Asian peninsula, the transition from hunter-gatherer to agriculturalist was not linear, but region-specific. Once agriculture started gaining momentum, around 9000 BP, human activity resulted in the selective breeding of cereal grasses (beginning with emmer , einkorn and barley ), and not simply of those that favoured greater caloric returns through larger seeds. Plants with traits such as small seeds or bitter taste were seen as undesirable. Plants that rapidly shed their seeds on maturity tended not to be gathered at harvest, therefore not stored and not seeded

4005-514: The Y-DNA haplogroup of the two Neolithic males was G2a2 , a typical lineage among European Neolithic farmers, but not among Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. PCA analysis showed that all five Neolithic Aegean samples tightly clustered with early Neolithic samples from central and southern Europe, which substantiates a migration of early European farmers from the northern Aegean into and across Europe. A 2017 archaeogenetic study, titled " Genetic origins of

4094-460: The adoption of a limited set of food-producing techniques. During the next millennia, it transformed the small and mobile groups of hunter-gatherers that had hitherto dominated human prehistory into sedentary (non- nomadic ) societies based in built-up villages and towns. These societies radically modified their natural environment by means of specialized food-crop cultivation, with activities such as irrigation and deforestation which allowed

4183-572: The arrival of crops and animals from the Near East. Bananas and plantains , which were first domesticated in Southeast Asia , most likely Papua New Guinea , were re-domesticated in Africa possibly as early as 5,000 years ago. Asian yams and taro were also cultivated in Africa. The most famous crop domesticated in the Ethiopian highlands is coffee . In addition, khat , ensete , noog , teff and finger millet were also domesticated in

4272-735: The beginning of the Bronze Age . The relationship of the aforementioned Neolithic characteristics to the onset of agriculture, their sequence of emergence, and their empirical relation to each other at various Neolithic sites remains the subject of academic debate. It is usually understood to vary from place to place, rather than being the outcome of universal laws of social evolution . Prehistoric hunter-gatherers had different subsistence requirements and lifestyles from agriculturalists. Hunter-gatherers were often highly mobile and migratory, living in temporary shelters and in small tribal groups, and having limited contact with outsiders. Their diet

4361-936: The borders of the settlements themselves. The Late Neolithic I period was succeeded by the Late Neolithic II period (or LNII) where economic and social life in existing settlements continued uninterruptedly. The Final Neolithic (or Chalcolithic) period entails the transition from the Neolithic farming and stock-rearing economy to the metal-based economy of the Early Bronze Age . This transition occurred gradually when Greece's agricultural population began to import bronze and copper and used basic bronze-working techniques first developed in Asia Minor with which they had cultural contacts. The Alimia and Rhodes islands had Neolithic settlements. Specifically in Alimia

4450-488: The diversity of foods available, resulting in a decrease in the quality of human nutrition compared with that obtained previously from foraging , but because food production became more efficient, it released humans to invest their efforts in other activities and was thus "ultimately necessary to the rise of modern civilization by creating the foundation for the later process of industrialization and sustained economic growth". The Neolithic Revolution involved much more than

4539-463: The domestication of plants into crops . Archaeological data indicates that the domestication of various types of plants and animals happened in separate locations worldwide, starting in the geological epoch of the Holocene 11,700 years ago, after the end of the last Ice Age. It was humankind's first historically verifiable transition to agriculture. The Neolithic Revolution greatly narrowed

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4628-467: The earliest evidence for advanced planning of plants for food consumption and suggests that humans at Ohalo II processed the grain before consumption. Tell Aswad is the oldest site of agriculture, with domesticated emmer wheat dated to 10,800 BP. Soon after came hulled, two-row barley – found domesticated earliest at Jericho in the Jordan valley and at Iraq ed-Dubb in Jordan . Other sites in

4717-503: The estimated populations of hamlets , villages , and towns of Neolithic Greece over time. There are several problems with estimating the sizes of individual settlements, and the highest estimates for a given settlements, in a given period, may be several times the lowest. The Pre-Ceramic (or Aceramic) period of Neolithic Greece is characterized by the absence of baked clay pots and an economy based on farming and stock-rearing. Settlements consisted of subterranean huts partially dug into

4806-689: The first region to domesticate the dromedary . Henri Fleisch discovered and termed the Shepherd Neolithic flint industry from the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon and suggested that it could have been used by the earliest nomadic shepherds . He dated this industry to the Epipaleolithic or Pre-Pottery Neolithic as it is evidently not Paleolithic , Mesolithic or even Pottery Neolithic . The presence of these animals gave

4895-420: The following season; successive years of harvesting spontaneously selected for strains that retained their edible seeds longer. Daniel Zohary identified several plant species as "pioneer crops" or Neolithic founder crops . He highlighted the importance of wheat, barley and rye, and suggested that domestication of flax , peas , chickpeas , bitter vetch and lentils came a little later. Based on analysis of

4984-532: The ground with communities inhabited by 50 to 100 people in places such as Argissa ( Thessaly ), Dendra ( Argolid ) and Franchthi . The inhabitants cultivated various crops (i.e. einkorn , emmer wheat , barley , lentils and peas ), engaged in fishing , hunting , animal husbandry (i.e. raising cattle, pigs, sheep, dogs and goats), developed tools (i.e. blades made from flint and obsidian ) and produced jewellery from clay, seashells, bone and stone. Knossos has an extremely long history that begins during

5073-473: The health of early agriculturalists and their domesticated livestock would have been increased numbers of parasites and disease-bearing pests associated with human waste and contaminated food and water supplies. Fertilizers and irrigation may have increased crop yields but also would have promoted proliferation of insects and bacteria in the local environment while grain storage attracted additional insects and rodents . The term 'neolithic revolution'

5162-563: The human population. Selectively propagated figs , wild barley and wild oats were cultivated at the early Neolithic site of Gilgal I , where in 2006 archaeologists found caches of seeds of each in quantities too large to be accounted for even by intensive gathering , at strata datable to c. 11,000 years ago. Some of the plants tried and then abandoned during the Neolithic period in the Ancient Near East, at sites like Gilgal, were later successfully domesticated in other parts of

5251-638: The impetus of the Austronesian expansion which started with the migration of the Austronesian-speakers from Taiwan to the Philippines at around 5,000 BP. Austronesians carried rice cultivation technology to Island Southeast Asia along with other domesticated species. The new tropical island environments also had new food plants that they exploited. They carried useful plants and animals during each colonization voyage, resulting in

5340-580: The individuals exhibited healed depressed skull fractures . Anastasia Papathanasiou, Clark Spencer Larsen and Lynette Norr noted that " All fractures are small, circular, and well healed at the time of death, and are found in adult males and females and sub-adults. ", namely the appearance of the wounds suggests that the blows were similar regardless of the victim's age or sex. Some individuals show multiple fractures, mostly nonlethal. Both Dimini and Sesklo had walls and strongpoints . Similar basic fortifications were common in Neolithic settlements across Greece;

5429-645: The island occurs in the Mesolithic (9000–7800 BC), at the Franchti cave in the Argolid . There is no evidence of settlements on Milos island until the Final Neolithic (4000 BC). The exploitation of obsidian seems to be performed by groups of different people landing intermittently on the island, for the periodic supply of stone for tools making. The Pre-Ceramic period of Neolithic Greece was succeeded by

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5518-582: The late Neolithic communities were strictly distinguished into free men and slaves ; a phenomenon that continued until the early Mycenaean period. The remains of Sesklo indicate fire and destruction, a sign of armed conflict. Dimini is often blamed for the destruction of Sesklo but other causes might be responsible for the fire in the Neolithic settlement. The skeletal remains from Alepotrypa cave in southern Greece exhibit levels of trauma that might be related to warfare. The examination of 69 Late and Final Neolithic skeletons revealed that more than 10% of

5607-407: The local hill . The volcanic island of Milos has been visited for the exploitation of its obsidian for the manufacture of tools and weapons, from the Mesolithic until the late Neolithic period. Natural resources from Milos were transported over vast distances all over the Aegean , mainland Greece, Western Anatolia and possibly as far as Egypt . The oldest findings of Milos obsidians outside

5696-415: The lowlands may have been even earlier. CSIRO has found evidence that taro was introduced into the Solomon Islands for human use, from 28,000 years ago, making taro the earliest cultivated crop in the world. It seems to have resulted in the spread of the Trans–New Guinea languages from New Guinea east into the Solomon Islands and west into Timor and adjacent areas of Indonesia . This seems to confirm

5785-410: The population expanded and communities developed specialized workers and more advanced tools. The process was not as linear as was once thought, but a more complicated effort, which was undertaken by different human populations in different regions in many different ways. One of the world's most important crops, barley , was domesticated in the Near East around 11,000 years ago (c. 9,000 BCE). Barley

5874-401: The production of surplus food. Other developments that are found very widely during this era are the domestication of animals , pottery , polished stone tools, and rectangular houses. In many regions, the adoption of agriculture by prehistoric societies caused episodes of rapid population growth, a phenomenon known as the Neolithic demographic transition . These developments, sometimes called

5963-489: The rapid introduction of domesticated and semi-domesticated species throughout Oceania . They also came into contact with the early agricultural centres of Papuan -speaking populations of New Guinea as well as the Dravidian -speaking regions of South India and Sri Lanka by around 3,500 BP. They acquired further cultivated food plants like bananas and pepper from them, and in turn introduced Austronesian technologies like wetland cultivation and outrigger canoes . During

6052-411: The realm of art, the meander-labyrinth motif was found on seals and jewellery of the Early Neolithic period and, to a lesser extent, of the Middle Neolithic period. The Middle Neolithic period ended with the devastation of certain settlements by fire; communities such as Sesklo were abandoned whereas communities such as Tsangli-Larisa were immediately re-inhabited. The Late Neolithic I period (or LNI)

6141-429: The region a large advantage in cultural and economic development. As the climate in the Middle East changed and became drier, many of the farmers were forced to leave, taking their domesticated animals with them. It was this massive emigration from the Middle East that later helped distribute these animals to the rest of Afroeurasia . This emigration was mainly on an east–west axis of similar climates, as crops usually have

6230-498: The rest of Eurasia and North Africa, while it did not reach through the north–south axis of Africa to reach the Mediterranean climates of South Africa , where temperate crops were successfully imported by ships in the last 500 years. Similarly, the African Zebu of central Africa and the domesticated bovines of the fertile-crescent – separated by the dry sahara desert – were not introduced into each other's region. Use-wear analysis of five glossed flint blades found at Ohalo II ,

6319-509: The rise of civilizations and technological evolutions . However, higher population and food abundance did not necessarily correlate with improved health. Reliance on a very limited variety of staple crops can adversely affect health even while making it possible to feed more people. Maize is deficient in certain essential amino acids ( lysine and tryptophan ) and is a poor source of iron . The phytic acid it contains may inhibit nutrient absorption . Other factors that likely affected

6408-498: The settlement was on a mountain in the center of the island, which provided perfect view of the entire local area and protection. Ruins of Neolithic stone buildings were revealed during archeological research. Eutresis culture developed during the ending period of the Final Neolithic. It was based on the Final Neolithic culture of central and southern Greece. It lasted until the Early Helladic II . The social classes of

6497-416: The site of Theopetra in Greece, and five Neolithic samples from both sides of the Aegean ; three of them from the northern Greek mainland (sites of Revenia, Paliambela and Kleitos) and two from northwestern Anatolia (site of Barcın). The study showed that farming was spread in Europe via demic diffusion and not through trans-cultural diffusion to indigenous hunter-gatherers . Also, the early farmers of

6586-901: The skeletal remains in graves at Mehrgarh bear strong resemblance to those at Ali Kosh in the Zagros Mountains of southern Iran. Despite their scarcity, the Carbon-14 and archaeological age determinations for early Neolithic sites in Southern Asia exhibit remarkable continuity across the vast region from the Near East to the Indian Subcontinent, consistent with a systematic eastward spread at a speed of about 0.65 km/yr. The most prominent of several theories (not mutually exclusive) as to factors that caused populations to develop agriculture include: Meander (art) A meander or meandros ( Greek : Μαίανδρος )

6675-481: The speed of 0.6–1.3 km/yr (at 95% confidence level). Since the original human expansions out of Africa 200,000 years ago, different prehistoric and historic migration events have taken place in Europe. Considering that the movement of the people implies a consequent movement of their genes, it is possible to estimate the impact of these migrations through the genetic analysis of human populations. Agricultural and husbandry practices originated 10,000 years ago in

6764-439: The successful firing of vases was developed and burial customs consisted of inhumation in rudimentary pits, cremation of the dead, bone collection, and cemetery interment. The Middle Neolithic period (or MN) is characterized by new architectural developments such as houses constructed with stone foundations and the development of megaron-type dwellings (rectangular one-roomed houses with open or closed porches). Furthermore,

6853-578: The term is used for motifs with straight lines and right angles and the many versions with rounded shapes are called running scrolls or, following the etymological origin of the term, may be identified as water wave motifs. On one hand, the name "meander" recalls the twisting and turning path of the Maeander River in Asia Minor (present day Turkey ) that is typical of river pathways. On another hand, as Karl Kerenyi pointed out, "the meander

6942-454: The theories of Carl Sauer who, in "Agricultural Origins and Dispersals", suggested as early as 1952 that this region was a centre of early agriculture. Archaeologists trace the emergence of food-producing societies in the Levantine region of southwest Asia at the close of the last glacial period around 12,000 BCE, and developed into a number of regionally distinctive cultures by the eighth millennium BCE. Remains of food-producing societies in

7031-537: The world. Once early farmers perfected their agricultural techniques like irrigation (traced as far back as the 6th millennium BCE in Khuzistan ), their crops yielded surpluses that needed storage. Most hunter-gatherers could not easily store food for long due to their migratory lifestyle, whereas those with a sedentary dwelling could store their surplus grain. Eventually granaries were developed that allowed villages to store their seeds longer. So with more food,

7120-577: Was broomcorn millet , domesticated in East Asia. The earliest evidence of cheese -making dates to 5500 BCE in Kujawy , Poland . The diffusion across Europe, from the Aegean to Britain, took about 2,500 years (8500–6000 BP). The Baltic region was penetrated a bit later, around 5500 BP, and there was also a delay in settling the Pannonian plain . In general, colonization shows a "saltatory" pattern, as

7209-419: Was a distinction between relatively sedentary farmers and nomadic herders. The animals' size, temperament, diet, mating patterns, and life span were factors in the desire and success in domesticating animals. Animals that provided milk, such as cows and goats, offered a source of protein that was renewable and therefore quite valuable. The animal's ability as a worker (for example ploughing or towing), as well as

7298-516: Was also domesticated in northern China 4,500 years ago. Orange and peach also originated in China, being cultivated c.  2500 BCE . ) The agricultural centres in southern China are clustered around the Yangtze River basin. Rice was domesticated in this region, together with the development of paddy field cultivation, between 13,500 and 8,200 years ago. There are two possible centres of domestication for rice. The first

7387-488: Was first studied quantitatively in the 1970s, when a sufficient number of Carbon 14 age determinations for early Neolithic sites had become available. In 1973, Ammerman and Cavalli-Sforza discovered a linear relationship between the age of an Early Neolithic site and its distance from the conventional source in the Near East ( Jericho ), demonstrating that the Neolithic spread at an average speed of about 1 km/yr. More recent studies (2005) confirm these results and yield

7476-665: Was introduced to Europe via western Anatolia. All Neolithic sites in Europe contain ceramics , and contain the plants and animals domesticated in Southwest Asia: einkorn , emmer , barley , lentils , pigs , goats , sheep , and cattle . Genetic data suggest that no independent domestication of animals took place in Neolithic Europe, and that all domesticated animals were originally domesticated in Southwest Asia. The only domesticate not from Southwest Asia

7565-476: Was invented by V. Gordon Childe in his book Man Makes Himself (1936). Childe introduced it as the first in a series of agricultural revolutions in Middle Eastern history, calling it a "revolution" to denote its significance, the degree of change to communities adopting and refining agricultural practices. The beginning of this process in different regions has been dated from 10,000 to 8,000 BCE in

7654-514: Was strengthened by small stone walls. The most effective fortifications were discovered in Dimini and Sesklo. Sesklo's acropolis was enclosed by 1.5 meter thick wall and gates that were easily defended. Dimini's acropolis had walls with narrow gateways, that were encircling a small compound. A 2016 archaeogenetic study, titled " Early farmers from across Europe directly descended from Neolithic Aegeans ", studied two Mesolithic samples collected from

7743-524: Was the centre of domestication for three cereals (einkorn wheat, emmer wheat and barley), four legumes (lentil, pea, bitter vetch and chickpea), and flax. Domestication was a slow process that unfolded across multiple regions, and was preceded by centuries if not millennia of pre-domestication cultivation. Finds of large quantities of seeds and a grinding stone at the Epipalaeolithic site of Ohalo II , dating to around 19,400 BP, has shown some of

7832-421: Was used to weave garments. Communities were inhabited by 100–300 individuals socially organized into nuclear families and settlements consisted of large megaron-type rectangular structures with timber-post frames and stone foundations. Many settlements were surrounded by ditches 1.5–3.5 meters deep and 4–6 meters wide, which were constructed probably to defend against wild animals and to protect goods by establishing

7921-794: Was well-balanced though heavily dependent on what the environment could provide each season. In contrast, because the surplus and plannable supply of food provided by agriculture made it possible to support larger population groups, agriculturalists lived in more permanent dwellings in more densely populated settlements than what could be supported by a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. The agricultural communities' seasonal need to plan and coordinate resource and manpower encouraged division of labour , which gradually led to specialization of labourers and complex societies . The subsequent development of trading networks to exchange surplus commodities and services brought agriculturalists into contact with outside groups, which promoted cultural exchanges that led to

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