A Complete Timeline of The Neolithic Period: The New Stone Age | Early Humans Documentary

(narrator)
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
large-scale communities.

The Neolithic began
roughly 12,000 years ago,

and is actually 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, einkorn, 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 2,000 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
to have finally made the leap

when localized climate change
forced 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 reseeding,

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 cuttings selected by humans.

Unless another crop is discovered
that predates them,

scientists have reason 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.

A temple-like building located

in the ancient Turkish archeological site
of Göbekli Tepe,

established around 9,500 BC,

is thought
to have been 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 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 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 of mudbrick,

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-pottery Neolithic B period."

One major change taking place
around this time

is that round houses

typically switch to rectangular
or square houses

with multiple rooms.

This would have allowed families
residing within 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 religious 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,
albeit a way

that would be considered
very strange in today's world.

When families preserve 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 Tell Hassuna
and Jarmo.

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 societies 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 scholars,

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 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 lifestyle for themselves.

This led to some North African societies

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,

herding 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 this site
known as Kaf El Ghar

in the modern country's Taza province.

There is also extensive evidence here

for the early adoption
of cereal 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 Sub-Saharan Africa
adopted pastoralism

as their main way of life,

rather than becoming wholly agrarian.

This spread across the regions
surrounding the Rif Valley,

where sheep, goats, and eventually cattle

were domesticated
for their meat, skins, and milk.

Earthenware pots
were developed in these areas,

as were mortars and pestles,

grindstones, and stone bowls.

The dead were buried in "cairns,"

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 KhoeKhoe, 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 5,000 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,

with a 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 pastoralist 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 archeological site

in what is now
the Vidin 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 35,000
located in Europe alone

is, without a doubt, Stonehenge,

located on what is now the Salisbury Plain

of Wiltshire in England.

Constructed in the late Neolithic,
some of the stones

are thought to have been
brought to the location

from over 150 miles 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 been religious,

perhaps used as an ancient temple

aligned with the sun's movements.

The sun rises directly over the Heel Stone

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 agrarian 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,

herding 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 Chalcolithic,

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 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.