XClose

Human Evolution @ UCL

Home
Menu

neolithic

" Neolithic

neolithic

Although the term Neolithic was originally coined in the 19th century to indicate the later part of the Stone Age when polished stone tools began to be made, this broadly corresponds with the appearance of farming economies after the end of the last Ice Age, and in practice the word Neolithic now refers to societies and economies that practiced agriculture before the local advent of metal-based technologies.

In south-west Asia the Neolithic began c.10,000 BCE; elsewhere the start dates vary considerably, as do the end dates. In New Guinea, for example, Neolithic societies in this sense continued into the 20th century. The term is not used in the New World, which has a completely different terminology, with the 'Formative Stage a very rough equivalent of Neolithic.

Experts in Neolithic