Neolithic

Literally ‘New Stone’, the last period of the Stone Age. It was characterized by settled agricultural communities who kept domesticated animals, and made pottery and sophisticated, finely finished stone tools.

The Neolithic period began and ended at different times in different parts of the world. For example, the earliest Neolithic communities appeared about 9000 BC in the Middle East, and were followed by those in Egypt, India, and China. In Europe farming began in about 6500 BC in the Balkans and Aegean Sea areas, spreading north and east by 1000 BC. The Neolithic period ended with the start of the Bronze Age, when people began using metals. Some Stone Age cultures persisted into the 20th century, notably in remote parts of New Guinea.

The Stone Age has been divided into the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age), when stone implements were merely chipped into shape; the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age); and the Neolithic (New Stone Age), when implements of stone were ground and polished. Neolithic people were more sophisticated than is generally realized, as is shown by the megalithic (huge stone) monuments they erected, such as Stonehenge in England, Carnac in France, and Ggantija in Gozo. In Malta they excavated a huge underground temple, the Hypogeum, from the solid rock; this monument is unique.

Neolithic people colonized Britain from mainland Europe and along the Atlantic coast route. They developed a higher civilization based upon agriculture and stock‐raising. There was a brisk trade in flint and stone axes, for example from Langdale in Cumbria. Neolithic Britons erected a number of stone monuments, including Stonehenge, and constructed earthwork camps with causeways or interrupted ditches, such as Maiden Castle in Dorset. In the southwest a number of wooden trackways across the Somerset Levels date to around 4000 BC, and show that a sophisticated network of communications existed. Some people made domestic pottery whose forms were based on vessels of leather and skin. Many plants, both cereal and textile, were cultivated. Sheep, oxen, goats, and pigs were domesticated.