What is the Neolithic Age?

About Neolithic Age

• The Neolithic Age, also called the New Stone Age, is the final stage of cultural evolution or technological development among prehistoric humans.
• The term Neolithic is most frequently used in connection with agriculture, which is the time when cereal cultivation and animal domestication were introduced.
• The Neolithic stage of development was attained during the Holocene Epoch (the last 11,700 years of Earth’s history).
• The starting point of the Neolithic is generally thought to have occurred sometime around 10,000 BCE.
• The Neolithic followed the Paleolithic Period, or the age of chipped-stone tools, and preceded the Bronze Age, or the early period of metal tools.
• The Neolithic Revolution started in the Fertile Crescent, a region of the Middle East, where humans first took up farming. 
• Features of the Neolithic Age:
  • It was characterized by stone tools shaped by polishing or grinding, dependence on domesticated plants or animals, settlement in permanent villages, and the appearance of such crafts as pottery and weaving. 
  • The houses were built of mud and reed in rectangular or circular shapes. 
  • Alcohol was first produced during this period, and architecture, as well as its interior and exterior decoration, first appeared.
• End of the Neolithic Age:
  • Towards the end of the Neolithic era, copper metallurgy is introduced, which marks a transition period to the Bronze Age, sometimes referred to as the Chalcolithic or Eneolithic Era.
  • In time, bronze became the primary material for tools and weapons, and a good part of the stone technology became obsolete, signalling the end of the Neolithic and thus of the Stone Age.
• Some of the important Neolithic sites in India include Burzahom in Kashmir, Chiron in Bihar and Uttar in Andhra Pradesh and Edakkal caves in Kerala.

Q1) What is the Holocene Epoch?

The Holocene is the name given to the last 11,700 years of the Earth's history, the time since the end of the last major glacial epoch, or "ice age." Since then, there have been small-scale climate shifts, notably the "Little Ice Age", between about 1200 and 1700 A.D, but in general, the Holocene has been a relatively warm period in between ice ages.

Source: Rock art dating back to Neolithic period found in Palnadu district of Andhra Pradesh