What is Neolithic Age?

About Neolithic Age:

• Neolithic, also called New Stone Age, is the final stage of cultural evolution or technological development among prehistoric humans.
• 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 about 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. 
• The term Neolithic is most frequently used in connection with agriculture, which is the time when cereal cultivation was introduced.
• Features:
  • 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 and rectangular or circular shapes. 
• Some of the important Neolithic sites in India include Mehrgarh, the oldest Neolithic site in the province of Pakistan called Balochistan, Burzahom in Kashmir, Chiron in Bihar and Uttar in Andhra Pradesh, Edakkal caves in Kerala.

 

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Q1) What is the Paleolithic Period?

Paleolithic Period, or Old Stone Age, Ancient technological or cultural stage characterized by the use of rudimentary chipped stone tools.The end of the Paleolithic is marked by the emergence of the settled agricultural villages of the Neolithic Period.

Source: Neolithic-era celt found in Tamil Nadu’s Poothinatham village