Neolithic

Polished axe-head, dating from about 1800 BC (Devizes Museum, Wiltshire, England). The Neolithic period is characterized by the advent of ground and polished axes and adze heads. Polishing the stone tool by grinding a fine abrasive against it gave the axe a smoother cutting edge and greater strength. Polished axes were often made of stones such as schist and jadeite, which are harder materials than flint.

Neolithic burial from the grotto of Arene Candide, near Finale Ligure (Liguria, Italy). An important prehistoric site, the grotto was continually occupied from the late Palaeolithic (up to 12,000 BC) to the Iron Age, and was one of the earliest sites in northern Italy to be settled by people of the Neolithic period (9000–6000 BC). The Neolithic inhabitants also used the grotto for burials, in which the body was placed in a crouching position and accompanied by simple grave goods.

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.

The Neolithic period in North America began about 5000 BC, with the production of fine polished stone tools. Copper was discovered and worked from about 3000 BC in the Lake Superior area, marking the end of the true Neolithic period there. However, metalworking did not become common in the Americas until around the first century AD, when gold and silver, as well as copper, were worked in Peru.