Visual Timeline: Neolithic

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20000 BCE 19500 BCE 19000 BCE 18500 BCE 18000 BCE 17500 BCE 17000 BCE 16500 BCE 16000 BCE 15500 BCE 15000 BCE 14500 BCE 14000 BCE 13500 BCE 13000 BCE 12500 BCE 12000 BCE 11500 BCE 11000 BCE 10500 BCE 10000 BCE 9500 BCE 9000 BCE 8500 BCE 8000 BCE 7500 BCE 7000 BCE 6500 BCE 6000 BCE 5500 BCE 5000 BCE 4500 BCE 4000 BCE 3500 BCE 3000 BCE 2500 BCE 2000 BCE 1500 BCE 1000 BCE 500 BCE 0 CE 500 CE 1000 CE 1500 CE  
 
20000 BCE: Cave painting flourishes in Spain and France, the most famous being the Cave of Lascaux in France.
 
11700 BCE: End of the most recent glacial episode within the current Quaternary Ice Age.
 
 
10000 BCE: Beginnings of agriculture in the Middle East.
 
 
9000 BCE: Cultivation of wild cereals in the Fertile Crescent.
 
9000 BCE: Wild sheep flocks are managed in the Zagros mountains.
 
 
8000 BCE: Ovens in use in the Near East are applied to pottery production.
 
 
7700 BCE: First domesticated wheats in the Fertile Crescent.
 
7500 BCE: Long-distance trade in obsidian begins.
 
 
7000 BCE: Domestication of goats.
 
7000 BCE - 2500 BCE: Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods on Cyprus.
 
 
6700 BCE: Domestication of sheep.
 
 
6500 BCE: Domestication of pigs.
 
6500 BCE: Textiles of flax.
 
6200 BCE: First copper smelting in Anatolia.
 
 
6000 BCE: First irrigation.
 
 
6000 BCE: Domestication of cattle.
 
6000 BCE: First fortified settlement at Ugarit.
 
 
5000 BCE: Irrigation and agriculture begin in earnest in Mesopotamia.
 
 
5000 BCE: Hierarchical societies emerge in southeast Europe.
 
5000 BCE - 3000 BCE: Megalithic structures erected at Carnac, north-west France.
 
5000 BCE - 4000 BCE: Megaliths are erected at the Neolithic site of Locmariaquer, north-west France.
 
 
4800 BCE: Neolithic village of Banpo in China built.
 
4500 BCE: Invention of the plow.
 
 
4500 BCE - 3750 BCE: The Neolithic village of Banpo is inhabited.
 
 
4300 BCE: First megalithic tombs in Europe.
 
4100 BCE - 2900 BCE: Uruk Period in Mesopotamia. First cities.
 
4000 BCE: Use of wool for textiles.
 
4000 BCE - 3500 BCE: Clyde Tombs of Western Scotland and the Carlingford Tombs of Northern Ireland are constructed.
 
4000 BCE: Medway Tombs of Kent, including Chesnuts, Addington and Coldrum, are constructed.
 
3807 BCE - 3806 BCE: The Sweet Track, a Neolithic wooden pathway, is constructed in Somerset, Britain.
 
3700 BCE - 2800 BCE: Neolithic farmstead the Knap of Howar inhabited on Papa Westray, Orkney.
 
3500 BCE: Cotswold-Severn Group Long Barrows are constructed, which spanned from the north Wessex Downs, Cotswold Hills, South Wales coast, and the Brecon Beacons.
 
 
3300 BCE - 2600 BCE: Neolithic site of Barnhouse Settlement occupied.
 
 
3300 BCE - 2600 BCE: The Barnhouse Settlement constructed and inhabited.
 
3100 BCE: Neolithic village of Skara Brae inhabited.
 
 
3100 BCE: Neolithic Village of Skara Brae inhabited, stone walls built.
 
3100 BCE: Stonehenge Phase I - earthen henge dug on the site.
 
3000 BCE: Aegina inhabited during Neolithic period.
 
 
3000 BCE - 2800 BCE: The Neolithic chambered cairn known as Maeshowe constructed and in use.
 
3000 BCE: Stonehenge Phase II - Digging of the Aubrey Holes, which probably contained wooden posts (or perhaps bluestones). Stonehenge functions as a cremation cemetery.
 
 
2600 BCE: Structure Eight (so called) erected at Barnhouse Settlement after village abandoned.
 
2550 BCE: Phase III at Stonehenge, the refashioning of the simple earth and timber henge into a unique stone monument.
 
 
2500 BCE: Village of Skara Brae is abandoned for unknown reasons.
 
 
2500 BCE - 2000 BCE: The Balnuaran of Clava (Clava Cairns) is built.
 
2000 BCE: Bronze Age begins in Northern Europe.
 
770 CE: Last recorded use of Clava Cairns site in antiquity.
 
 
1850 CE: Storm uncovers the buried Neolithic village of Skara Brae
 
 
1850 CE: Buried Neolithic Age village of Skara Brae uncovered by storm.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
20000 BCE 16000 BCE 12000 BCE 8000 BCE 4000 BCE 0 CE