Neolithic Timeline

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  • c. 20000 BCE
    Cave painting flourishes in Spain and France, the most famous being the Cave of Lascaux in France.
  • c. 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
    Wild sheep flocks are managed in the Zagros mountains.
  • 9000 BCE
    Cultivation of wild cereals in the Fertile Crescent.
  • 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
    Textiles of flax.
  • 6500 BCE
    Domestication of pigs.
  • c. 6200 BCE
    First copper smelting in Anatolia.
  • c. 6000 BCE
    First irrigation.
  • 6000 BCE
    Domestication of cattle.
  • c. 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.
  • c. 4800 BCE
    Neolithic village of Banpo in China built.
  • 4500 BCE
    Invention of the plow.
  • c. 4500 BCE - c. 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.
  • c. 3700 BCE - c. 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.
  • c. 3300 BCE - 2600 BCE
    Neolithic site of Barnhouse Settlement occupied.
  • c. 3300 BCE - 2600 BCE
    The Barnhouse Settlement constructed and inhabited.
  • c. 3100 BCE
    Stonehenge Phase I - earthen henge dug on the site.
  • c. 3100 BCE
    Neolithic village of Skara Brae inhabited.
  • 3100 BCE
    Neolithic Village of Skara Brae inhabited, stone walls built.
  • c. 3000 BCE
    Aegina inhabited during Neolithic period.
  • c. 3000 BCE
    Stonehenge Phase II - Digging of the Aubrey Holes, which probably contained wooden posts (or perhaps bluestones). Stonehenge functions as a cremation cemetery.
  • c. 3000 BCE - c. 2800 BCE
    The Neolithic chambered cairn known as Maeshowe constructed and in use.
  • 2600 BCE
    Structure Eight (so called) erected at Barnhouse Settlement after village abandoned.
  • c. 2550 BCE
    Phase III at Stonehenge, the refashioning of the simple earth and timber henge into a unique stone monument.
  • c. 2500 BCE
    Village of Skara Brae is abandoned for unknown reasons.
  • c. 2500 BCE - c. 2000 BCE
    The Balnuaran of Clava (Clava Cairns) is built.
  • c. 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.