Neolithic Timeline

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.

c. 9000 BCE - c. 3300 BCE

The Neolithic (or New Stone Age), lasting from the start of agriculture between c. 9000-c. 4000 BCE until the beginning of bronze use c. 3300 BCE.

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 - 2500 BCE

Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods on Cyprus.

7000 BCE

Domestication of goats.

6700 BCE

Domestication of sheep.

6500 BCE

Domestication of pigs.

6500 BCE

Textiles of flax.

c. 6200 BCE

First copper smelting in Anatolia.

c. 6000 BCE - 2900 BCE

Neolithic Age settlements in Greece, beginning of agriculture.

c. 6000 BCE

First fortified settlement at Ugarit.

6000 BCE

Domestication of cattle.

c. 6000 BCE

First irrigation.

5000 BCE - 4000 BCE

Megaliths are erected at the Neolithic site of Locmariaquer, north-west France.

5000 BCE - 3000 BCE

Megalithic structures erected at Carnac, north-west France.

5000 BCE

Irrigation and agriculture begin in earnest in Mesopotamia.

c. 5000 BCE

Earliest Neolithic finds in the Corinth area.

5000 BCE

Hierarchical societies emerge in southeast Europe.

c. 4800 BCE

Neolithic village of Banpo in China built.

c. 4500 BCE - c. 3750 BCE

The Neolithic village of Banpo is inhabited.

c. 4500 BCE - 3750 BCE

Neolithic village Banpo in China inhabited.

4500 BCE

Invention of the plow.

4300 BCE

First megalithic tombs in Europe.

4100 BCE - 2900 BCE

Uruk Period in Mesopotamia. First cities.

4000 BCE - 3500 BCE

Clyde Tombs of Western Scotland and the Carlingford Tombs of Northern Ireland are constructed.

4000 BCE

Use of wool for textiles.

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

The Barnhouse Settlement constructed and inhabited.

c. 3300 BCE - 2600 BCE

Neolithic site of Barnhouse Settlement occupied.

3100 BCE

Neolithic Village of Skara Brae inhabited, stone walls built.

c. 3100 BCE

Neolithic village of Skara Brae inhabited.

c. 3100 BCE

Stonehenge Phase I - earthen henge dug on the site.

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.

c. 3000 BCE

Aegina inhabited during Neolithic period.

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.

2000 BCE

Completion of Stonehenge, Britain.

c. 2000 BCE

Bronze Age begins in Northern Europe.

c. 1860 BCE

The beginning of construction of Stonehenge in Britain.

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.