What is Neolithic Period?

About Neolithic Period:

• The Neolithic Period, also called the New Stone Age, is the final stage of cultural evolution or technological development among prehistoric humans.
• The term Neolithic is most frequently used in connection with agriculture, which is the time when cereal cultivation and animal domestication were introduced.
• It is characterized by the beginning of a settled human lifestyle. 
• 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 around 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. 
• Features of the Neolithic Age:
  • 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 in rectangular or circular shapes. 
  • Alcohol was first produced during this period, and architecture, as well as its interior and exterior decoration, first appeared.
  • Status objects like elaborate pottery and carved jades were placed in tombs during the Neolithic period. This practice suggests two things: Neolithic people’s belief in the afterlife and the emergence of social classes. Only important and wealthy individuals had the privilege of being buried with these precious objects
• End of the Neolithic Age:
  • Towards the end of the Neolithic era, copper metallurgy is introduced, which marks a transition period to the Bronze Age, sometimes referred to as the Chalcolithic or Eneolithic Era.
  • In time, bronze became the primary material for tools and weapons, and a good part of the stone technology became obsolete, signalling the end of the Neolithic and thus the Stone Age.
• Some of the important Neolithic sites in India include Burzahom in Kashmir, Chiron in Bihar and Uttar in Andhra Pradesh, and Edakkal caves in Kerala.