10th millennium BC
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The Stone Age |
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The 10th millennium BC spanned the years 10,000 BC to 9001 BC (c. 12 ka to c. 11 ka). It marks the beginning of the transition from the
epoch that is generally believed to have begun c. 9700 BC (c. 11.7 ka) and is the current geological epoch. It is impossible to precisely date events that happened around the time of this millennium, and all dates mentioned here are estimates mostly based on geological analysis, anthropological analysis, and radiometric dating.Holocene epoch
The main characteristic of the Holocene has been the worldwide abundance of
In the geologic time scale, there are three (tentatively four) stratigraphic stages of the Holocene beginning c. 9700 BC with the "Greenlandian" (to c. 6236 BC). The starting point for the Greenlandian is the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) sample from the North Greenland Ice Core Project, which has been correlated with the Younger Dryas.[3] The Greenlandian was succeeded by the "Northgrippian" (to c. 2250 BC) and the "Meghalayan". All three stages were officially ratified by the International Commission on Stratigraphy in July 2018.[2] It has been proposed that the Meghalayan should be terminated c. 1950 and succeeded by a new stage provisionally called "Anthropocene".[4]
In the Holocene's first millennium, the Palaeolithic began to be superseded by the Neolithic (New Stone) Age which lasted about 6,000 years, depending on location. The gradual transition period is sometimes termed Mesolithic (northern and western Europe) or Epipalaeolithic (Levant and Near East). The glaciers retreated as the world climate became warmer and that inspired an agricultural revolution,[5] though at first, the dog was probably the only domesticated animal. This was accompanied by a social revolution in that humans gained from agriculture the impetus to settle. Settlement is the key precursor to civilisation, which cannot be achieved by a nomadic lifestyle.[6]
The
Beginnings of agriculture
Agriculture developed in different parts of the world at different times. In many places, people learned how to cultivate without outside help; elsewhere, as in western Europe, the skills were imported.[8] A decrease in human height accompanied the rise of agriculture near the start of the Holocene period (10,000 BC) and was later correlated with urban population density.[9]
The
Agriculture began to be developed by the various communities of the Fertile Crescent, which included the Levant, but it would not be widely practised for another 2,000 years by which time Neolithic culture was becoming well established in many parts of the Near East.[18] Among the earliest cultivated plants were forms of millet and rice grown in the Middle East, possibly in this millennium but more likely after 9000 BC.[8] By about 9500 BC, people in south-eastern Anatolia were harvesting wild grasses and grains.[16] The earliest evidence of sheep herding has been found in northern Iraq, dated before 9000 BC.[16]
Pottery
Prehistoric chronology is almost entirely reliant upon the dating of material objects of which pottery is by far the most widespread and the most resistant to decay. All locations and generations developed their own shapes, sizes and styles of pottery, including methods and styles of decoration, but there was consistency among stratified deposits and even shards can be classified by time and place.[19] Pottery is believed to have been discovered independently in various places, beginning with China c. 18,000 BC, and was probably created accidentally by fires lit on clay soil.[20][21][22][23] The main discovery of pottery dated to the 10th millennium has been at Bosumpra Cave (early tenth-millennium cal. BC) on the Kwahu Plateau in southeastern Ghana and Ounjougou (c.9400 BC) in Central Mali, providing evidence of an independent invention of pottery in Sub-Saharan Africa in different climatic zones.[24] [25]
The first chronological pottery system was the Early, Middle and Late Minoan framework devised in the early 20th century by Sir Arthur Evans for his findings at Knossos. This covered the Bronze Age in twelve phases from c. 2800 BC to c. 1050 BC and the principle was later extended to mainland Greece (Helladic) and the Aegean islands (Cycladic).[19] Dame Kathleen Kenyon was the principal archaeologist at Tell es-Sultan (ancient Jericho) and she discovered that there was no pottery there.[26] The potter's wheel had not yet been invented and, where pottery as such was made, it was still hand-built, often by means of coiling, and pit fired.[27]
Kenyon discovered vessels such as bowls, cups, and plates at Jericho which were made from stone. She reasonably surmised that others made from wood or vegetable fibres would have long since decayed.
Other cultural developments
Africa
In North Africa, Saharan rock art engravings in what is known as the Bubalus (Large Wild Fauna) period have been dated to between 10,000 BC and 7000 BC.[28] Wall paintings found in Ethiopia and Eritrea depict human activity; some of the older paintings are thought to date back to around 10,000 BC.[29] In Prehistoric Egypt, a culture of hunter-gatherers replaced a grain grinding culture in 10,000 BC.[30] The Abu Madi tel mounds in the Sinai Peninsula have been dated c. 9660 to c. 9180 BC.[31]
Americas
The Clovis culture was widely distributed throughout North America. The people were hunter-gatherers and the culture's duration is believed to have been from c.9050 BC to c.8800 BC.[32] There is evidence of increasing use of Clovis point tool technology for hunting.[33]
Elsewhere in North America, the Petroglyphs at Winnemucca Lake, in what is today northwest Nevada, were carved by this time, possibly as early as 12.8 ka or as late as 10 ka.[34]
Eurasia
The sites at
Environmental changes
Subdivisions of the Quaternary Period | ||||
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Period
|
Epoch
|
Age
|
Age | |
Quaternary | Holocene | Meghalayan | 0 | 4,200 |
Northgrippian | 4,200 | 8,200 | ||
Greenlandian | 8,200 | 11,700 | ||
Pleistocene | 'Upper' | 11,700 | 129 ka
| |
Chibanian | 129ka | 774ka | ||
Calabrian | 774ka | 1.80 Ma
| ||
Gelasian | 1.80Ma | 2.58Ma | ||
Neogene | Pliocene | Piacenzian | 2.58Ma | 3.60Ma |
Subdivision of the Quaternary Period according to the ICS, as of January 2020.[2]
For the Holocene, dates are relative to the year 2000 (e.g. Greenlandian began 11,700 years before 2000). For the beginning of the Northgrippian a date of 8,236 years before 2000 has been set.[3] The Meghalayan has been set to begin 4,250 years before 2000.[2] 'Tarantian' is an informal, unofficial name proposed for a stage/age to replace the equally informal, unofficial 'Upper Pleistocene' subseries/subepoch. In Europe and North America, the Holocene is subdivided into last glacial period ends with the cold Younger Dryas substage.
| ||||
In the southern hemisphere, rising sea levels had gradually formed Bass Strait, separating Tasmania from mainland Australia. This process is believed to have been complete by about the beginning of the 10th millennium. Bass Strait had been a plain populated by indigenous people who are thought to have first arrived around 40,000 years ago.[44]
The Wisconsin glaciation had sheeted much of North America and, as it retreated, its meltwaters created an immense proglacial lake now known as Lake Agassiz.[45] Sometime after 10,000 BC, the retreating glaciers created the rock formation on Cannon Mountain in present-day New Hampshire that was known as the Old Man of the Mountain until its collapse in 2003.[46]
Chronological method
The ongoing
The
Notes
- ^ Bronowski 1973, pp. 59–60.
- ^ a b c d e Cohen, K. M.; Finney, S. C.; Gibbard, P. L.; Fan, J.-X. (January 2020). "International Chronostratigraphic Chart" (PDF). International Commission on Stratigraphy. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
- ^ . Retrieved 11 November 2019. This proposal on behalf of the SQS has been approved by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) and formally ratified by the Executive Committee of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS).
- ^ Carrington, Damian (29 August 2016). "The Anthropocene epoch: scientists declare dawn of human-influenced age". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 June 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
- ^ Bronowski 1973, p. 60.
- ^ Bronowski 1973, pp. 60–61.
- ^ JSTOR 1531855.
- ^ a b Roberts 1993, p. 22.
- PMID 21316315.
- ^ Mithen 2003, p. 29.
- ^ Freedman, Myers & Beck 2000, pp. 689–691.
- ^ Edwards 2012, p. 21.
- ^ García-Puchol & Salazar-García 2017, p. 16.
- PMID 18981412.
- ^ Kislev, Hartmann & Bar-Yosef 2006a; Kislev, Hartmann & Bar-Yosef 2006b; Lev-Yadun et al. 2006.
- ^ a b c Roberts 1993, p. 23.
- ^ Balter, Michael (2 May 2011). "First Buildings May Have Been Community Centers". Science. Archived from the original on 12 November 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
- ^ Gibbons, Ann (14 July 2016). "The world's first farmers were surprisingly diverse". Science. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
- ^ a b Bury & Meiggs 1975, p. 6.
- ^ Chazan 2017, p. 197.
- ^ Richard 2004, p. 244.
- PMID 19549877.
- ^ Ozkaya, Vecihi (June 2009). "Körtik Tepe, a new Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site in south-eastern Anatolia". Antiquity. 83 (320). Archived from the original on 19 August 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
- .
- ^ Bradley, Simon (18 January 2007). "Swiss archaeologist digs up West Africa's past". SwissInfo. Berne: Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
- ^ a b c Mithen 2003, p. 60.
- ^ a b Bellwood 2004, p. 384.
- ^ Visonà 2008, pp. 22–24.
- ^ Pankhurst 1998, p. 5.
- ^ Editor, A. D. C. “All about Egypt - Africa.com.” www.africa.com, 12 February 2019, www.africa.com/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-egypt/. Accessed 26 January 2023.
- ^ Kuijt 2000, p. 33.
- ^ "Clovis complex". Edinburgh: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 2 August 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
- ^ Teeple 2002, p. 15.
- ^ Than, Ker (15 August 2013). "Oldest North American Rock Art May Be 14,800 Years Old". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 20 December 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
- ^ Dietrich, Oliver; Köksal-Schmidt, Çigdem; Notroff, Jens; Schmidt, Klaus (2016). "Establishing a Radiocarbon Sequence for Göbekli Tepe. State of Research and New Data". NEO-LITHICS 1/13 the Newsletter of Southwest Asian Neolithic Research. Archived from the original on 13 March 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
- ^ Mazurowski & Kanjou 2012, pp. 771–781.
- ^ Peasnall, Brian L. (2002). "Intricacies of Hallan Çemi". Penn Museum. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
- .
- ^ Press, Associated. “Mystery Metal Monolith in Turkish Field Turns out to Be a Government Gimmick.” Press Herald, 9 February 2021, www.pressherald.com/2021/02/09/mystery-metal-monolith-in-Turkish-field-turns-out-to-be-a-government-gimmick/. Accessed 26 January 2023.
- ^ a b c Girgen, Mete Ünal; Oktay, Serdar (2022). "GASTRONOMIC FINDINGS IN GOBEKLITEPE-ANATOLIA. 10TH MILLENNIUM BC". Journal of Gastronomy, Hospitality and Travel. 5 (1): 223–237.
- ^ @NatGeoUK. “Five UNESCO World Heritage Sites to Visit on a 2023 Cruise.” National Geographic, Jeannine Williamson, 9 December 2022, www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/bc/2022/10/five-unesco-world-heritage-sites-to-visit-on-a-2023-cruise. Accessed 25 January 2023.
- ^ Pamuk, Serkan; Kaya, Yakup (31 December 2022). "INTANGIBLE CONCEPTS ON OBJECTS FROM THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD". International Journal of Social and Humanities Sciences. 6 (3): 79–94.
- ^ Milner, Conneller & Taylor 2018, pp. 225–244.
- ^ "Separation of Tasmania". Canberra: National Museum Australia. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
- ^ Ojakangas & Matsch 1982, pp. 106–110.
- ^ Linowes, Jonathan. "Old Man of the Mountain Legacy Fund: Geology of the Old Man of the Mountain". www.oldmanofthemountainlegacyfund.org. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
- .
- PMID 8264791.
Setting the beginning of the human era at 10,000 BC would date [...] the birth of Christ at [25 December] 10,000
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- Kislev, M. E.; Hartmann, A.; Bar-Yosef, O. (2006b). "Response to Comment on "Early Domesticated Fig in the Jordan Valley"". Science. 314 (5806). Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science: 1683b. PMID 17170278.
- Lev-Yadun, S.; Ne'Eman, G.; Abbo, S.; Flaishman, M. A. (2006). "Comment on "Early Domesticated Fig in the Jordan Valley"". Science. 314 (5806). Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science: 1683a. PMID 17170278.