Definition
The Neolithic, or New Stone Age, is the period when humans shifted from foraging to farming. Its name means "new stone," a reference to the polished and ground stone tools that replaced the chipped flakes of the Paleolithic.
The Neolithic began around 10,000 BCE in the Fertile Crescent and somewhat later elsewhere. Its defining change was the domestication of plants and animals — wheat, barley, rice, sheep, goats, and cattle — which allowed people to stay in one place and produce their own food rather than search for it.
Why it matters
How it works
Neolithic farming developed gradually as foragers tended wild plants, saved the best seeds, and kept tame animals. Over generations these species changed under human selection, becoming the reliable crops and livestock that a settled life required.
Permanent villages followed. With granaries to fill and fields to defend, people accumulated possessions, marked out property, and built lasting structures. The surpluses and specialization of the Neolithic set the stage directly for the first cities and the rise of civilization.