Editing 8th millennium BC (section)

==Global environment==
In the [[geologic time scale]], the first [[stage (stratigraphy)|stratigraphic stage]] of the [[Holocene]] epoch is the "[[Greenlandian]]" from about 9700 BC to the fixed date 6236 BC and so including the whole of the 8th millennium. The Greenlandian followed the [[Younger Dryas]] and essentially featured a climate shift from near-glacial to interglacial, causing glaciers to retreat and sea levels to rise.<ref name="ICC">{{cite web |url=http://www.stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2019-05.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2019-05.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=International Chronostratigraphic Chart |publisher=International Commission on Stratigraphy |last1=Cohen |first1=K. M. |last2=Finney |first2=S. C. |last3=Gibbard |first3=P. L. |last4=Fan |first4=J.-X. |date=May 2019 |access-date=13 November 2019}}</ref><ref name="FRS">{{cite journal |url=http://quaternary.stratigraphy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Walker-et-al.-2018_Episodes_online.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://quaternary.stratigraphy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Walker-et-al.-2018_Episodes_online.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Formal ratification of the subdivision of the Holocene Series/Epoch (Quaternary System/Period) |first1=Mike |last1=Walker |first2=Martin J. |last2=Head |first3=Max |last3=Berkelhammer |first4=Svante |last4=Björck |first5=Hai |last5=Cheng |first6=Les |last6=Cwynar |first7=David |last7=Fisher |first8=Vasilios |last8=Gkinis |first9=Antony |last9=Long |first10=John |last10=Lowe |first11=Rewi |last11=Newnham |first12=Sune |last12=Olander Rasmussen |first13=Harvey |last13=Weiss |display-authors=3 |journal=Episodes |publisher=Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) |date=14 June 2018 |access-date=21 September 2022 |doi=10.18814/epiiugs/2018/018016|doi-access=free }} ''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)''.</ref> Towards the end of the 8th millennium, the [[Holocene Climate Optimum]] (HCO) – also called the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) – began as a warm period lasting roughly 4,000 years until about 3000 BC. [[Solar irradiance|Insolation]] during summers in the northern hemisphere was unusually strong with pronounced warming in the higher latitudes such as Greenland, northern Canada and northern Europe with a resultant reduction in Arctic sea ice.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Park |first1=Hyo-Seok |last2=Kim |first2=Seong-Joong |last3=Stewart |first3=Andrew L. |last4=Son |first4=Seok-Woo |last5=Seo |first5=Kyong-Hwan |title=Mid-Holocene Northern Hemisphere warming driven by Arctic amplification |journal=Science Advances |volume=5 |issue=12 |date=11 December 2019 |pages=eaax8203 |publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |location=Washington, DC |doi=10.1126/sciadv.aax8203 |pmid=31844667 |pmc=6905875 |bibcode=2019SciA....5.8203P |doi-access=free }}</ref>

During the 8th millennium, there were four [[List of Quaternary volcanic eruptions|known volcanic eruptions]] which registered magnitude 5 above on the [[Volcanic Explosivity Index]] (VEI). These were at [[Rotoma Caldera]] in [[New Zealand]]'s [[Taupō Volcanic Zone]] about 7560 BC; [[Lvinaya Past]] in the [[Kuril Islands]] about 7480 BC; [[Mount Pinatubo|Pinatubo]] on the island of [[Luzon]] in the [[Philippines]] about 7460 BC; [[Fisher Caldera]], and on [[Unimak Island]] in the [[Aleutians]] about 7420 BC<ref>{{cite web |url=https://volcano.si.edu/list_volcano_holocene.cfm |title=Holocene Volcano List |work=Global Volcanism Program |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |year=2013 |access-date=7 January 2021}}</ref> The biggest eruption was at Fisher Caldera, VEI 6, producing more than {{convert|50|km3|abbr=on}} of [[tephra]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=373010 |title=Grímsvötn |work=Global Volcanism Program |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |year=2013 |access-date=7 January 2021}}</ref>

The date of c. 7640 BC has been theorised for the impact of [[Tollmann's hypothetical bolide]] with Earth. The hypothesis holds that there was a resultant global [[Disaster|cataclysm]] such as the legendary [[Deluge (mythology)|Universal Deluge]]. Bolides are [[asteroid]]s or [[comet]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kristan-Tollmann |first1=E. |last2=Tollmann |first2=A. |year=1994 |title=The youngest big impact on Earth deduced from geological and historical evidence |doi=10.1111/j.1365-3121.1994.tb00656.x |journal=[[Terra Nova (journal)|Terra Nova]] |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=209–217|bibcode=1994TeNov...6..209K}}</ref>

According to radiometric dates, the main occupation phases recognized at [[Shillourokambos]] took place between the end of the [[9th millennium BC]] and the end of this millennium, long before the [[Khirokitia]] Culture.<ref name="Like a Bull in a Chine Shop: Identity and Ideology in Neolithic Cyprus.">Le Brun, Alain. "Like a Bull in a Chine Shop: Identity and Ideology in Neolithic Cyprus." Archaeological Perspectives on the Transmission and Transformation of Culture in the Eastern Mediterranean, edited by Joanne Clarke, Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL), 2005, pp. 113–17. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv310vqks.19. Accessed 3 Feb. 2023.</ref> The fact remains that its disappearance in the Middle Phase at [[Shillourokambos]], in the second half of this millennium, is not an isolated incident but one of a number of expressions of a deep cultural change.<ref name="Like a Bull in a Chine Shop: Identity and Ideology in Neolithic Cyprus.">Le Brun, Alain. "Like a Bull in a Chine Shop: Identity and Ideology in Neolithic Cyprus." Archaeological Perspectives on the Transmission and Transformation of Culture in the Eastern Mediterranean, edited by Joanne Clarke, Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL), 2005, pp. 113–17. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv310vqks.19. Accessed 3 Feb. 2023.</ref>