Editing History of Asia (section)

==Prehistory==
[[File:Göbekli Tepe, Urfa.jpg|thumb|Some [[henge]]s at [[Göbekli Tepe]] in [[Turkey]] were erected as far back as [[Göbekli Tepe#Layer III|9600 BC]], predating those of [[Stonehenge]], by over seven millennia.<ref name="ArchMag">{{cite web|url=http://www.archaeology.org/0811/abstracts/turkey.html|title=The World's First Temple|work= Archaeology magazine |date=November–December 2008|page=23}}</ref>]]

{{main|Prehistoric Asia}}

A report by archaeologist Rakesh Tewari on Lahuradewa, [[India]] shows new C14 datings that range between 9000 and 8000 BC associated with rice, making Lahuradewa the earliest [[Neolithic]] site in entire South Asia.<ref name="archae">{{cite web |title=Second preliminary report of the excavations at Lahuradewa district |url=http://www.uparchaeology.org/archae.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613040512/http://www.uparchaeology.org/archae.pdf |archive-date=2011-06-13 |publisher=Directorate of Archaeology (U.P, India)}}
</ref> [[Neolithic|Settled life]] emerged on the subcontinent in the western margins of the [[Indus River]] alluvium approximately 9,000 years ago, evolving gradually into the [[Indus Valley Civilisation]] of the third millennium BC.

[[Göbekli Tepe]] is a [[Neolithic]] site in the [[Anatolia|Southeastern Anatolia Region]] of [[Turkey]]. Dated to the [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic]], between {{circa}} 9500 and 8000 BC, the site comprises a number of large circular structures supported by massive stone pillars – the world's oldest known [[megalith]]s.

The [[prehistoric Beifudi site]] near Yixian in [[Hebei]] Province, China, contains relics of a culture contemporaneous with the [[Cishan culture|Cishan]] and [[Xinglongwa culture|Xinglongwa]] cultures of about 8000–7000 BC, Neolithic cultures east of the [[Taihang Mountains]], filling in an archaeological gap between the two Northern Chinese cultures. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square meters and the collection of Neolithic findings at the site consists of two phases.<ref name="archdis">{{cite web
 |url=http://www.kaogu.cn/en/detail.asp?ProductID=982
 |title=New Archaeological Discoveries and Researches in 2004 – The Fourth Archaeology Forum of CASS
 |publisher=Institute of Archaeology – Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
 |access-date=2007-09-18
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512174808/http://www.kaogu.cn/en/detail.asp?ProductID=982
 |archive-date=2011-05-12
}}
</ref>

Around 5500 BC the [[Tel Halaf|Halafian]] culture appeared in [[Lebanon]], [[Land of Israel|Israel]], [[Syria]], [[Anatolia]], and northern [[Mesopotamia]], based upon dryland agriculture.

In southern Mesopotamia were the alluvial plains of [[Sumer]] and [[Elam]]. Since there was little rainfall, [[irrigation]] systems were necessary. The [[Ubaid period|Ubaid]] culture flourished from 5500 BC.