Editing Neolithic (section)

==Origin==
[[File:Centres of origin and spread of agriculture.svg|thumb|right|upright=2.0|Approximate centers of origin of agriculture in the [[Neolithic Revolution]] and its spread in prehistory: the Fertile Crescent (12,000&nbsp;[[Before Present|BP]]), the Yangtze river and Yellow River basins (9,000&nbsp;BP) and the New Guinea Highlands (9,000–6,000&nbsp;BP), Central Mexico (5,000–4,000&nbsp;BP), Northern South America (5,000–4,000&nbsp;BP), sub-Saharan Africa (5,000–4,000&nbsp;BP, exact location unknown), eastern North America (4,000–3,000&nbsp;BP).<ref name="DiamondandBellwood2003">{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.1078208  |last1 = Diamond | first1 = J.|author-link1=Jared Diamond | last2 = Bellwood | first2 = P. | title = Farmers and Their Languages: The First Expansions | journal = Science | volume = 300 | issue = 5619 | pages = 597–603 | year = 2003 | pmid = 12714734|bibcode = 2003Sci...300..597D |citeseerx = 10.1.1.1013.4523 |s2cid = 13350469 }}</ref>]]

Following the [[ASPRO chronology]], the Neolithic started in around 10,200 BC in the [[Levant]], arising from the [[Natufian culture]], when pioneering use of wild [[cereal]]s evolved into early [[farming]]. The Natufian period or "proto-Neolithic" lasted from 12,500 to 9,500&nbsp;BC, and is taken to overlap with the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) of 10,200–8800&nbsp;BC. As the Natufians had become dependent on wild cereals in their diet, and a [[Sedentism|sedentary]] way of life had begun among them, the climatic changes associated with the [[Younger Dryas]] (about 10,000 BC) are thought to have forced people to develop farming.

The founder crops of the Fertile Crescent were [[wheat]], [[lentil]], [[pea]], [[chickpeas]], bitter vetch, and flax. Among the other major crop domesticated were rice, and millet. Crops were usually domesticated in a single location and ancestral wild species are still found.[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B978012805247100006X]

Early Neolithic age farming was limited to a narrow range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included [[einkorn wheat]], [[millet]] and [[spelt]], and the keeping of [[origin of the domestic dog|dogs]]. By about 8000 BC, it included domesticated [[sheep]] and [[goat#History|goats]], [[cattle]] and [[domesticated pig|pigs]].

Not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order: the earliest farming societies in the [[Ancient Near East|Near East]] did not use pottery. In other parts of the world, such as [[Prehistoric North Africa|Africa]], [[South Asian Stone Age|South Asia]] and [[List of Neolithic cultures of China|Southeast Asia]], independent domestication events led to their own regionally distinctive Neolithic cultures, which arose completely independently of those in [[Europe]] and [[West Asia|Southwest Asia]]. [[Jōmon period|Early Japanese]] societies and other [[East Asia]]n cultures used pottery ''before'' developing agriculture.<ref>{{cite book | last = Habu | first = Junko | title = Ancient Jomon of Japan | year = 2004 | isbn = 978-0-521-77670-7 | page = 3 | publisher = Cambridge University Press }}
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{{cite journal
 | url = https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1218643
 | title= Early Pottery at 20,000 Years Ago in Xianrendong Cave, China
 | author= Xiaohong Wu| journal= Science
 | year= 2012
 | volume= 336
 | issue= 6089
 | pages= 1696–1700
 |publisher= Sciencemag.org
 | doi= 10.1126/science.1218643
 | pmid= 22745428
 | bibcode= 2012Sci...336.1696W
 | s2cid= 37666548
 | access-date= 15 January 2015
}}
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