Editing 5th millennium BC (section)

===Africa===
North to latitude 15° North of the Equator:
*It is estimated that the beginning of the [[Pastoral Neolithic]] was in the later phase of the Green Sahara, in the 6th or 5th millennium BC. It was prior to the end of the [[African humid period]] ({{Circa|3500 BC}}) and the desiccation of the [[Green Sahara]]. During this time, sub-Saharan Africa remained in the [[Later Stone Age|Palaeolithic]]. As the [[grasslands]] of the [[Sahara]] began drying after {{Circa|4000 BC}}, herders moved into the [[Nile|Nile Valley]] and by the middle of the 3rd millennium BC into eastern Africa.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gifford-Gonzalez |first=Diane |year=2017 |chapter=Pastoralism in sub-Saharan Africa |title=The Oxford Handbook of Zooarchaeology |pages=396–413}}</ref>
*The earliest-known permanent settlement in [[ancient Egypt|Egypt]], situated at the southwestern edge of the Nile Delta (near [[Merimde Beni Salama]]), dates to approximately 4750 BCE—possibly composed of as many as 16,000 residents.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cole |first1=Joshua |last2=Symes |first2=Carol |title=Western Civilizations |date=2017 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. |location=United States of America |pages=21–24}}</ref>[[Merimde culture]] flourishes in Lower Egypt (circa 5000 BC - 4200 BC).
*[[Prehistoric Egypt|Upper Egypt]] experiences new phase of sedentarism from prior nomadic lifestyles (circa 5000 BC). During the fifth millennium BC, migrations from the drying Sahara brought neolithic people into the Nile Valley along with agriculture, see [[History of Sudan]].
*Predynastic Egyptians of the 5th millennium BC pictorially represented geometric designs, with further development of mathematics, alchemy and astronomy within the polities of Egypt, see [[Nabta Playa]]. This is simultaneous with cultural diffusions via the Sahara (African Humid Period). A second wave of intensive construction occurred around 4800 BC where stone circles were aligned with the summer solstice, near the beginning of the rainy season emphasising a virtue of fertility.

More complex structures followed during a second intensive wave onwards from 4500 BC. With alignments with Sirius, Arcturus, Alpha Centauri, and the Belt of Orion. This suggests a great academic pursuit to investigate astronomical observations, cosmology and mathematics. Fifth millennium alignments of stele to bright stars focussed on issues of major practical importance of the era being: cattle, water, death, earth, sun, stars and theology.

*[[Tasian culture]], [[Badarian culture]] thrive with trade routes connecting Egypt to Syria, the Sinai and Red Sea. Both share culturally distinctive "black-top ware". Badarian culture expands Southwards towards future [[Nekhen|Hierakonpolis]].
*[[Prehistoric Egypt|El Omari culture]] and [[Amratian culture]] forms circa 4000 BC. Cultural distinctions between the two are first observed, however Aramatian influence begins to expand throughout Upper and Middle Egypt, with trade routes of cedar from Byblos to gold and obsidian imported from Nubia representing complex social stratification.
*Diffusion of African Humid Period religions, and cultural traits Eastwards to Egypt via political, social and economical interrelated movements. Southwards migrations result in emergence of the [[Butana Group]] circa 4000 BC. Potential time of [[Osiris]] figure existing circa 4100 BC to 3900 BC within [[Egypt]].
*[[Prehistoric North Africa|Maghreb transfers from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic stage]] finishing completely circa 5000 BC.
*Early 5th millennium BC, cattle herding, animal husbandry and polities within the Sahara continue to thrive, most notably the [[Tenerian culture]] with Eurasian genotype. Eurasian migrations continue onwards in some places from the rapid migrations of the previous millennia into the Sahara, representing a time of great social and economic opportunity.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Genetic Stratigraphy of Key Demographic Events in Arabia|date=2015 |pmc=4349752 |last1=Fernandes |first1=V. |last2=Triska |first2=P. |last3=Pereira |first3=J. B. |last4=Alshamali |first4=F. |last5=Rito |first5=T. |last6=Machado |first6=A. |last7=Fajkošová |first7=Z. |last8=Cavadas |first8=B. |last9=Černý |first9=V. |last10=Soares |first10=P. |last11=Richards |first11=M. B. |last12=Pereira |first12=L. |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=e0118625 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0118625 |pmid=25738654 |bibcode=2015PLoSO..1018625F |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=The demographic response to Holocene climate change in the Sahara|date=2014 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.07.003 |last1=Manning |first1=Katie |last2=Timpson |first2=Adrian |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=101 |pages=28–35 |bibcode=2014QSRv..101...28M |s2cid=54923700 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Ancestral mitochondrial N lineage from the Neolithic 'green' Sahara|date=2019 |pmid=30837540 |last1=Vai |first1=S. |last2=Sarno |first2=S. |last3=Lari |first3=M. |last4=Luiselli |first4=D. |last5=Manzi |first5=G. |last6=Gallinaro |first6=M. |last7=Mataich |first7=S. |last8=Hübner |first8=A. |last9=Modi |first9=A. |last10=Pilli |first10=E. |last11=Tafuri |first11=M. A. |last12=Caramelli |first12=D. |last13=Di Lernia |first13=S. |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=3530 |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-39802-1 |pmc=6401177 |bibcode=2019NatSR...9.3530V }}</ref>
*Proto-Berber populations migrate Northwards towards Libya resulting in increased population density and diffusion of religion, explained via the [[Sahara pump theory]].
*One subclade, now known as R1b1a2 (R-V88), is found only at high frequencies amongst populations native to West Africa, such as the [[Fulani]], and is believed to reflect a prehistoric back-migration from Eurasia to Africa of peoples related to the ancestors of the [[Proto-Indo-Europeans]] and [[Natufian culture|Natufians]] in the [[Palaeolithic]], with migrations continuing into the [[Neolithic]] (circa 5000 BC) to the [[Chalcolithic]] of the more ancient, native proto-Berber peoples sometimes intermixed and alongside the [[Capsian culture]] deeper into the Sahara. Cultural significant elements are complex theology, red [[ochre]], importation of [[Caprinae|ovicaprids]] and dentistry.

Sub-Saharan Africa:
*In the East:Preceded by assumed earlier sites in the Eastern Sahara, tumuli with megalithic monuments developed as early as 4700 BC in the Saharan region of Niger with complex theological work and [[social stratification]] present, potentially interconnected with the theological and astronomical advancements in [[Nabta Playa|Egypt]]. 
*[[Dotted wavy line and wavy line pottery]] is traded across North and Eastern Africa by the various cultures. These pieces are some of the oldest examples of pottery, made by Eurasian descended hunter-fisher-gatherers in a tradition that lasted. 5000 years since the [[9th millennium BC]].
*Although constituent groups and genetic of [[Nilo-Saharan languages|Nilo-Saharan]] predate the African neolithic by thousands of years. A unity of [[Eastern Sudanic languages|Eastern Sudanic]] occurs among [[social stratification|socially stratified]] cultures in the 5th millennium BC. These cultures although experiencing trade with [[Afroasiatic languages|Afro-Asiatic]] stratified [[Prehistoric Ethiopia|Cushitic agrarian cultures]], experience migrations and cultural diffusion across the Sahara Westwards, North and Eastwards themselves.
*East Between 7500 BCE and 3500 BCE, amid the Green Sahara, undomesticated central Saharan flora were farmed, stored, and cooked, and domesticated animals (e.g., Barbary sheep) were milked and managed in Libya.
*In [[West Africa]]: the [[Pastoral Period]] spanned from the savanna region to the eastern Saharan region, and from [[Mauritania]] to the [[Red Sea]], which extensive trade between the regions and polities. Agriculture is introduced and advanced within West Africa by  Eurasian descended populations alongside sub saharan populations.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024|reason=Previously cited a preprint}}
*West:[[Venus figurine]] importations into sub saharan Africa via Eurasian descended pastoralists with the emergence of [[complex society|complexly organized]] [[Pastoral period|pastoral societies]] in [[History of West Africa#Iron Age|West Africa]] between 4000 BCE and 1000 BCE, representative of a priest class with diffused religion from the [[Neolithic Revolution|Fertile Cresecent]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}} Though possibly developed as early as 5000 BCE,{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}} [[Nsibidi]] may have also developed in 2000 BCE,{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}} as evidenced by depictions of the [[West African script]] on [[Ikom monoliths]] at [[Ikom]], in [[Nigeria]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
*Central to West:Populations and tribes spreading the [[Niger–Congo languages]]  migrate with long distanced trade routes and large chiefdoms between Eastern [[West Africa]] and their homeland of [[Central Africa]] millennia before. This expansion of these set of the [[Niger-Congo languages]] may have been associated with the expansion of [[Sahel]] agriculture in the African Neolithic period, following the [[African humid period#End|desiccation of the Sahara in c. 3500 BCE]] and segregation of the Eurasian descended [[Paleolithic]] and [[Neolithic]] people's into West, East and North Africa, by the [[Sahara desert]]. This contemporary expansion of the [[Niger–Congo languages]] preceded the more infamous [[Bantu expansion]] of later.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.07.003|title=The demographic response to Holocene climate change in the Sahara|journal=Quaternary Science Reviews|volume=101|pages=28–35|year=2014|last1=Manning|first1=Katie|last2=Timpson|first2=Adrian|bibcode=2014QSRv..101...28M|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>Igor Kopytoff, ''The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies'' (1989), 9–10 (cited after [http://amightytree.org/niger-congo-languages-and-history/ Igbo Language Roots and (Pre)-History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717224506/http://amightytree.org/niger-congo-languages-and-history/ |date=2019-07-17 }}, ''A Mighty Tree'', 2011).</ref>
*The final period (4500 - 4000 BC) of the [[Round Head Period]]  Negroid hunter-gatherers, who created the Round Head rock art, adopted the culture of cattle pastoralism from incoming cattle pastoralists.
*South: Red finger-painted rock art created between 4000 BC, and 200 AD, to the south of [[Kei River]] and [[Orange River]] by Khoisan hunter-gatherer-herders, in Malawi and Zambia by considerably dark-skinned, occasionally bearded, bow-and-arrow-wielding [[History of Malawi|Akafula]] hunter-gatherers who resided in [[Malawi]] until the 19th century CE, and in Transvaal by the [[Venda people|Vhangona people]]. [[Khoisan languages|Khoisan]] cultures continue from prior millennia to dominate Southern Africa.
*Importantly, circa 4500 BC, the [[Sanaga river|Sanaga]] and [[Nyong River|Nyong rivers]] of Southern Cameroon, the [[Proto-Bantu language|Proto-Bantu]] chiefdoms split off, and expanded Eastwards from [[Southern Bantoid|Proto-Southern Bantoid]] chiefdoms whom in an earlier [[Bantu expansion]] began to invade and expand into the south and east, engaging the [[Palaeolithic]] tribes of the [[Congo Basin|Congo]]. Such [[social stratification]] and rapid political emergence via expansion gives us a depiction of the cultural complexity of these cultures.<ref>Newman (1995), Shillington (2005)</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/681436|jstor=10.1086/681436|doi=10.1086/681436|title=Middle to Late Holocene Paleoclimatic Change and the Early Bantu Expansion in the Rain Forests of Western Central Africa|year=2015|last1=Bostoen|first1=Koen|last2=Clist|first2=Bernard|last3=Doumenge|first3=Charles|last4=Grollemund|first4=Rebecca|last5=Hombert|first5=Jean-Marie|last6=Muluwa|first6=Joseph Koni|last7=Maley|first7=Jean|journal=Current Anthropology|volume=56|issue=3|pages=354–384|s2cid=129501938}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aSxIDAAAQBAJ&q=sanaga|title = Historical Dictionary of the Central African Republic|isbn = 9780810879928|last1 = Bradshaw|first1 = Richard|last2 = Fandos-Rius|first2 = Juan|date = 27 May 2016| publisher=Rowman & Littlefield }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tWGTDAAAQBAJ&q=sanaga+river|title = Rethinking Agriculture: Archaeological and Ethnoarchaeological Perspectives|isbn = 9781315420998|last1 = Denham|first1 = Timothy P.|last2 = Iriarte|first2 = José|last3 = Vrydaghs|first3 = Luc|date = July 2016| publisher=Routledge }}</ref>
*It was formerly thought that proto-Bantu originated somewhere in the border region between Nigeria and Cameroon. However, new research revealed that was more likely the original area of Proto-Southern Bantoid, before it spread southwards into Cameroon long before Proto-Bantu emerged.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6mkPEAAAQBAJ&q=+thought+that+proto-Bantu+originated+somewhere+in+the+border+region+between+Nigeria+and+Cameroon.+However|title=Atlas of the World's Languages|isbn=9781317851097|last1=Asher|first1=R. E.|last2=Moseley|first2=Christopher|date=19 April 2018|publisher=Routledge }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|pmid = 26371302|year = 2015|last1 = Grollemund|first1 = R.|last2 = Branford|first2 = S.|last3 = Bostoen|first3 = K.|last4 = Meade|first4 = A.|last5 = Venditti|first5 = C.|last6 = Pagel|first6 = M.|title = Bantu expansion shows that habitat alters the route and pace of human dispersals|journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume = 112|issue = 43|pages = 13296–13501|doi = 10.1073/pnas.1503793112|pmc = 4629331|bibcode = 2015PNAS..11213296G|doi-access = free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ovjpBAAAQBAJ&dq=It+was+initiated+by+a+group+of+Bantuspeaking+communities+living+in+an+upland+region+between+the+Nyong+River+and+the+Sanaga+River+in+what+is+now+southern+Cameroon&pg=PT25|title = The Fortunes of Africa: A 5000-Year History of Wealth, Greed, and Endeavor|isbn = 9781610394604|last1 = Meredith|first1 = Martin|date = 14 October 2014| publisher=PublicAffairs }}</ref>