Editing Neolithic (section)

=== Europe ===
{{Main|Neolithic Europe}}

[[File:Golemata Majka.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|Female figure from [[Tumba Madžari]], [[North Macedonia]]]]
[[File:European-late-neolithic-english.svg|thumb|Map showing distribution of some of the main culture complexes in [[Neolithic Europe]], {{circa}} 3500&nbsp;BC]]
[[File:Skara Brae house 1 5.jpg|thumb|[[Skara Brae]], Scotland. Evidence of home furnishings (shelves)]]

In southeast [[Neolithic Europe|Europe]] agrarian societies first appeared in the [[7th millennium BC]], attested by one of the earliest farming sites of Europe, discovered in [[Vashtëmi]], southeastern [[Albania]] and dating back to 6500&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite news | author=Dawn Fuller| date=April 16, 2012 | title=UC research reveals one of the earliest farming sites in Europe| work=Phys.org| url=http://phys.org/news/2012-04-uc-reveals-earliest-farming-sites.html| access-date=April 18, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | date=April 16, 2012 | title=One of Earliest Farming Sites in Europe Discovered| website=ScienceDaily| url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120416113013.htm| access-date=April 18, 2012 }}</ref> In most of Western Europe in followed over the next two thousand years, but in some parts of Northwest Europe it is much later, lasting just under 3,000 years from c. 4500 BC–1700 BC. Recent advances in [[archaeogenetics]] have confirmed that the spread of agriculture from the Middle East to Europe was strongly correlated with the migration of [[Early European Farmers|early farmers from Anatolia]] about 9,000 years ago, and was not just a cultural exchange.<ref>{{cite news |first=Andrew |last=Curry |title=The first Europeans weren't who you might think |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/first-europeans-immigrants-genetic-testing-feature |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319032852/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/first-europeans-immigrants-genetic-testing-feature |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 19, 2021 |work=National Geographic |date=August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Laura |last=Spinney |title=When the First Farmers Arrived in Europe, Inequality Evolved |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-the-first-farmers-arrived-in-europe-inequality-evolved/ |work=Scientific American |date=1 July 2020}}</ref>

Anthropomorphic figurines have been found in the Balkans from 6000&nbsp;BC,<ref>[http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/HellenicMacedonia/en/img_A11a.html Female figurine, c. 6000 BC, Nea Nikomidia, Macedonia, Veroia, (Archaeological Museum), Greece]. Macedonian-heritage.gr. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.</ref> and in Central Europe by around 5800&nbsp;BC ([[La Hoguette#Archeology|La Hoguette]]). Among the earliest cultural complexes of this area are the [[Sesklo]] culture in Thessaly, which later expanded in the Balkans giving rise to [[Kőrös culture|Starčevo-Körös]] (Cris), [[Linearbandkeramik]], and [[Vinča culture|Vinča]]. Through a combination of [[cultural diffusion]] and [[human migration|migration of peoples]], the Neolithic traditions spread west and northwards to reach northwestern Europe by around 4500 BC. The [[Vinča culture]] may have created the earliest system of writing, the [[Vinča signs]], though archaeologist Shan Winn believes they most likely represented [[pictograms]] and [[ideograms]] rather than a truly developed form of writing.<ref>{{cite book|title = Pre-writing in Southeastern Europe: The Sign System of the Vinča Culture ca. 4000 BC|last = Winn|first = Shan|publisher = Western Publishers|year = 1981|location = Calgary}}</ref>

The [[Cucuteni-Trypillian culture]] built enormous settlements in Romania, Moldova and Ukraine from 5300 to 2300&nbsp;BC. The [[megalith]]ic temple complexes of [[Ġgantija]] on the Mediterranean island of [[Gozo Island|Gozo]] (in the Maltese archipelago) and of [[Mnajdra]] (Malta) are notable for their gigantic Neolithic structures, the oldest of which date back to around 3600&nbsp;BC. The [[Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni]], [[Paola, Malta|Paola]], Malta, is a subterranean structure excavated around 2500&nbsp;BC; originally a sanctuary, it became a [[necropolis]], the only prehistoric underground temple in the world, and shows a degree of artistry in stone sculpture unique in prehistory to the Maltese islands. After 2500&nbsp;BC, these islands were depopulated for several decades until the arrival of a new influx of [[Bronze Age]] immigrants, a culture that [[cremation|cremated]] its dead and introduced smaller megalithic structures called [[dolmens]] to Malta.<ref>Daniel Cilia, [http://web.infinito.it/utenti/m/malta_mega_temples/linetime.html "Malta Before Common Era", in ''The Megalithic Temples of Malta'']. Retrieved 28 January 2007.</ref> In most cases there are small chambers here, with the cover made of a large slab placed on upright stones. They are claimed to belong to a population different from that which built the previous megalithic temples. It is presumed the population arrived from [[Sicily]] because of the similarity of Maltese dolmens to some small constructions found there.<ref>Piccolo, Salvatore (2013) ''Ancient Stones: The Prehistoric Dolmens of Sicily,'' Abingdon-on-Thames, England: Brazen Head Publishing, pp. 33–34 {{ISBN|978-0-9565106-2-4}}</ref>

With some exceptions, population levels rose rapidly at the beginning of the Neolithic until they reached the [[carrying capacity]].{{sfn|Shennan|Edinborough|2007}} This was followed by a population crash of "enormous magnitude" after 5000 BC, with levels remaining low during the next 1,500 years.{{sfn|Shennan|Edinborough|2007}} Populations began to rise after 3500 BC, with further dips and rises occurring between 3000 and 2500 BC but varying in date between regions.{{sfn|Shennan|Edinborough|2007}} Around this time is the [[Neolithic decline]], when populations collapsed across most of Europe, possibly caused by climatic conditions, plague, or mass migration.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Timpson|first1=Adrian|last2=Colledge|first2=Sue|date=September 2014|title=Reconstructing regional population fluctuations in the European Neolithic using radiocarbon dates: a new case-study using an improved method|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|volume=52|pages=549–557|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2014.08.011|bibcode=2014JArSc..52..549T |doi-access=free}}</ref>