Editing Neolithic (section)

=== Lithic technology ===
{{Main|Stone tool#Neolithic industries}}
{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2021}}
The identifying characteristic of Neolithic technology is the use of polished or ground stone tools, in contrast to the flaked stone tools used during the Paleolithic era.

Neolithic people were skilled farmers, manufacturing a range of tools necessary for the tending, harvesting and processing of crops (such as [[sickle]] blades and [[grinding stone]]s) and food production (e.g. [[pottery]], bone implements). They were also skilled manufacturers of a range of other types of stone tools and ornaments, including [[projectile point]]s, [[bead]]s, and [[statuette]]s. But what allowed forest clearance on a large scale was the polished [[stone axe]] above all other tools. Together with the [[adze]], fashioning wood for shelter, structures and [[canoe]]s for example, this enabled them to exploit the newly developed farmland.

Neolithic peoples in the Levant, Anatolia, Syria, northern Mesopotamia and [[Central Asia]] were also accomplished builders, utilizing mud-brick to construct houses and villages. At [[Çatalhöyük]], houses were [[plaster]]ed and painted with elaborate scenes of humans and animals. In [[Europe]], [[Neolithic long house|long houses]] built from [[wattle and daub]] were constructed. Elaborate [[tomb]]s were built for the dead. These tombs are particularly numerous in [[Ireland]], where there are many thousand still in existence. Neolithic people in the [[British Isles]] built [[long barrow]]s and [[chamber tomb]]s for their dead and [[causewayed camp]]s, henges, flint mines and [[cursus]] monuments. It was also important to figure out ways of preserving food for future months, such as fashioning relatively airtight containers, and using substances like [[salt]] as preservatives.

The peoples of the [[Americas]] and the [[Pacific]] mostly retained the Neolithic level of tool [[technology]] until the time of European contact. Exceptions include copper [[hatchet]]s and [[spear]]heads in the [[Great Lakes (North America)|Great Lakes]] region.