Editing Mesolithic (section)

===Ceramic Mesolithic===
{{See also|Subneolithic}}
In North-Eastern [[Europe]], [[Siberia]], and certain southern European and [[North Africa]]n sites, a "ceramic Mesolithic" can be distinguished between {{circa|9,000}} to 5,850 BP. Russian archaeologists prefer to describe such pottery-making cultures as Neolithic, even though farming is absent. This pottery-making Mesolithic culture can be found peripheral to the sedentary Neolithic cultures. It created a distinctive type of pottery, with point or knob base and flared rims, manufactured by methods not used by the Neolithic farmers. Though each area of Mesolithic ceramic developed an individual style, common features suggest a single point of origin.<ref>De Roevers, pp. 162–63</ref>{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} The earliest manifestation of this type of pottery may be in the region around [[Lake Baikal]] in Siberia. It appears in the [[Yelshanka culture]] on the [[Volga]] in Russia 9,000 years ago,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Anthony|first1=D.W.|editor1-last=Yanko-Hombach|editor1-first=V.|editor2-last=Gilbert|editor2-first=A.A.|editor3-last=Panin|editor3-first=N.|editor4-last=Dolukhanov|editor4-first=P.M.|title=The Black Sea Flood Question: changes in coastline, climate and human settlement|date=2007|isbn=978-9402404654|pages=245–370|chapter=Pontic-Caspian Mesolithic and Early Neolithic societies at the time of the Black Sea Flood: a small audience and small effects|publisher=Springer }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Anthony|first1=David W.|title=The horse, the wheel, and language : how Bronze-Age riders from the Eurasian steppes shaped the modern world|date=2010|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, NJ|isbn=978-0691148182|title-link=The Horse, The Wheel and Language}}</ref> and from there spread via the [[Dnieper-Donets culture]] to the [[Narva culture]] of the Eastern Baltic. Spreading westward along the coastline it is found in the [[Ertebølle culture]] of [[Denmark]] and Ellerbek of Northern Germany, and the related [[Swifterbant culture]] of the [[Low Countries]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gronenborn|first1=Detlef|title=Beyond the models: Neolithisation in Central Europe|journal=Proceedings of the British Academy|date=2007|volume=144|pages=73–98}}</ref><ref>Detlef Gronenborn, Beyond the models: Neolithisation in Central Europe, ''Proceedings of the British Academy'', vol. 144 (2007), pp. 73–98 (87).</ref>

[[File:National Museum of China 2014.02.01 14-43-38.jpg|thumb|Pottery with re-construction repairs found in [[Xianrendong]] cave, dating to 20,000–10,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Huan |first1=Anthony |title=Ancient China: Neolithic |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthonyhuan/32661009357/in/album-72157706522993001/ |website=National Museum of China |date=13 April 2019}}</ref>]]

A 2012 publication in the ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'' journal announced that the earliest pottery yet known anywhere in the world was found in Xianrendong cave in China, dating by radiocarbon to between 20,000 and 19,000 years before present, at the end of the [[Last Glacial Period]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/06/pottery-found-in-from-china-cave-confirmed-as-worlds-oldest/1#.UDiyGtZlRv0|title=Pottery found in China cave confirmed as world's oldest|author=Stanglin, Douglas|newspaper=[[USA Today]]|date=29 June 2012}}</ref><ref name=Xianrendong>{{cite journal|title=Early Pottery at 20,000 Years Ago in Xianrendong Cave, China|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|date=29 June 2012|volume=336|issue=6089|pages=1696–1700|doi=10.1126/science.1218643|bibcode = 2012Sci...336.1696W|pmid=22745428|last1=Wu|first1=X|last2=Zhang|first2=C|last3=Goldberg|first3=P|last4=Cohen|first4=D|last5=Pan|first5=Y|last6=Arpin|first6=T|last7=Bar-Yosef|first7=O|s2cid=37666548 }}</ref> The carbon-14 datation was established by carefully dating surrounding sediments.<ref name=Xianrendong/><ref name="Science">{{cite journal |last1=Bar-Yosef |first1=Ofer |last2=Arpin |first2=Trina |last3=Pan |first3=Yan |last4=Cohen |first4=David |last5=Goldberg |first5=Paul |last6=Zhang |first6=Chi |last7=Wu |first7=Xiaohong |title=Early Pottery at 20,000 Years Ago in Xianrendong Cave, China |journal=Science |date=29 June 2012 |volume=336 |issue=6089 |pages=1696–1700 |doi=10.1126/science.1218643 |pmid=22745428 |language=en |issn=0036-8075|bibcode=2012Sci...336.1696W |s2cid=37666548 }}</ref> Many of the pottery fragments had scorch marks, suggesting that the pottery was used for cooking.<ref name="Science"/> These early pottery containers were made well before the [[invention of agriculture]] (dated to 10,000 to 8,000 BC), by mobile foragers who hunted and gathered their food during the Late Glacial Maximum.<ref name="Science"/>