Editing 6th millennium BC

{{short description|Millennium between 6000 BC and 5001 BC}}
{{use dmy dates|date=February 2016}}
{{Millenniumbox|-6}}
{{Holocene}}
{{Neolithic}}
The '''6th millennium BC''' spanned the years 6000 BC to 5001 BC (c. 8 ka to c. 7 ka). It is impossible to precisely date events that happened around the time of this millennium and all dates mentioned here are estimates mostly based on geological and anthropological analysis. The only exceptions are the [[Dendrochronology|felling dates]] for some construction timbers from [[Neolithic Europe|Neolithic]] [[Well#History|wells]] in [[Central Europe]]. 

This millennium is reckoned to mark the end of the [[Early Holocene sea level rise|global deglaciation]] which had followed the [[Last Glacial Maximum]] and caused sea levels to rise by some {{convert|60|m|abbr=on}} over a period of about 5,000 years. 

==Overview==
[[Neolithic]] culture and technology had spread from the Near East and into Eastern Europe by 6000 BC. Its development in the Far East grew apace and there is increasing evidence through the millennium of its presence in [[prehistoric Egypt]] and the Far East. In much of the world, however, including Northern and Western Europe, people still lived in scattered [[Palaeolithic]]/[[Mesolithic]] [[hunting-gathering|hunter-gatherer]] communities. The [[World population estimates|world population]] is believed to have increased sharply, possibly quadrupling, as a result of the [[Neolithic Revolution]]. It has been estimated that there were perhaps forty million people worldwide at the end of this millennium, growing to 100 million by the Middle Bronze Age c. 1600 BC.<ref name="JNB">{{cite journal | last1 = Biraben | first1 = Jean-Noël | year = 1979 | title = Essai sur l'évolution du nombre des hommes | journal = Population | volume = 34–1 | issue = 1 | pages = 13–25 | doi = 10.2307/1531855 | jstor = 1531855 }}</ref>

==Europe==
It has been estimated that humans first settled in [[Malta]] c. 5900 BC, arriving across the Mediterranean from both Europe and North Africa.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20180316/life-features/700-years-added-to-maltas-history.673498 |title=700 years added to Malta's history |newspaper=[[Times of Malta]] |date=16 March 2018 |access-date=1 June 2019}}</ref>

Use of pottery found near [[Tbilisi]] is evidence that [[grape]]s were being used for [[winemaking]] c. 5980 BC.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41977709 |title='World's oldest wine' found in 8,000-year-old jars in Georgia |work=BBC News |date=13 November 2017 |access-date=1 June 2019}}</ref>

Evidence of [[cheese]]-making in Poland is dated c. 5500 BC.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.nature.com/news/art-of-cheese-making-is-7-500-years-old-1.12020 |title=Art of cheese-making is 7,500 years old |journal=Nature |publisher=Macmillan |date=12 December 2012 |doi=10.1038/nature.2012.12020 |access-date=1 June 2019|last1=Subbaraman |first1=Nidhi |s2cid=180646880 }}</ref>

Four identified cultures starting around 5300 BC were the [[Dnieper-Donets culture|Dnieper-Donets]], the [[Narva culture|Narva]] (eastern Baltic), the [[Ertebølle culture|Ertebølle]] (Denmark and northern Germany), and the [[Swifterbant culture|Swifterbant]] (Low Countries). They were linked by a common pottery style that had spread westward from Asia and is sometimes called "[[ceramic Mesolithic]]", distinguishable by a point or knob base and flared rims.<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>{{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, New Jersey |isbn=9780691148182}}</ref>

==North Asia==
According to [[Vasily Radlov]], among the [[Paleo-Siberian]] inhabitants of [[Central Siberia]] and Southern Siberia were the [[Proto-Yeniseian|Yeniseians]], of whom the [[Ket people|Kets]] are considered the last remainder. The Yeniseians were followed by the Uralic [[Samoyedic peoples|Samoyeds]], who came from the northern [[Ural Mountains|Ural]] region. '''Proto-Uralic''' is the [[attested language|unattested]] [[linguistic reconstruction|reconstructed]] language ancestral to the modern [[Uralic languages|Uralic language family]]. The hypothetical language is thought to have been originally spoken in a small area in about 7000–2000 BC, and expanded to give differentiated [[protolanguage]]s. Some newer research has pushed the "[[Proto-Uralic homeland]]" east of the Ural Mountains into [[Western Siberia]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Grünthal |first1=Riho |last2=Heyd |first2=Volker |last3=Holopainen |first3=Sampsa |last4=Janhunen |first4=Juha |last5=Khanina |first5=Olga |last6=Miestamo |first6=Matti |last7=Nichols |first7=Johanna |last8=Saarikivi |first8=Janne |last9=Sinnemäki |first9=Kaius |date=2022-08-29 |title=Drastic demographic events triggered the Uralic spread |url=https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/publications/drastic-demographic-events-triggered-the-uralic-spread |journal=Diachronica |language=en |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=490–524 |doi=10.1075/dia.20038.gru |s2cid=248059749 |issn=0176-4225|hdl=10138/347633 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Polities harbouring the [[Proto-Uralic language|Uralic]] peoples thrive. 
The shores of all Siberian lakes, which filled the depressions during the [[Lacustrine period]], abound in remains dating from the [[Neolithic]] age.{{cn|date=February 2024}} Countless ''[[kurgan]]s'' ([[tumulus|tumuli]]), furnaces, and other [[Artifact (archaeology)|archaeological artifacts]] bear witness to a dense population. Some of the earliest artifacts found in [[Central Asia]] derive from Siberia.<ref>Philip W. Goetz (1991), ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica'', p. 724, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.</ref>{{fcn|reason=Missing entry name|date=December 2024}} Large scale constructions occur as early as 6000&nbsp;BC. Prehistoric settlements in remote Siberia have revealed that 8,000 years ago construction of complex defensive structures, such as the [[Amnya complex]], occurred with political warfare. They are the oldest fortresses in the world. Finding such ancient fortifications challenges previous understanding of early human societies. It suggests that agriculture was not the only driver for people to start building permanent settlements.

Large scale backwards migrations occur with Native American populations migrating back into [[Asia]], settling in areas such as the [[Altai Mountains]] several times over a span of thousands of years, earliest dated to 5500&nbsp;BC. This is potentially linked to the environmental changes at the time (see [[Mount Mazama]]), which remained preserved in the oral history of the [[North America]]n cultures to this day.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/society/eye-witnesses-call-from-millennia-past/|title=Eye-witnesses call from millennia past|last=Nunn|first=Patrick|date=28 August 2018|work=[[Cosmos (Australian magazine)|Cosmos]]|publisher=Royal Institution of Australia|access-date=26 February 2024}}</ref> 

[[Na-Dene languages|Na-Dené]]-speaking peoples finally entered North America starting around {{BCE|8000}}, reaching the [[Pacific Northwest]] by {{BCE|5000}},<ref>{{cite journal |last=Drummond |first=D. E. |url=https://www.jstor.org/pss/670070 |jstor=670070 |title=Toward a Pre-History of the Na-Dene, with a General Comment on Population Movements among Nomadic Hunters |journal=American Anthropologist |series=New Series |volume=71 |issue=5 |date=October 1969 |pages=857–863 |publisher=American Anthropological Association |doi=10.1525/aa.1969.71.5.02a00050 |access-date=2010-03-30}}</ref> and from there migrating along the [[Pacific coast|Pacific Coast]] and into the interior. Linguists, anthropologists, and archeologists believe their ancestors constituted a separate migration into North America, later than the first Paleo-Indians. They migrated into Alaska and northern Canada, south along the Pacific Coast, into the interior of Canada, and south to the Great Plains and the American Southwest.

Indo-European cultures, descended from [[Ancient North Eurasian|Ancient North Eurasians]] long ago, continue to expand Westwards from Central [[Russia]]. It provides linguistic evidence for the geographical location of these languages around that time, agreeing with archeological evidence that Indo-European speakers were present in the Pontic-Caspian steppes by around 4500&nbsp;BCE (the [[Kurgan hypothesis]]) and that Uralic speakers may have been established in the [[Comb Ceramic culture|Pit-Comb Ware culture]] to their north in the fifth millennium BCE.<ref>Carpelan & Parpola 2001:79</ref>{{missing long citation|date=December 2024}}

Such words as those for "hundred", "pig", and "king" have something in common: they represent "cultural vocabulary" as opposed to "basic vocabulary". They are likely to have been acquired along with a novel number system and the domestic pig from Indo-Europeans in the south. Similarly, the Indo-Europeans themselves had acquired such words and cultural items from peoples and cultures to their south or west, including possibly their words for "ox", ''*gʷou-'' (compare English ''cow'') and "grain", ''*bʰars-'' (compare English ''barley''). In contrast, basic vocabulary – words such as "me", "hand", "water", and "be" – is much less readily borrowed between languages. If Indo-European and Uralic are genetically related, there should be agreements regarding basic vocabulary, with more agreements if they are closely related, fewer if they are less closely related.

Indo-European cultures in Central [[Asia]] flourish, these cultures are the: [[Middle Volga culture]] (followed by the [[Samara culture]] at the turn of the millennium), the contemporary [[Dnieper–Donets culture]]. From around 5200&nbsp;BC, the patriarchal Dnieper-Donets culture leaves the [[Mesolithic]] [[hunter-gatherer]] lifestyle and begins keeping [[cattle]], [[sheep]] and [[goat]]s.{{sfn|Anthony|2010|pp=174–182}} Other domestic animals kept included [[pig]]s, [[horse]]s and [[dog]]s.<ref>*{{cite book |last=Mallory |first=J. P. |author-link=J. P. Mallory |year=1991 |title=In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language Archeology and Myth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lENVpwAACAAJ |publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]] | pages = 190–191 }}</ref>

==South Asia==
[[Junglefowl]] were domesticated around c. 5500 BC in Southeast Asia.<ref>{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SuQZnlnLdc8C|title=Concise History of Science & Invention: An Illustrated Time Line|date=2010|publisher=National Geographic Books|isbn=978-1-4262-0544-6|pages=24|language=en}}</ref>

==East Asia==
The [[Zhaobaogou culture]] in [[China]] began c. 5400 BC. It was in the north-eastern part of the country, primarily in the [[Luan River]] valley in [[Inner Mongolia]] and northern [[Hebei]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Archaeology of Asia |first=Miriam T. |last=Stark |author-link=Miriam T. Stark |publisher=Blackwell |isbn=1-4051-0213-6 |page=129|date=26 August 2005 }}</ref>

The [[Yangshao culture]] ({{lang-zh|c=仰韶文化|p=Yǎngsháo wénhuà}}) was a [[Neolithic]] culture that existed extensively along the middle reaches of the [[Yellow River]] in [[China]] from around the end of this millennium, from 5000&nbsp;BC to 3000&nbsp;BC. Excavations found that children were buried in painted pottery jars. Pottery style emerging from the Yangshao culture spread westward to the [[Majiayao culture]], and then further to [[Xinjiang]] and [[Central Asia]] along a proto-Silk Road.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Kai |title=The Spread and Integration of Painted pottery Art along the Silk Road |journal=Region – Educational Research and Reviews |date=4 February 2021 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=18 |doi=10.32629/RERR.V3I1.242 |s2cid=234007445 |quote=The early cultural exchanges between the East and the West are mainly reflected in several aspects: first, in the late Neolithic period of painted pottery culture, the Yangshao culture (5000-3000 BC) from the Central Plains spreadwestward, which had a great impact on Majiayao culture (3000-2000 BC), and then continued to spread to Xinjiang and Central Asia through the transition of Hexi corridor|doi-access=free }}</ref>

{{multiple image|perrow=2|total_width=400|caption_align=center
| align    = center
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| image1   = Banpo bowl.jpg
| image2   = Banpo motif (B&W).png
| footer=Bowl of the [[Banpo|Banpo culture]] (first stage of the Yangshao culture), with geometrial human face motif and fish, 4500–3500 BC, [[Shaanxi]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Painted Pottery Basin with Fish and Human Face Design, National Museum of China |url=https://en.chnmuseum.cn/collections_577/collection_highlights_608/archaeological_discoveries_609/201911/t20191121_172534.html |publisher=National Museum of China}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Valenstein |first1=Suzanne G. |title=A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics |date=1989 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-0-8109-1170-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wnVwuJvo4YgC&pg=PA5 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Major |first1=John S. |last2=Cook |first2=Constance A. |title=Ancient China: A History |date=22 September 2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-50365-1 |page=60 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vh8xDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT60 |language=en}}</ref>
}}

==Oceania==
[[Indigenous Australians]] in what is now southwestern [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] were farming and smoking eels as a food source and trade good using stone weirs, canals, and woven traps around 6000&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Flood |first=Josephine |title=Archaeology of the dreamtime: the story of prehistoric Australia and its people |date=2004 |publisher=J. B. Publishing |isbn=1-876622-50-4 |edition=revised |location=Marleston, South Australia |oclc=61479845}}</ref>

==Environmental changes==
The [[early Holocene sea level rise]] (EHSLR), which began c. 10,000&nbsp;BC, tailed off during the 6th millennium BC. Global water levels had risen by about 60 metres due to deglaciation of ice masses since the end of the Last Ice Age.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The early Holocene sea level rise |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |last1=Smith |first1=D. E. |last2=Harrison |first2=S. |last3=Firth |first3=C. R. |last4=Jordan |first4=J. T. |volume=30 |issue=15–16 |date=July 2011 |pages=1846–1860 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2011.04.019 |bibcode=2011QSRv...30.1846S}}</ref> Accelerated rises in sea level rise, called meltwater pulses, occurred three times during the EHSLR. The last one, Meltwater Pulse 1C, which peaked c. 6000&nbsp;BC, produced a rise of 6.5 metres in only 140 years. It is believed that the cause was a major ice sheet collapse in Antarctica.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Blanchon |first=P. |year=2011 |title=Meltwater Pulses |editor-last=Hopley |editor-first=D. |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs: Structure, form and process. |publisher=Springer |series=Earth Science Series |pages=683–690 |isbn=978-90-481-2638-5}}</ref>

Approximately 8,000 years ago (c. 6000&nbsp;BC), a massive [[volcanic landslide]] off [[Mount Etna]], [[Sicily]], caused a [[megatsunami]] that devastated the eastern [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] coastline on the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1029/2006GL027790 |last1=Pareschi |first1=M. T. |last2=Boschi |first2=E. |last3=Favalli |first3=M. |year=2006 |title=Lost tsunami |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |volume=33 |issue=22 |pages=L22608 |bibcode=2006GeoRL..3322608P|doi-access=free }}</ref>

In South America, a large eruption occurred at [[Cueros de Purulla]] c. 5870&nbsp;BC, forming a buoyant cloud and depositing the Cerro Paranilla Ash in the [[Calchaquí Valleys]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fernandez-Turiel |first1=J. L. |last2=Perez-Torrado |first2=F. J. |last3=Rodriguez-Gonzalez |first3=A. |last4=Saavedra |first4=J. |last5=Carracedo |first5=J. C. |last6=Rejas |first6=M. |last7=Lobo |first7=A. |last8=Osterrieth |first8=M. |last9=Carrizo |first9=J. I. |last10=Esteban |first10=G. |last11=Gallardo |first11=J. |last12=Ratto |first12=N. |title=La gran erupción de hace 4.2 ka cal en Cerro Blanco, Zona Volcánica Central, Andes: nuevos datos sobre los depósitos eruptivos holocenos en la Puna sur y regiones adyacentes |journal=Estudios Geológicos |date=8 May 2019 |volume=75 |issue=1 |doi=10.3989/egeol.43438.515 |language=es |issn=1988-3250|page=21|doi-access=free |hdl=10553/69940 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> A cataclysmic [[Types of volcanic eruptions|volcanic eruption]] occurred c. 5700 BC in [[Oregon]] when {{convert|12000|ft|m|sing=on}} high [[Mount Mazama]] created [[Crater Lake]] as the resulting caldera filled with water.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/crater_lake/geo_hist_mazama.html |title=Geology and History Summary for Mount Mazama and Crater Lake |publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]] |work=Volcano Hazards Program |date=3 November 2017 |access-date=1 June 2019}}</ref> Another major eruption occurred c. 5550&nbsp;BC on [[Mount Takahe]], [[Antarctica]], possibly creating an [[ozone hole]] in the region.<ref name="GVP">{{Cite GVP|vn=390027|name=Takahe}}</ref>

The [[carbon-14]] content in [[Dendrochronology|tree rings]] created c. 5480&nbsp;BC indicates an abnormal level of [[Solar phenomena|solar activity]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Large 14C excursion in 5480 BC indicates an abnormal sun in the mid-Holocene |last1=Miyake |first1=Fusa |author-link1=Fusa Miyake |first2=A. J. Timothy |last2=Jull |first3=Irina P. |last3=Panyushkina |first4=Lukas |last4=Wacker |first5=Matthew |last5=Salzer |first6=Christopher H. |last6=Baisan |first7=Todd |last7=Lange |first8=Richard |last8=Cruz |first9=Kimiaki |last9=Masuda |first10=Toshio |last10=Nakamura |display-authors=6 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA |volume=114 |issue=5 |pages=881–884 |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |date=31 January 2017 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1613144114 |pmid=28100493 |pmc=5293056 |bibcode=2017PNAS..114..881M |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Astronomy and calendars==
[[Image:Monreale creation Adam.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Mosaic of Creation of [[Adam]] from [[Monreale Cathedral]] - dated year 1 [[Anno Mundi|A.M.]] (September 5509 BC) in the Byzantine calendar.]]
The [[Epoch (reference date)|epoch]] of the [[Byzantine calendar]], used in the [[Byzantine Empire]] and many Christian Orthodox countries, is equivalent to 1 September 5509 BC on the [[Julian proleptic calendar]] (see image).<ref>Stephenson, Paul. ''"Translations from Byzantine Sources: The Imperial Centuries, c.700–1204: [http://www.paulstephenson.info/trans/scyl2.html John Skylitzes, "Synopsis Historion"'': ''The Year 6508, in the 13th Indiction: the Byzantine dating system]"''. November 2006.</ref>

The 6th millennium BC falls entirely within the [[Astrological Age]] of [[Gemini (astrology)|Gemini]] (c. 6450 BC to c. 4300 BC) according to some astrologers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yeatsvision.com/GreatYear.html |title=The Astrological Great Year |author=Mann, Neil |date=24 May 2007 |access-date=1 June 2019}}</ref>

According to [[Gregory of Tours]] God created the world 5597 years prior to the death of [[Martin of Tours]], which would be 5200 BC. <ref>Gregory of Tours (1916) [594], ''History of the Franks'', Pantianos Classics, 1916</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Millennia}}

[[Category:6th millennium BC| ]]
[[Category:Millennia|-94]]