10th millennium BC
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| Epoch: | Upper Paleolithic | Millennia: 10th millennium BC - 9th millennium BC |
The 10th millennium BC marks the beginning of the Mesolithic, or Epipaleolithic period, which is the first part of the Holocene epoch.
World population was likely below 5 million people, mostly hunting-gathering communities scattered over all continents, except for Antarctica, and with the proto-Lapita migration also reaching the islands of the Pacific. Pottery, and with pottery probably cooking, was developed independently in North Africa[citation needed]. It is likely that the earliest incidence of Agriculture, based on the cultivation of primitive forms of millet and rice, occurred in southeast Asia, around 10,000 BC[1]. Agriculture also began to develop in the Armenian Highlands, and the Fertile Crescent, but would not be practiced widely or predominantly for another 2,000 years; however, figs of a parthenocarpic breed were found in the Gilgal I neolithic village in the Jordan River valley. The Würm glaciation ended, and the beginning interglacial, which endures to this day, allowed the re-settlement of northern regions.
Contents |
[edit] Events
| Stone Age |
|---|
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↑ before Homo (Pliocene) |
| ↓ Bronze Age |
- c. 10,000 BC — Pottery was first produced in Japan.[2][1]
- c. 10,000 BC — Bottle Gourd is domesticated and used as a carrying vessel.
- c. 9,500 BC — There is evidence of the harvesting, though not necessarily of the cultivating, of wild grasses in Asia Minor about this time. [1][verification needed]
- c. 9,500 BC — First building phase of the temple complex at Göbekli Tepe.
- c. 9,300 BC — Figs were apparently cultivated in the Jordan River valley.[3]
- c. 9000 BC — Neolithic culture began in Ancient Near East.
- c. 9000 BC: Near East: First stone structures are built at Jericho.
- The dog is domesticated.[citation needed]
[edit] Old World
- Asia: Cave sites near the Caspian Sea are used for human habitation.
- Europe: Azilian (Painted Pebble Culture) people occupy Spain, France, Switzerland, Belgium, and Scotland.
- Europe: Magdalenian culture flourishes and creates cave paintings in France.
- Europe: Horse hunting begins at Solutré.
- Egypt: Early sickle blades & grinding disappear and are replaced by hunting, fishing and gathering peoples who use stone tools.
- Japan: The Jōmon people use pottery, fish, hunt and gather acorns, nuts and edible seeds. There are 10,000 known sites.
- Mesopotamia: Three or more linguistic groups, including Sumerian and Semitic peoples share a common political and cultural way of life[citation needed].
- Mesopotamia: People begin to collect wild wheat and barley probably to make malt then beer.
- Norway: First traces of population in Randaberg.
- Persia: The goat is domesticated.
- Sahara: Bubalus Period.
[edit] Americas
- North America: Paleo-Indian hunter-gatherer societies live nomadically in the countryside.
- North America: Blackwater Draw forms in eastern New Mexico, evidencing human activity.
- North America: Folsom people flourish throughout the Southwestern United States.
- North America: Settlement at the Nanu site in the Haida Gwaii of modern day British Columbia begins, starting the longest continual occupation in territory now belonging to Canada.
[edit] Environmental changes
| Quaternary Period |
|---|
| ↑ Neogene |
Pliocene
|
Circa 10,000 BC:
- North America: Dire Wolf, Smilodon, Giant Beaver, Ground Sloth, Giant Imperial Mammoth (Mammuthus imperator), Jeffersonian Mammoth (Mammuthus jeffersonii), Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi), Woolly Mammoth, Mastodons, Giant Short-Faced Bear, American Cheetah, Scimitar Cats (Homotherium), American Camels, American Horses, and American Lions all become extinct.
- Bering Sea: Bering land bridge from Siberia to North America covered in water.
- North America: Long Island becomes an island when waters break through on the western end to the interior lake.
- Europe: Permanent ecological change. The savannah-dwelling reindeer, bison, and Paleolithic hunters withdraw to the sub-Arctic, leaving the rest to forest animals like deer, auroch, and Mesolithic foragers. (1967 McEvedy)
- Homo floresiensis, the human's last known surviving close relative, becomes extinct.
- World: Allerod oscillation brings transient improvement in climate. Sea levels rise abruptly and massive inland flooding occurs due to glacier melt.
Circa 9700 BC: Lake Agassiz forms.
Circa 9600 BC: Younger Dryas cold period ends. Pleistocene ends and Holocene begins. Paleolithic ends and Mesolithic begins. Large amounts of previously glaciated land become habitable again.
Circa 9500 BC: Ancylus Lake, part of the modern-day Baltic Sea, forms.
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] References
- Kislev, Mordechai E.; Hartmann, Anat & Bar-Yosef, Ofer (2006a): Early Domesticated Fig in the Jordan Valley. Science 312(5778): 1372. doi:10.1126/science.1125910 (HTML abstract) Supporting Online Material
- Kislev, Mordechai E.; Hartmann, Anat & Bar-Yosef, Ofer (2006b): Response to Comment on "Early Domesticated Fig in the Jordan Valley". Science 314(5806): 1683b. doi:10.1126/science.1133748 PDF fulltext
- Lev-Yadun, Simcha; Ne'eman, Gidi; Abbo, Shahal & Flaishman, Moshe A. (2006): Comment on "Early Domesticated Fig in the Jordan Valley". Science 314(5806): 1683a. doi:10.1126/science.1132636 PDF fulltext
- Roberts, J. (1996): History of the World. Penguin.
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| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th and beyond |
| 11th BC and prior | 10th BC | 9th BC | 8th BC | 7th BC | 6th BC | 5th BC | 4th BC | 3rd BC | 2nd BC | 1st BC |
