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History vocabulary · Periods and Eras

Neolithic

Meaning in history, with examples

/ˌniːəˈlɪθɪk/adjectiveCommon term

In history, Neolithic means: Relating to the New Stone Age, when people began farming, keeping animals and living in permanent villages, starting around 10,000 BC in the Near East.

In Turkish: Neolitik, Cilalı Taş Devri, Yeni Taş Çağı

How it is used

Used as an adjective (Neolithic villages, Neolithic farmers) and as a noun (the Neolithic). The shift to farming is called the Neolithic Revolution. Earlier periods are the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) and the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age).

Example sentences

  1. Çatalhöyük is a large Neolithic settlement on the Konya plain.

  2. Neolithic farmers grew wheat, barley and lentils.

Common collocations

  • the Neolithic Revolution
  • Neolithic settlement
  • Neolithic farmers
  • Pre-Pottery Neolithic
  • prehistoryThe long period of human history before writing was invented, known mainly through archaeology, fossils and other physical remains.
  • Bronze AgeThe period when people made tools and weapons mainly from bronze, an alloy of copper and tin; in the Near East roughly 3300 to 1200 BC.
  • archaeologyThe study of the human past through the material remains people left behind, such as buildings, tools, pottery, bones and traces in the soil.
  • agrarianRelating to farming, land and the people who work it, or describing a society or economy based mainly on agriculture.

More terms: Periods and Eras

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