286
edits
Changes
no edit summary
|epigrafe= The Neolithic slowly unfolds}}
Scientists do not agree as to whether this was the beginning or the end of an epoch. As the Holocene began, the interglacial period that is believed to be taking place today was already under way. The ''sapiensSapiens'' were adapting quickly to a more temperate climate and vegetative landscape as well as to the availability of more desirable animals for hunting. Communities were becoming more specialised in exploiting a variety of available resources, leading to improvements in hunting, gathering, fishing and shellfishing. Some historians believe that the Paleolithic Period was coming to a close and refer to this time period as the Epi-Paleolithic. However, other historians consider this to be the beginning of a new era starting roughly 12,000 BC, describing it as the Mesolithic Period, or Middle Stone Age, which was then proceeded imperceptibly by the Neolithic.<br>
[[File:Spain_The-Neolithic_2014_map_16470_eng.jpg|left|thumb|300px|Map: The Neolithic. Spain. [//centrodedescargas.cnig.es/CentroDescargas/busquedaRedirigida.do?ruta=PUBLICACION_CNIG_DATOS_VARIOS/aneTematico/Spain_The-Neolithic_2014_map_16470_eng.pdf PDF]. [//centrodedescargas.cnig.es/CentroDescargas/busquedaRedirigida.do?ruta=PUBLICACION_CNIG_DATOS_VARIOS/aneTematico/Spain_The-Neolithic_2014_map_16470_eng.zip Data].]]
A plethora of technologically advanced tools and contraptions such as harpoons, spears, sickles, saws, arrows, knives, and darts have been found, which they crafted in response to forces necessitating new ways of subsistence. Stones were finely burnished to be fashioned as useful tools and microliths embedded in polished wooden handles were made with an angular shape suitable for cutting, scraping, and penetrating their prey; samples of small painted rocks depicting this phenomenon have been discovered in some settlementssites.<br>
Evidence in three different regions has led to the identification of what has come to define the Neolithic period: a sedentary lifestyle, albeit initially tentative and seasonally dependant. From the Pyrenees (Mas d´Azil site in France) and extending to the entire septentrion, the Azilian cultures predominated, particularly the Asturian culture. This civilisation can be characterised by their tools, such as the "Asturian pick", and shell fishing lifestyle, as evidenced by an accumulation of seashells, named "concheros". On the East coast and stretching inland to the Ebro Valley, farming communities appeared along with microlayered and geometric tools. And on the Atlantic coast and reaching to the Algarve, there is evidence of wetland mollusc collecting and man-made huts, suggesting a flourishing coastal maritime lifestyle.<br>
The arrival of the Neolithic, a time period measured in milennia, signalled the transition from a hunter-gatherer to a progressively agrarian and ranching lifestyle with permanent dwellings. This monumental, evolutionary change began with formation of the largest rivers in Asia and the Nile in Africa caused by climate change during the Holocene. This extensive period marked such a significant transformation in human history that in order to characterise it appropriately, it is referred to as the "Neolithic Revolution". With this change, came a sedentary lifestyle, architecture, social hierarchies, religions, and technological innovations.<br>
