Editing Neolithic (section)

=== South and East Asia ===
{{Main|Neolithic China}}
Settled life, encompassing the transition from foraging to farming and pastoralism, began in South Asia in the region of [[Balochistan]], Pakistan, around 7,000 BC.<ref name=coningham-young-1>{{Citation | last1 =Coningham | first1 =Robin |author1-link=Robin Coningham | last2 =Young | first2 =Ruth | year =2015 | title =The Archaeology of South Asia: From the Indus to Asoka, c. 6500 BC – 200 CE | publisher =Cambridge University Press}} Quote: ""Mehrgarh remains one of the key sites in South Asia because it has provided the earliest known undisputed evidence for farming and pastoral communities in the region, and its plant and animal material provide clear evidence for the ongoing manipulation, and domestication, of certain species. Perhaps most importantly in a South Asian context, the role played by zebu makes this a distinctive, localised development, with a character completely different to other parts of the world. Finally, the longevity of the site, and its articulation with the neighbouring site of Nausharo (c. 2800–2000&nbsp;BC), provides a very clear continuity from South Asia's first farming villages to the emergence of its first cities (Jarrige, 1984)."</ref><ref name=fisher1>{{citation|last=Fisher|first=Michael H.|title=An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kZVuDwAAQBAJ|year=2018|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-11162-2}} Quote: "page 33: "The earliest discovered instance in India of well-established, settled agricultural society is at Mehrgarh in the hills between the Bolan Pass and the Indus plain (today in Pakistan) (see Map&nbsp;3.1). From as early as 7000&nbsp;BC, communities there started investing increased labor in preparing the land and selecting, planting, tending, and harvesting particular grain-producing plants. They also domesticated animals, including sheep, goats, pigs, and oxen (both humped zebu [Bos indicus] and unhumped [Bos taurus]). Castrating oxen, for instance, turned them from mainly meat sources into domesticated draft-animals as well."</ref><ref name=dyson1>{{citation|last=Dyson|first=Tim|title=A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TRtDwAAQBAJ|year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-882905-8}}, Quote: "(p 29) "The subcontinent's people were hunter-gatherers for many millennia. There were very few of them. Indeed, 10,000&nbsp;years ago there may only have been a couple of hundred thousand people, living in small, often isolated groups, the descendants of various 'modern' human incomers. Then, perhaps linked to events in Mesopotamia, about 8,500&nbsp;years ago agriculture emerged in Baluchistan."</ref> At the site of [[Mehrgarh]], Balochistan, presence can be documented of the domestication of wheat and barley, rapidly followed by that of goats, sheep, and cattle.<ref name="Wright2009-p=44">{{citation|last=Wright|first=Rita P.|author-link=Rita P. Wright|title=The Ancient Indus: Urbanism, Economy, and Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fwgFPQAACAAJ&pg=PA44|year=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-57652-9|pages=44, 51}}</ref> In April 2006, it was announced in the scientific journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' that the oldest (and first ''Early Neolithic'') evidence for the drilling of teeth ''[[in vivo]]'' (using [[bow drill]]s and [[flint]] tips) was found in Mehrgarh.<ref name="CoppaBondioli2006">{{cite journal|last1=Coppa|first1=A.|last2=Bondioli|first2=L.|last3=Cucina|first3=A.|last4=Frayer|first4=D. W.|last5=Jarrige|first5=C.|last6=Jarrige|first6=J. -F.|last7=Quivron|first7=G.|last8=Rossi|first8=M.|last9=Vidale|first9=M.|last10=Macchiarelli|first10=R.|title=Early Neolithic tradition of dentistry|journal=Nature|volume=440|issue=7085|year=2006|pages=755–756|issn=0028-0836|doi=10.1038/440755a|pmid=16598247|bibcode=2006Natur.440..755C|s2cid=6787162}}</ref>

In South India, the Neolithic began by 3000&nbsp;BC and lasted until around 1400&nbsp;BC when the Megalithic transition period began. South Indian Neolithic is characterized by [[Neolithic ashmounds|Ash mounds]] (created from ritual burning of wood, dung and animal matter) from 2500&nbsp;BC in [[Karnataka]] region, expanded later to [[Tamil Nadu]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Trees and Woodlands of South India: Archaeological Perspectives |last=Eleni Asouti and Dorian Q Fuller|year=2007}}</ref>
[[File:Neolithic Stone Spades & Axes.jpg|thumb|Neolithic artifacts from China]]
In East Asia, the earliest sites include the [[Nanzhuangtou]] culture around 9500–9000&nbsp;BC,<ref>{{cite journal|title=Early millet use in northern China|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=109|issue=10|pages=3726–3730|author=Xiaoyan Yang|doi=10.1073/pnas.1115430109|pmid=22355109|year=2012|pmc=3309722|bibcode=2012PNAS..109.3726Y|doi-access=free}}</ref> [[Pengtoushan culture]] around 7500–6100&nbsp;BC, and [[Peiligang culture]] around 7000–5000&nbsp;BC. The [[prehistoric Beifudi site]] near [[Yi County, Hebei|Yixian]] in Hebei Province, China, contains relics of a culture contemporaneous with the [[Cishan culture|Cishan]] and [[Xinglongwa culture|Xinglongwa]] cultures of about 6000–5000&nbsp;BC, Neolithic cultures east of the [[Taihang Mountains]], filling in an archaeological gap between the two Northern Chinese cultures. The total excavated area is more than {{convert|1200|yd2|m2 ha}}, and the collection of Neolithic findings at the site encompasses two phases.<ref name="archdis">{{cite web|url=http://www.kaogu.cn/en/backup_new/Academic/2013/1026/41367.html |title=New Archaeological Discoveries and Researches in 2004 – The Fourth Archaeology Forum of CASS |publisher=[[Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences]] |date=April 28, 2005 |access-date=September 18, 2007}}</ref> Between 3000 and 1900 BC, the [[Longshan culture]] existed in the middle and lower [[Yellow River]] valley areas of northern China. Towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC, the population decreased sharply in most of the region and many of the larger centres were abandoned, possibly due to environmental change linked to the end of the [[Holocene Climatic Optimum]].<ref>{{citation
  | title = The Archaeology of China: From the Late Paleolithic to the Early Bronze Age
  | surname1 = Liu | given1 = Li | surname2 = Chen | given2 = Xingcan
  | publisher = Cambridge University Press 
  | year = 2012
  | pages=220, 227, 251 }}</ref>

The 'Neolithic' (defined in this paragraph as using polished stone implements) remains a living tradition in small and extremely remote and inaccessible pockets of [[West Papua (region)|West Papua]]. Polished stone [[adzes|adze]] and axes are used in the present day ({{As of|2008|lc=yes}}) in areas where the availability of metal implements is limited. This is likely to cease altogether in the next few years as the older generation die off and steel blades and chainsaws prevail.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}

In 2012, news was released about a new farming site discovered in [[Munam-ri]], [[Goseong, Gangwon|Goseong]], [[Gangwon Province (South Korea)|Gangwon Province]], [[South Korea]], which may be the earliest farmland known to date in east Asia.<ref>The Archaeology News Network. 2012. [http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.fr/2012/06/neolithic-farm-field-found-in-south.html "Neolithic farm field found in South Korea"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120210517/http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.fr/2012/06/neolithic-farm-field-found-in-south.html |date=2012-11-20 }}.</ref> "No remains of an agricultural field from the Neolithic period have been found in any East Asian country before, the institute said, adding that the discovery reveals that the history of agricultural cultivation at least began during the period on the [[Korean Peninsula]]". The farm was dated between 3600 and 3000&nbsp;BC. Pottery, stone projectile points, and possible houses were also found. "In 2002, researchers discovered prehistoric [[earthenware]], [[jade]] earrings, among other items in the area". The research team will perform [[accelerator mass spectrometry]] (AMS) dating to retrieve a more precise date for the site.<ref>''[[The Korea Times]]'' (2012). [https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/06/117_113810.html "East Asia's oldest remains of agricultural field found in Korea"].</ref>