Editing Neolithic (section)

=== Social organization ===

[[File:Smac Neolithikum 122.jpg|thumb|300px|Model of a [[Linear Pottery culture]] settlement, showing [[Neolithic long house|longhouses]], [[Neolithic circular enclosures in Central Europe|circular enclosures]], and fields]]
[[File:MotherGoddessFertility.JPG|thumb|150px|Anthropomorphic Neolithic ceramic figurine]]

During most of the Neolithic age of [[Eurasia]], people lived in small [[tribe]]s composed of multiple bands or lineages.<ref name="Leonard D. Katz Rigby 2000 352">{{cite book |author = Leonard D. Katz Rigby |author2 = S. Stephen Henry Rigby |title = Evolutionary Origins of Morality: Cross-disciplinary Perspectives |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6wFHth05xkoC&pg=PA158 |year = 2000 |publisher = Imprint Academic |location = United Kingdom |isbn = 0-7190-5612-8|page = 158 }}</ref> There is little [[scientific evidence]] of developed [[social stratification]] in most Neolithic societies; social stratification is more associated with the later [[Bronze Age]].<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Langer| first1 = Jonas| last2 = Killen| first2 = Melanie| title = Piaget, evolution, and development| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aF5MHvaju9cC&pg=PA258| access-date = 3 December 2011| year = 1998| publisher = Psychology Press| isbn = 978-0-8058-2210-6| pages = 258– }}</ref> Although some late Eurasian Neolithic societies formed complex stratified chiefdoms or even [[State (polity)|states]], generally states evolved in Eurasia only with the rise of metallurgy, and most Neolithic societies on the whole were relatively simple and egalitarian.<ref name="Leonard D. Katz Rigby 2000 352" /> Beyond Eurasia, however, states were formed during the local Neolithic in three areas, namely in the [[Cultural periods of Peru|Preceramic Andes]] with the [[Caral–Supe civilization|Caral-Supe Civilization]],<ref>{{cite web |title=The Oldest Civilization in the Americas Revealed |url=http://charlesmann.org/articles/Norte-chico-Science-01-05.pdf |website=CharlesMann |publisher=Science |access-date=9 October 2015 |archive-date=10 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151010195731/http://www.charlesmann.org/articles/Norte-chico-Science-01-05.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=First Andes Civilization Explored |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4115421.stm |access-date=9 October 2015 |agency = BBC News |date=22 December 2004}}</ref> [[Mesoamerican chronology|Formative Mesoamerica]] and [[Ancient Hawaii|Ancient Hawaiʻi]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hommon |first1=Robert J. |title=The ancient Hawaiian state: origins of a political society |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn = 978-0-19-991612-2 |edition=First}}</ref> However, most Neolithic societies were noticeably more hierarchical than the [[Upper Paleolithic]] cultures that preceded them and hunter-gatherer cultures in general.<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555928_5/Stone_Age.html#howtocite "Stone Age", Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997–2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Kathy Schick, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. and Nicholas Toth, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. [https://web.archive.org/web/20091101033221/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555928_5/Stone_Age.html Archived] 2009-11-01.</ref><ref name="b1">{{cite book| author = Russell Dale Guthrie| title = The nature of Paleolithic art| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3u6JNwMyMCEC&pg=PA420| access-date = 3 December 2011| year = 2005| publisher = University of Chicago Press| isbn = 978-0-226-31126-5| pages = 420– }}</ref>
[[File:Clay human figurine (Fertility goddess) Tappeh Sarab, Kermanshah ca. 7000-6100 BCE Neolithic period, National Museum of Iran.jpg|thumb|150px|Clay human figurine (Fertility goddess) Tappeh Sarab, Kermanshah c. 7000–6100 BC, National Museum of Iran]]
The [[Domestication of animals|domestication]] of [[Megafauna|large animals]] (c. 8000&nbsp;BC) resulted in a dramatic increase in social inequality in most of the areas where it occurred; [[Agriculture in Papua New Guinea|New Guinea]] being a notable exception.<ref>{{cite web |title=Farming Pioneered in Ancient New Guinea |url = https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17824012.300-farming-pioneered-in-ancient-new-guinea/ |website=New Scientist |access-date=9 October 2015}}</ref> Possession of livestock allowed competition between households and resulted in inherited inequalities of wealth. Neolithic pastoralists who controlled large herds gradually acquired more livestock, and this made economic inequalities more pronounced.<ref name="Bahn, Paul 1996">Bahn, Paul (1996) "The atlas of world archeology" Copyright 2000 The brown Reference Group plc</ref> However, evidence of social inequality is still disputed, as settlements such as [[Çatalhöyük]] reveal a lack of difference in the size of homes and burial sites, suggesting a more egalitarian society with no evidence of the concept of capital, although some homes do appear slightly larger or more elaborately decorated than others.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

Families and households were still largely independent economically, and the household was probably the center of life.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.mama.org/exhibits/ancient/prehistoric/|title = Prehistoric Cultures|publisher = Museum of Ancient and Modern Art|year = 2010|access-date = 5 September 2013|archive-date = 3 August 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180803074340/https://www.mama.org/exhibits/ancient/prehistoric/|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = http://archaeology.about.com/cs/religionandmagic/a/catalhoyuk.htm|title = Çatalhöyük: Urban Life in Neolithic Anatolia|publisher = About.com|website = About.com Archaeology|last = Hirst|first = K. Kris|access-date = 5 September 2013|archive-date = 21 October 2013|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131021212318/http://archaeology.about.com/cs/religionandmagic/a/catalhoyuk.htm|url-status = dead}}</ref> However, excavations in [[Central Europe]] have revealed that early Neolithic [[Linear Ceramic culture]]s ("''Linearbandkeramik''") were building large arrangements of [[circular ditches]] between 4800 and 4600&nbsp;BC. These structures (and their later counterparts such as [[causewayed enclosure]]s, [[burial mound]]s, and [[henges|henge]]) required considerable time and labour to construct, which suggests that some influential individuals were able to organise and direct human labour – though non-hierarchical and voluntary work remain possibilities.

There is a large body of evidence for fortified settlements at ''Linearbandkeramik'' sites along the [[Rhine]], as at least some villages were fortified for some time with a [[palisade]] and an outer ditch.<ref>[http://www.holysmoke.org/fem/fem0156.htm Idyllic Theory of Goddess Creates Storm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219152657/http://www.holysmoke.org/fem/fem0156.htm |date=2008-02-19 }}. Holysmoke.org. Retrieved on 2011-12-03.</ref><ref>Krause (1998) under External links, places.</ref> Settlements with palisades and weapon-traumatized bones, such as those found at the [[Talheim Death Pit]], have been discovered and demonstrate that "...systematic violence between groups" and warfare was probably much more common during the Neolithic than in the preceding Paleolithic period.<ref name="b1" /> This supplanted an earlier view of the [[Linear Pottery culture|Linear Pottery Culture]] as living a "peaceful, unfortified lifestyle".<ref>Gimbutas (1991) page 143.</ref> Violence increased toward the end of this culture which existed at 5500–4500 BCE.<ref>{{cite web |title=Linear Pottery culture |url=https://archaeologymag.com/encyclopedia/linear-pottery-culture/ |website=Archaeology News |access-date=6 February 2025}}</ref> In 2024, a study suggested a peaceful explanation to the reduction in the size of male population observed worldwide 5000–3000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Guyon |first1=Léa |last2=Guez |first2=Jérémy |last3=Toupance |first3=Bruno |last4=Heyer |first4=Evelyne |last5=Chaix |first5=Raphaëlle |title=Patrilineal segmentary systems provide a peaceful explanation for the post-Neolithic Y-chromosome bottleneck |journal=Nature Communications |date=24 April 2024 |volume=15 |issue=1 |page=3243 |doi=10.1038/s41467-024-47618-5 |pmid=38658560 |pmc=11043392 |bibcode=2024NatCo..15.3243G }}</ref>

Control of labour and inter-group conflict is characteristic of [[tribal]] groups with [[social rank]] that are headed by a charismatic individual – either a '[[Big man (anthropology)|big man]]' or a proto-[[Tribal chief|chief]] – functioning as a lineage-group head. Whether a non-hierarchical system of organization existed is debatable, and there is no evidence that explicitly suggests that Neolithic societies functioned under any dominating class or individual, as was the case in the [[chiefdom]]s of the European [[Bronze Age|Early Bronze Age]].<ref>{{cite book |last = Kuijt |first = Ian |title = Life in Neolithic farming communities: social organization, identity, and differentiation |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=COrVxJI3iNUC&pg=PA317 |access-date = 3 December 2011| year= 2000 |publisher = Springer |isbn = 978-0-306-46122-4 |pages = 317– }}</ref> Possible exceptions to this include Iraq during the [[Ubaid period]] and England beginning in the Early Neolithic (4100–3000 BC).<ref>Gil Stein, "Economy, Ritual and Power in 'Ubaid Mesopotamia" in ''Chiefdoms and Early States in the Near East: The Organizational Dynamics of Complexity''.</ref><ref>Timothy Earle, "Property Rights and the Evolution of Chiefdoms" in ''Chiefdoms: Power, Economy, and Ideology''.</ref> Theories to explain the apparent implied egalitarianism of Neolithic (and Paleolithic) societies have arisen, notably the [[Marxist]] concept of [[primitive communism]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Phylogenies reconstructed from modern genetic data indicates an extreme drop in Y-chromosomal diversity occurred during the Neolithic, with [[effective population size]] for the mitochondria up to 17 times higher than for the Y-chromosomes during this period.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Karmin |first=Monika |display-authors=etal |date=13 March 2015 |title=A recent bottleneck of Y chromosome diversity coincides with a global change in culture |journal=[[Genome Research]] |language=en |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=459–66 |doi=10.1101/gr.186684.114 |pmid=25770088 |pmc=4381518}}</ref> The causes of this bottleneck remain poorly understood. At a basic level, it can likely be attributed to a culture-induced change in the distribution of male reproductive success, with possible explanations ranging from an increased incidence of violence and male mortality during the Neolithic <ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zeng |first1=Tian Chen |last2=Aw |first2=Alan J.|last3=Feldman |first3=Marcus |date=25 May 2018 |title=Cultural hitchhiking and competition between patrilineal kin groups explain the post-Neolithic Y-chromosome bottleneck |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=2077 |doi=10.1038/s41467-018-04375-6 |pmid=29802241 |pmc=5970157|bibcode=2018NatCo...9.2077Z }}</ref> to the rise of patrilineal segmentary groups with varying reproductive success due to polygyny.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Guyon |first1=Léa |last2=Guez |first2=Jérémy |last3=Toupance |first3=Bruno |last4=Heyer |first4=Evelyne |last5=Chaix |first5=Raphaëlle |date=24 April 2024 |title=Patrilineal segmentary systems provide a peaceful explanation for the post-Neolithic Y-chromosome bottleneck |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |language=en |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=3243 |doi=10.1038/s41467-024-47618-5 |pmid=38658560 |pmc=11043392 |bibcode=2024NatCo..15.3243G |issn=2041-1723 }}</ref>