New Stone Age

The Neolithic (from Greekνέοςnéos 'new' and λίθοςlíthos 'stone'), or New Stone Age, is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BC to c. 2,000 BC). It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts of the world. This "Neolithic package" included the introduction of farming, domestication of animals, and change from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one of settlement. The term 'Neolithic' was coined by John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system.