9000 BC to 8000 BC

The 9th millennium BC marks the beginning of the Neolithic period.

Agriculture spread throughout the Fertile Crescent and use of pottery
became more widespread. Larger settlements like Jericho arose along salt
and flint trade routes. Northern Eurasia was resettled as the glaciers
of the last glacial maximum retreated. World population
was at a few million people, likely below 5 million.

c. 9000 BC—Mediterranean—Settling on Mediterranean isles started
c. 9000 BC—Laacher See, northwest of Frankfurt, formed when a volcano blows out
to form a caldera
c. 9000 BC—Neolithic culture begins in Ancient Near East
c. 8700–8400 BC—Britain—Star Carr site in Yorkshire, Britain inhabited by
Maglemosian peoples
c. 8500 BC—Great Britain—Mesolithic hunters camp at Cramond, Prehistoric Scotland
c. 8500 BC–7370 BC; Jericho established with 2,000 inhabitants living in mud-brick
houses covering 6 acres (24,000 m2) and protected by the Wall of Jericho
c. 8300 BC—Great Britain—Nomadic hunters arrive in England
c. 8000 BC—Norway—Øvre Eiker of Norway inhabited
c. 8000 BC—Estonia—Pulli settlement inhabited
c. 9000 BC—The first evidence of the keeping of sheep, in northern Iraq.
c. 9000 BC—Discovery of Copper in Middle East
c. 8500 BC—Natufian culture of Western Mesopotamia is harvesting wild wheat
with flint-edged sickles. (1967 McEvedy) About this time, boats are invented, and
dogs domesticated in Europe. (1967 McEvedy)
c. 8500 BC—Andean peoples domesticate chili peppers and two kinds of bean.
c. 8000 BC—Mesopotamia—Agriculture in Mesopotamia
c. 8000 BC—Asia—Domestication of the pig in China and Turkey
c. 8000 BC—Middle East—Domestication of goats
c. 8000 BC—Asia—Evidence of domestication of dogs from wolves
c. 8000 BC—Middle East—Ancient flint tools from north and central Arabia
belong to hunter-gatherer societies
c. 8000 BC—Middle East—Clay vessels and modeled human and animal terracotta
figurines are produced at Ganj Dareh in western Iran.
c. 8000 BC—Exchange of goods, a three-dimensional combination of an accounting/inventory
system and medium of exchange.
c. 8000 BC—Exchange of goods may represent the earliest pseudo-writing technology.
c. 8000 BC—People of Jericho were making bricks out of clay, then hardened them in the sun.
The settlement had grown to 8–10 acres of houses and had substantial walls.
• c. 9000 BC: Temporary global chilling, as the Gulf Stream pulls southward, and
Europe ices over (1990 Rand McNally Atlas)
• c. 8000 BC—World—Rising Sea
• c. 8000 BC—Antarctica—long-term melting of the Antarctic ice sheets is commencing
• c. 8000 BC—Asia—rising sea levels caused by postglacial warming
• c. 8000 BC—World—Obliteration of more than 40 million animals about this time
• c. 8000 BC—North America—The glaciers were receding and by 8,000 BC the
Wisconsin had withdrawn completely.[citation needed]
• c. 8000 BC—World—Inland flooding due to catastrophic glacier melt takes
place in several regions