Neolithic
- 10,000 to 9000 years ago (7000 to 8000 BC): In northern Mesopotamia, now northern Iraq, cultivation of barley and wheat begins. At first they are used for beer, gruel, and soup, eventually for bread. In early agriculture at this time, the planting stick is used, but it is replaced by a primitive plow in subsequent centuries. Around this time, a round stone tower, now preserved to about 8.5 meters high and 8.5 meters in diameter is built in Jericho. Approximate age of Haplogroup J (mtDNA).
- 9,500 years ago (7500 BC): Çatal Höyük urban settlement founded in Anatolia
- 9,000 years ago (7000 BC): Jiahu culture began in China
- 7,500 years ago (5500 BC): Copper smelting in evidence in Pločnik and other locations.
- 7,000 years ago (5000 BC): late Neolithic civilizations, invention of the wheel and spread of proto-writing. The oldest golden treasure found in Varna Necropolis.
- 6,000 years ago (4000 BC): Civilizations develop in the Mesopotamia/Fertile crescent region (around the location of modern day Iraq). The american mastodon goes extinct.
- 5,800 years ago: (3840 to 3800 BC): The Post Track and Sweet Track causeways are constructed in the Somerset Levels.
- 5,700 years ago (3800 to 3600 BC): mass graves at Tell Brak in Syria.
- 5,700 years ago: (3700 to 3600 BC): Minoan culture begins on Crete
- 5,500 years ago: (3600 to 3500 BC): Uruk period in Sumer. First evidence of mummification in Egypt.
- 5,500 years ago: (3500 to 3400 BC): Writing is invented in Sumer, triggering the beginning of history.
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of Human Prehistory