Dating material drawn from the archaeological record can be made by a direct study of an artifact or may be deduced by association

with materials found in the context the item is drawn from or inferred by its point of discovery in the sequence relative to datable contexts. Dating is carried out mainly post excavation but to support good practice some preliminary dating work called spot dating is usually run in tandem with excavation. Dating is very important in archaeology for constructing models of the past, as it relies on the integrity of datable objects and samples. Absolute Dating methods Absolute dating methods rely on using some physical property of an object or sample to calculate its age. Examples are: Radiocarbon dating - for dating organic materials Dendrochronology - for dating trees, and objects made from wood, but also very important for calibrating radiocarbon dates Thermoluminescence dating - for dating inorganic material including ceramics Opticallocations and Obsidian hydration dating - a geoche dating for archaeological applications Potassium-argon dating - for dating fossilized hominid remains Numismatics - many coins have the date of their production written on them or their use is specified in the historical record Archaeomagnetic dating -dates Clay lined fire hearths take on a magnetic moment pointing to the North Pole each time they are fired and then cool. The position of the North Pole for the last time the fire hearth was used can be determined and compared to charts of known mical method of determining age in either absolute or relative terms of an artifact made of obsidian Rehydroxylation dating- for dating ceramic materials paleolithic period The period, also known as the stone age, encompasses the first widespread use of technologyas humans progressed from simpler to more complex developmental stagesand the spread of humanity from the savannas of East Africa to the rest of the world. It is generally said to have begun

approximately 500,000 years ago and to have ended about 6,000 B.C.E. It ends with the development of agriculture, the domestication of certain animals, and the smelting of copper ore to produce metal. It is termed prehistorical, since humanity had not yet started writingwhich is seen as the traditional start of (recorded) history. Knowledge of human life at this time is confined to generalities. Scientists do not have records of individual lives or of the achievements of individual contributors to human development. As technology enabled humans to settle in larger numbers, however, more rules were needed to regulate life, which gave rise to ethical codes. Religious belief, reflected in cave art, also became more sophisticated. Death and burial rites evolved. As hunting and gathering gave way to agriculture and as some people became artisans, trading implements they produced, even larger settlements, such as Jericho, appear. Art (such as the cave paintings at Lascaux) and music also developed as some people had more time for leisure. Human society emerged as more self-consciously collective. People became aware that they faced the same challenges, so co-operation was better than competition. In the early Paleolithic period, each clan or family group regarded themselves as "the people" to the exclusion of others. Strangers may not even have been thought of as human. With settlement, this changed and community identity became more important than individual identity.

mesolithic times The Mesolithic era refers to a short period of time immediately after the recession of continental glaciers of the last Ice Age, about 11,000 years ago (9000 BCE), to the development of agriculture 10,000 - 8,000 years ago. Mesolithic cultures are those cultures during the Mesolithic era. Sometimes the word "Epipaleolithic" is used in connection with Mesolithic, to describe groups living during the period that maintained a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, while "mesolithic" is reserved specifically for those cultures in a state of transition towards agriculture. Occasionally, but more rarely, the terms have the reverse meaning. The terminology is likely to standardize in the near future. "Mesolithic" means "Middle Stone Age." However, the prefix "meso-" in the word can mean "between," and this has been taken some scientists to refer to cultures in between a hunter-gathering mode and an agricultural mode. The Mesolithic era begins at the end of the Pleistocene epoch and the start of the Holocene, the most recent geologic epoch. Prior to the Mesolithic era, mile-thick continental glaciers covered most of Eurasia and North America. Any terrain north of 50 N was essentially

uninhabitable, until the ice melted around 11,000 years ago. Global temperatures increased, making life easier for humans worldwide. By the Mesolithic, humans had already spread across the entire world, except for Antarctica and a few remote islands. The Americas and Australia were fully colonized. The Mesolithic era was an unusual transition time between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic. Because the period was relatively short, Mesolithic artifacts are relatively hard to come by, consisting mainly of middens, or scrap-heaps. In coastal areas around the world, there are large shell middens dating to the Mesolithic era. In British Columbia, there is a midden several meters in depth which has been around for at least 10,000 years. Mesolithic cultures were about as advanced as you could get before establishing agriculture and cities. They hunted animals with a variety of bows and spears, and drove most of the world's megafauna (large animals such as mammoths) to extinction. Like civilizations before them, they survived through a mix of hunting and gathering, although may have begun to intentionally plant the seeds of edible plants in fertile soils, pulling out the weeds and performing artificial selection. History of the concept of Mesolithic The three -lithics are subdivisions of the Stone Age in the three-age system developed since classical times and given a modern archaeological meaning by Christian Jrgensen Thomsen, a Danish archaeologist, in the early 19th century. Subdivisions of "earlier" and "later" were added to the Stone Age by Thomsen and especially his junior colleague and employee Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae. John Lubbock kept these divisions in his work Pre-historic Times in 1865 and introduced the terms Paleolithic ("Old Stone Age") and Neolithic ("New Stone Age") for them. He never mentioned a middle. When Hodder Westropp introduced the Mesolithic in 1866 as a technology intermediate between Paleolithic and Neolithic a storm of controversy immediately arose around it. A British school led by John Evans denied any need for an intermediate. The ages blended together like the colors of a rainbow, he said. A European school led by Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet asserted that there was a gap between the earlier and later. Edouard Piette claimed to have filled the gap with his discovery of the Azilian Culture. Knut Sterjna offered an alternative in the Epipaleolithic, a continuation of the use of Paleolithic technology. By the time of Vere Gordon Childe's work, The Dawn of Europe (1947), which affirms the Mesolithic, sufficient data had been collected to determine that the Mesolithic was in fact necessary and was indeed a transition and intermediary between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic. [1]

The start and end dates of the Mesolithic vary by geographical region. Childe's recycled view prevails that the term generally covers the period between the end of the Pleistocene and the start of the Neolithic. The times of these events vary greatly; moreover, the various Mesolithics within the span might be as short as roughly a thousand years or as long as roughly 15,000 years depending on the circumstances. If the Mesolithic is more similar to the Paleolithic it is called the Epiplaeolithic. The Paleolithic was an age of purely hunting and gathering while in the Neolithic domestication of plants and animals had occurred. Some Mesolithic people continued with intensive hunting. Others were practising the initial stages of domestication. Some Mesolithic settlements were villages of huts. Others were walled cities. The type of tool remains the diagnostic factor. The Mesolithic featured composite devices manufactured with Mode V chipped stone tools. The Paleolithic had utilized Modes I-IV and the Neolithic mainly abandoned the modes in favor of polished, not chipped, stone tools. Due to the innovation of a 3-stage system for African archaeology by John Hilary Goodman and Clarence van Riet Lowe of South Africa in the early 20th century, translations of "Old," "Middle," and "New Stone Age" can no longer be used for Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic. In African archaeology, which applies only from the Sahara southward, Lower Paleolithic is replaced by "Early Stone Age," Middle Paleolithic is replaced by "Middle Stone Age" and Upper Paleolithic by "Later Stone Age." The Mesolithic and Neolithic are not recognized.

Neolithic times The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in the Middle East[1] that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age. The Neolithic followed the terminal Holocene Epipalaeolithic period, beginning with the rise of farming, which produced the "Neolithic Revolution" and ending when metal tools became widespread in the Copper Age (chalcolithic) or Bronze Age or developing directly into the Iron Age, depending on geographical region. The Neolithic is a measured progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops and the use of domesticated animals.[2] New findings put the beginning of the Neolithic culture back to around 10,700 to 9400 BC in Tell Qaramel in northern Syria, 25 km north of Aleppo.[3] Until those findings are adopted within the archaeological community, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant (Jericho, modern-day West Bank) about 9500 BC. It developed directly from the

Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufians can thus be called "proto-Neolithic" (12,5009500 BC or 12,0009500 BC[1]). As the Natufians had become dependent on wild cereals in their diet, and a sedentary way of life had begun among them, the climatic changes associated with the Younger Dryas are thought to have forced people to develop farming. By 95009000 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa and North Mesopotamia. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a narrow range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep and goats. By about 8000 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, and the use of pottery. Not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order: the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery, and, in Britain, it remains unclear to what extent plants were domesticated in the earliest Neolithic, or even whether permanently settled communities existed. In other parts of the world, such as Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, independent domestication events led to their own regionally-distinctive Neolithic cultures that arose completely independent of those in Europe and Southwest Asia. Early Japanese societies used pottery before developing agriculture. Unlike the Paleolithic, where more than one human species existed, only one human species (Homo sapiens) reached the Neolithic. Homo floresiensis may have survived right up to the very dawn of the Neolithic, about 12,000 years ago. The term Neolithic derives from the Greek neolithikos, from neos, "new" + lithos, "stone", literally meaning "New Stone Age." The term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system.

Periods by region [edit]Fertile Crescent Around 9500 BC, the first fully developed Neolithic cultures belonging to the phase Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) appeared in the fertile crescent.[1] Around 10,700 to 9400 BC, a settlement was established in Tell Qaramel, 25 kilometers north of Aleppo. The settlement included 2 temples dating back to 9650.[3] Around 9000 BC during the PPNA, the world's first town, Jericho, appeared in the Levant. It was surrounded by a stone and marble wall and contained a population of 20003000 people and a massive stone tower.[12]

Around 6000 BC the Halaf culture appeared in Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, Syria, Anatolia, and Northern Mesopotamia and subsisted on dryland agriculture. In 1981 a team of researchers from the Maison de l'Orient et de la Mditerrane, including Jacques Cauvin and Oliver Aurenche divided Near East neolithic chronology into ten periods (0 to 9) based on social, economic and cultural characteristics.[13] In 2002 Danielle Stordeur and Frdric Abbs advanced this system with a division into five periods. Natufian (1) between 12000 and 10000 BCE, Khiamian (2a) between 10000 and 9500 BCE, PPNA : Sultanian (Jericho), Mureybetian (2b) between 9500 and 8700 BCE, early PPNB (PPNB ancien) (3a) between 8700 and 8200 BCE, middle PPNB (PPNB moyen) (3b) between 8200 and 7500 BCE, late PPNB (PPNB rcent) (4) between 7500 and 7000 BCE and a PPNB (sometimes called PPNC) transitional stage (PPNB final) (5) where Halaf and dark faced burnished ware begin to emerge between 7500 and 6500 BCE.[14] They also advanced the idea of a transitional stage between the PPNA and PPNB between 8800 and 8600 BCE at sites like Jerf el Ahmar and Tell Aswad.[9] [edit]Southern Mesopotamia Alluvial plains (Sumer/Elam). Little rainfall makes irrigation systems necessary. Ubaid culture from 5500 BC. [edit]North Africa Domestication of sheep and goats reached Egypt from the Near East possibly as early as 6000 BC[citation needed]. Graeme Barker states "The first indisputable evidence for domestic plants and animals in the Nile valley is not until the early fifth millennium bc in northern Egypt and a thousand years later further south, in both cases as part of strategies that still relied heavily on fishing, hunting, and the gathering of wild plants" and suggests that these subsistence changes were not due to farmers migrating from the Near East but was an indigenous development, with cereals either indigenous or obtained through exchange.[15] Other scholars argue that the primary stimulus for agriculture and domesticated animals (as well as mud-brick architecture and other Neolithic cultural features) in Egypt was from the Middle East.[ Europe In southeast Europe agrarian societies first appeared by c. 7000 BC,[19] and in Central Europe by ca. 5500 BC. Among the earliest cultural complexes of this area are included the Sesklo culture in Thessaly, which later expanded in the Balkans giving Starevo-Krs (Cris), Linearbandkeramik, and Vina. Through a combination of cultural diffusion and migration of peoples, the

Neolithic traditions spread west and northwards to reach northwestern Europe by around 4500 BC. The Vina culture may have created the earliest system of writing, the Vina signs, though it is almost universally accepted amongst archeologists[who?] that the Sumerian cuneiform script was the earliest true form of writing and the Vina signs most likely represented pictograms and ideograms rather than a truly developed form of writing. [citation needed] The Cucuteni-Trypillian culture built enormous settlements in Romania, Moldova and Ukraine from 5300 to 2300 BC. The megalithic temple complexes of gantija on the Mediterranean island of Gozo (in the Maltese archipelago) and of Mnajdra (Malta) are notable for their gigantic Neolithic structures, the oldest of which date back to c. 3600 BC. The Hypogeum of al-Saflieni, Paola, Malta, is a subterranean structure excavated c. 2500 BC; originally a sanctuary, it became a necropolis, the only prehistoric underground temple in the world, and showing a degree of artistry in stone sculpture unique in prehistory to the Maltese islands. [edit]South and East Asia The earliest Neolithic site in South Asia is Mehrgarh, dated to 7500 BCE, in the Kachi plain of Baluchistan, Pakistan; the site has evidence of farming (wheat and barley) and herding (cattle, sheep and goats).[20] In South India, the Neolithic began by 3000 BC and lasted until around 1400 BC when the Megalithic transition period began. South Indian Neolithic is characterized by Ashmounds since 2500 BC in Karnataka region, expanded later to Tamil Nadu. In East Asia, the earliest sites include Pengtoushan culture around 7500 BC to 6100 BC, Peiligang culture around 7000 BC to 5000 BC. [edit]America In Mesoamerica, a similar set of events (i.e., crop domestication and sedentary lifestyles) occurred by around 4500 BC, but possibly as early as 11,00010,000 BC, although here the term "Pre-Classic" (or Formative) is used instead of mid-late Neolithic, the term Archaic Era for the Early Neolithic, and Paleo-Indian for the preceding period, though these cultures are usually not referred to as belonging to the Neolithic.

Explains what the term Bronze Age refers to, when it occurred, and what its significance is to the development of civilization. The Bronze Age refers to a period of time in earth's history, beginning approximately 3800BC - 3000BC, during which certain cultural developments occurred. Preceded by the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic (New Stone

Age) periods and followed by the Iron Age, the Bronze Age is noted as an era when copper and bronze, which is an alloy derived from copper and tin, was used extensively to make tools, weapons, and other decorative items. Additionally, because of the rapid use of the tools made during this time period, commerce and trade grew tremendously. This is because workers were needed to remove the precious ore, tradesmen were needed to smelt the materials mined, craftsmen were needed to develop molds for the smelted ore, and artisans were needed to finalize the tools and decorative goods produced. Another influential development that occurred to civilization during this time was the invention of the horse-drawn, two-wheeled chariot. Aided by the advancement in more sophisticated tooling techniques, the introduction of this type of chariot helped to advance military strategies. This is because the new chariot was an extremely mobile, yet strong, wagon that could out maneuver the previous carts used in warfare up until this time. In regard to the actual term, "Bronze Age", it was coined by Christian Thomsen in 1816. Thomsen was a Danish museum curator who used this term as part of a museum classification scheme to describe items excavated from the earth during a certain era. Later on, however, scientists, specifically geologists, decided to use Thompson's term to categorize rock layers that developed during different geological time frames. Once in use by scientists, the general public came to accept, and to use, the term as well. Although the Bronze Age can be traced to many different parts of the world, including throughout the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Sumer, Indus, China, the Aegean (the Minoans and Mycenaeans) and Britain, it did not reach the cultures of ancient Africa, nor did it obtain great heights in the preColumbian civilizations within the Americas (the Aztecs and Incas). However, where it did influence tooling technologies it was usually preceded by a period where crafting with copper was used first. The exception to this was in China and Britain where the transition from the New Stone Age to Bronze Age did not include a copper stage. This was indicated by the lack of copper items in these areas and the direct replacement of existing stone-made tools and decorative items by their bronze tooled counterparts. As early as 3800BC, bronze was being used to make tools and implements. This was discovered in Iran where archaeologists found items that indicated a mix of copper and other metals were being combined to produce a bronze substance. However, this ancient production was more likely accidental than predetermined, with the result both surprising and pleasing its ancient producer. For, after that initial accident, early civilizations began to experiment with smelting processes in order to produce a purer bronze. It was at this point in time that the Bronze Age entered a new phase. While copper and bronze items were used concurrently during the Bronze

Age, once people learned how to produce bronze properly, the reason that they worked with it more extensively, or made a direct transition to using bronze solely, was because bronze was more durable than copper and could be reworked simply should a bronze piece become damaged or destroyed. Bronze tools including knives, axes, and other cutting instruments could also be sharpened more easily than those made from copper, thus reducing the time required for workers to perform their jobs. Because workers had better tools and could work faster, the creation of larger building structures and the development of urban areas also grew during this time period. Having tools that could expedite a work process encouraged people to build more and thus, civilization flourished during this era. During the Bronze Age many artists were encouraged to produce works that were both functional as well as artistic. Because of this, owning elaborate bronze decorative items helped to establish status during this time period. For example, many members of the upper class of Mesopotamia were often buried with their personal bronze crafted items. Meanwhile, in Europe, the hand works of the Uneticians were prevalent. These people comprised a farming and metalworking community in what is now the Czech Republic. They were skilled crafts people who helped spread the advancement of art, culture, and metal works into the Central European region. The end of the Bronze Age occurred with the advent of another metal, iron. Introduced in the ancient Near East, iron quickly became a popular replacement for bronze. And, once iron was used, it became the primary metal of choice for the creation of tools, weapons, and other household items. Thus, the Bronze Age dissipated, as had other previous eras, with civilization moving on to use newer and more advanced technologies. The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles. The Iron Age as an archaeological term indicates the condition as to civilization and culture of a people using iron as the material for their cutting tools and weapons.[1] The Iron Age is the 3rd principal period of the three-age system created by Christian Jrgensen Thomsen for classifying ancient societies and prehistoric stages of progress.[2] In historical archaeology, the ancient literature of the Iron Age includes the earliest texts preserved in manuscript tradition. Sanskrit literature and Chinese literature flourished in the Age. Other text includes the Avestan Gathas, the Indian Vedas and the oldest parts of the Hebrew Bible. The principal feature that distinguishes the Iron Age from the preceding ages is

the introduction of alphabetic characters, and the consequent development of written language which laid the foundations of literature and historic record.[1] The beginning of the Iron Age in Europe and adjacent areas is characterized by forms of implements, weapons, personal ornaments, and pottery, and also by systems of decorative design, which are altogether different from those of the preceding age of bronze.[1] The work of blacksmiths,[3] developing implements and weapons, are hammered into shape, and as a necessary consequence the stereotyped forms of their predecessors in bronze, which were cast, but are gradually departed from, and the system of decoration, which in the Bronze Age consisted chiefly of a repetition of rectilinear patterns, gives place to a system of curvilinear and flowing designs.[1] The term "Iron Age" has low real chronological value, for there is not a universal synchronous sequence of the three epochs in all quarters of the world.[4] The dates and context vary depending on the geographical region; the sequence is not necessarily true of every part of the earth's surface, for there are areas, such as the islands of the South Pacific, the interior of Africa, and parts of North and South America, where the peoples have passed directly from the use of stone to the use of iron without the intervention of an age of bronze. [1]