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O C C V L T V M

P A S T T O P R E S E N T

NEOLITHIC PERIOD

( Beginning c. 9000 BCE )

The Basics:This was the final stage of cultural evolution or technological development among prehistoric humans.It was characterized by stone tools shaped by polishing or grinding, dependence on domesticated plantsor animals, settlement in permanent villages, and the appearance of such crafts as pottery and weaving.The Neolithic followed the Paleolithic Period, or age of chipped-stone tools, and preceded the BronzeAge, or early period of metal tools.

The Neolithic followed the terminal Holocene Epipalaeolithic periods, beginning with the rise ofagriculture, which produced the "Neolithic Revolution, ending when metal tools became widespread

in the Bronze Age or developing directly into the Iron Age, depending on geographical region.

Archaeological evidence indicates that the transition from food-collecting cultures to food-producingones gradually occurred across Asia and Europe from a starting point in the Fertile Crescent.Cultivation and animal domestication first appeared in southwestern Asia by about 9000 bc, and a wayof life based on farming and settled villages had been firmly achieved by 7000 bc in the Tigris andEuphrates river valleys (now in Iraq and Iran) and in what are now Syria, Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan.

The Neolithic is not specifically a chronological period, but rather a suite of behavioural and culturalcharacteristics, including the use of wild and domestic crops and the use of domesticated animals. Theterm is most commonly used to refer to the Old World, because it raises problems when applied to

cultures in the Americas and Oceania that did not fully develop metal-working technology.

Attributes of Spirituality and Religion:The Neolithic Religion was the major religion during the main Neolithic Period in Europe. Thereappeared to be veneration of a Mother Goddess/Father God, the Serpent, the Sun and the Moon. Thisreligion appears to have been the ancestor of the Indo-European Religion and the Afro-Asiatic Religion(See Indo-European/Semitic religious similarities). Neolithic - Origins. The Neolithic Religionprobably has its roots in the Upper Paleolithic, the Mother Goddess herself from the Venus figurines ofEurasia.

Neolithic Deities:

Sky God: Indo-European: *Dyeus (sky God), Semitic: *Ilu (sky god)

Mother Goddess: Indo-European: *Dg'hm (Earth Goddess), Semitic: Atiratu (fertility goddess)

Thunder God: Indo-European: *Perkwunos / *Tarun, Semitic: *Haddu / *Ba'lu

God of Death and the Underworld: Indo-European: *Yemnos[1], Semitic: Yaw

Sun Goddess in Sun Boat: Indo-European: *Sawelyosyo, Semitic: *amu, Pre-Indo-European:

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(See Stonehenge)

Moon God: Indo-European: *Mnot, Semitic: *Warihu

Spirit of the Home / Area (Dyinni?): Indo-European: Pan / Faunus, Cernunnos, Brownie, Domovoi,Tomte, Genii, Semitic: Jinn, Se'irim, Teraphim, Tawaret & Bes (Egyptian)

Serpent: Indo-European: Jrmungandr, Typhon, Vrtra, Veles, Illuyanka, Semitic: Tiamat, Lotan,Tannin, Pre-Indo-European: See Ley lines (possibly related)

Neolithic Others:

'Earth-Man': Indo-European: Manu (from *Dg'hm-on, sometimes a god), Semitic: Adapas and`Adamu (from *`Dm)

Axis mundi: Indo-European: World tree, Mount Olympus, Semitic: Trees of Knowledge and Life inEden, Mount Sinai, see also Daniel 4:10-12 (possibly a Babylonian version)