The 10th millennium BC marks the beginning of the Mesolithic and Epipaleolithic period, which is the first part of the Holocene epoch. Agriculture, based on the cultivation of primitive forms of millet and rice, occurred in Southwest Asia. Although agriculture was being developed in the Fertile Crescent, it would not be widely practised for another 2,000 years.. The world population is estimated as between one and ten million people, most of whom were hunter-gatherer communities scattered over all continents except Antarctica and Zealandia. The Würm glaciation ended, and the beginning interglacial, which endures to this day, allowed the re-settlement of northern regions. Events c. 10,000 BC; First cave drawings of the Mesolithic period are made, with war scenes and religious scenes, *beginnings of what became story telling, and metamorphosed into acting. c. 10,000 BC; Bottle Gourd is domesticated and used as a carrying vessel. c. 10,000 BC; end of the most recent glaciation. c. 9700 BC; Younger Dryas cold period and the Pleistocene epoch ends, start of the Holocene epoch. c. 9500 BC; There is evidence of harvesting, though not necessarily cultivation, of wild grasses in Asia Minor about this time. c. 9500 BC; First building phase of the temple complex at Göbekli Tepe. c. 9300 BC; figs were apparently cultivated in the Jordan River valley. c. 9000 BC; Neolithic culture began in Ancient Near East. c. 9000 BC: Near East: First stone structures at Jericho are built. Old World Asia: Cave sites near the Caspian Sea are used for human habitation. Africa: Wall paintings found in Ethiopia and Eritrea depicting human activity; some of the older paintings are thought to date back to around 10,000 BC. Europe: Azilian (Painted Pebble Culture) people occupy Spain, France, Switzerland, Belgium, and Scotland. Europe: Magdalenian culture flourishes and creates cave paintings in France. Europe: Horse hunting begins at Solutré. Egypt: Early sickle blades and grinding disappear and are replaced by hunting, fishing and gathering peoples who use stone tools. Japan: The Jōmon people use pottery, fish, hunt and gather acorns, nuts and edible seeds. There are 10,000 known sites. Mesopotamia: Three or more linguistic groups, including Sumerian and Semitic peoples share a common political and cultural way of life. Mesopotamia: People begin to collect wild wheat and barley probably to make malt then beer. Norway: First traces of population in Randaberg. Persia: The goat is domesticated. Sahara: Bubalus Period. Americas North America Paleo-Indian hunter-gatherer societies live nomadically in the countryside Blackwater Draw forms in eastern New Mexico, evincing human activity Folsom people flourish throughout the Southwestern United States Settlement at the Nanu site in the Queen Charlotte Islands of modern day British Columbia begins, starting the longest continual occupation in territory now belonging to Canada Petroglyphs at Winnemucca Lake in what is today northwest Nevada were carved by this time, possibly as early as 12.8 kya BCE to as late as 8,500 BCE. Australasia Australia Indigenous Australian peoples hunter-gather societies live nomadically in the countryside Arnhem land-bridge floods over and Northern Australia is separated from Papua New Guinea Aboriginal diet and land shift after great flooding, many Aboriginal people shift from land hunting such as the staple Kangaroo, and begin to fish on the new accessible coasts. Fish and Turtles enter into Indigenous art and dreaming. Boomerang the use of the multi purpose boomerang disappears from use in Arnhem land and northern Indigenous communities Environmental changes c. 10,000 BC: North America: Dire Wolf, Smilodon, Giant Beaver, Ground Sloth, Giant Imperial Mammoth (Mammuthus imperator), Jeffersonian Mammoth (Mammuthus jeffersonii), Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi), Woolly Mammoth, Mastodons, Giant Short-Faced Bear, American Cheetah, Scimitar Cats (Homotherium), American Camels, American Horses, and American Lions all become extinct. Bering Sea: Bering land bridge from Siberia to North America covered in water. North America: Long Island becomes an island when waters break through on the western end to the interior lake. Europe: Permanent ecological change. The savannah-dwelling reindeer, bison, and Paleolithic hunters withdraw to the sub-Arctic, leaving the rest to forest animals like deer, aurochs, and Mesolithic foragers. (1967 McEvedy) World: Allerod oscillation brings transient improvement in climate. Sea levels rise abruptly and massive inland flooding occurs due to glacier melt. c. 9700 BC: Lake Agassiz forms. Attribution: Article text available under CC-BY-SA sourced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_millennium_BCCreative Commons image sourced from http://wikipedia.org/wiki/File:G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe,_Urfa.jpg

• published: 18 Sep 2013
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