The Neolithic Revolution was the critical transition that resulted in the birth of agriculture, taking Homo sapiens from scattered groups of hunter-gatherers to farming villages and from there to technologically sophisticated societies with great temples and towers and kings and priests who directed the labor of their …

It is well known that the Neolithic transition spread across Europe at a speed of about 1 km/yr. This result has been previously interpreted as a range expansion of the Neolithic driven mainly by demic diffusion (whereas cultural diffusion played a secondary role).

The definition of cultural diffusion is the spread of the beliefs and social activities of one culture to different ethnicities, religions, nationalities, etc. An example of cultural diffusion is the tradition of the German Christmas pickle becoming popular in the United States.

The Neolithic Revolution or Neolithic Demographic Transition, sometimes called the Agricultural Revolution, was the wide-scale transition of many human cultures from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, allowing the ability to support an increasingly large population.

During that time, humans learned to raise crops and keep domestic livestock and were thus no longer dependent on hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plants. Neolithic cultures made more-useful stone tools by grinding and polishing relatively hard rocks rather than merely chipping softer ones down to the desired shape.

The Neolithic period is significant for its megalithic architecture, the spread of agricultural practices, and the use of polished stone tools.

The agricultural revolution had a variety of consequences for humans. It has been linked to everything from societal inequality—a result of humans’ increased dependence on the land and fears of scarcity—to a decline in nutrition and a rise in infectious diseases contracted from domesticated animals.

Neolithic populations generally had poorer nutrition, shorter life expectancies, and a more labor-intensive lifestyle than hunter-gatherers. Diseases jumped from animals to humans, and agriculturalists suffered from more anemia, vitamin deficiencies, spinal deformations, and dental pathologies.

What is the main reason the Neolithic Revolution is considered a turning point in world history? Domestication of animals and cultivation of crops led to settled communities.

South Indian Neolithic is characterized by Ash mounds from 2500 BC in Karnataka region, expanded later to Tamil Nadu. In East Asia, the earliest sites include the Nanzhuangtou culture around 9500–9000 BC, Pengtoushan culture around 7500–6100 BC, and Peiligang culture around 7000–5000 BC.

10,000 B.C.

The Neolithic period covers the era 3900-1700 BC. The hunting people in Denmark had long had contact with the farming societies in central Europe, but only around 3900 BC the hunters began to till the land and keep animals.

The term Neolithic comes from two words: neo, or new, and lithic, or stone. As such, this time period is sometimes referred to as the New Stone Age. Humans in the Neolithic Age still used stone tools and weapons, but they were starting to enhance their stone tools.

Types of megalithic structure

• Dolmen: a free-standing chamber, consisting of standing stones covered by a capstone as a lid.
• Taula: a straight standing stone, topped with another forming a ‘T’ shape.
• Cistvaens.
• Unchambered long barrows.
• Guardian stones.
• Passage grave.
• Tumuli or barrows.
• Cairns or Galgals.

Megaliths in India have been found mainly of four types:

• Menhirs: Menhirs are like large and tall memorial stones erected to give some clue to the presence of a grave at that place.
• Dolmen:
• Cist:
• Cairn Circle:

Megalithic Culture – The Iron Age Culture of South India The megalithic culture in South India was a full fledged iron age culture when the great benefits of the use of this metal were fully realised by the people. Hence, normally the stone dropped out of use as a material for the weapons and tools to a large extent.

Answer. ANSWER : These are huge stones found at most of burial sites. A box like structure was erected with the stone slabs, resting on each other without any mortar. they are called so because these acted either as burial sites or commemorative memorials.

Megaliths are stone boulders used to mark burial sites. They were prevalent around 3000 years ago in the Deccan, South India, in the northeast and in Kashmir. Sometimes a circle of stone boulders or a single large stone is found standing on the ground, to indicate the position of burials.

The features of megalithic burial types:

• The megalithic burial ground are fund with various stone like structure buried inside the ground.
• The large structure stone is found buried inside the layers of the earth underground buried inside the land of soil.
• These large structure are ancient monument or ancient antique.

Answer: Three kingdoms that existed during the Sangam Age were Pandyas, Cheras and Cholas. Achievements of Senguttuvan — Cheran Senguttuvan was the most popular king of the Sangam Cheras.

History. According to Tamil legends, there were three Sangam periods, namely Head Sangam, Middle Sangam and Last Sangam period.

The literary works of the third Sangam constituted the most important part of the Sangam literature and they are the main source of information about the life and traditions of the Tamil people.

Answer: Historians believed that Sangams were organised to produce high-quality literary works. The Sangams were the assemblies of eminent scholars and poets. The work produced in these Sangams have often been referred to as the greatest Tamil creation of all ages.