•   The Neolithic Age started in India around 7,000 B.C. It was the third and last part of the Stone Age. The other two parts were Paleolithic Age (500,000 B.C. to 10,000 B.C.) and Mesolithic Age (9,000 B.C. to 4,000 B.C.).

•   It is characterized by:

o  development of settled agriculture,

o  use of polished stone implements,

o  development of permanent dwellings,

o  cultural advances such as pottery making,

o  domestication of animals and plants,

o  cultivation of grain and fruit trees, and

o  Weaving.

•   The oldest Neolithic settlement in the Indian Subcontinent was Mehrgarh which is located in Baluchistan, a province of Pakistan.

•   The change in the economic mode and lifestyle from hunting/gathering/foraging to primitive farming appeared so abruptly that this overall change in human life is often referred as the “Neolithic Revolution”.

•   These developed periods with invention of different metals with developed agriculture and farming activities led to the emergence of more complex societies.

•   All of these complex societies emerged in the fertile valleys of different river located in different parts of the globe.

•   Some of these early groups settled in the fertile valleys of the Nile, Tigris-Euphrates, Yellow, and Indus Rivers.

•   These settlements with surplus agricultural product and trade subsequently resulted in the rise of the great civilizations in Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, and India.