The 9th millennium BC marks the beginning of the Neolithic period.

Agriculture spreads throughout the Fertile Crescent and use of pottery becomes more widespread. Larger settlements like Jericho arise along salt and flint trade routes. Northern Eurasia is resettled as the glaciers of the last glacial maximum retreat. World population is at a few million people, likely below 5 million.

Events

• c. 9000 BC—Mediterranean—Settling on Mediterranean isles started

• c. 9000 BC—Laacher See, northwest of Frankfurt, formed when a volcano blows out to form a caldera

• c. 9000 BC—Neolithic culture begins in Ancient Near East

• c. 8700–8400 BC—Britain—Star Carr site in Yorkshire, Britain inhabited by Maglemosian peoples

• c. 8500 BC—Great Britain—Mesolithic hunters camp at Cramond, Prehistoric Scotland

• c. 8500 BC–7370 BC; Jericho established with 2000 inhabitants living in mud-brick houses covering and protected by the Wall of Jericho

• c. 8300 BC—Great Britain—Nomadic hunters arrive in England

• c. 8000 BC—Norway—Øvre Eiker of Norway inhabited

• c. 8000 BC—Estonia—Pulli settlement inhabited

Inventions and discoveries

• c. 9000 BC—The first evidence of the keeping of sheep, in northern Iraq.Roberts, J: "History of the World.". Penguin, 1994.

• c. 8500 BC—Natufian culture of Western Mesopotamia is harvesting wild wheat with flint-edged sickles. (1967 McEvedy) About this time, boats are invented, and dogs domesticated in Europe. (1967 McEvedy)

• c. 8500 BC—Andean peoples domesticate chili peppers and two kinds of bean.

• c. 8000 BC—Mesopotamia—Agriculture in Mesopotamia

• c. 8000 BC—Asia—Domestication of the pig in China and Turkey

• c. 8000 BC—Middle East—Domestication of goats

• c. 8000 BC—Asia—Evidence of domestication of dogs from wolves,new find in Russia of domesticated dogs dated 12,000bc

• c. 8000 BC—Middle East—Ancient flint tools from north and central Arabia belong to hunter-gatherer societies

• c. 8000 BC—Middle East—Clay vessels and modeled human and animal terracotta figurines are produced at Ganj Dareh in western Iran.

• c. 8000 BC—Exchange of goods, a three-dimensional combination of an accounting/inventory system and medium of exchange.

• c. 8000 BC—Exchange of goods may represent the earliest pseudo-writing technology.

• c. 8000 BC—People of Jericho were making bricks out of clay, then hardened them in the sun. The settlement had grown to 8–10 acres of houses and had substantial walls.

Environmental changes

• c. 9000 BC: Temporary global chilling, as the Gulf Stream pulls southward, and Europe ices over (1990 Rand McNally Atlas)

• c. 8000 BC—World—Rising Sea

• c. 8000 BC—Antarctica—long-term melting of the Antarctic ice sheets is commencing

• c. 8000 BC—Asia—rising sea levels caused by postglacial warming

• c. 8000 BC—World—Obliteration of more than 40 million animals about this time

• c. 8000 BC—North America—The glaciers were receding and by 8,000 B.C. the Wisconsin had withdrawn completely.

• c. 8000 BC—World—Inland flooding due to catastrophic glacier melt takes place in several regions