5500 BCE
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During the 6th millennium BC, agriculture spreads from the Balkans to Italy and Eastern Europe and from Mesopotamia to Egypt. World population is essentially stable at ca. 5 million people.

Events

Black Sea today (light blue) and in 5600 BC (dark blue) according to Ryan's and Pitman's theories, versions of the Black Sea deluge theory

• c. 6000 BC — Mehrgarh Neolithic culture in current-day Baluchistan, Pakistan at its height.
• c. 6000 BC — Climatic or Thermal Maximum, the warmest period in 125,000 years, with minimal glaciation and highest sea levels. (McEvedy)
• c. 6000 BC — 53 clay figurines, stone tools and agriculture in 24 settlements of the "Four-lakes" culture in the region surrounded by the lakes Vegoritida, Heimaditida, Petron and Zazari between the towns of Kozani and Florina west of Thessaloniki, Greece. (4/3/07)
• c. 6000 BC — The Copper Age comes to the Fertile Crescent. (Roux 1980) First use of copper in Middle East. (Bailey 1973)
• c. 6000 BC — Saharan black pastoral culture <t. 2700 BC>. (1968 Almanac)
• c. 6000 BC — Fully Neolithic agriculture has spread through Anatolia to the Balkans. (1967 McEvedy)
• c. 6000 BC — Beginning of Neolithic Yangshao culture in south-central China <t.1500 BC>. Somewhere in this expanse of time, they invent the earliest pictographs of Chinese writing. (Atlas of China, 1983)
• c. 6000 BC — Equids disappear from the Americas.
• c. 6000 BC — Junglefowl kept in India.
• c. 5900 BC — Prehistoric Vinca culture emerges in today's Belgrade.
• c. 5800 BC — Beginning of the Dadiwan culture in China.
• c. 5800 BC — The Hassuna Period in Mesopotamia <t. 5500 BC>, with the earliest version of stamp-seals. (Roux 1980)
• c. 5760 BC — The volcano Puy-de-Dôme in France erupts.
• c. 5700 BC — Cataclysmic volcanic explosion of 12,000-foot (3,700 m) high Mount Mazama creates Oregon's Crater Lake ^[1][2] when the resulting caldera fills with water. With a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 7, it remains the largest single Holocene eruption in history of the Cascade Range.
• c. 5600 BC — Beginning of the desertification of North Africa, which ultimately lead to the creation of the Sahara desert. It's possible this process pushed some natives into migrating to the region of the Nile in the east, thereby laying the groundwork for the rise of Egyptian civilization.
• c. 5600 BC — The Red Paint People become established in the region from present-day Labrador to New York state.
• 5509 BC — The Byzantine calendar dates creation to 1 September of this year.
• c. 5500 BC — Beginning of the Xinle culture in China.
• c. 5500 BC — Agriculture started in Ancient Egypt.
• c. 5500 BC — Predynastic period (Neolithic) starts in Ancient Egypt (other date is 4350 BC).
• c. 5450 BC — Volcano Hekla eruption.
• c. 5400 BC — Beginning of the Zhaobaogou culture in China.
• c. 5400 BC — Irrigation and the beginning of the Sumerian civilization in Southern Iraq.
• c. 5400 BC — Watson Brake mound complex constructed in present-day Louisiana.
• c. 5300 BC — Beginning of the Beixin culture in China.
• c. 5200 BC — Beginning of human inhabitation and settlements in Malta.
• c. 5000 BC — Beginning of the Hemudu culture in China.
• c. 5000 BC — Beginning of the Daxi culture in China.
• c. 5000 BC — Beginning of the Majiabang culture in China.
• c. 5000 BC — Beginning of the Yangshao culture in China.
• c. 5000 BC — Farming reached central and north Europe.

Environmental changes

Main article: Atlantic (period)

• c. 7000 BC — Beginning the Holocene climatic optimum
• c. 5600 BC — According to the Black Sea deluge theory, the Black Sea floods with salt water. Some 3000 cubic miles (12,500 km³) of salt water is added, significantly expanding it and transforming it from a fresh-water landlocked lake into a salt water sea.

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

• c. 6000 BC — Cycladic people started to use a coarse, poor-quality local clay to make a variety of objects.
• c. 6000 BC — Brick building was taking place at Çatalhöyük, Turkey. ^[3]
• Agriculture appears in the valley of the Nile.
• Rice cultivated in Asia.
• Plough invented.
• c. 6000 BC–5000 BC — Wine is created for the first time in Persia.
• c. 5000 BC — Agriculture began in the Americas perhaps this early, in complete isolation from the Old World. ^[3]
• Artifacts of stone were supplemented by those of metal, and the crafts of basketry, pottery, weaving (Africa).
• Dead were buried in a fetal position, surrounded by the burial offerings and artifacts, facing west (Africa).
• Decorated, black-topped clay pots and vases; bone and ivory combs, figurines, and tableware, are found in great numbers (Africa).
• Jewelry of all types and materials (Africa).
• Objects began to be made not only with a function, but also with an aesthetic value. (Africa)
• Organized, permanent settlements focused around agriculture. (Africa)

Cultural landmarks

• c. 5700 BC — Samarran Culture at Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) begins (ca 5700 BC – 4900 BC C-14, 6640 BC–5816 BC calBC).
• c. 5500 BC — pottery at Mehrgarh in current-day Baluchistan, Pakistan.
• c. 5100 BC — Temples founded in South Mesopotamia.
• Mediterranean Old European cultures.

References

1. ^ NatGeo 1998 May (was 4401 BC in NatGeo1986-9)
2. ^ "Crater Lake". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved on 2006-12-26.
3. ^ ^{a b} Roberts, J: "History of the World.". Penguin, 1994.