The Neolithic of the Russian Far East and Neighboring East Asia: Definition, Chronology, and Origins

Abstract

The exact definition of the term “Neolithic” is discussed and the spatio-temporal coordinates of the two main Neolithic-related phenomena in greater East Asia, pottery and cultivation of plants and animals, are presented. In this part of Eurasia, pottery-making preceded agriculture by several millennia. Pottery may be accepted as the major criterion of the Neolithic epoch in the hunter-fisher-gatherer continuum of East Asian prehistory. This situation differs from that in the Near East, where plant and animal husbandry developed before the emergence of pottery, and Europe, where pottery and agriculture appeared almost simultaneously. Thus today, three main ‘trajectories’ for Neolithisation may be defined in Eurasia. The ultimate reason for the origin of pottery in East Asia remains unclear.