4600 BCE

The 5th millennium BC spanned the years (5000 BC – 4001 BC) (c. 7 ka to c. 6 ka), that is, inclusive of 5000 BC but exclusive of 4000 BC. It is impossible to precisely date events that happened around the time of this millennium and all dates mentioned here are estimates mostly based on geological and anthropological analysis.

Communities

The rapid world population growth of the previous millennium, caused by the Neolithic Revolution, is believed to have slowed and become fairly stable. It has been estimated that there were around forty million people worldwide by 5000 BC, growing to 100 million by the Middle Bronze Age .

Europe

*The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture (''aka'' Tripolye culture) began around 4800 BC. It was centred on modern Moldova and lasted in three defined phases until .
*From about 4500 BC until , a single dialect called Proto-Indo-European (PIE) existed as the forerunner of all modern Indo-European languages, but it left no written texts and its structure is unknown.
*Vinca culture (5700–4200 BC) continues cultural traits of the prior millennium. It had the earliest form of proto-writing, suggesting a requirement for astrological, scientific, astronomical, or economical (trade) archives. This provides the earliest known example of copper smelting in the Old World, imperial-like social stratification with communal spaces, and large scale trade networks where its distinctive figurines reach as far as Western Europe. The culture ends with abandonment and conflicts circa 4200 BC.
*The distribution of Venus figurines from the previous agricultural revolution cements itself as mainstream art in Europe, continuing onward from the 6th millennium BC.
*Dimini culture first arises circa 4800 BC alongside the Late Neolithic period of Greece where increasing population densities are most notable. Over 400 years, Dimini imperially expands, later absorbing Sesklo culture completely before the final invasion and destruction of Sesklo c. 4400 BC. The Final Neolithic period arrives with the Chalcolithic period and increased cultural connection alongside trade routes to Anatolia.
*Uralic languages and cultures continue to expand and migrate. The Lyalovo culture (c. 5000–3650 BC) has been equated with the Proto-Uralic urheimat alongside cultural relationship with the Comb Ceramic culture.
*Megalithic constructions continue all over Western Europe, with increasing social stratification and social complexity. See the timeline. One most notable site is the Locmariaquer megaliths, the highest being 20.60 metres (67.6 ft) tall and over 330 tons and served as a site of pilgrimage and inspiration. The complex construction of such megaliths all over Europe are representative of the power of the social elite, religious clergy, direct communication over vast distances of land, and large labour forces.
* Long distanced Eastern trade from Danubian and Caucasus civilizations to Indo-European steppe cultures with social stratification and royal chiefs of their own. Considerable Danubian influence on Central European polities and cultures must also be considered.
*A second wave of the Danubian culture, which used painted pottery with Asiatic influences, superseded the first phase starting around 4500 BC. This was followed by a third wave, which used stroke-ornamented ware. These elements of imports and artistic licensing represent complex cultural developments. Alongside this, the infamous Varna culture thrives, beginning circa 4600 BC to 4200 BC reflecting Kingship.
*Hamangia culture lasts until 4550 BC. Its cultural links with Anatolia suggest that it was the result of settlement by people from Anatolia, unlike the neighbouring cultures, which appear descended from earlier Neolithic settlement. Such migrations represent strong communication systems between large stretches of land, political motives and a further indication of the Black Sea trade most notable of the period via seafaring and land.
*Mediterranean trade networks are long forged, with complex economical activities by polities, stretching from the Adriatic to Portugal and parts of North Africa see economy and Neolithic.
The Stentinello culture stretches from Sicily and Calabria to the Aeolian Islands representing cultural focus on seafaring and maritime trade at this time. Sardinia has close trade relations with the Mediterranean Neolithic communities of southern France, the Iberian Peninsula, the Italian peninsula and Sicily and is a major participant of the silver trade.
*Trade via seafaring and ports between Western Hunter Gatherers in Ireland and cultures in Neolithic Western Europe (circa 4000 BC) (Ferriter's Cove).
*Neolithic Britain circa 4100 experiences rapid mass migration and settlement into the Isles. Deforestation on a momentous scale in Neolithic Britain. (4300 BC to 3250 BC), associated with the Windmill Hill culture, increased population density, outcompeting the West Hunter Gatherer populations.
* First major Indo European migration (circa 4000 BC). Migrates southwards via the Danube eventually reaching Anatolia. Danubian migrations occur westerwards onwards from this upheaval. Danubian civilization and culture such as the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture will survive on until the late 4th millennium or very early 3rd millennium BC.
*Neolithic farming guilds and polities maintain a relatively fixed frontier in Northern Central Europe (modern-day Germany), allowing Scandinavian Hunter Gatherer polities to later develop into the Pitted Ware Culture (circa 3500 BC).
*The Warren Field calendar originating from the Mesolithic continues to be experimented upon and further alongside mathematics, which is developed across all of Europe by various polities continuously through the 5th millennium.
*Alongside megalithic monuments or tomb with high social and astronomical importance to polities of the era, stone circles are erected as far as France, see the Carnac stones.

West Asia

Mesopotamia

* Ubaid expansion continues into the early 5th millennium, with demographic integration of Ubaid culture by Halafians alongside invasions by Ubaid polities. One example of violence is Tell Arpachiyah a key economical hub of pottery manufacture. Another is Tepe Gawra. Obsidian, cedar, advancement of the potters wheel circa 4500 BC, silver, cattle and copper trade routes for over a millennia are strengthened as a result of these expansions, between Anatolia, Iran, the Caucasus and South Iraq.
Its chronology within the 5th millennium consists of:

* Ubaid 1, sometimes called EriduKurt, Amélie ''Ancient near East V1 (Routledge History of the Ancient World)'' Routledge (31 Dec 1996) p. 22 corresponding to the city Eridu, (5400–4700 BC), a phase limited to the extreme south of Iraq, on what was then the shores of the Persian Gulf. This phase, showing clear connection to the Samarra culture to the north. These people pioneered the growing of grains in the extreme conditions of aridity.
* Ubaid 2 occurs circa 4800–4500 BC. At that time, Hadji Muhammed style ceramics was produced. This period also saw the development of extensive canal networks near major settlements. New highly developed irrigation systems, which seems to have developed first at Choga Mami (4700–4600 BC) and rapidly spread elsewhere.
* Ubaid 3: Tell al-Ubaid style ceramics. Traditionally, this ceramic period was dated . The appearance of these ceramics received different dates depending on the particular sites, which have a wide geographical distribution portraying widespread trade systems and social stratification.
* Ubaid 4: Late Ubaid style ceramics, circa 4700 – 4200 BC. Maritime trade via the Persian Gulf peaks, connecting to Southern Iranian ports and polities. Obsidian trade is most notable with extraction and transportation to industrial style worskhops over a 170 km distance, see Hamoukar.Southern expansions continue Southwards to Oman.

Overall, the Ubaid period experiences sporadic but controlled growth of socially stratified settlements, with communal areas, segregation of classes per quarters and complex social stratification. Increased conflict between democratic councils, large scale chiefdoms, royalties, polities and imperial-like aspirations. Large scale stone masonry for public use, and organised seal estampage of international importance are associated characteristics of the era. P. Amiet sees as a 'proto-royal figure,' i.e., potentially Enki, preceding the 'priest-kings' of the 4th millennium.
Of the hundreds of polities and tens of important city states here are a few notable events:

*Eridu during the Ubaid period the site extended out to an area of about 12 hectares (about 30 acres). Twelve neolithic clay tokens, the precursor to Proto-cuneiform, were found in the Ubaid levels of the site. 8] The city was the major power at least in the first half of the 5th millennium. It would go on to decline in sovereignty within the 4th millennium. It is here where the Sumerian King List, first Kings of Sumer were said to have once dwelt.
*One major polity of the Ubaid period is Tell Brak a very large polity with transregional power with city walls, and a Tell Brak expansion beyond the mound to form a lower town. By the late 5th millennium BC, Tell Brak reached the size of c. 55 hectares. The remains of a monumental building alongside other large scale projects erected with two meters thick walls and a basalt threshold reveals a social elite of extreme prowess.
*Another major polity is Uruk (founded circa 5000 BC), experiences a rapid increase in dominance, establishing itself beyond merely a regional power circa 4500 BC with the Eanna quarter or district first constructed. Uruk in its climb for dominance would go on to construct the Anu Ziggurat circa 4000 BC. It is these centuries of careful development that gave Uruk its legendary dominance later in the 4th millennium during the Uruk Expansion.
*Some other polities of note are firstly Tepe Gawra featuring signs of notable conflict during the prior Ubaid expansion. Weapons smithing, copper trade and notable temples built circa 4200 BC are present.
* Ur experienced repeated flooding alongside the other city states, due to continuous floods of the Euphrates within this era. Ur would later rise to great prominence in the mid to late 3rd millennium BC.
*Chogha Mish grew into its maximum size of 17 hectares in the Late Susiana period, and was dominant onwards from the 6th millennium. However the early half of the 5th millennium, the Chogha Mish main monumental building was destroyed and along with it its power declined. This became known as the 'Burnt Building'. This destruction of Chogha Mish also coincided with the abandonment of some other sites on the eastern part of the Susiana plain. The settlements of the subsequent period shifted more to the west, especially with the founding and rise of the city of Susa.
*The south-western part of Iran after 4400 BC restarts urbanisation, with large scale settlements such as Susa (founded possibly as early as 4395 cal BC via Ubaid urbanisation and influence). The region around Susa in the southwest of modern Iran, is located right next to lower Mesopotamia, which exercised a powerful influence on Uruk and its neighbours from the 5th millennium. Susa I (4000 – 3700 BC) saw the beginning of monumental architecture on the site, with the construction of a 'High Terrace'. Susa alongside its allies is invaded and destroyed in c. 4200 BC. The city of Anshan is founded circa 4000 BC, and alongside Susa begins to separate itself culturally from the West, developing the lands with its newly integrated peoples into a Proto-Elamite cultural and economic revolution.

Ulterior Middle East

In modern Turkey: Strong Anatolian polities counteract the balance of power from the Ubaid polities and dwaining Samarrans who were culturally assimilated around 4800 BC. Such polities include Mersin notably having a standing army circa 4300 BC, and Hamoukar, which was a major production centre in the important Obsidian trade and thus power.
An intensive copper trade, connecting Europe with the East, is represented in Anatolia by sites at Hacilar, Beycesultan, Canhasan, Mersin Yumuktepe, Elazig Tepecik, Malatya Degirmentepe, Norşuntepe, and Istanbul Fikirtepe.

Prior environmental devastation in the previous two millennia may account for the lack of Neolithic sites in northern Turkey.

In the Levant: Ghassulian culture thrives, immigrating from the North into the whole of the Levant circa 4400 BC. With concentrated settlements and elites economically focused on copper metallurgy and trade, notably importing from Southern Jordan's vast and powerful urban polities and Bedouin-like cultures. The Ghassulian culture trades and correlates closely with the Amratians of Egypt and also seems to have affinities (e.g., the distinctive churns, or "bird vases") with early Minoan culture in Crete. 6]
Cypriot affinities are not seen, with Cyprus experiencing newcomers circa 4500 BC who arrived and introduced a new Neolithic era. This Sotira, Limassol, Sotira culture replaced the void of the collapse of the 6th millennium Neolithic culture in Cyprus.

Trade with Levant and external regions on an impressive scale and covering large distances starts to connect Europe with Asia on a more direct scale than before. Obsidian found in the Chalcolithic levels at Gilat, Israel have had their origins traced via elemental analysis to three sources in Southern Anatolia: Hotamis Dağ, Göllü Dağ, and as far east as Nemrut Dağ, 500 km (310 mi) east of the other two sources. This is indicative of a very large trade circle reaching as far as the Northern Fertile Crescent and Anatolia.

In the Caucasus: Settlements of the 5th millennium BC in North Caucasus attest to a material culture that was related to contemporaneous archaeological complexes in the northern and western Black Sea region like the Leyla-Tepe culture (c. 4300 – 4000BC). These polities were immense economically, and pioneered copper metallurgy and trade. Constant immigration from Ubadians and from Uruk herself did play economic factors as well.

Such cultural elements change and are replaced, suddenly during the latter first half of the 4th Millennium BC, and the quality of copper metallurgy declines somewhat, during the Kura–Araxes culture.

On the other hand, the millennia long attested Shulaveri–Shomu culture showed stronger cultural connections like similar tool kits and use of red ochre, portrays intimate and centuries-old ties with the Halafians.

In Arabia: Continuation of Ubaid economical expansion and culture(since the 6th millennium BC, circa 5500 BC) throughout Arabia, with adoption and integration but also contributions to these new political features. Ubaid pottery of periods 2 and 3 has been documented at site H3 in Kuwait and in Dosariyah in eastern Saudi Arabia, which bordered the Persian Gulf, a major trade hub.

Central Asia (North and South)

Central:
A millennia after the Iranian farmer cultures had first cemented with ancestry from the Caucasus and Iranian plateau hunter-gatherers and middle east, (circa 6000 BC) in Pakistan and north-west India and migrations from southwest Asia had resulted in increasing urbanisation and increasing social stratification. Such cultures include:

*The Jeitun culture (or Djeitun) had housed settlements and had culturally united Southern Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, existing for over 2000 years already at the turn of the millennium until 4600 BC.Vidale, Massimo, (2017)
Treasures from the Oxus
p. 9, Table 1. Increasing aridity in the late Neolithic i.e., Chagylly Depe, internationally farmers increasingly grew the kinds of crops that are typically associated with irrigation in an arid environment, such as hexaploid bread wheat, which became predominant during the Chalcolithic period.
*Increasing rapid migrations from Iran, with various waves bringing advanced metallurgy and other innovations, but it is thought that the newcomers soon blended with the Jeitun farmers. A large portion of these peoples settled in Anau, Turkmenistan founded circa 4500BC. The Anau culture, beginning just before 4000 BC contemporary with the Namazga culture, was a bridgeway between East and West, with considerable Chinese and Iranian influence in the use of its stamp seals in the great trade routes. Lapis Lazuli was imported from mining Kingdoms in Afghanistan to workshops.
* Mehrgarh culture in modern Pakistan was the largest urban and trade centre between East, South and West Asia. It pioneered metallurgy for millennia, tanning, bead production, use of the potter's wheel, wax making, mathematics, geometry, medicine and in advancement of economic specialisations. Glazed faience beads were produced and terracotta figurines became more detailed alongside direct trade from polities as far as present-day Badakshan for lapis lazuli. Mehrgarh Periods II and III are also contemporaneous with an expansion of the settled populations of the borderlands at the western edge of South Asia, including the establishment of settlements like Rana Ghundai, Sheri Khan Tarakai, Sarai Kala, Jalilpur, and Ghaligai. The trade hub already been difficult to control due to its scale would then receive high levels of immigration from West Eurasia around 4000 BC to 3800 BC.
*The term Ceramic Mesolithic is used of late Mesolithic cultures of Central Asia, during the 6th to 5th millennium BC (in Russian archaeology, these cultures are described as Neolithic even though farming is absent). These nomadic societies who had animal husbandry had pottery via cultural diffusion and trade of the previous millennia from Lake Baikal in Siberia and from Europe. From there spread via the Dnieper-Donets culture to the Narva culture of the Eastern Baltic. See the History of Central Asia for more detail.

*Scattered nomadic groups maintained herds of sheep, goats, horses, and camels, and conducted annual migrations to find new pastures (a practice known as transhumance). The people lived in yurts (or gers) – tents made of hides and wood that could be disassembled and transported. Each group had several yurts, each accommodating about five people.
* Ancestors to the Afanasevo culture (c. 3500–2500 BCE) inhabit the regions of modern Xinjiang. They are culturally and genetically affiliated with the Indo-European-associated cultures of the Eurasian Steppe despite predating great eastern expansions from the steppe of the 3rd millennium BC.
*Tibetan cultures and settlements have been found mainly "in river valleys in the south and east of the country". Archaeological sites consist of those in Nyingchi County, Medog County