Prehistoric technology Ground and polished stone tools continued to be created and used during the Neolithic period. Numeric record keeping evolved from a system of counting using small clay tokens that began in Sumer about 8000 BC. The Stone Age developed into the Bronze Age after the Neolithic Revolution. The Neolithic Revolution involved radical changes in agricultural technology which included development of agriculture, animal domestication, and the adoption of permanent settlements. The Bronze Age is characterised by metal smelting of copper and its alloy bronze, an alloy of tin and copper, to create implements and weapons. Polished stone tools continued to be
Inside the Neolithic Mind "popular tone and style" and use of the "contentious" three mode-model of trance states, a model he dismisses as a "myth". In "Archaeology", the publication of the Archaeological Institute of America, Michael Balter positively reviewed "Inside the Neolithic Mind", praising its "superb writing" and "lavishly illustrated descriptions" of archaeological sites. Although he notes that most archaeologists would concur that Neolithic people probably believed in a spirit world, he expressed his belief that "they may balk at the idea" that the act of climbing down step ladders at Çatalhöyük symbolized the descent into the underworld or that hearths in the floors