After the rather ho-hum art of the Mesolithic era, art in the Neolithic (literally: "new stone") age represents a spree of hellzapoppin' innovation. Humans were settling themselves down into agrarian societies, which left them enough spare time to explore some key concepts of civilization - namely, religion, measurement, the rudiments of architecture and writing and, yes, art. This is really exciting! We are now merely one metal and one alloy away from diving headlong into the art of ancient civilizations.