The 10th millennium BC marks the beginning of the Mesolithic and Epipaleolithic period, which is the first part of the Holocene epoch. Agriculture, based on the cultivation of primitive forms of millet and rice, occurred in Southwest Asia. Although agriculture was being developed in the Armenian Highlands and the Fertile Crescent, it would not be widely practiced for another 2,000 years.

The world population was likely below 5 million people, most of whom were hunter-gatherer communities scattered over all continents except Antarctica. The proto-Lapita migration reached the Pacific islands. The Würm glaciation ended, and the beginning interglacial, which endures to this day, allowed the re-settlement of northern regions. The most recent glacial ended circa 10,000 BC, and the world entered a period of global warming which continued until the mini ice age of the Middle Ages.