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The 10th millennium BC marks the beginning of the Mesolithic, or Epipaleolithic time period, which is the first part of the Holocene epoch. World population is likely below 5 million people, mostly hunting-gathering communities scattered over all continents, save for Antarctica, and with the proto-Lapita migration also reaching the islands of the Pacific. Pottery, and with pottery probably cooking, was developed independently in Japan and North Africa. Agriculture begins to develop in the Fertile Crescent, but will not be practiced widely or predominantly for another 2,000 years. The Würm glaciation ends, and the beginning interglacial, which endures to this day, allows the re-settlement of northern regions.