Neolithic Europe

ANTH.106.
Introduction to Archaeology.
Notes & images compiled by Gregory Mumford 2015.
Doc.-Lecture-a: Neolithic Europe,

including the Chalcolithic & Iceman
1.
Early Searchers:
(i.e., Prehistoric Europe)
Stonehenge & Europe:

12th cent AD historian
Geoffrey of Monmouth:
Theorized that Wizard Merlin
had brought the stones to
Salisbury Plain from Ireland.
Suggested Stonehenge later
became the burial place for
Uther Pendragon & Ambrosius
(King Arthurs father & uncle).
16th-18th centuries AD:
Scholars discarded Arthurian
theories and suggested it had
been built by
- Romans
- Danes
- Phoenicians
- Druids
Most defined it as a temple
Some suggested a crowning
place of kings.
Some early scholars made accurate plans & careful studies:

E.g., William Stukeley (1687 - 1765):
Demonstrated that megalithic monuments = not made by giants, devils, etc
The First Excavations:

E.g., Richard Hoare & William Cunnington excavate north of Stonehenge: 1805
2.
The Evidence:
Late Neolithic Europe, South-central region, ca. 3,600 BC.

Lake edge dwellings in Switzerland 3600 BC
E.g., St. Aubin, (see Gimbutas 1991: 194)
4000 BC
(see Cunliffe 1994: 178)
Late Neolithic Europe: South-central region, ca. 3,600 BC.
(Lakeside dwelling Switzerland

see Cunliffe 1994: 178)
Ice Man
3,000 BC
3.
More recent archaeological
Investigations
& researchers:
Late Neolithic Europe, Southern region focus ca. 3,2003,000 BC.

Setting:
1991 discovery of the Iceman
(initially a police investigation and
removal of the body; subsequently
became an archaeological project),
The Iceman = found in Tyrolean Alps,
on the Hauslabjoch (Mountain)/Peak,
near the Tisenjoch pass between
Austria and Italy: = an Alpine region.
3,200 m above sea level.
Near an East-West ridge through the
Alps: i.e., crossing the Alps.
He had probably been traversing this
area during the autumn.
Neolithic Europe, ca. 7,000 3,000 BC
Whittle, Alasdair
Europe in the Neolithic:
The Creation of New Worlds.
Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press (1996).
Excellent overview of iceman
and Neolithic in general.

Champion, Timothy,
Gamble, Clive,
Shennan, Stephen,
and Whittle, Alasdair.
Prehistoric Europe.
London: Academic Press (1984).
Some excellent coverage of the

Neolithic period.
Cunliffe, Barry
Europe Between the Oceans:
9000 BC AD 1000. New
Haven: Yale University Press
(2008).
Excellent recent summary of
European Prehistory to the
Dark Ages.

Cunliffe, Barry (ed.)
Prehistoric Europe: An
Illustrated History.
Oxford: Oxford University
Press (1994).
Excellent coverage of the
Neolithic.
Neolithic Europe: The advent of farming spans ca. 70004000 BC
4.a.
CHRONOLOGY:
Summation
of the emergence
of a Neolithic farming
lifestyle throughout Europe
Emergence of Neolithic Europe: spanning ca. 7,000 4,000 BC.

The Neolithic period/cultures begins & ends at different times
in different places in Europe:
Advent of Neolithic in Europe:
SE Europe:
Neolithic begins between 7000 and 5500 BCE
Central-W Med:
Neolithic begins around 6000 BCE
NW Europe:
Neolithic begins around 4000 BCE
i.e., gradual shift northwards with withdrawal of Ice Age

End of Neolithic in Europe:
SE Europe
Neolithic ends around 3000 BCE
Rest of Europe:
Neolithic ends around 2500 BCE
Time Range:
Hence, Neolithic Europe spans 7000/4000 BCE to 3000/2500 BCE
Our area of study (Alpine & Greece):
The Iceman & Greece-Aegean in general fit in Central-SE Europe,
spanning 7000/6000 through 3000/2500 BCE (from South-North).
4.b.
Approaches to dating
and chronology:
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2012 (6th ed.): chp.1

1. The Searchers: The History of Archaeology.
STONE
3.4. The Three Age System:
1836/1848 AD: C.J. Thomsen
AGE
suggested artifacts from Danish
barrows displayed 3 Ages:
Stone, Bronze, & Iron Ages.
system = adopted in Europe.
BRONZE
AGE
Later: Stone Age old & new

= Paleolithic and Neolithic.
This system was less applicable

outside
Europe dating:
Relative
Remains
keydeveloping
class. system
1800sa =
Conceptual advances:
European concept
- 1. Antiquity of humankind
- 2. Principle of evolution
- 3. Three-Age system
of
an Early / older
technological
phase:
Other scholars typologies:
- OscarStone
Montelius: Age
fibulae
- John Evans:
coins
IRON
AGE

4. When? Dating Methods and Chronology.
8.2.b. C14 history & basis of method.
Radiocarbon
1949 W. Libby obtained 1st C14 date
dates calibrated
Need organic samples -wood
with tree-rings seq.
-charcoal
-seeds
-plants
-bones
Various counting errors, cosmic
radiation, etc. uncertainty in
measurements (+/- std. deviation).
Samples sizes decreasing
a. 1950s-60s: 10-20 g. wood
b. 1970s-80s: 5 g pure carbon
c. Now:
5-10 mg samples
test precious items
C14 dates expressed before 1950 AD
when listing years BP (before present)
+/-100 yrs 68% +/-200 yrs 95%
Calibration with tree-rings calendar
years.

4. When? Dating Methods and Chronology.
9.1. Trapped electron dating:
Thermoluminescence (TL), optical,
& electron spin resonance dating
display indirect radioactive decay.
Focus on radiation received by sample
(assuming annual dose = constant).
9.2.a. Thermoluminescence dating:

TL advantages versus C14, it
a. dates pottery (i.e., clay)
b. dates inorganic items (burnt flint)
earlier than C14 limit (50,000 BP)
9.2.b. Basis of method:
Dating minerals set to 0 by 500 C/932 F
accidentally/intentionally (pottery; flints)
Clay has some radioactive elements
obtained internally & externally.
Gauge site soils radioactivity accuracy
(1 yr. capsule; radiation counter; sample)
Lab heats sample; measures light radiation
5.a.
Approaches to
Categoriing
social organization:

5. How Were Societies Organized? Social Archaeology.
2.2. Classification of societies:
E. Service adopted 4 types of
societies (useful; now modified)
(bands; tribes; chiefdoms; states)
2.2.a. Mobile hunter-gatherer groups:
Band
Usually less than 100
Seasonal movement pursuing
wild crops & game.
> all = related by blood or marriage
They > lack designated leaders
Status = essentially the same
Seasonally occupied campsites
(temporary huts)
Other sites: kill & butchery; worksites
Paleolithic 12,000 BP = 100% bands
Terminology:
Mobile hunter-gatherer groups
versus bands

2.2.b. Segmentary societies (tribes).
Up to a few 100
Cultivating plants
Herding domesticated animals
Usually = settled farmers
Sometimes = nomadic pastoralists
(focused on herds)
Contain several communities
linked by blood ties (kinship).
Sometimes have a central capital
with appointed leaders & officials
Small villages or homesteads
Isolated houses = dispersed pattern
Perm. villages = nucleated pattern
Adjoining houses = agglomerate
A tribe assumes a unified cultural
identity (which is not common)
Segmentary society = relatively small
independent group, usually agricultural
(may unite to form a tribe)

2.2.c. Chiefdoms:
Greater difference in rank
(social status)
Different lineages with diff.
prestige (chief tribesperson)
Rank = affiliation with chief
Usually craft specialists
Surplus food & products paid
to chief
Re-dispersal of produce
Special central housing (for
the chief & his entourage)
Size approx. 5000 20,000
Note: prominent ritual and
ceremonial center for chiefdom
a. within site
Chief Paul Payakan (Kayapo, Brazil)
b. amongst sites
Neolithic Europe: Early Holocene ca. 7,000 3,000 BCE
5.b.
SOCIAL
ORGANIZATION:
Settlements & social stratification

(i.e., in Prehistoric Europe)
Early Neolithic Europe: central west region, ca. 7000 3000 BC

Central-W. Mediterranean
ca. 7,000 5,000 BCE:
Many ditched enclosures =
in Italy from the Neolithic, often
along valley edges, near water.
Such enclosures vary from 1

hectare to 30 hectares (most
are under 7 hectares).
1-4 ditches dug up to 2 m deep
forming a circular defensive
system around the settlement.
Interior compounds may have
c-shaped compounds inside.
Passo di-Corvo is one of the
largest sites (Southern Italy):
- inner enclosure 28 hectares
- outer enclosure 40 hectares
- site spans about 1000 metres
(See Whittle 1996: 297)
Neolithic Europe: Southeast region, ca. 7,000 3,000 BC

7,000 3,000 BCE:
early farming village
at Karavono in SE
Europe (Bulgaria):
Wattle-and-mudwalled rectilinear
housing.
50 m-sq. floor areas
suggest a small
nuclear family.
Larger long houses
imply an extended
family/household.
(see Champion et. al.,
1984: 141)
Plan of early Neolithic mud & timber house from Slatina (Bulgaria).
i.e., average home.
STRUCTURE:
-9.5 x 12.5 m
-wattle & daub
-doorway
-smoke hole?
-window(s)?
CONTENTS:
Backroom:
-storage? +?
Main room:
-grain bins
-food bins
-grinding grain
-cooking oven
-Loom for
weaving
-Hearth for
heating
-2 wide beds
(ext. family)
Generic reconstruction of a Neolithic house interior: loom, etc.
Middle Neolithic Europe: SE region, ca. 6,000 5,500 BC
Middle Neolithic house plans from Otzaki in Greece.

- Many Neolithic sites were placed on ridges or hills near lakes,
rivers, and the sea.
- Some people occupied caves,while many others dwelt in farming
villages (i.e., small, spanning a few hectares, with 100 200/300).
- Housing became permanent durable structures of var. materials:
E.g., Wood (N), mud-coated reeds, later sun-dried mud bricks.
Often single-storied, but later developing two stories.
(Dickinson 1994: 32, 39)
Plan of early Linearbandkeramik

settlement at Janskamperveld
(in Holland).
Ca. 5,500 5,300 BCE.

Multiple occupations several huts;
Remains of some streets & blocks;
Middle Neolithic Europe: central region, ca. 5,500 4,000 BC

SE Europe: ca. 5,500-4,000 BCE:
i.e., in the Hungarian plain
(= East of Iceman territory).
Reconstructed housing from Tisza
and Herpaly culture sites.
Top:
Ocsod-Kovashalom
(Tisza culture)
Centre:
Berettyoujfalu-Herpaly
level 11 (Herpaly culture)
Base:
HodmezovasarhelyGorsza, level 10
(Tisza culture)
Plan of the Late Neolithic

Settlement at Polyanista
(Bulgaria): ca. 4,500 BC.
a. 4 gateways through a multiwalled palisade (vertical logs):
69 x 75 m (5,175 sq. m.).
b. Two streets sub-dividing the
small settlement into four
quarters with 22-23? houses:
3 sets of six small houses
1 set of four-five small houses
Each quarter may = lineage.
c. The houses have wattle and
daub construction (1 storey):
approx. 7-8 x 13-14 metres.
d. Most houses had a hearth.
e. Some houses appear to be
joined (shared households?)
and may share one hearth?
Late Neolithic Europe, South-central region, ca. 3,600 BC.

Lake edge dwellings in Switzerland 3600 BC
E.g., St. Aubin, (see Gimbutas 1991: 194)
4000 BC
Late Neolithic Europe: South-central region, ca. 3,600 BC.
(Lakeside dwelling Switzerland

see Cunliffe 1994: 178)
Reconstruction of Neolithic Lake front dwelling in Switzerland.
Reconstruction of a Neolithic Lake front dwelling at La Tene,

Lake Neuchatel (in Switzerland).
Late Neolithic Europe, central-west region, ca. 4,000 2,500 BC.

Central-Western Europe: Germany.
Ca.4000-2500 BCE
2,500 BC
4,500 BC
Late Neolithic Europe, Eastern region, ca. 3,700 BC.

Late Neolithic site of
Dobrovody in Ukraine:
- ca. 3,700 BCE
- One of the largest late
Neolithic farming sites.
- Approximately 200+
houses within an enclosure
(maybe 2000 persons)
- Over 1000 x 1000 metres
in area.
- Most Neolithic sites are
much smaller.
Late Neolithic Europe, Eastern region, ca. 3,000 BC.

(see Champion et. al., 1984: 176)
3,000 BC+/Hilltop enclosure

at Homolka, Czech.
Late Neolithic Europe, Southeast region, ca. 4,000 BC.

Social organization:
Elite burials (chieftain):
- A single interment of a 45-year
old male. = very wealthy and
probably a chieftain.
- The burial lay in a late
Neolithic cemetery at Varna
on the Black Sea coast of
Bulgaria.
- It dates to ca. 4,000 BCE.
- It had over 990 individual gold
items (1,516 grammes) and
various copper and flint
weapons.
Neolithic social organization:

- Emerging chieftains (wealthy individuals);
- Community elders, or leaders, including religious leaders;
- Probably some hunters & warriors;
- Traders (including overland and maritime);
- Sailors, including fishermen, crews for migratory ships, traders,+
- Craft specialists: potters, sculptors, metal smiths, weavers,

carpenters, etc. (including general craftsmen
& craftswomen: cooking, mending, tailoring, +).
- Farmers, including gardeners (knowledgeable about flora)
- Shepherds, including tending sheep, goats, pigs, cattle.
- Children adolescents being trained in farming, crafts, etc.

- Perhaps captives (slaves?): e.g., death pits.
- Increasing complexity over time and some shared skill sets.
6.a.
Determining the
Past Environment:
Chronological sequence of cold & dry periods versus warm & wet periods:
i.e., Last Glacial Maximum: 20,00010,000 BC, incl. 12,70010,800 Interstadial
i.e., Younger Dryas (10,8009,600 BC) & Holocene (9,600 BPpresent).
Last Glacial Maximum: Ice Sheets, Tundra, Forest, Parktundra, & Steppe land.
Forest
Forest
Example of tundra (from Norway):

- i.e., covering much of northern Europe during Ice Age (Last Glacial Maximum).
Example of steppe (in Europe):

- i.e., covering parts of southeast Europe during Ice Age (Last Glacial Maximum).
Example of temperate forests (in northern Canada):

- i.e., covering parts of coastal Europe during Ice Age (Last Glacial Maximum).
Pre-Neolithic Europe: from the Ice Age to the Neolithic
6.b.
TRANSITION
TO HOLOCENE
warm & wet phase:
(i.e., post Ice Age)
Early Holocene: 8,000 BC 5,000 BC transformation of N. Europe: Dogger
Hunter-gatherers in North Europe
Neolithic farmers in North Europe
Prehistoric landscapes:
6,000 BC: Britain is now
separated from Europe by
the English Channel.
Seismic data: anc. river
Neolithic Europe: Early Holocene ca. 7,000 3,000 BCE
6.c.
ENVIRONMENT
IN EARLY HOLOCENE
MODERN EUROPE:
Geological map of Europe
Soils map of Europe: i.e., emphasizing the great spatial diversity.
By the early Holocene, including the Neolithic period,

Europe had a warmer, wetter, and more stable climate (closer to today):
-- excepting a transitory slightly colder spell ca. 6,200 BCE.
Europe: SUMMER temperatures in C & F for July.

- More than 25 degrees down to 5-10 degrees Celsius from South to North
- More than 77 degrees down to 50-59 degrees Fahrenheit from South to North
Europe WINTER temperatures in C & F for January.

- Around 10-15 degrees down to less than 10 degrees Celsius from SW to NE
- Around 50-59 degrees down to less than 14 degrees Fahrenheit from SW-NE
Vegetation map of modern Europe:
7.a.
Determining the
past subsistence patterns:
The spread of Neolithic farming from the Near East to Europe:
7.b.
THE SPREAD OF
NEOLITHIC
FARMING lifestyle:
Migration, Diffusion, Acculturation.
Neolithic innovations spread to Greece & Balkans: 7,0005,800 BC
8,500 7,500+ BC
crop animal domestication
W-demic diffusion: corroborated by DNA evidence
Neolithic lifestyle continues spreading from Greece to Italy & the Balkans:
ca. 6,0005,700 BCE, alongside obsidian trade (frequently from island sources)
6,000
5,750 BC
6,100
5,900 BC
6,400
6,200 BC
6,000 BC
5,200? BC
7,000
6,000 BC
Westward spread of Neolithic farming lifestyle in Mediterranean Area:

5711-5558 BC+ Emergence of domestic sheep, goats, pigs at Uzzo Cave (Sicily)
Adoption of farming: Wheat, barley, lentils, vetch, beans, peas.
Increasingly reduced exploitation of wild fauna: e.g., deer.
Subsequent development of local Impressed Ware pottery.
BOTH migrations (demic diffusion) and acculturation (adoption of lifestyle)
Tracking changes in local

subsistence at Uzzo Cave
Cave of Grotta dellUzzo in Sicily:

8th 5th mill. BC occupation: H+G farmers
The next phase of agricultural colonization, diffusion, & acculturation
i.e., 5,5004,100 BC emergence of Impressed Ware pottery along coast & inland.
Impressed ware pottery
5,5004,100 BC emergence of Impressed Ware pottery along coast & inland.

Aside from improbable overland coastal diffusion, 500-year rapid spread = SEA.
5,500
BCE+
Early SE
European
Neolithic
5,800+
BC
6,000
BCE+
6,500
BCE+
7,000
BCE+
Radiocarbon-dated spread of Impressed Ware pottery sites WEST
Riverine access for agricultural colonization & acculturation in interior of Europe
Detail of the demic diffusion

of agricultural colonization
& acculturation in W. Europe:
i.e., Imported Neolithic
lifestyle (crops; animals)
Local variants of pottery:
e.g., Impressed ware.
The emergence & growth of early Neolithic

Linearbandkeramik (LBK) culture in Middle
Europe, spanning 5,500 5,000 BCE
Initially ca. 5,5005,300 BC in N. Austria+
Expands c.5,1005,000 BC in Mid-Europe
5,000 BCE
Dogger Island
5,1005,000 BCE
5,100
5,000 BCE
5,5005,300 BCE
5,100
5,000
BCE
Evidence for violence during the spread of Neolithic lifestyle:
- Massacre of 34 persons at Linearbandkeramik site Talheim SW Germany: 5100 BC

16 children; adult males & females; axe blows to back of head; 3 arrows in back
- After reaching limit of colonization: prob. population growth & social tensions.
See in-class doc.-2: Lost Cannibals of Europe

(= the same period & region).
Neolithic Europe, spanning ca. 7,000 3,000 BC.
7.c.
SUBSISTENCE:
i.e., agriculture and livestock
(sheep, goats, pigs, cattle).
Early-mid Neolithic Europe: SW region, ca. 7,0005,000 BC

Grotta di Porto Badisco (Spain): 7000-5000 BCE many paintings.
Uzzo Cave illustrates shift from wild to domesticated animals ca. 57115,558 BC
Neolithic Europe: general farming technology ca. 7,0003,000 BC

Rise of farming in Europe
(Champion et. al., 1984: 121)
Gimbutas 1991: 196, wooden furrowing sticks
Late Neolithic Europe, farming practices ca. 4,0002,500 BC.

Central-Western Europe
ca. 4,000 2,500 BCE:
- People maintained herds of
domesticated animals:
cattle, pigs, sheep, & goats.
- Hunting & fishing continuing.

- Population cultivated grains:
einkorn; emmer; bread
wheats; barley) and legumes)
Possibly initially using a cycle
of clearing some land, planting
some crops, and allowing
domesticated animals to
graze the land.
i.e., shifting and short-lived
clearances (until later when
larger and longer lived ones =
used in Corded Ware culture).
Late Neolithic Europe, farming practices ca. 4,0002,500 BC.

Central-Western Europe
ca. 4,000 2,500 BCE:
- Continuing the land
clearance cycle with the
need to re-clear land after
the regeneration of the
earlier woodland.
- Renewed clearance
(illustrated below).
Late Neolithic Europe, Southern region, focus ca. 3,500 BC.

SE Europe:
- Burials of cattle & humans
at Alsonomedi (SE of
modern Budapest; Hungary).
Male & female & a cow & bullock.
- Part of the Baden-culture

(possibly Pecel-culture).
- Dating approximately to
ca. 3,500 BCE.
- A change in burial rites:
More formal laying out of
persons, animals, & goods.
- The livestock burial may
reflect enhanced importance
& new ideas of ownership.
(See Whittle 1996: 122-24)
8.
TECHNOLOGY:
Early Neolithic Northern Europe, focus ca. 5,500 BC.

Mesolithic to Neolithic stone tools:
- An example of the changes in stone
tool technology from the Mesolithic to
Neolithic periods from Denmark.
- Note the reduction in microlithic
stone tools, albeit with some retention.
- Note the continuity and increase in
other stone tools:
E.g., scrapers, perforators, burins,
axes, etc. (see Cunliffe 1994: 92)
NOTE:
- Many other types of tools are present
in the Neolithic (and earlier),
including wooden tools and later
copper tools.
Late Neolithic Europe, focus ca. 4,000 3,000 BC

Neolithic tools:
Stone axes with wooden hafts
(see Gimbutas 1991: )
Illustrating the techniques of
hafting.
4th millennium BCE.
Late Neolithic Europe, focus ca. 3,800 3,600 BC.

Neolithic tools:
Left side:
Wooden handles from
agricultural harvesting knives.
3700-3600 BCE
Upper right:
Flint harvesting knives placed
in a wooden handle. 3800 BCE
Lower right:
Other types of flint knives in
wooden handles. Sickle blades
3700-3600 BCE
(see Gimbutas 1991: 197)
Late Neolithic Europe, metallurgy, ca. 4,500 3,000 BC.

Late Neolithic metallurgy:
Ca.4,500 - 3,000 BCE.
- Early copper tools from the
Neolithic in eastern Europe:
e.g., Bulgaria, Romania.
(a). Hammer-axe
(b). Chisel
(c). Axe-adze
(d). Awl set in antler handle
(e). Fish hook.
(see Champion et. al., 1984:
145).
A shift in using native copper
to smelting, hammering, and
later casting copper ores took
place around 4500 BC: E. Europe
(see Champion et. al., 1984: 145-46)
Late Neolithic Europe, metallurgy: copper working ca. 3,000 BC.

Central Europe:
Examples of copper items found in
central Europe during the late 4th to
Early 3rd millennium BC: 3,000 BC+/TOP: Torque / necklace
LEFT: Axe with shaft-hole for a
wooden handle
RIGHT: A chisel with a square shaft
(missing its wooden handle)
Smelting at 1,000 degrees C.
(see Champion et. al., 1984: 165-67)
5,090 5,050 BC
Mapping water management: e.g., wells, irrigation, springs, etc.
Early Neolithic pottery:

Ca. 7,000 5,000 BCE.
-
Handmade pottery with a range

of crude to well-made forms.
Adopted from Near East, but very

soon adopted different designs
and forms according to various
regions.
Early Neolithic Europe: Southeast region, ca. 7,000 5,000 BC.

Impressed Ware pottery:
- It displays great variety & regional through sub-regional differences in Central
and Western Europe: 7000-5000 BCE. Mainly consisting of bowls and jars.
- Italy has yielded many variants of Impressed Ware pottery.
- Predates Stentinello-style pottery in Italy.
Early Neolithic Europe, Southeast region, ca. 7,000 5,000 BC.
Late Neolithic Europe, SE central region, ca. 4,000 3,000 BC.

Baden culture pottery (SE-Central Europe)
Especially 4,000 3,000 BCE
Baden culture drinking cup, 3400 BCE
Late NeolithicEB Age Europe central-west region 30002400 BC

Late NeolithicEB Age Europe central-west region 30002400 BC

Alpine region: Corded Ware pottery, central-western Europe, 3,0002,400 BCE
Early to late Corded Ware pottery from 3000-2400 BC (Cunliffe 1994: 191)
Late Neolithic Europe, SE central region, ca. 4,000 3,000 BC.

SE Europe
ca.4,000-3,000 BCE:
A Baden-culture burial in
Hungary at Szigetszentmartion. Ca.3500 BCE.
The burial yielded a cart
cup-model illustrating the
arrival of wheeled wagons
(1st seen in Mesopotamia
far to the far east).
Wooden cart wheels are
found elsewhere in West
Europe in the early 3rd
millennium BCE (later!).
Other early cart models
date nearer the advent of
Baden culture (4000-3000 (See Whittle 1996: 125)
BCE). Ca.3,500 BCE(!)
Late Neolithic to early EB Age: early 3rd millennium BCE:

4-wheeled Ceramic wagon model as a cup, from Szigetszentmarton in Hungary.
(Late) Neolithic Europe: Southern region, focus ca.60003000 BC

Wagon with wooden wheels: ca.3,000 BC from Plachidol, Bulgaria.
Reconstruction of a late Neolithic 2-wheeled cart from Europe.
LATER EXAMPLES OF SIMILAR WHEELED CARTS:

Early Bronze Age cart burial from Tri Brata pit-grave: 3rd mill. BC
Reconstructed 4-wheeled cart from MB Age burial at Lchashen: 2nd mill. BC
9.
TRADE &
EXCHANGE:
Exchange of materials, products,
& ideas (incl. influx of peoples).

TRADE in the Neolithic:
Exotics: ivory & ostrich shells (N. Africa)
i.e., prestige items in Iberia.
Resins: amber from N. Europe.
Stone: obsidian, etc. (in Europe)
Metals: copper, gold, silver, tin (in Europe).
Copper formed one of the most important
and prestigious trade items.
Pottery: Pottery containers and pottery
styles spread as well.
Neolithic obsidian trade:

- Obsidian sources appear in various
Mediterranean islands and some mainland
sites in Turkey, etc.
- Especially popular for stone tools.

Later Neolithic:
As the Neolithic
progressed, copper
became increasingly
a major trade item
from copper rich
sources to noncopper bearing
areas.
The triangles show
copper ore areas.
The blue circles
show gold producing
areas.
The red-circles show
tin-producing areas.
(see Champion et.

al., 1984: 166)
Carpatho-Balkan copper exchange network: 5th mill. BC 3,800 BC.

- Copper ore from Aibunar Cu mine ca. 5100 BC trade until 3,800 BC at latest.
Prod.: unused/prestige copper tools, axes, chisels, etc.

Possibly as gifts displaying status/power of elite.
Nova Zegora:
Aibunar Cu-mine nearby
Jadeite trade:
-Source in Alpine area
of NW Italy & SE France
-Jadeite axes (& rings)

traded in W. Europe from
4,700 3,800 BCE.
-Peak period of trade:
4,500 4,300 BCE.
-Functional small axes to
larger ceremonial axes:
Trade gifts & ritual offerings
Jadeite
sources
10.a.
COGNITIVE
ARCHAEOLOGY:
Shrines & religious beliefs.
Late Neolithic: 3,5002,500 BC

- Two conjoined stone temples,
built over a substantial period.
- Limestone orthostats (upright

slabs) lining chambers & wall
faces, with rubble fill.
- Temples contained large stone
sculptures of very big women:
a. mother goddess figures(?);
b. priestesses(?)
Late Neolithic temple at Hagar Qim on southern coast of Malta: ancestors?

Malta temples = unique: perhaps resource depletion led to greater religious cults.
Late Neolithic to EB Age: ca. 3,500 2,500 BCE.

Brochtorff Circle (Malta): shrines & 1000s of burials ancestor cult?
Collective burials with stone-built temples: Central-W. Med.: 5,000 2,500 BC.
4,000 3,000 BC

Malta: stone temple at Ggantija
ca. 3,000 BCE.
Malta contains many late
Neolithic stone temples, many
of which contain rock-cut
components in combination with
stone built superstructures,
open areas, standing stones,
and enclosures.
Many of these temples on
Malta, and elsewhere during the
Neolithic, are associated with
collective/mass-burials, with
some bodies numbering in the
thousands: ancestor cult?
i.e., veneration of ancestors, etc.
Neolithic anthropomorphic figures & pots:

- Early Neo. figurines from Greece.
- Anthropomorphic pot (ca. 4000 BC)
from Hotnica, Bulgaria.
- Functions: deities? Ancestors? Etc.?
Mid?-Neolithic Europe: Southeast region ca. 6,000 4,000 BC.

Mother goddess and other cultic figurines appear in the Neolithic
Plateia Magoula Zarkou:

- males, animals, model buildings, etc.
(Dickinson 1994: 41)
Late Neolithic Europe: Southern region, ca. 6,000 3,000 BCE.

A plain building at Ovcarovo-IX yielded a collection of cultic figurines (daily cult)
SE Europe: Ancestor cult?
Votive offerings:
- Larger jadeite axes
with high polish and
finish were fragile
and non-functional.
- Found away from the
source and likely
served as prestige
gifts: to chieftain, etc.
- Many appear as
deposits in watery
contexts: i.e.,
probably like Celtic
offerings in springs,
rivers, bogs, etc., to
local spirits and
sacred natural spots.
- Presumably offered in
hope of var. benefits:
E.g. Crops? Children?
Victory? Healing? Etc.
10.b.
COGNITIVE
ARCHAEOLOGY:
Burials & mortuary beliefs.
(Late) Neolithic West European megalith tombs: 4,5003,500 & 3,5002,500 BC.
Ballykeel, Ireland:
Early Neolithic 4500+ BC
Portal dolmen: grave.
(Mid)-Neolithic Europe, western region, ca. 4,500 4,000 BCE.

S. Brittany, France: Passage grave in late 5th mill. BC (Cunliffe 1994: 179)
Collective burials, dry stone walling, corbell vaulting, W. European tradition.
4,7003,800 BC: Grand Menhir at Locmariaquer (originally 20 m high; 348 tons)

Later Neolithic passage tomb nearby (south coast of Brittany).
Early 5th millennium BCE:

- Menhirs with carvings: animals, etc.
Locmariaquer
Mid-Late Neolithic Europe, western region, ca. 4,500 2,500 BC.

Central-Western
Mediterranean:
Ca.5,000 2,500 BC.
2nd phase of massive
collective burial at
Sion (Switzerland).
- Decorated faade
stones at entryway.
- Stone stelae have
depictions of daggers
attesting to the use
of copper weaponry
that is also found in
other burials.
Late Neolithic Europe, Southern region, focus ca. 3,200 BC.

NW EUROPE: passage grave/tomb at Maes Howe (Orkney): ca. 3,200 BC.
Late Neolithic Europe, central-western region, ca.5,0002,500 BC

Central & Western Mediterranean:
ca.5,000 2,500 BCE (see Whittle 1996: 339)
Neolithic peoples apparently honoured their
dead greatly throughout much of Europe.
The Iceman dates to this period and would
normally have been buried in a collective burial:
E.g., A rockshelter at Manerba del Garda.
- Small rectilinear chambers: 1 x 2 m
- Stone flooring with presumed wooden walling.
- E.g., one chamber (MS.133) yielded 3 skulls &

disarticulated bones.
- Burial goods included pottery vessels (including
4 intact pottery vessels), stone beads, shell, and
copper. Stones sealed the deposit. 4 pots above
- Infant burial outside in a small pit/cist.
- Separate offerings with cereal grains, legumes,
and other plants.
- A facility for burning bones with other offerings.
Late Neolithic Europe: Southeast region, ca. 4,000 BC

Elite burials (chieftain):
- A single interment of a 45-year
old male.
- The burial lay in a late
Neolithic cemetery at Varna
on the Black Sea coast of
Bulgaria.
- It dates to ca. 4,000 BCE.
- It had over 990 individual gold

items (1,516 grammes) and
various copper and flint
weapons.
Late Neolithic Europe, central-west region, ca. 4,000 3,000 BC.

Central & W. Europe:
Ca.4,000 2,500 BCE.
- Corded Ware burials
at Cachovice in NW
Bohemia.
- Corded Ware burials

normally were single
burials following early
traditions.
- Grave goods are often
gender specific: e.g.,
amphorae, beakers,
some stone battle axes,
axes, maceheads, Cu
jewelry, ochre, and
animal bones(feasting)
-A few pits have a small
mound over them.
(see Whittle 1996: 264)
Late Neolithic Europe, Central-western region ca. 4,0002,500 BC

Central & Western Europe:
Ca.4,000 2,500 BCE.
- Baden culture collective
burial at Bronocice pit 36-B1.
- Burials appear in settlements,
ceremonial sites, and special
inhumations.
- One collective burial yielded
17 persons in one pit-grave:
(a).Four adults:
a 25-year old man in the
centre, two younger
women at the edge.
(b).13 children here and there.
(See Whittle 1996: 241-42)
Late Neolithic Europe: Southern region, ca. 3,000 BC.

Italy: Remedello grave: examples of some single interment graves versus the
more popular collective burials during the Neolithic.
(see Whittle 1996: 341)
Late Neolithic Europe: Southeast region, ca. 4,0003000 BC.

SE Europe
4,000-3,000 BCE:
Baden culture
cremation urns
from Center near
Ozd (Hungary).
Other Baden
Culture burials rep.
inhumation burials
i.e., non-cremation
This example may
reflect earlier
traditions and diff.
customs in a very
diverse region &
SE Europe (See
Whittle 1996: 126)
Neolithic Europe: Central-eastern region, ca. 5,500 3,000 BC.

Burial goods:
Nitra cemetery in
Czechoslovakia (a)
and TiszapolgarBasatanya cemetery
in Hungary (b).
Male burials tend to
have various grave
goods versus female
burials (elsewhere
this is less the case).
Adults tend to have
more burial goods
than most persons
younger than 20 yrs.
Children had not yet
had time to gain any
wealth. Less emph.
on inherited wealth.
1984: 143)
10.c.
COGNITIVE
ARCHAEOLOGY:
Language: Indo-European
Origins of European languages: i.e., a postulated single Indo-European root.

- Increasingly archaeologists view the Indo-European language as arriving via
Neolithic agricultural colonists (i.e., demic diffusion versus cultural diffusion).
Indo-European is thereby viewed as originating in SW Asia in 8th mill. BC+
Arrived in Europe via: (a) Balkans Great Hungarian Plain Middle Europe
(b) West Mediterranean coastline Iberia
Creolization of Indo-European with Mesolithic languages Slavic, Baltic, etc.
Indo-European languages:
- Probably arrived via a postulated
Proto-Indo-European language
from Southwest Asia via the
various early Neolithic migrations.
ca. 7,000 5,500 BCE.
Creolization of proto-Indo-European probably = ca. 4,000 2,500 BCE.
11.
APPEARANCE:
(e.g., clothing, health,
etc.)

Bat Cave (Spain): 4,000 BC clothed bodies with baskets (see Cunliffe 1994: 183)

Western-central Europe 5000-2500 BC
Stelae/Menhirs: ancestral veneration?
1984: 193).
N. Italy:
St. Martin de
Corleans
Ca.3,000 BC
A 2.5 m high
stela with a
depiction of a
male with:
Face
(schematic)
An axe
A bow
A belt
A pouch
(see Iceman)

Germany, 3,000 BC slab: illustrating quiver of arrows, a bow, & matting
(originally red-painted and placed in a grave)

Exceptional preservation has provided
much additional information on clothing,
tattooing, implements, health, diet, etc.
E.g., The Iceman and other finds

ca. 3,200 3,000 BCE.
Palaeolithic Neolithic Europe, ca. 7,000 3,000 BC.
12.
PROCESSES
OF CHANGE:
Palaeolithic EB Age
Chronological sequence of cold & dry periods versus warm & wet periods:
i.e., Last Glacial Maximum: 20,00010,000 BC, incl. 12,70010,800 Interstadial
i.e., Younger Dryas (10,8009,600 BC) & Holocene (9,600 BPpresent).
ICE AGE coastline changes:

E.g., 140,000 yrs of sea-level changes
Evidence from uplifted reefs N.G.
+deep sea oxygen isotopes sed.
i.e., 20,000 yrs BP land bridge from
approx. 120 m drop in sea-level
Ice Age: peopling of North America:
Lower Prehistoric landscapes:

- 15,000 B.C.: N. Europe 3,000 years
after Ice sheets had begun to melt.
- 1931: Trawler brought up Mesolithic
bone harpoon encased in peat.
- 1998: B. Coles gathered all findings
from North Sea theoretical maps
of Prehistoric Doggerland
- Recent: seismic data from oil expl.
Palaeolithic to Neolithic & Chalcolithic Europe: 7000 - 3000 BC.

CHANGES to Neolithic (including the Copper Age):
End of Ice Age climate becomes warmer progressively:
from southern Europe to northern Europe.
Beginning of domestication of plants: cultivating grains & legumes

Subsequent domestication of animals: cattle, sheep, goats, pigs.
Pottery emerges; it is regional; has sub-types; changes over time
Copper-working gradually appears; types increase; trade.

Social stratification (differential wealth: chieftains/clans)
Changes to Early Bronze Age (i.e., Greece & Aegean):
Rise of a more urban society in parts of the Aegean & Greece
Later rise of early state complex societies in SE Europe:
E.g., Minoans Proto-Palatial and early Palatial phases (MB Age)
13.
CASE STUDY:
THE ICEMAN
i.e., discovery
later an archaeological investigation
(Cunliffe 1994: 15)

The Iceman was found in Tyrolean Alps, on the Hauslabjoch,
near the Tisenjoch pass between Austria and Italy.
i.e., in an Alpine region.

Setting:
1991 discovery of the Iceman
(initially a police investigation and
removal of the body; subsequently
became an archaeological project),
The Iceman = found in Tyrolean Alps,
on the Hauslabjoch (Mountain)/Peak,
near the Tisenjoch pass between
Austria and Italy: = an Alpine region.
3,200 m above sea level.
Near an East-West ridge through the
Alps: i.e., crossing the Alps.
He had probably been traversing this
area during the autumn.
Ice Man
3,000 BC

Clothing:
Leather loincloth.
Leather leggings.
A belt which also functioned as a
pouch.
Deer skin coat (sleeveless?)
Outer cape composed of reeds or
grasses.
Calfskin shoes insulated with grass
inside and secured by knotted grass
strings.
Headgear consisted of several types
of fur joined together and containing
flaps joined under the chin.
i.e., well-designed clothing to protect
him in crossing the Alps.
L wrist: fur-birch bracelets, marble disc.
(See Whittle 1996: 315-16)

Possessions:
A bow of yew that had not been

finished.
A quiver manufactured using a frame
and supplied with a lid.
14 broken arrows.
A bone tool with a curved shaped.
Spare arrowheads: i.e., bone projectile
points.
Probable spare strings for the bow:
i.e., sinew & tree bast.
An axe with a yew handle/haft and a
copper blade *(Remedello: 150 km S.).
A flint knife placed on a wooden handle
and stored in a string sheath.
An antler tip inserted into a wooden
handle, probably as a retouching tool.

Possessions (continued):
The belt pouch contained:

(a) a flint scraper
(b) a flake
(c) a flint awl
(d) some sort of fungus probably being
tinder for lighting a fire.
Two birch-bark cylindrical containers
(shaped by sewing)
(a) One may have carried embers from
a fire to relight new fires.
A hazel wood frame for a backpack
made with cross boards and fur.
Skin:
His skin yielded a series of small
tattoos: small linear designs.

Occupation(s):
Debated greatly:
(a). A trader
(b). A hunter
(c). A shaman
(d). A community leader/elite (axe)
(e). A ritual execution / murder victim
(f). A refugee from an attack
(g). A shepherd
Whittle s preferred theory:
A shepherd making a hunting bow
whilst tending to his flock: murdered!
e.g., small fragments of ibex bone lay
near the body, representing an
animal found in mountains.
The copper axe may represent an item
found more widely amongst late
Neolithic persons than previously
thought: i.e,, not an elite item.

The Iceman and his clothing and possessions.

Italy: Stentinello?-culture (S)/Remedello-culture (N) Austria: Rssen-culture
Neolithic Europe, ca. 7,000 3,000/2,500 BC
14.
SUMMARY:
Summary notes on Neolithic Europe:

End of the Ice Age (Last Glacial Maximum [LGH]):
20,000 10,000 BCE experienced mostly melting/retreating ice sheets;
Sea level rose from a low of minus 120 m (-120 m) to minus 35 m (-35 m);
Forests mostly lay along the southern Mediterranean coastline of Europe;
The North Sea contained a large stretch of land (Dogger hills), ca. 18,000 BC,
which progressively receded with rising waters to become Dogger Island by
5,000 BC; 1931: a trawler dredged up a Mesolithic bone harpoon point here
(i.e., Dogger Island was occupied by local hunter-gatherers in the Mesolithic).
Initiation of animal & plant domestication in Near East:

i.e., The Fertile Crescent, especially NW Syria, Palestine, and Zagros Mts.
Pre-pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) Near East witnessed domestication of wheat
and barley between 8,500 and 7,500 BCE.
Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) Near East experienced the domestication of
animals (sheep; goats; pigs; cattle) by 7,500 BCE extending to 6,000 BCE.

Exportation of a Neolithic (Near Eastern) lifestyle to Europe:
Fully domesticated crops (wheat; barley) & animals (sheep/goats; pigs;+), and
pottery production and a sedentary lifestyle, reach:
a. Crete and Eastern Greece (especially Thessaly): ca. 7,000 6,500 BCE;
b. The Balkans: ca. 5,800+ BCE;
c. Western Greece, Southern Italy, & Sicily: ca. 6,100 6,000+ BCE;
d. Coastal Mediterranean areas from Adriatic to Western Portugal, and inland:
ca. 5,500 BCE (including emergence of Impressed Ware pottery);
e. Demi diffusion (migrants) transfers this lifestyle up rivers into West Europe
f. Demi diffusion (migrants) transfers this lifestyle northeast into central Europe
ca. 5,500 5,300 BCE (including emergence of Linearbandkeramik);
g. Internal population growth & expansion in central Europe expand outwards
to west, north, south, and east ca. 5,100 5,000 BCE (Linearbandkeramik);
h. Neolithic lifestyle reaches NW Europe ca. 4,500 BCE;
By the end of this initial period of Neolithic colonization (demi diffusion),
local acculturation (indigenous adaptation), and internal population growth,
possible rising social tensions translate into conflict, including massacres:
E.g., death pits with murdered/executed children and adults (see Nat. Geo.);
Summary: Europe is transformed from 7,0004,500 BCE by a Neolithic lifestyle,
which ends in ca. 3,000 BCE (SE Europe) & 2,500 BCE (elsewhere).

Social organization:
Settlement patterns reveal some aspects of Neolithic social organization:
a. Many types of settlements and housing emerge across Europe, influenced
by regional materials, setting, and other factors.
b. Neolithic settlements range from 130 hectares, with most being 7 or less,
with square, rectilinear, ovoid, circular, and sometimes irregular plans.
b. They are often located on defensible hilltops, valley edges, and other areas
near fresh water sources: e.g., lakes, springs, rivers, streams.
d. Excavations reveal multiple fortification walls around settlements, including
ditches and multiple palisade walls with vertical logs/posts & complex gates.
e. Interior layouts reveal a street around the interior palisade, main streets
between blocks of houses, & often tightly packed houses with narrow alleys.
f. Houses vary widely in construction, having stone foundations & mud brick
walls, wattle & daub, timber construction, & other variants (cave dwellings);
Lake fronts included raised timber, pile dwellings (e.g., Lake Konstanz).
g. Houses vary from being square to rectilinear, and also long houses;
h. Most have single floors (some 2nd storeys) for nuclear & extended families;
Social organization: Chieftains, elders, religious leaders, warriors, hunters,
traders, sailors, craft specialists (potters; sculptors; metal smiths; weavers;
carpenters; +), farmers, shepherds, trainees/apprentices, captives/slaves, etc.

Subsistence:
- The Neolithic lifestyle entailed farming (wheat; barley; legumes; etc.) and
maintaining herds (sheep; goats; pigs; cattle).
- Farming required land clearance, re-clearance, digging furrows (i.e., digging
sticks), planting seeds, tending fields, harvesting, winnowing & threshing,
storing excess grain etc., processing grain etc., and maintaining herds;
Technology:
The Neolithic populations, including both new settlers & acculturated locals,
had a wide range of technology and products:
a. Stone tools continued using microliths, abandoning some forms, retaining
others, modifying some, and introducing many new forms.
b. Wooden tools are used (e.g., furrow sticks), form handles & other fittings,
and furniture etc.
c. Copper mining & production is known, including axes, chisels, adzes, awls,
hooks, torques, etc.; many seem to be unused ceremonial /status items(?);
d. Pottery is handmade, fired, and ranges from well-made to crude types.
e. Wagons are known by the 4th millennium BCE, and continue into EB Age+
f. Many other forms of technology are in use during this period:
E.g., ship-building; weaving; tanning(?); cooking/baking; brewing; etc.

Trade & exchange:
Many materials, items, ideas, and peoples moved to, from, and within Europe
throughout the Neolithic period (i.e., cultural diffusion & demic diffusion), with
some local acculturation (i.e., Mesolithic populations adapting to new ideas etc.).
a. Initially the arrival of Near Eastern domesticated crops & animals, people,
housing, pottery production, items, ideas, language (prob. Indo-European).
b. Exotica: ivory & ostrich eggshells from North Africa;
c.
Amber (i.e., resin) from Northeast Europe (Baltic) traded to south;
d. Obsidian from various parts of southern/Mediterranean Europe for tools etc.

e. Metals: copper, gold, silver, & tin from various locations in Europe for various
tools (axes; chisels), jewellery (torques): often unsed gifts & prestige items.
f.
Jadeite: from sources in NW Italy (where it is used in small functional tools),

and traded throughout Western Europe as larger, well-polished, better made
ceremonial axes (& some rings), as gifts & votive offerings: watery contexts.
g. Pottery: made in various distinct styles in smaller areas to broad regions,

with dispersals over wide areas characterizing several main parts of Europe.
h.
Other materials and items:

Temples/shrines: i.e., daily life religion.
A variety of Neolithic temples and shrines are known, especially in Malta:
a. Stone-lined chamber, passages, and exterior walls (i.e., orthostats/slabs)
with corbell/other roofing, rubble-filled interior walls, and mounded tops.
(some combine rock-cut & rock-built architecture; stones may be huge)
b. Many have surrounding compounds with an exterior stone wall and gate;
c. They are often associated with large sculptures of huge women function:
Fertility figures? Mother goddesses? Priestesses? Matriarchal ancestors? +
d. Many stone temples have collective communal burials with disarticulated
bones, skulls, and possessions: i.e., perhaps communal ancestor cults?
e. This huge stone construction constitutes megalithic architecture: W. Europe
ca. 4,500/4,000 3,000/2,500 BCE.
f. Many shrines also contain female figurines: fertility aspects often emphasize
Other figurines are androgynous; some are male; some are animals.
Presumably representing a polytheistic society with various deities, spirits,
and beliefs, which may reflect both diverse origins and local acculturation.
g. Other cultic deposits include: small pottery bowls, trays, furniture, food,
human figures, animals, house models: votive offerings, etc. with aims:
h. Jadeite axes are found as offerings in watery contexts:
Poss. cultic aims: Placating spirits/deities; asking for fertility (children; crops;
livestock), health, stability, happiness, victory, safe journey, +

Mortuary practices/religion:
The influx of diverse settlers, acculturation by indigenous hunter-gatherers, and
continuous trade/exchange, probably translated into diverse mortuary customs:
a. Megaliths: ca. 4,500-3,500 NW fringes of Europe & 3,500-2,500 BC spread
in Western part of Europe (including Malta: along W. European trade route?).
E.g., Portal dolmen grave topped by a mound; stone-lined passage grave
with stone corbel vaulting; mostly for collective/communal burials.
E.g., Menhirs: small to large (e.g., 20 m high & 348 tons) re-used in tombs.
E.g., Entry stelae/slabs with decoration: e.g., carved weaponry (daggers).
b. Rock shelter tomb/grave: Disarticulated burials, offerings, jewellery, grain,
legumes, burnt bones, etc.
c.
Variously sized pit-grave types under mounds: Single wealthy burials;

several burials and individual burials under smaller mounds with some
possessions, pottery, weapons, jewellery, animal bones (feasting), etc.
d. Settlement & cemetery burials: some intramural & extramural burials.

e. Pit-graves with cremation urns and some possessions.
f.
Grave goods: adult males gen. have items; adult females & children = none
Basic beliefs: Intact inhumations, disarticulated burials, & cremation burials.

Language:
A probable proto-Indo-European language probably entered Europe via the
early Neolithic migrations (demic diffusion), following trade routes, from
Southwest Asia (Near East) in 7,000 5,500 BCE, spreading within Europe.
After having settled in Europe, blending with local populations, a creolization
of this proto Indo-European probably took place ca. 4,000 2,500 BCE.
This creolization translated into the base for many modern European
languages: Slavic, Baltic, Germanic, Celtic, etc.
Appearance:
The appearance and adornment of various Neolithic peoples is evident from:
some preserved burial remains (e.g., Spain), variously preserved textiles,
leather, furs, etc. (Iceman), weaponry, jewellery, tattooing (Iceman), and
sculpture, art, and other transmissions of clothing and features.
Changes:
The abundant changes in the Mesolithic to Early Bronze Age include:
(a) climatic changes; (b) geographic shifts; (c) environmental modifications;
(d) influx of new domesticated plants, animals, artefacts, ideas, language, &
peoples; and (e) many other changes including technology, etc.
15.
SOURCES:
(i.e., some searchers)
Whittle, Alasdair
Europe in the Neolithic:
The Creation of New Worlds.
Excellent overview of iceman
and Neolithic in general.

Champion, Timothy,
Gamble, Clive,
Shennan, Stephen,
and Whittle, Alasdair.
Prehistoric Europe.
London: Academic Press (1984).
Some excellent coverage of the

Neolithic period.
Cunliffe, Barry
Europe Between the Oceans:
9000 BC AD 1000. New
Haven: Yale University Press
(2008).
Excellent recent summary of
European Prehistory to the
Dark Ages.

Cunliffe, Barry (ed.)
Prehistoric Europe: An
Illustrated History.
Oxford: Oxford University
Press (1994).
Excellent coverage of the
Neolithic.

Dickinson, Oliver.
The Bronze Age Aegean.
Some helpful coverage of the
Neolithic period focusing on the
Aegean and mainland Greece.

Gimbutas, Marija
The Civilization of the
Goddess: The World of
Old Europe.
New York: Harper Collins
Publishers (1991).
Very controversial book;

excellent illustrations of
diverse aspects of the
Neolithic.
Archaeology in general (Mumford & Parcak textbook for ANTH.106)

Renfrew, C. & Bahn, P.
Archaeology: Theories,
Methods, and Practice.
London: Thames & Hudson
(2012, 6th edition).
Excellent detailed summary

of approaches to assessing
and data on diverse past
societies/cultures across
the globe:
- Environment
- Social organization
- Subsistence
- Technology
- Trade
- Cognitive archaeology
- Change
Neolithic materials:
Runnels, C. and Murray, P. M.
2001 Greece Before History:
An Archaeological
Companion and Guide.
Stanford: Stanford
University Press.
Chp.1: An introduction to the

Prehistory of Greece: pp.1-8.
Chp.2: The Old Stone Age: how
It all began. Pp. 9-40.
a. Palaeolithic, pp. 12-19.
b. Middle Palaeolithic, pp. 19-25
c. Upper Palaeolithic, pp. 25-31.
d. Mesolithic period, pp. 31-40.
Chp.3: The New Stone Age: The
Earliest Greek civilization, 41-64.
a. Origins of the Greek Neolithic
b. Neolithic civilization.

Sandars, N. K.
Prehistoric Art in Europe.
Harmondsworth: Prenguin Books
Ltd (1985 2nd edition).
Excellent coverage of Prehistoric
art, including Neolithic art.
16.
ADDENDUM:
i.e., answers to in-class
questions/enquiries.
Ancient DNA from the First European Farmers in 7500-Year-Old Neolithic Sites:
The ancestry of modern Europeans is a subject of debate among geneticists,

archaeologists, and anthropologists. A crucial question is the extent to which
Europeans are descended from the first European farmers in the Neolithic
Age 7500 years ago or from Paleolithic hunter-gatherers who were present
in Europe since 40,000 years ago. Here we present an analysis of ancient DNA
from early European farmers. We successfully extracted and sequenced intact
stretches of maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from 24 out of
57 Neolithic skeletons from various locations in Germany, Austria, and Hungary.
We found that 25% of the Neolithic farmers had one characteristic mtDNA type
and that this type formerly was widespread among Neolithic farmers in Central
Europe. Europeans today have a 150-times lower frequency (0.2%) of this
mtDNA type, revealing that these first Neolithic farmers did not have a strong
genetic Influence on modern European female lineages. Our finding lends
weight to a proposed Paleolithic ancestry for modern Europeans.
Abstract, by Haak et. al. (see full article via web link below):
(http://www.uni-mainz.de/FB/Biologie/Anthropologie/MolA/Download/Haak%20et%20al.%202005%20Science.pdf)
Ancient DNA, pig domestication, and the spread of the Neolithic into Europe:
The Neolithic Revolution began 11,000 years ago in the Near East and
preceded a westward migration into Europe of distinctive cultural groups and
their agricultural economies, including domesticated animals and plants.
Despite decades of research, no consensus has emerged about the extent of
admixture between the indigenous and exotic populations or the degree to
which the appearance of specific components of the Neolithic cultural
package in Europe reflects truly independent development. Here, through the
use of mitochondrial DNA from 323 modern and 221 ancient pig specimens
sampled across western Eurasia, we demonstrate that domestic pigs of Near
Eastern ancestry were definitely introduced into Europe during the
Neolithic (potentially along two separate routes), reaching the Paris Basin
by at least the early 4th millennium B.C. Local European wild boar were
also domesticated by this time, possibly as a direct consequence of the
introduction of Near Eastern domestic pigs. Once domesticated, European
pigs rapidly replaced the introduced domestic pigs of Near Eastern origin
throughout Europe. Domestic pigs formed a key component of the Neolithic
Revolution, and this detailed genetic record of their origins reveals a complex
set of interactions and processes during the spread of early farmers into
Europe. Abstract, by G. Larson et. al. (see full article via web link below):
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc1976408/).

Neolithic Europe

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Neolithic Europe

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ANTH.106.

Doc.-Lecture-a: Neolithic Europe,

Stonehenge & Europe:

Some early scholars made accurate plans & careful studies:

The First Excavations:

Late Neolithic Europe, South-central region, ca. 3,600 BC.

(see Cunliffe 1994: 178)

Late Neolithic Europe: South-central region, ca. 3,600 BC.

(Lakeside dwelling Switzerland

Late Neolithic Europe, Southern region focus ca. 3,2003,000 BC.