Prehistoric Europe: Encyclopedia II - Prehistoric Europe - Neolithic

Prehistoric Europe - Neolithic

Main article:Neolithic Europe.

European Neolithic comes from the Near East, via Asia Minor, the Mediterranean waterway and also through the Caucasus in what regards to the East. There has been a long discussion between migrationists (who claim that the Asian peasants almost totally displaced the European native hunter-gatherers) and diffusionists (who claim that the process was slow enough to have occurred mostly through cultural transmission). Modern genetic studies seem to show that the truth is somewhere in the middle and that both processes took place, although the question is still open.

· First Neolithic Culture in Thessalia: Apparently related with the Anatolian culture of Hacilar, the Greek region of Thessalia is the first place of Europe known to have developed agriculture, cattle-herding and pottery. These early stages are know as pre-Sesklo culture.

· Ancient Neolithic: The Thessalian neolithic culture soon evolves in the more coherent culture of Sesklo (c. 6000 BCE), which is the origin of the main branches of Neolithic expansion in Europe. Practically all the BalkansPeninsula is colonized in the 6th millennium from there. That expansion, reaching the easternmost Tardenoisian outposts of the upper Tisza gives birth to the proto-Linear Pottery culture, a significant modification of the Balkan Neolithic that will be in the origin of one of the most important branches of European neolithic: the Danubian group of cultures.

In parallel, the coasts of the Adriatic and southern Italy witness the expansion of another Neolithic current of less clear origins. Settling initially in Dalmatia, the bearers of the Cardium Pottery culture may have come from Thessalia (some of the pre-Sesklo settlements show related traits) or even from Lebanon (Byblos). They are sailors, fishermen and sheep and goat herders, and the archaeological findings show that they mixed with natives in most places.

Other early neolithic cultures can be found in Ukraine and Southern Russia, where the epi-Gravettian locals assimilated cultural influxes from beyond the Caucasus (culture of Dniepr-Don and related) and in Andalusia (Spain), where the rare Neolithic of La Almagra Pottery appears without known origins very early (c. 5800 BCE).

· Middle Neolithic: This phase, starting in 5000 BCE is marked by the consolidation of the Neolithic expansion towards western and northern Europe, but also by the irruption of a new culture that, probably through violence, occupies most of the Balkans, substituting or rather subjugating the first Neolithic settlers.

This is the culture of Dimini (Thessalia) and the related ones of Vinca-Turdas (Serbia and Macedonia) and Karanovo III-Veselinovo (Bulgaria and nearby areas), this last one more hybrid than the other two.

Meanwhile, the tiny proto-Linear Pottery culture has given birth to two very dynamic branches: the Western and Eastern Linear Pottery Cultures. The latter is basically an extension of the Balkan neolithic, but the more original western branch expands quickly, assimilating what today is Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland and even large parts of western Ukraine, Moldavia, the lowlands of Romania, and regions of France, Belgium and the Netherlands. This was all achieved in less than one thousand years. With expansion comes diversification and a number of local Danubian cultures start forming at the end of the 5th millennium.

In the Mediterranean, the Cardium Pottery fishermen show no less dynamism and colonize/assimilate all of Italy and the Mediterranean regions of France and Spain.

Even in the Atlantic, some groups among the native hunter-gatherers start slowly incorporating the new technologies. Among those, the most noticeable regions seem to be the southwest of Iberia, influenced by the Mediterranean but specially by the Andalusian neolithic, which soon developes the first Megalithic burials (dolmens) and the area around Denmark (culture of Ertebölle), influenced by the Danubian complex.

· Late Neolithic: This period occupies the first half of the 4th millenium BCE and is rather quiet. The tendencies of the previous period consolidate, so we have a fully formed Neolithic Europe with five main cultural regions:

· Danubian cultures: from northern France to Western Ukraine. Now split into several local cultures, the most relevant ones being: the Romanian branch (culture of Boian) that expands into Bulgaria, the culture of Rössen that is preeminent in the west, and the culture of Lengyel of Austria and western Hungary, which will have a major role in the upcoming periods.

· Mediterranean cultures: from the Adriatic to eastern Spain, including Italy and large portions of France and Switzerland. These are also diversified into several groups.

· The area of Dimini-Vinca: Thessalia, Macedonia and Serbia, but extending its influence also to parts of the mid-Danubian basin (Tisza, Slavonia)and southern Italy.

· Eastern Europe: basically central and eastern Ukraine and parts of southern Russia and Belarus (culture of Dniepr-Don). Apparently these people were the ones who first domesticated horses (though some Paleolithic evidence could disprove it).

· Atlantic Europe: a mosaic of local cultures, some of them still pre-Neolithic, from Portugal to southern Sweden. Since around 3800 BCE the western regions of France incorporate also the Megalithic style of burial.

There are also a few independent areas: Andalusia, southern Greece and the western coasts of the Black Sea (culture of Hamangia).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Neolithic", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki