The book shows how the spread of farming across Europe was the result a population expansion from present-day Turkey.

This volume provides an elementary and comprehensive synthesis of the new discoveries and the new interpretations of European prehistory.

Since its development in 1949, radiocarbon dating has increasingly been used in prehistoric research in order to get a better grip on the chronology of sites, cultures and environmental changes. Refinement of the dating, sampling and calibration methods has continuously created new and challenging perspectives for absolute dating. In these proceedings the focus lies on the contribution of carbon-14 dates in current Mesolithic research in North-West Europe. Altogether 40 papers dealing with radiocarbon dates from 15 different countries are presented. Major themes are the typo-technological evolution of lithic and bone industries, changes in settlement patterns, burial practices, demography and subsistence, human impact on the Mesolithic environment and the neolithisation process. Some papers also deal with more methodological aspects of carbon-14 dating (e.g. calculation of various reservoir effects, the use of cumulative calibrated probability distributions), and related techniques (e.g. stable isotope analysis for palaeodiet reconstruction).

The roots of our lives today in permanent settlements and our diet based on agricultural products lie in the Neolithic. While human groups the world over have cultivated plants and domesticated animals completely independently of one another at different times, Europe's sedentarism, agriculture, and animal husbandry all have their origins in the eastern Mediterranean. The spread of the Neolithic to Central Europe occurred via the Balkan-Carpathian region, travelling primarily through the immigration of population groups, and only partially through the transfer of domesticates, technologies, and ideas. This book's aim is to demonstrate the richness and complexity of the transition of humans from hunting and gathering to agriculture and animal husbandry in South-east Europe, the first region to be affected by this phenomenon, and to discuss its wider theoretical implications. As is now clear, there is no single paradigm for the spread of the Neolithic to Central Europe, but rather a plethora of different neolithisation processes. The spread of Neolithic farmers to Europe was mainly along the Danube and its larger tributaries. Away from these main routes, different neolithisation scenarios can be observed, in which the older Mesolithic populations may have participated differently. From an initial uniformity of the material culture of the South-eastern European Neolithic, local traditions rapidly developed, these displaying a wide diversity of processes and manifestations within material culture. Exploring this against the background of the history of Neolithic research, it is demonstrated that the transition from a life in harmony with nature to productive use and even exploitation thereof is a notion deeply rooted in Western cultural history. This finding demonstrates that summarising the many observable innovations under the heading of the 'Neolithic' does not adequately describe the epoch in its entirety. Rather, the Neolithic represents an experimental phase for a way of life which is valued, at least in the Western world, as a civilising achievement. Nevertheless, history can take a very different course, and has indeed done so in various regions of the world. With the example of South-east Europe, this book reviews these dynamic processes of neolithisation, which began in different places of the world at different times, and, in some cases, still continue today.

The Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age is a wide-ranging survey of a crucial period in prehistory during which many social, economic, and technological changes took place. Written by expert specialists in the field, the book provides coverage both of the themes that characterize the period, and of the specific developments that took place in the various countries of Europe. After an introduction and a discussion of chronology, successive chapters deal with settlement studies, burial analysis, hoards and hoarding, monumentality, rock art, cosmology, gender, and trade, as well as a series of articles on specific technologies and crafts (such as transport, metals, glass, salt, textiles, and weighing). The second half of the book covers each country in turn. From Ireland to Russia, Scandinavia to Sicily, every area is considered, and up to date information on important recent finds is discussed in detail. The book is the first to consider the whole of the European Bronze Age in both geographical and thematic terms, and will be the standard book on the subject for the foreseeable future.

The transition from hunting and gathering to farming – the Neolithic Revolution – was one of the most signi cant cultural processes in human history that forever changed the face of humanity. Natu an communities (15,100–12,000Cal BP) (all dates in this chapter are calibrated before present) planted the seeds of change, and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) (ca. 12,000–ca. 8,350Cal BP) people, were the rst to establish farming communities. The revolution was not fully realized until quite late in the PPN and later in the Pottery Neolithic (PN) period. We would like to ask some questions and comment on a few aspects emphas- ing the linkage between biological and cultural developments during the Neolithic Revolution. The biological issues addressed in this chapter are as follows: × Is there a demographic change from the Natu an to the Neolithic? × Is there a change in the overall health of the Neolithic populations compared to the Natu an? × Is there a change in the diet and how is it expressed? × Is there a change in the physical burden/stress people had to bear with? × Is there a change in intra- and inter-community rates of violent encounters? From the cultural perspective the leading questions will be: × What was the change in the economy and when was it fully realized? × Is there a change in settlement patterns and site nature and organization from Natu an to Neolithic? × Is there a change in human activities and division of labor?

Landsiedlung - Vinca-Kultur - Buntmetall.