The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe

by Chris Fowler

  Gronenborn, D. 1997. Silexartefakte der ältestbandkeramischen Kultur. Bonn: Habelt.

  Gronenborn, D. 1999. A variation on a basic theme: the transition to farming in southern central Europe. Journal of World Prehistory 13, 123–210.

  Gronenborn, D. 2003. Migration, acculturation and culture change in western temperate Eurasia, 6500-5000 cal BC. Documenta Praehistorica 30, 79–91.

  Gusev, S.A. 1998. K voprosu o transportnykh sredstvakh tripol’skoy kultury. Rossiyskaya Arkheologiya 1, 15–28.

  Hafner, A. 2002. Vom Spät- zum Endneolithikum. Wandel und Kontinuität um 2700 v. Chr. in der Schweiz. Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 32, 517–531.

  Höneisen, M. 1989. Die jungsteinzeitlichen Räder der Schweiz: die ältesten Europas. In B. Schüle, D. Studer, and C. Oechslin (eds), Das Rad in der Schweiz vom 3. Jt. vor Christus bis um 1850, 13–22. Zürich: Schweizerisches Landesmuseum.

  Jeunesse, C. 1987. La céramique de la Hoguette. Un nouvel ‘élément non-rubané’ du Néolithique ancien de l’Europe du Nord-Ouest. Cahiers Alsaciens d’Archéologie, d’Art et d’Histoire 30, 5–33.

  Kastowski, K., Löcker, K., Neubauer, W., and Zotti, G. 2005. Drehscheibe des Sternenhimmels? Die Kreisgrabenanlage Immendorf. In F. Daim and W. Neubauer (eds), Zeitreise Heldenberg. Geheimnisvolle Kreisgräben, 80–84. Horn-Wien: Berger.

  Kertész, R. 1996. The Mesolithic of the Great Hungarian Plain. In L. Tálas (ed.), At the fringes of three worlds. Hunter-gatherers and farmers in the middle Tisza Valley, 5–34. Szolnok: Damjanich Museum Press.

  Kind, J. 1998. Komplexe Wildbeuter und frühe Ackerbauern. Bemerkungen zur Ausbreitung der Linearbandkeramik im südlichen Mitteleuropa. Germania 76, 1–23.

  Kossack, G. and Schmeidl, H. 1974/75. Vorneolithischer Getreideanbau im Voralpenland. Jahresbericht der Bayerischen Bodendenkmalpflege 15/16, 7–23.

  Kreuz, A. 1990. Die ersten Bauern Mitteleuropas. Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia 23. Leiden: University of Leiden.

  Kruc, V.A., Korvin-Piotrovskiy, A.G., Ryzhov, S.N., Buzian G.N., Ovchinnikov, E.V., Chernovol, D.K., and Chabanyuk, V.V. 2005. Issledovanie Poseleniy-Gigantov Tripol’skoy Kultury v 2002-2004 gg. Kiev: Korvin Press.

  Lenneis, E. and Stadler, P. 2002. 14C-Daten und Seriation altbandkeramischer Inventare. Archeologické rozhledy 54, 191–201.

  Link, T. 2006. Das Ende der neolithischen Tellsiedlungen. Ein kulturgeschichtliches Phänomen des 5. Jahrtausends v. Chr. im Karpatenbecken. Bonn: Habelt.

  Leuzinger, U. 2002. Das vermutete Joch von Arbon-Bleiche 3, Schweiz. In J. Königer, M. Mainberger, H. Schlichtherle, and M. Vosteen (eds), Schleife, Schlitten, Rad und Wagen. Zur Frage früher Transportmittel nördlich der Alpen, 107–108. Hemmenhofen: Landesdenkmalamt.

  Lüning, J. 1988. Frühe Bauern in Mitteleuropa im 6. und 5. Jahrtausend v. Chr. Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums in Mainz 35, 27–93.

  Lüning, J. 2007. Bandkeramiker und Vor-Bandkeramiker. Die Entstehung des Neolithikums in Mitteleuropa. In Vor 12.000 Jahren in Anatolien. Die ältesten Monumente der Menschheit, 177–189. Karlsruhe/Stuttgart: Theiss.

  Lüning, J., Kloos, U., and Albert, S. 1989. Westliche Nachbarn der bandkeramischen Kultur: La Hoguette und Limburg. Germania 67, 355–420.

  Maran, J. 2004a. Die Badener Kultur und ihre Räderfahrzeuge. In M. Fansa and S. Burmeister (eds), Rad und Wagen. Der Ursprung einer Innovation. Wagen im Vorderen Orient und Europa, 265–282. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.

  Maran, J. 2004b. Kulturkontakte und Wege der Ausbreitung der Wagentechnologie. In M. Fansa and S. Burmeister (eds), Rad und Wagen. Der Ursprung einer Innovation. Wagen im Vorderen Orient und Europa, 429–442. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.

  Mateiciucová, I. 2004. Mesolithic traditions and the origin of the Linear Pottery culture (LBK). In A. Lukes and M. Zvelebil (eds), LBK dialogues. Studies in the formation of the Linear Pottery culture, 91–107. Oxford: BAR.

  Neubauer, W. 2007. Monumente der Steinzeit zwischen Himmel und Erde. Interdisziplinäre Kreisgrabenforschung in Österreich. In K. Schmotz (ed.), Vorträge des 25. Niederbayerischen Archäologentages, 185–242. Rahden: Marie Leidorf.

  Nielsen, E.H. 2003. Das Spätmesolithikum und die Neolithisierung der Schweiz. Archäologische Informationen 26, 275–297.

  Quitta, H. 1960. Zur Frage der ältesten Bandkeramik in Mitteleuropa. Praehistorische Zeitschrift 38, 1–38 and 153–188.

  Piggott, S. 1983. The earliest wheeled transport: from the Atlantic coast to the Caspian Sea. London: Thames and Hudson.

  Preuß, J. 1996. Das Neolithikum in Mitteleuropa. Kulturen—Wirtschaft—Umwelt vom 6. bis 3. Jahrtausend v. u. Z. Übersichten zum Stand der Forschung. Weissbach: Beier & Beran.

  Řidký, J. 2011. Rondely a struktura sídelních areálů v mladoneolitickém období. Praha-Brno: Filozofická Fakulta Univerzity Karlovy v Prace.

  Scharl, S. 2004. Die Neolithisierung Europas. Ausgewählte Modelle und Hypothesen. Rahden: Marie Leidorf.

  Schier, W. 1993. Das westliche Mitteleuropa an der Wende vom 5. zum 4. Jahrtausend: Kulturwandel durch Kulturkontakt? In A. Lang, H. Parzinger, and H. Küster (eds), Kulturen zwischen Ost und West. Das Ost-West-Verhältnis in vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Zeit und sein Einfluß auf Werden und Wandel des Kulturraums Mitteleuropa [Festschrift G. Kossack], 19–59. Berlin: Acta Humaniora.

  Schier, W. 2009. Extensiver Brandfeldbau und die Ausbreitung der neolithischen Wirtschaftsweise in Mitteleuropa und Südskandinavien am Ende des 5. Jahrtausends v. Chr. Praehistorische Zeitschrift 84, 15–43.

  Schier, W. and Schmidt-Kaler, T. 2008. Zur astronomischen Orientierung der mittelneolithischen Kreisgrabenanlage von Ippesheim, Mittelfranken. Acta Praehistorica et Archaeologica 40, 45–55.

  Schlichtherle, H. 2002. Die jungsteinzeitlichen Radfunde vom Federsee und ihre kulturgeschichtliche Bedeutung. In J. Königer, M. Mainberger, H. Schlichtherle, and M. Vosteen (eds), Schleife, Schlitten, Rad und Wagen. Zur Frage früher Transportmittel nördlich der Alpen, 9–34. Hemmenhofen: Landesdenkmalamt.

  Schlichtherle, H. 2004. Wagenfunde aus den Seeufersiedlungen im zirkumalpinen Raum. In M. Fansa and S. Burmeister (eds), Rad und Wagen. Der Ursprung einer Innovation. Wagen im Vorderen Orient und Europa, 295–314. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.

  Schmotz, K. 2007. Die mittelneolithischen Kreisgrabenanlagen Niederbayerns. Anmerkungen zum Gang der Forschung. In K. Schmotz (ed.), Vorträge des 25. Niederbayerischen Archäologentages, 71–106. Rahden: Marie Leidorf.

  Schröter, R. 2009. Die Ausgrabungen des Urgeschichtlichen Forschungsinstituts der Universität Tübingen (UFI) in Aichbühl und Riedschachen (1919-1930). Berichte zu Ufer—und Moorsiedlungen Südwestdeutschlands IV. Stuttgart: Theiss.

  Sielmann, B. 1971. Der Einfluss der Umwelt auf die neolithische Besiedlung Südwestdeutschlands unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Verhältnisse am nördlichen Oberrhein. Acta Praehistorica et Archaeologica 2, 65–197.

  Stäuble, H. 2003. Kreisgrabenanlagen im Überblick. In R. Bartels, W. Brestrich, P. de Vries, and H. Stäuble (eds), Ein neolithisches Siedlungsareal mit Kreisgrabenanlagen bei Dresden-Nickern. Eine Übersicht. Arbeits- und Forschungsberichte der Sächsischen Bodendenkmalpflege 45, 97–133.

  Stäuble, H. 2005. Häuser und absolute Datierung der Ältesten Bandkeramik. Bonn: Habelt.

  Stäuble, H. 2007. Mittelneolithische Kreisgrabenanlagen im Wandel der Zeit. Die sächsischen Beispiele. In K. Schmotz (ed.), Vorträge des 25. Niederbayerischen Archäologentages, 169–184. Rahden: Marie Leidorf.

  Stöckli, W.E. 1995. Geschichte des Neolithikums in der Schweiz. In Die Schweiz vom Paläolithikum bis zum frühen Mittelalter. Vom Neandertaler bis zu Karl dem Großen. SPM II—Neolithikum, 19–52. Basel: Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte.

  Strien, H.-C. and Tillmann, A. 2001. Die La-Hoguette-Fundstelle von Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt—Archäologie. In A. Tillmann, B. Gehlen, and M. Heinen (eds), Zeit-Räume. Gedenkschrift für Wolfgang Taute, 673–681. Bonn: Habelt.

  Strobel, M. 1998. Diskontinuität oder Forschungslücke? Die Grupp
en Aichbühl und Schussenried in Oberschwaben. In J. Biel, H. Schlichtherle, M. Strobel, and A. Zeeb (eds), Die Michelsberger Kultur und ihre Randgebiete—Probleme der Entstehung, Chronologie und des Siedlungswesens, 201–212. Stuttgart: Theiss.

  Suter, P. 2002. Vom Spät- zum Endneolithikum. Wandel und Kontinuität um 2700 v. Chr. in Mitteleuropa. Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 32, 533–541.

  Tillmann, A., 1993. Kontinuität oder Diskontinuität? Zur Frage einer bandkeramischen Landnahme im südlichen Mitteleuropa. Archäologische Informationen 16, 157–187.

  Trifonov, V. 2004. Die Majkop-Kultur und die ersten Wagen in der südrussischen Steppe. In M. Fansa and S. Burmeister (eds), Rad und Wagen. Der Ursprung einer Innovation. Wagen im Vorderen Orient und Europa, 167–176. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.

  Trnka, G. 2005. Kreise und Kulturen—Kreisgrabenanlagen in Mitteleuropa. In F. Daim and W. Neubauer (eds), Zeitreise Heldenberg. Geheimnisvolle Kreisgräben, 10–28. Horn–Wien: Berger.

  Tureckij, M. 2004. Wagengräber der grubengrabzeitlichen Kulturen im Steppengebiet Osteuropas. In M. Fansa and S. Burmeister (eds), Rad und Wagen. Der Ursprung einer Innovation. Wagen im Vorderen Orient und Europa, 191–200. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.

  Velušček, A. 2009. Stare gmajne pile-dwelling settlement and its era. The Ljubljansko barje in the 2nd half of the 4th millennium BC. Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU, Inštitut za Arheologiju.

  Zotti, G. 2005. Kalenderbauten?—Zur astronomischen Ausrichtung der Kreisgrabenanlagen in Niederösterreich. In F. Daim and W. Neubauer (eds), Zeitreise Heldenberg. Geheimnisvolle Kreisgräben, 75–79. Horn–Wien: Berger.

  Zvelebil, M. and Lillie, M. 2000. Transition to agriculture in eastern Europe. In T.D. Price (ed.), Europe’s first farmers, 57–92. Cambridge: University Press.

  Zvelebil, M. and Rowley-Conwy, P. 1984. Transition to farming in northern Europe: a hunter-gatherer perspective. Norwegian Archaeological Review 17, 104–128.

  Zvelebil, M. and Rowley-Conwy, P. 1986. Foragers and farmers in Atlantic Europe. In M. Zvelebil (ed.), Hunters in transition. Mesolithic societies of temperate Eurasia and their transition to farming, 67–93. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  CHAPTER 6

  MOVING ANIMALS AND PLANTS IN THE EARLY NEOLITHIC OF NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE*

  ANNE TRESSET

  THE appearance of domestic animals and plants in western and northern Europe largely in the late sixth to fourth millennia BC has been a subject of debate for decades (e.g. Zvelebil and Rowley-Conwy 1986; Zvelebil 1989; Ammerman 1989; Whittle 1990; Tresset 2003; Rowley-Conwy 2004; Tresset and Vigne 2007). Despite scarce evidence, discussions have usually focused on the respective roles of native Mesolithic populations and immigrant farmers in the adoption of farming—a crucial issue in regions located away from the main recognized routes of Neolithic diffusion (the northern coastline of the Mediterranean, the Danube valley and tributaries).

  However, recent years have seen the development of many database projects devoted to collecting, sorting, and assessing factual data in archaeozoology and archaeobotany. The large datasets collected for the late Mesolithic and Neolithic periods in Europe and the Near East, where at least some of the European domestic organisms originated, provide a more substantial foundation for debate as to the nature of early farming in Europe, including north-western Europe. Recent technological advances, particularly in the domains of aDNA, geometric morphometrics, and stable isotope analyses, as well as their more widespread application to archaeological materials have also provided new insights into the process by which farming first appeared, delivering a more precise, rich, and complex narrative than expected.

  EARLY DOMESTICATES AND CULTIGENS IN EUROPE: NEAR EASTERN IMPORTS VERSUS LOCAL DOMESTICATIONS

  A key question in the debate on early farming in Europe is the origin, local or foreign, of domestic plants and animals. In theory this question is relatively easy to answer in some specific instances. Sheep (Ovis aries) and goat (Capra hircus), as well as some cereals (emmer wheat—Triticum turgidum dicoccum, einkorn—Triticum monococcum, broomcorn millet—Panicum miliaceum) and pulses (lentil—Lens culinaris, pea—Pisum sativum, chick pea—Cicer arietinum, bitter vetch—Vicia ervilia), had no wild ancestors in Holocene Europe. Most of these species were introduced to Europe at the start of the Neolithic, with others, such as millet, introduced later in this period. Their origin can largely be traced back unambiguously to the Near East, or in some cases to western central Asia (Zohary 1969, 1996, 1999; Zohary and Hopf 2000; Colledge et al. 2005; Coward et al. 2008), before they spread across Europe along the Mediterranean and Danubian routes in the seventh to fourth millennia BC (Fig. 6.1; cf. Tresset and Vigne 2007, 2011; Tresset et al. 2009 for a synthesis). The question is more complex for domestic barley (Hordeum vulgare), as the wild form (Hordeum spontaneum) was present in the Aegean region at the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene (Perlès 2001), but recent archaeobotanical and molecular studies have clearly established its origin in the Near and Middle East (Badr et al. 2000; Willcox 2005; Jones et al. 2008), whilst archaeobotanical data have evidenced the discontinuity in Aegean stratigraphies between wild Mesolithic barley and the Neolithic domestic form (Hansen 1992) which is associated with crops of indisputable Near Eastern origin. There is the issue of the ‘proto-domestications’ of pulses of genera Lathyrus and Vicia, the remains of which are abundant in a number of Mediterranean Mesolithic sites, but it only marginally concerns northern and western Europe.

  FIG. 6.1. Main flows of domesticate diffusion during the Neolithization of Europe. All dates are in years BC.

  Modified from Tresset and Vigne (2007).

  Until recently the possibility of European centres of domestication for a number of animal species existed. This was notably the case for cattle, Bos taurus, and pig, Sus scrofa domesticus, as their wild ancestors (aurochs, Bos primigenius, and wild boar, Sus scrofa scrofa, respectively) were present on this continent before the beginning of the Neolithic. Osteometry has often revealed overlaps or continuities between the size ranges observed for cattle and aurochs, but recent work on bovine mitochondrial aDNA (see Tresset et al. 2009 for an overview) has confirmed that European domestic cattle belonged mostly to a different clade than European Aurochs (at least for maternal lineages), the former very likely of Near Eastern origin. Local domestication in the late Mesolithic (Ertebølle, fifth millennium BC) of northern Germany had been proposed given the small size of bovines at Rosenhof, Schleswig-Holstein (cf. for example Nobis 1975). However, a combination of molecular and osteometric approaches has recently ruled this out (Scheu et al. 2008), revealing that the small bovines were females, and very likely undomesticated (aurochs). Thus, we can see strong parallels between the appearance of domestic cattle in Europe and the processes observed for the diffusion of domestic sheep and goat.

  A large palaeogenetic study on the origin of European pig tells a rather different story (Larson et al. 2007). Analysis of 221 ancient and 323 modern suid samples from Europe and the Near East reveals the presence of several very divergent suid lineages before 4000 BC in Europe. Some of these lineages, identified as domestic on metrical bases, were not derived from the European wild boar, and were presumably of Near Eastern origin. In this sense, the history of early domestic pigs in Europe is very similar to that observed for sheep, goat, and cattle. However, these exogenous pig lineages were completely wiped out from Europe during the fourth millennium BC and replaced with domestic animals descended from the European wild boar. This implies that local domestication took place somewhere in Europe before, or just after, the fourth millennium BC. A Mesolithic legacy cannot be definitely ruled out as a number of late hunter-gatherer societies focused their hunting activities on suid exploitation, as in Denmark (Rowley-Conwy and Dobney 2007) and the Paris Basin (Vigne et al. 2000), and it is not impossible that some hunting strategies eventually led to ‘proto-domestications’. This is certainly possible at least in Denmark, where sea-level rise fragmented the territory into a number of
small islands during the first part of the Holocene, isolating small sustainable suid populations (Rowley-Conwy and Dobney 2007) and creating good conditions for animal management (see also Krause-Kyora et al. 2013). But a Neolithic origin seems more likely in light of post-LBK (Linearbandkeramik) economic transformations which took place between 4800 and 4000 BC in several regions of central and western Europe: in Germany and northern France in particular, cultures such as the Rössen and Michelsberg focused their animal exploitation on pig husbandry (Tresset 2003; Pernaud et al. 2004; Tresset and Vigne 2007). It seems very likely that the two phenomena—European pig domestication and the development of pig husbandry by some Neolithic groups—are linked. Ongoing research on this subject is now focusing on identifying the exact place where this phenomenon emerged.

  THE POSSIBLE ROLE OF EUROPEAN MESOLITHIC SOCIETIES

  Other scenarios for the introduction of domestic plants and animals have been explored. The hypotheses of Mesolithic groups gradually adopting cereal cultivation from incoming farmers ahead of the colonization front have been advocated by a number of authors on the basis of Cerealia-type pollen in late Mesolithic contexts (cf. for example Edwards and Hirons 1984 for Britain; Richard 2004 for eastern France; Poska and Saarse 2006 for Estonia). O’Connell contested these views in 1987 on the grounds of the much earlier presence of Cerealia-type pollen in pre-Neolithic sequences of Connemara, Ireland. The radiocarbon date obtained (c. 6500 BC) for one of these completely excludes the possibility of it being a true cultivated cereal: at that time, cereals and cereal cultivation had just begun their expansion into south-eastern Europe, several thousand kilometres from Connemara, and more than 2000 years before the Neolithic way of life reached Britain and Ireland! That early Cerealia-type pollen probably derived from wild grasses in north-western Europe, as suggested by O’Connell, has more recently been confirmed by new findings in Britain (Tweddle et al. 2005). More recently, Behre (2007) reviewed all the evidence for pre-Neolithic Cerealia-type pollen and pointed out the methodological weaknesses of most of their identifications as domestic cereals (which is extremely problematic for pollen). He also concluded that if pre-Neolithic cultivation really took place somewhere in Europe, it should have left other evidence, such as macro-remains.