Neolithic Europe

The earliest remains of food-producing societies in Europe are found in Greece, dating a few thousand years after the Neolithic Revolution first occurred in the Fertile Crescent.

Based on the evidence gathered so far, it appears that this cultural revolution with the invention of a sedentary agricultural way of life made its way into Europe from Western Anatolia (on the northwestern periphery of the Fertile Crescent in the western region of modern Turkey, where the famed Greek site of Troy would be established a few thousand years later).

The emergence of food-producing societies first occurred in the Levant at the End of the Last Ice Age around 12,000 BCE. This technology spread quickly in the region, developing into many distinct cultures throughout the Fertile Crescent, before the technology then moved in the Aegean region of Greece almost 6000 years later. [1]

Sites in the Aegean have radio-carbon dates around 6500 BCE, such as at Knossos on the island of Crete (also called “Europe’s first city”), Franchthi Cave on the mainland in the region of Argolis, Greece, and at mainland sites in Thessaly. [1]

Shortly afterwards the cultures of Neolithic Europe appear in the Balkans, and south-central Europe. Neolithic cultures of the Balkans and Aegean show some continuity with southwest Asia and Anatolia, such as Catalhoyuk. [1]

All European Neolithic sites contain ceramics, plants, and animals that were first domesticated in Southwest Asia such as einkorn, emmer, barley, lentils, pigs, goats, sheep, and cattle. [1] This is direct evidence in support of the belief that the Neolithic was invented in the Near East from where it was transmitted (probably predominantly through migration of Neolithic cultures) resulting in its introduction to Europe. Genetic data so far tells us that all domesticated animals were originally domesticated in southwest Asia, with the only plant domesticate that occurred outside of Southwest Asia being broomcorn millet, domesticated in East Asia. [1]

It took around 2,500 years for the Neolithic Revolution to spread across Europe, from when it first reached the Aegean after its beginnings in the Levant, until it reached the British Isles. This period from introduction into Greece until it made its way to the British Isles lasted from 6500–4000 BCE.

The Balkans were penetrated around 3500 BCE. [1] The people appear to have colonized with a saltatory pattern, moving from one patch of fertile soil to the next, at a fairly constant rate of about 1km/year from Jericho to Britain. [1] Radiocarbon dates show that Mesolithic and Neolithic people lived side-by-side for perhaps a thousand years throughout Europe, especially on the Iberian peninsula and along the Atlantic coast. [1]

Agricultural and animal husbandry practices occurred first in the Near East around 10,000 BCE, and were transmitted by substantial migrations of people in waves from that region. Mitochondrial DNA recovered in PPNB (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B) of the Near East was compared with Neolithic and modern populations of Europe and the Near East indicating that the Neolithic Revolution was spread by substantial migrations of Near Eastern farmers. In Britain genetic evidence indicates a direct link to Neolithic Near Eastern farmers.

Notes

• Earliest evidence of cheese-making dates to 5500 BCE in Kujawy, Poland. [1]

Resources

1. “Neolithic Revolution”. Wikipedia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neolithic_Revolution. Accessed 26 Jan 2023.