Dynamics of Neolithisation in South-eastern Europe

This book describes various scenarios of the transition from the wandering way of life to sedentarism in Southeastern Europe – the key region between Anatolia and the Aegean to Central Europe – where these fundamental changes first appeared in Europe. One important aim of this book is to demonstrate the richness and complexity of the transition of humans from hunting and gathering to agriculture and animal husbandry in Southeast 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 Southeastern 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.