Introduction: Europe in the Neolithic

The European Neolithic, or the New Stone Age, is the period between the introduction of agriculture and the introduction of bronze tools.

The Neolithic begins with the arrival of farmers from Anatolia. They gradually spread from southeast to northwest Europe, at a rate of about 1 kilometer per year. This is known as the Neolithic Expansion.

The duration of the Neolithic varies by region. In Southeast Europe, it lasted about 4000 years (7000–3000 BC), while in Northwest Europe it was shorter, around 3000 years (4500–1700 BC).

In some areas, such as the Balkans, from 5000 BC onwards, it is referred to as the Chalcolithic or the Copper Age, due to the rise of copper working and the use of copper tools and weapons.

The transition from a lifestyle based on gathering, hunting, and fishing to one based on agriculture was neither inevitable nor self-evident. The process of this transition took thousands of years and is also known as the Neolithic Revolution.

The so-called Fertile Crescent was likely one of the first regionss where agriculture developed. This area extends from present-day Egypt through the Levant to Mesopotamia. Due to the rich soil and a temperate climate with sufficient rainfall, a great diversity of crops grew here, and many wild animals were present.

Hunter-gatherers could settle here semi-permanently around 10,000 BCE, as sufficient food was available throughout the year. They could benefit from the wild grains that were abundantly present, such as einkorn, emmer wheat, and barley. These crops were easy to gather and store. Over the centuries, people learned to select and sow these grains, gradually leading to domesticated crops. By sowing selected seeds, crops began to develop that were more resistant to diseases, had higher yields, and became more dependent on human intervention, for example, because they were less able to survive in the wild.

Shortly thereafter, the first animals were domesticated. People likely captured and kept wild animals to stabilize their food supply. This was attractive because these animals provided not only meat but also other valuable products such as milk, hides, wool, and bones for tools. The domestication process relied on selecting animals with traits that made them easier to keep. Animals that were less aggressive, grew faster, and adapted better to life in captivity were more often kept and bred. Over time, this led to genetic changes that distinguished these animals from their wild ancestors.

Examples of early domestication include sheep and goats, which were relatively small and manageable and had a broad diet. Cattle followed later, as they were larger and more difficult to tame, but eventually became valuable for both food and work. Pigs, which are omnivorous and reproduce quickly, also became important.

Agriculture thus began in the Fertile Crescent, but the hunter-gatherers in Anatolia adopted this practice fairly quickly, around 8200 BCE. This population is also known as Anatolian Neolithic Farmers (ANF).

From around 7000 BCE, a group of these Anatolian farmers migrated to the area around the Aegean Sea, introducing agriculture in Europe: this group is called the Early European Farmers (EEF). The arrival of agriculture heralded the Neolithic or the new stone Age in Europe.

DNA studies show that agriculture was brought to Europe by the so-called Aegean Neolithic Farmers, with little mixing with the original hunter-gatherers who already lived in Europe. The spread of these farmers to Great Britain took about 2500 years. Regions such as the Baltic states were only reached later, around 3500 BC.

Although there are no written sources from this period, archaeological research has provided much information about the origins, organization, and practices of Neolithic communities. DNA research has given insight into migration patterns and genetic relationships.

In addition to the farming communities, there were also hunter-gatherers who had inhabited Europe since the Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods. The farmers and hunter-gatherers generally lived alongside each other without interference. In some cases, exchanges did occur. For instance, the people of the Swifterbant culture (5300-3400 BC) learned to make pottery, and the hunter-gatherers on the Pontic-Caspian steppe learned how to domesticate herds. These were the ancestors of the Proto-Indo-European steppe herders.

Neolithic societies shared some basic characteristics. They lived in small communities, depended on agriculture, livestock, and hunting, and made pottery. Polished stone axes were crucial for clearing forests and enabling agriculture.

Nevertheless, regional differences also emerged. In this introduction, we limit ourselves to the largest archaeological cultures of this time period.

An archaeological culture is defined based on basic of material remains. This is not the same as an ethnic culture, which also considers language, traditions, religion, history, and social structure. Sometimes an archaeological culture overlaps with an ethnic culture, but often it does not.

When studying the transition from one culture to another, it is important not to judge too quickly. In many cases, such transitions indicate changes in habits or lifestyle rather than population replacement. This requires a nuanced and open approach. 

See this article for more information about Archaeological and ethnic cultures.

The Linear Pottery culture, often abbreviated as LBK culture, was one of the earliest agricultural cultures of Europe. This culture existed between approximately 5500 BC and 4400 BC and is characterized by the use of striped, or 'linear' decorations on pottery.

The LBK culture settled on fertile lland. When too many people lived in the same area, a group migrated to the next piece of lland.

In just 360 years, it spread over 1,500 kilometers across much of Central and Eastern Europe, from present-day Germany to Hungary, parts of Poland, and the Baltic states. This migration was essential for the spread of agricultural practices in Europe and had a profound impact on the society and economy of the region's where they settled.

The farmers specialized in growing emmer wheat, einkorn, peas, and lentils. They cultivated hemp and flax for making ropes and textiles. They kept cattle for milk and meat, and sometimes goats and pigs. They supplemented their diet by hunting deer and boars.

The LBK people settled in villages with long, rectangular houses and had a common network of trade and cultural exchange. They buried their dead in single graves, or cremated them.

The Cardial-Impressed Ware Culture derives its name from the method of decorating pottery: patterns were pressed into the clay using cockle shells and other Cardiidae. This unique decoration technique is a characteristic element of the culture.

Unlike the LBK communities, which primarily spread through fertile löss regions, the people of the Cardial-Impressed Ware Culture traveled by sea from around 6400 BCE. Using catamaran-like boats, they settled along the Adriatic coast and expanded into Italy, France, and Spain. From the coastal areas, they moved further inland. Between 5000 and 4000 BCE, they developed the tradition of erecting standing stones, such as menhirs and dolmens, in northern France.

They cultivated grains such as wheat and barley, and also legumes like lentils. Their livestock farming focused mainly on sheep and goats, animals that were relatively easy to transport by boat. Additionally, they sometimes kept cattle and pigs. However, hunting remained an important part of their food supply; about 40% of the meat came from hunting, especially wild boar.

The influence of the Cardial culture on the landscape was significant. In core areas, such as parts of France and Italy, permanently inhabited villages emerged where intensive agriculture and livestock farming were practiced. This led to large-scale deforestation. Around these central zones were seasonal camps used by herders and hunters. Although the landscape clearly bears traces of their activities, remarkably little is known about the construction of their villages and houses.

In central France, the Bandkeramik culture and the Cardial-Impressed Ware culture met. Here, the Michelsberg culture emerged. The people of this culture migrated to the British Isles and introduced, among other things, the tradition of standing stones, such as Stonehenge.

The Funnel Beaker Culture (abbreviated: TRB culture) was an archaeological culture in Northern and Central Europe from approximately 4300 to 2800 BC. This was a fusion between different cultures of Neolithic farmers and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. 

The culture originated in Northern Germany and quickly spread to Scandinavia and Poland. This spread may have fueled the migration of the Michelsberg culture to the British Isles.

During the TRB culture, hunter-gatherers adopted agriculture and animal husbandry. In the Netherlands, the TRB built upon the Swifterbant culture and constructed the Drenthe dolmens. Most megaliths in Northern and Central Europe were built during this period.

The people kept sheep, cattle, pigs, and goats, and they also hunted. They cultivated grains but quickly exhausted the soil, forcing them to move regularly. During this period, copper was mined for the first time, and the Funnel Beaker people imported copper items, particularly daggers and axes, from Silesia. Another technological development was the invention of the wheel, although it was not yet used throughout the entire Funnel Beaker area.

In the south and east, the TRB culture was replaced by the Globular Amphora culture (3400-2800 BC) and the subsequent Corded Ware culture from the Copper Age (2900-2450 BC), and in the west by the Single Grave culture (2800-2200 BC), a local variant of the Corded Ware culture.

Megalithic tombs are above-ground burial chambers made of large stone slabs (megaliths) that stand upright and are covered with earth or smaller stones. They were mainly constructed during the Neolithic period by agricultural communities in Europe, the Mediterranean, and neighboring regionss. There are various types, such as dolmens, which consist of a large flat stone and standing stones and are covered with a capstone or earth bridge.

Megalithic tombs were used as long-term resting places for the dead and often show traces of rituals, such as prehistoric art and finds of pottery and bones. Notable examples include the stalled cairn at Midhowe in Orkney and the passage grave at Bryn Celli Ddu on Anglesey.

Some structures contain no human remains, such as the Court Cairns in Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Severn-Cotswold graves in England, and the Stone Tomb in Ukraine..

The dolmen or portal tomb consists of two or more vertical stones, over which a large capstone is placed as a roof. Many dolmens contain human remains and ceramics, but it is not yet certain whether they were primarily used as graves. It is believed that most dolmens were originally covered with a mound of earth.

The earliest dolmens were built around 5000 BC in France, from where the tradition spread to Ireland, the British Isles, and Scandinavia. In the early bronze Age, they were even built in Sardinia, Sicily, and the Italian peninsula. This emphasizes that these monuments remained in use even after the stone Age.

The second most common type of grave is the passage grave. This is usually a square, round, or cross-shaped chamber with a roof of flat stones or a barrel vault. The chamber is accessible via a long, straight passage, and the entire structure is covered with a circular mound of earth. Sometimes the grave is also surrounded by a border of stones. Well-known examples include the sites Brú na Bóinne and Carrowmore in Ireland, Maes Howe in Orkney, and Gavrinis in France.

The third type of grave is a diverse group known as Allée couverte. These are chambers placed along a line under long mounds. The Irish court tombs, the British long barrows, and the German Steinkisten belong to this group.

Standing stones, or menhirs, were frequently erected, with approximately 50,000 European examples known. Some of these stones may have had an astronomical function, for example as a marker or to predict something. In some areas, there are long and complex lines of these stones, with the largest known example located in Carnac, Brittany, France.

In parts of Great Britain and Ireland, a common type of megalithic structure is the stone circle, with well-known examples such as Stonehenge, Avebury, Ring of Brodgar, and Beltany. These circles also show evidence of astronomical alignments, both with the sun and the moon. Stonehenge, for example, is famous for its alignment with the solstice. Stone circles can also be found in the rest of Europe. The circle at Lough Gur, near Limerick in Ireland, dates from the Bell Beaker period, roughly contemporaneous with Stonehenge. 

The stone circles were likely built later than the megalithic graves, during the transition from the Neolithic to the Copper Age. They were often constructed by the Neolithic farmers and adapted by the Proto-Indo-European peoples.

In addition to these monuments, the Neolithic farmers erected many more large structures, such as cairns (graves covered with small stones), tumuli or burial mounds (graves covered by a layer of earth), ditches, mounds, terraces, and circular enclosures such as henges. Well-known examples include Silbury Hill in England, an artificial mound, and Monte d'Accoddi in Sardinia, a prehistoric step pyramid.

Many of these monuments were decorated with cup and ring marks, or other motifs, that were carved in the stone.

Long before the Bronze Age steppe herders moved into Europe, the early farmers and hunter-gatherers in Europe spoke Pre-Indo-European languages. We have no direct evidence of these languages such as written sources, but linguists suspect that Europe at that time had a huge linguistic diversity, comparable to the multitude of languages spoken in North America before the arrival of European colonists.

One of the few remnants from that period is likely Basque, a unique language that has no linguistic family anywhere in the world and is therefore called an "isolate." Some researchers, such as Theo Vennemann, have suggested that Basque was part of a larger "Vasconic" language family that was once widespread in Europe. Vennemann also proposed that there was an influence from an "Atlantic" or "Semitidic" group of languages, possibly from the Mediterranean region.

In Northern Europe, Uralic languages, such as Sami, later spread. These show traces of influence from vanished local languages, indicating complex interactions between different language groups in that region.

The influence of Pre-Indo-European languages is also seen in words we know today. Linguist Guus Kroonen proposed the "Agricultural Substrate Hypothesis," which suggests that some agriculture-related words in languages like Proto-Germanic (the precursor of modern Germanic languages) and  Proto-Greek originate from an older, Pre-Indo-European language. Examples include words like *arwīt (“pea”) and *gait (“goat”), which have no clear origin in Indo-European languages. These words could originate from the languages of the Neolithic farmers.

Additionally, there is evidence of Pre-Indo-European influences in Greek place names. Place names with -ss-, such as Knossos and Parnassos, are often seen as remnants of languages spoken before the arrival of the Greeks in the area. This feature does not come from Greek or other Indo-European languages and may point to a linguistic heritage of the prehistoric inhabitants of the area. Such place names remind us that the history of language in Europe goes much further back than the arrival of the Indo-Europeans.

The development of agriculture, also known as the Neolithic Revolution, was not necessarily good news. The Neolithic farmers were generally shorter and less healthy than the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, and their diet was less varied.

The transition to agriculture was accompanied by a change in mindset. A different, long-term thinking pattern was needed to plant food in the ground and harvest it later.

Because the farmers settled permanently in one place, they were vulnerable. Crop diseases and climate fluctuations could cause scarcity and famine. This likely led to conflicts between different tribes, which were extremely bloody.

Around 5000 BC, the population in Europe declined significantly, possibly due to climate change, food shortages, diseases, and war. During this period, multiple massacres occurred in the area of the LBK culture, with traces found in Talheim (34 individuals), Schletz-Asparn (probably around 300 individuals), and Schöneck-Kilianstädten (at least 26 individuals).

Among the Talheim skeletons were 16 children, nine men, seven women, and two adults of unknown gender. They all died violently. Some skeletons showed signs of repeated trauma that had fully healed, suggesting that violence was a common or even routine part of this culture. The killed men and children were from the Talheim region, but the women came from further away. This may indicate robbery and the abduction of women during these conflicts.

The massacre in Schletz-Asparn took place around a settlement protected by a wide, deep ditch. The skeletons were found in this ditch and showed signs of severe head injuries. Most victims were male, again indicating the abduction of women. After the massacre, the settlement was no longer inhabited.

In Schöneck-Kilianstädten, the victims were also found in a settlement. They were placed in a mass grave, where potsherds, animal bones, and stone objects were also found, waste from this settlement. Most victims were young men, and many bodies show signs of deliberate mutilation or torture.

Bioarchaeological research indicates that more than 10% of the early farmers in Northwestern Europe suffered injuries from weapons, highlighting the ubiquitous nature of violence.

Although warfare was not yet organized, these archaeological findings clearly show that violence and rivalry between groups were a significant part of Neolithic life.

The area of Southeastern Europe between 6000 and 3500 BC is also known as Old Europe mentioned. In this region, there were various cultures that shared many characteristics, such as the shape of their houses and settlements, and the way they made pottery. They built tells, large settlements where thousands of people could live, and were probably among the first to use wheels. They were able to make pottery with very thin walls and for this, they had to be able to fire the clay at very high temperatures. Because they could heat fires so intensely, they were likely also the first to smelt metal. This marked the beginning of the Chalcolithic or Copper Age.

The Copper Age roughly lasted from 5000 to 2000 BC, depending on the region. Despite the name, copper objects were not used in large quantities.

Between 4200 and 3800 BC, the climate changed, and winters became harsher than in the previous 2000 years. As a result, the tells in Old Europe were abandoned, and we see that settlements were fortified.

Old Europe bordered the Pontic-Caspian steppes, an area where nomadic herders lived who spoke Proto-Indo-European, the ancestor of most European languages. The Proto-Indo-Europeans had contact with the population of Old Europe, having learned from Old Europe how to keep livestock, and their characteristic maces in the shape of a horse's head are found in graves in Old Europe. However, their lifestyle was very different from the Neolithic farmers.

Around 3500 BC, we see increasing traces of these steppe herders in Europe. A theory, particularly known through the work of Marija Gimbutas, suggests that the steppe peoples destroyed the societies of Old Europe and the Neolithic farmers as a violent 'horde', but this theory is not correct.

From around 4800 BC, the steppe peoples domesticated the horse, initially primarily for their meat in the wintertime. From 4000 BC, they also learned to ride horses. This had a huge impact on their way of life.

By domesticating the horse, small warbands on horseback could travel further on raids. These expeditions were not intended to kill, but to achieve individual fame by cattle raiding. This cattle was used to pay a dowry or to offer to the gods. The practice of cattle raiding is associated with the Koryos phenomenon, where young men swore oaths and set out to gain prestige.

The Proto-Indo-European society was oath-bound and based on reciprocal agreements between tribes and their leaders. Thus, the warbands did not raid tribes with whom agreements had been made, but traveled further away. It is likely that this is how the first steppe herders entered Europe. It is possible that skirmishes got out of hand, leading to conflicts on a larger scale.

Although conflicts certainly broke out, the migration of the Proto-Indo-Europeans was not accompanied by mass slaughters.

The warrior culture revolved around individual achievements and heroic deeds, as also visible in the Rigveda, Iliad, and Odyssey. Large, organized armies only emerged much later, around 1000 BC. Before that, the emphasis on individual fame and heroic deeds had to give way to a mentality in which the individual was only part of the larger whole of an organized fighting force.

Warfare on horseback, as practiced by the Huns and Mongols, was also not yet possible in this period. The Proto-Indo-Europeans used long bows with stone arrowheads, which were difficult to use from horseback.

The migration was also not large-scale; no large hordes of people moved from the steppes to Europe.

Genetic research shows that modern Europeans mainly carry Proto-Indo-European haplogroups R1a and R1b, originating from a small group of men.

The mitochondrial DNA, which is passed from mother to daughter, on the other hand, shows great diversity. This indicates that these men married Neolithic women. Thus, the male EEF-DNA was gradually replaced by Indo-European DNA, while the female Neolithic DNA persisted.

As we saw, Neolithic farmers often had internal conflicts. There was frequent famine, and around 2900 BC, a plague epidemic possibly raged. The Proto-Indo-European steppe herders likely lent cattle to the Neolithic farmers, integrating them into their oath-bound culture. Additionally, they provided protection and stability.

This blending led to new cultures such as the Corded Ware culture and the Baden culture. Neolithic influences remained visible in later Indo-European civilizations, such as the Greeks and Vikings, with elements like agricultural goddesses, the sun cross, the tree of life, and spiral motifs.