Europe has a long pre-national history: from Neolithic village cultures through the Iron Age tribal mosaic, to the early medieval kingdoms that emerged from Rome’s collapse. Here is a chronological overview emphasizing cultural formations, tribal identities, and transitions, up to around 1000 CE — when Europe’s map began to stabilize around Christian kingdoms.

I. Neolithic and Bronze Age Foundations (7000–1200 BCE)

1. Early Farming Cultures

• Origin: Agriculture spread from Anatolia into the Balkans and Central Europe (c. 6500 BCE).

• Cultures: Linearbandkeramik (Central Europe), Vinča and Starčevo (Balkans), Cardial Ware (Mediterranean).

• Social Form: Village-based; matrilineal traces; communal megalithic tombs in Atlantic regions (Stonehenge, Carnac).

• Religion: Fertility and ancestor cults, “Great Mother” symbolism, solar alignments.
  
  

2. Bronze Age Civilizations

• Trade Networks: Bronze required tin and copper, leading to pan-European exchange routes.

• Cultures: Unetice and Tumulus (Central Europe), Minoan (Crete, 2000–1450 BCE), Mycenaean (Greece, 1600–1100 BCE), Nuragic (Sardinia).

• Languages: Early Indo-European differentiation: Proto-Greek, Proto-Italic, Proto-Celtic.

• Society: Warrior aristocracies, emerging chiefdoms, fortified hill settlements.

II. Iron Age and the Age of Tribes (1200–100 BCE)

After 1200 BCE, the Bronze Age systems collapsed (the “Sea Peoples,” Mycenaean decline), and regional tribal cultures flourished.

1. The Celts

• Archaeological Cultures: Hallstatt (Austria, 1200–500 BCE) → La Tène (500–100 BCE).

• Regions: From Iberia to Anatolia (Galatia).

• Culture: Hillforts, chariot warfare, ornate metalwork, druidic priesthood.

• Society: Kin-based confederations; oral epic poetry; hospitality and heroism as moral ideals.

• Fate: Conquered by Rome (1st century BCE) but persisted in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany.

2. The Italic Peoples

• Groups: Latins, Sabines, Samnites, Umbrians, and Etruscans (non-Indo-European).

• Etruscans: Urbanized, literate, religiously formal; heavily influenced early Rome.

• Latins: Founded Rome (8th century BCE); absorbed others via confederation and conquest.

3. Germanic Tribes

• Origins: Northern Germany and Scandinavia; Jastorf Culture (6th century BCE).

• Social Order: Assemblies (Thing), warrior retinues, ancestor cults.

• Major Tribes: Suebi, Goths, Vandals, Saxons, Angles, Jutes.

• Expansion: Southward migrations in the Roman era (2nd–5th centuries CE).

4. Eastern and Balkan Tribes

• Thracians & Illyrians: Mountain warriors, goldwork, cult of Dionysian ecstasy.

• Dacians: Carpathian highlands, strong kingdom under Decebalus; absorbed by Rome (106 CE).

• Scythians & Sarmatians: Iranian-speaking nomads on the Pontic Steppe; horse-archer societies that bridged Europe and Asia.

III. Classical Antiquity (800 BCE – 476 CE)

1. Greece

• City-States: Athens, Sparta, Corinth; founded on polis citizenship and hoplite warfare.

• Culture: Philosophy, democracy, drama, art; colonized Mediterranean coasts.

• Religion: Anthropomorphic gods; mystery cults; Orphism.

• Hellenistic Period: (323–30 BCE) Spread Greek culture across the East.

2. Rome

• Rise: From small Latin city (753 BCE) to empire by Augustus (27 BCE).

• Culture: Absorbed Etruscan and Greek elements; legalism, civic religion.

• Impact: Unified Europe under roads, law, and Latin language.

• Provincial Integration: Gauls, Iberians, Britons, Dacians romanized; Germanic frontier remained porous.

IV. The Migration Period (ca. 300–700 CE)

With Rome’s decline came vast movements of peoples — both tribal transformations and the birth of medieval Europe.

1. Germanic Successor Kingdoms

• Visigoths: Spain and southern Gaul.

• Ostrogoths: Italy (Theoderic the Great, 493–526 CE).

• Franks: Gaul; merged with Roman Gallo elites → Merovingian dynasty.

• Angles & Saxons: Britain → Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

• Vandals: North Africa.

• Lombards: Northern Italy (from 568 CE).

2. Slavic and Baltic Expansion

• Slavs: Spread from Pripet Marshes into Balkans and Central Europe (6th–8th centuries).

• Balts: Ancestors of Lithuanians/Latvians; conservative Indo-European traditions.

3. Steppe and Nomadic Influences

• Huns (4th–5th centuries): Ural-Altaic nomads; catalyzed migrations.

• Avars (6th–8th centuries): Central European dominance from Pannonia.

• Magyars (Hungarians): Entered Carpathian Basin ~895 CE.

V. Early Medieval Europe (700–1000 CE)

1. Christianization and Cultural Fusion

• Frankish Empire: Under Charlemagne (crowned 800 CE); synthesis of Roman, Germanic, and Christian traditions.

• Anglo-Saxon England: Monastic learning, runic literacy merging into Latin script.

• Vikings: Norse seafarers (8th–10th centuries) — raiders and settlers (Normandy, Dublin, Kiev).

• Slavic States: Moravia, Poland, Kievan Rus; Byzantine and Latin missions (Cyril & Methodius).

2. Cultural Continuities

• Language: Latin remained learned lingua franca; vernaculars (Romance, Germanic, Slavic) developed.

• Law and Kingship: Tribal customs transformed into feudal institutions; sacral kingship fused with Christian anointment.

• Art and Religion: Insular illumination, Carolingian Renaissance, synthesis of pagan and Christian imagery.

Europe’s pre-1000 CE history is not a march toward nationhood but an interwoven evolution of tribal memory and imperial integration. The Celts and Germans represent the mythic, oral Europe; Greece and Rome the rational and civic; the Christian kingdoms the synthesis of both. The enduring theme is hybridization — the blending of mythic tribal identity with universal institutions.